Hatfield McCoy??

[Hiller]

Just wondering on the difficulty scale what the H/M trails are. I'm wanting to go down and ride and a couple guys with limited atv experience want to go along. Just wondering compared to Wayne how much different it is.
Thanks
Hiller

[Jeff Goebel]

Hiller, Green trails are the easiest and most common at H/M. Each trail system has all levels of difficulty I think. Green, blue, black and orange if I remember correctly. Dingus is the most difficult and the only one that I have personally ridden. I don't like H/M rules, so we now ride at Black Mountain in Harlan KY. (Plus it's free:) ). There is some pretty big stuff down there at H/M, but I can't compare it to the Wayne because I've never ridden there. H/M has a very good website and forum: http://www.trailsheaven.com/

[Hiller]

Jeff,
Thanks for the quick reply, I have ridden at Wayne alot and have yet to find anything that I ever thought twice about ridiing on, even waynes "extreme riding" was pretty easy. I have a 400ex that's tweaked up a little and had no problems moving along anywhere. If H/M is anything close to Wayne then it shouldn't be a problem
Thanks Again
Hiller

[OhioHunter88]

Hiller, we go every year, and by far the easiest trail head is little coal river, there is a campground real close,you can look for it at www.trailsheaven.com, we stayed at the campground and it is called Big Earls campground, little coal river trail head is also the closet to Ohio, we rode there last year, the trails are fun but yet pretty easy, and this trail head is actually compareable to the wayne in easyness....

[Hiller]

88
Thanks for the info, I just want to make sure before we go down that the guys with limited quad experience will still have a good time. Sounds like they should be good to go though,
Hey any of you guys ever travel up to Michigan to Silver Lake dunes? I went up this summer and man what a blast that was.
Later
Hiller

[XX78]

I almost died at the wayne 2 years ago on my yfz 450. I collided with another rider as we both came around a blind 90 degree turn. We both roached a arms and tie rods. His bike flew 30 feet thru the air and up an embankment. He flew thru the trees off to the side of the trail like superman at a cool 30mph. Don't know how he didn't get heliported out.........

[Hiller]

we were riding down there this year and saw a 300ex go over a cliff hitting one of the little jumps they put in the trail, luckily the guy was no more than 200' from st rt 278 so they were able to get him out quickly. And then we saw a Banshee with it's a arms wrapped up around it's fender. I guess a utilitly quad hit him head on, the guy never stopped or slowed down just mashed right into him. I've been lucky down there I rolled my 400 backwards down a hill but it was a real slow type roll and I was able to jump off and control the bike as it rolled over :D
Later
Hiller

[MagnumMudMan]

Hiller

I used to have a 400ex. I used to take it up to Silver Lake. Been there about 3 or 4 times. Good times, but I doubt that I will go back. Too far of a drive and it gets boring pretty fast. Anyway.

As for Wayne compared to Hatfield, Hatfield is like Wayne on steriods. Much bigger hills and harder trails. I have rode all of the riding areas there, except for Waterways. Here is my favorites. First would be Rockhouse, second would be Buffalo Mtn, third would be Pinnacle Creek, and fourth would be Bear Wallow. As for difficulty, each area varies in difficulty. A black (most difficult) trail at Rockhouse can be pretty tough whereas a black trail at Pinnacle Creek isn't hard at all. There is only one trail there that really scares me and that is Black 93 at Rockhouse. I highly do not recommend that trail on a sport quad. You can ride any of the trail areas, just start them on green trails and progress up to blue and then hit some blacks if you think that they can handle it. I have been down there about 10 times in the past 4 years. One warning, the place is addicting. Since I started going there, I could care less about Wayne.

Post back some more questions and I will try to help you the best that I can.

[OhioHunter88]

Hiller

I used to have a 400ex. I used to take it up to Silver Lake. Been there about 3 or 4 times. Good times, but I doubt that I will go back. Too far of a drive and it gets boring pretty fast. Anyway.

As for Wayne compared to Hatfield, Hatfield is like Wayne on steriods. Much bigger hills and harder trails. I have rode all of the riding areas there, except for Waterways. Here is my favorites. First would be Rockhouse, second would be Buffalo Mtn, third would be Pinnacle Creek, and fourth would be Bear Wallow. As for difficulty, each area varies in difficulty. A black (most difficult) trail at Rockhouse can be pretty tough whereas a black trail at Pinnacle Creek isn't hard at all. There is only one trail there that really scares me and that is Black 93 at Rockhouse. I highly do not recommend that trail on a sport quad. You can ride any of the trail areas, just start them on green trails and progress up to blue and then hit some blacks if you think that they can handle it. I have been down there about 10 times in the past 4 years. One warning, the place is addicting. Since I started going there, I could care less about Wayne.

Post back some more questions and I will try to help you the best that I can.
we're heading down to rockhouse the last weekend in March, We'll have to check out trail 93...

i think you'll enjoy little coal river hiller, last year we had a kid with us on a 450r setup for motorcross he had no trouble besides not being able to get out of like 1st or 2nd gear....

[Hiller]

Magnum,
Thanks for the reply. So what is the biggest worry down there as far as tough terrain, flipping, rolling over backwards or what? And how do you think Utility quads would fare down there?? I know my 400 will do things I'm too scared to try, but I won't be pushing it that far. Just wondered.
Thanks Man
Later
Hiller

[Hiller]

Heres a good pic of me pulling my signature handlebar wheely at the dunes. There were a bunch of guys that thought they were something on their YZ's and Raptors riding 100' wheelies. I rode this wheely all the way down the beach from one end to the other right past those guys on the Yammy's they were pretty impressed.
http://www.ohiosportsman.com/photopost/data/519/medium/wheely5formatted.jpg

[MagnumMudMan]

Magnum,
Thanks for the reply. So what is the biggest worry down there as far as tough terrain, flipping, rolling over backwards or what? And how do you think Utility quads would fare down there?? I know my 400 will do things I'm too scared to try, but I won't be pushing it that far. Just wondered.
Thanks Man
Later
Hiller

Utilities actually tend to fair better than the sport quads do down there. I have ridden my 400ex down there before and now ride a Honda Rincon. On some of the faster trails, the 400ex was the ticket, but I like the all day comfort of the independent rear suspension of the Rincon at HM. HM has a lot more rocks than Wayne does and on the sport quad, they tend to wear out your hands pretty fast. We used to have a bunch of sport quads in our group and have switched mostly to the sport utilities (ie Rincons, Prairies, King Quads). However, we have one rider that still rides a yfz 450 and he amazes me the stuff he can get up. You will want good tires down there also. The rocks tend to have their way with the stock treads.

Most of the wrecks down there are usually coming down hill, believe it or not. Its easy to get out of shape coming down some of those hills and have the quad come end over end on you. There is no reason to be scared of any of the trails down there, just respect them. The moment that you lose respect for those trails, they will bite you. Just use some common sense. If you think a hill is going to give you fits, try walking it first or have someone spot you. Way better than trying to get your quad out of some of those hollers.

I ride with a group that we call the "Wayne Gang". We mostly post on a forum called www.wnfgang.com (http://www.wnfgang.com). Not really a gang, just a group that likes to get together and ride. We have one HM trip planned this year and we are going to check out Harlan county for the first time this year. We have done upwards of three trips each year to HM. I usually plan the lodging, so if you figure out where you want to ride, send me an email or pm me and I can tell you the best places to stay.

How many days are you going for? I could tell you some suggestion on trailheads to hit if I knew how long you were going to be down there.

Cool pic at Silver Lake. I have a bunch of pics there doing wheelies down that beach. I think they are on my home computer somewhere. We haven't been there since 2003. Got tired of the permits, DNR a-holes, and waiting in that line. You can go to HM, get treated with southern hospitality, and ride almost all day and hardly ever see another rider. Its awesome.