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National Forest Permits and Trail System

This is the information I gathered from the Northern Hills Ranger District of the Black Hills National Forest.

Permits:

  • Effective December 1, 2010
  • The yearly permit is usually valid from January 1 through December 31 - It seems that an exception will be in place for the first year, which could run from December 1, 2010 through December 31, 2011 (TBA)
  • Yearly cost: $25.00
  • 7 consecutive days permit: $20.00
  • Permits are required for each motorized off-road vehicle including Jeep, ATV/UTV, dirt bikes, etc. --- less than 62 in.
  • The NF is working on having the permits available for purchase before the 1st of December
  • If you lose your yearly permit, you may replace it for $10.00 with proof of purchase
  • If you lose your 7-day permit, keep your proof of purchase because it will not be replaced

Trails:

  • Maps will (should) be available online on October 1
  • Frank Carroll will email me the media information on Friday (October 1) --- to be posted ASAP -- also watch for info in regional newspapers
  • There will be no penalty for anyone riding in the Black Hills until December 1 - no permit needed, no trail system in place officially until then
  • October 1 is a media release day -- no ribbon cutting until December 1 according to Frank Carroll
  • Maps should be available by next week (October 4) at the Northern Hills Ranger District (At least they hope so!)
  • Remember --- the trail system will be effective December 1 --- many are marked already and some are closed!

I hope this helps... Micheline

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ed Goss on March 11, 2011 at 1:35pm

Dean this really puts it perspective.  In your blog on the letsride atvclub web sight you mention the GPS trails and I'm sorry to say I was apart of that mapping with the Off Road Riders Club out of Rapid City and at that time I thought of this situation but couldn't belive it would come to this.  I think what you are doing should be be made available to the SD GFP and especially the state tourism department.  Tom Williams was an archaeolgist  for the BH hills Forest Department when I first new him.  He rode a dirt bike and I emailed him a lot of the trails we rode in the northern Hills and guess what the ones we got are just like you describe. Some mighty good gravel roads.   I HAVE PURCHASED A TOY HAULER AND A SIDE BY SIDE MACHINE THAT WILL FIT ON ALL TRAILS THAT I KNOW OF IN THE US and it looks like a good deal so that I will now be able to see the ATV trails in a lot of states other that SD.  What a joke it is to have the Forest service claim they are doing a service to the ATV/UTV dirt bike riders.  Like they say I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. LIKE HELL! It came out pretty much like I thought it would I have dealt with the feds in agriculture all of my adult life and I started farming at age 14.

  I have some ideas for  your next meeting of the club if Willems is going to be present.

YOUR MAPS MAKE IT PRETTY CLEAR THAT WE NEED LET THE FS HAVE IT RIGHT WHERE IT HURTS

Permalink Reply by Dean Bottorff on March 11, 2011 at 2:29pm

Here is one of my maps.  I have taken the new MVUM and overlaid it on a USGS map in which all the roads and trails have been highlighted.  One caveat. the USGS maps are not necessarily accurate in terms of the trails. They show trails that were once there but may no longer be. They also disregard trails over private land. Also they don't show old mining roads of which there are many. That said, these are the most accurate maps publicly available.

Black lines are paved roads, brown lines are major gravel roads, red is closed roads and the MVUM roads are green.

Take a look:

I'm glad someone is reading my blog on letsrideatvclub.com.  Sometimes it feels like weeing in a blue serge suit.  It makes you feel warm, but nobody notices.

Permalink Reply by Ron on March 11, 2011 at 3:08pm
Go get em Ed!!!
Permalink Reply by Ed Goss on March 11, 2011 at 4:29pm

Shame on you Ron.  Damn I've been doing this a long time.  But everyone seems to want to kiss butt and they don't get thing more than I do and its a lot more fun for me.

Permalink Reply by Ed Goss on March 13, 2011 at 11:20am

Whoopy any trail heads in that area.  I have a Northern Hills map I got from our FS in Spearfish and have high lited roads  and trails with different colors and boy does that ever show where the trails are where you need a licensed vehicle and where you can ride on those good gravel roads without a license and guess what all the miles of hard surface roads you can ride with a licensed ATV/UTV  Sould be a very sad summer for the out of staters especially. 

    I plan to have it at our club meeting Tueday evening at the Pizza Ranch in Central City hope a few folks from the Keystone area club can show up, but then again why when the hills are open to licensed vehicles and closed to off road riders in most areas.  Heck it took me all winter to try to figure out where creeks, camp grounds and roads marked with road signs that might say Custer crossing road or custer peak road and theose identifcations don't show up on the FS map.  But who knows maybe they haven't noticed those.

Permalink Reply by Dean Bottorff on March 13, 2011 at 12:56pm
I'll try to be there and bring some of my own maps.  I, for one, was caught off guard by which the FS did.
Permalink Reply by Dean Bottorff on March 13, 2011 at 10:58am

Some of from the Let's Ride ATV club in Keystone went out on an ad hoc ride Saturday March 12. The route took us up to a trail system in and around Victoria Canyon. Sad. Sad. Sad. Numerous once-popular trails in  that area are now all closed. Up until last year you could ride down the canyon to the old Victoria Dam and Lake. The dam was destroyed many years ago and the lake no longer exists. The old trail was a popular and fun ride. A highlight was an old railroad bed that was literally carved into a cliff above the canyon. (See photo in letsrideatvclub.com gallery.)

You can still reach the railroad right of way but you need to walk in.  I’d say it was about a quarter mile walk, but another rider said it seemed like more than a half mile. (??) It’s not a difficult walk, but it does involve parking your ATV on a road and leaving it there for about an hour.   The trail that used to go near the cut now has two (not just one) forest service “no motorized vehicle” signs which since December 1, 2010 are unnecessary because unless there's a sign saying you can ride the trail (or it's marked on the MVUP map) you can't ride in there anyway.

As usual, you have to ask yourself “why did the forest service close this area?”   Just another example of bureaucratic over-reach.

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