Topock ride thanksgiving week

Anyone up for ride in havasu thanksgiving week maybe topock or goldfish pond

Might be interested

I will be in havasu all week let's get a ride going

Wednesday topock ride?

Will be there thanksgiving weekend

Wednesday good for me

I might have a friend and me going to the gold fish pond on saturday

I'm in for goldfish pond just tell time and place

What are you driving? We have a K5 blazer and a jeep so will be leaving from Terrible's don't know what time yet.

I have a rzr 1000

Just went to Topock today by RZR. Our friendly gov't is closing down our access to Topock. They, Fish and Game, are putting up new signs closing off the off-road access from the east along the railroad tracks, BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE TRACKS.
Looks like you have to go north of the railroad tracks to a point between Golden Shores and Topock, pick up the main paved road (Hwy 66) and head south to get into Topock now. Hope Chet is going to get involved. This will definitely hurt his winter off road business.
Here is a link to a pdf showing the Refuge Area. Note the green area around Topock. This is the area they are closing off.
http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Havasu_Map_2012.pdf

Hooches! Great bloody marys.

We plan on meeting at terribles at the 40 at 9

Went today with TCHB and it was a good time. :thumbup:

So I headed out yesterday for a ride north and crossing the 40 by the Pilot (I-40 & AZ Hwy 95) I was stopped by a US Fish & Game officer. He asked me if I was going to Topock. I said no that we were going to the Talc Mines up in the Warms Springs area. It was clear he knew nothing about the WS area and was concerned with the Topock area only. He said if we were going to Topock he would give us a warning and that if we got stopped in that area we would be ticketed for Trespassing. So we discussed the routes and he basically said from where we were there were 4 primary routes into Topock. 2 controlled by US G&F (They are closed to OHV traffic); 1 BLM route (which he said BLM had temporarily closed) and 1 state route (The blacktop road Hwy 66). So the only way in was to go north to Polaris road to the blacktop (Old 66) and then take the blacktop south into Topock. So why after all these years are they closing off our "Offroad" access to Topock? I bet Chet is loosing a lot of business or will be now and I wonder if "Pirates Cove" is involved in some way to try to impact Chet's business.

Patyacht said:

So why after all these years are they closing off our "Offroad" access to Topock? I bet Chet is loosing a lot of business or will be now and I wonder if "Pirates Cove" is involved in some way to try to impact Chet's business.

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good minds think alike... this IMO has been going on for too long! ruins a good ride, BS I tell you, complete BS.

Patyacht said:

So I headed out yesterday for a ride north and crossing the 40 by the Pilot (I-40 & AZ Hwy 95) I was stopped by a US Fish & Game officer. He asked me if I was going to Topock. I said no that we were going to the Talc Mines up in the Warms Springs area. It was clear he knew nothing about the WS area and was concerned with the Topock area only. He said if we were going to Topock he would give us a warning and that if we got stopped in that area we would be ticketed for Trespassing. So we discussed the routes and he basically said from where we were there were 4 primary routes into Topock. 2 controlled by US G&F (They are closed to OHV traffic); 1 BLM route (which he said BLM had temporarily closed) and 1 state route (The blacktop road Hwy 66). So the only way in was to go north to Polaris road to the blacktop (Old 66) and then take the blacktop south into Topock. So why after all these years are they closing off our "Offroad" access to Topock? I bet Chet is loosing a lot of business or will be now and I wonder if "Pirates Cove" is involved in some way to try to impact Chet's business.

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Did they give any reason as to why? Where do they announce this stuff?

RiverDave said:

Did they give any reason as to why? Where do they announce this stuff?

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:rules

you never know how to play the game when the rules change as they go. I have not ever seen a sign or an announcement that said anything about "area closed".

I saw new "Do not enter" with vehicle signs and where they (F&G) had put logs and tree limbs across the access trails on my run to Topock 12/6/2014. I've seen nothing new in writing. I think they, for some unknown reason, have started to enforce the boundary restrictions that have been there but not enforced. If you look at the Needles BLM map it shows land ownership which has not changed. Now, why BLM has closed their route along the old historic railroad track I do not know. The F&G Officer did say they have asked BLM to open their route without success.

I went to BLM yesterday and talked to a lady that you could tell was a typical government employee. She really did not know very much but did refer me to the BLM web site. She could not show me where BLM had published any noticed and kept referring me to their web site. After doing some poking around here is what I think I found out. IMO it appears that BLM has published their final "Travel Management Plan" for this area (Oct 2014). It also appears that the Havasu office has responsibility for everything up to the 40 and the Bullhead Office down to the 40 in the vicinity of Topock. Map 1 on the Havasu BLM site: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/travel_mgmt/lhfo/hav-unit-final.html The maps on both area sites include the BLM route numbers we see riding around. Unfortunately the print is so small you can't read them. There is only 1 published BLM route along the old historic railroad route and it has been designated a "limited to Motorized Administrative use Only" in one area of the legend on Map 2 of the Bullhead TMP (Route Network) and on the Bullhead Map 3 (Travel Management Network) that same route is designated a "Non-Motorized Route". So which one is it and it appears we can't use it any more whatever the correct classification is. Link to Bullhead Office site: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/travel_mgmt/lhfo/bullhead-tmp-docs.html

As far as Fish and Game I've not had time to research that end, but I will.

I think it is absolutely crazy that BLM or FG has that path closed down. I kind of understand them maybe not wanting it a free for all along that basin but a couple marked paths so people can pass from town to town. I mean in a lot of northern towns they actually use snow groomers to prep the trails. Out here it is like the opposite. I don't get it.

I heard on Sunday that BLM is saying that it's F&G causing the problem and they (BLM) are trying to work with some private land owners in the area to open a route to Topock. We went to Hooch's and didn't have any problems this Saturday. On the way home just outside Crystal Beach I saw a F&G in a Dodge truck almost got himself stuck trying to go up a hill a RZR won't make without a good run at it. He didn't bother us. Also noticed that BLM has posted new route markers going from Havasu to the Topock area paralleling the Refuge boundary. Basically the left side of 95 going toward the pilot. And the state has started posting more State Trust Lands Do Not Enter Signs. Just so everyone knows you can enter those lands in an UTV/ATV as long as you have the state OHV license, you stay on the roads/trails and don't stop or loiter. If you are going to do things like camp, hike etc you need a "Recreation Pass". More info here: http://azstateparks.com/ohv/permits.html

Thanks for posting the link. I was wondering what the State Trust Land restrictions were.

Patyacht said:

I heard on Sunday that BLM is saying that it's F&G causing the problem and they (BLM) are trying to work with some private land owners in the area to open a route to Topock. We went to Hooch's and didn't have any problems this Saturday. On the way home just outside Crystal Beach I saw a F&G in a Dodge truck almost got himself stuck trying to go up a hill a RZR won't make without a good run at it. He didn't bother us. Also noticed that BLM has posted new route markers going from Havasu to the Topock area paralleling the Refuge boundary. Basically the left side of 95 going toward the pilot. And the state has started posting more State Trust Lands Do Not Enter Signs. Just so everyone knows you can enter those lands in an UTV/ATV as long as you have the state OHV license, you stay on the roads/trails and don't stop or loiter. If you are going to do things like camp, hike etc you need a "Recreation Pass". More info here: http://azstateparks.com/ohv/permits.html

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I've been known to loiter on occasion.
I'll keep this in mind.
The actual ride to Topoc is pretty dull but the destination makes it worthwhile. I hope they get everything sorted out soon.