NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/985091
JUNE 2018 • NEBRASKAland 49 Kearney camp in Natick several times a year. Riding windmill to windmill on their horses Hellno and Trouble, they sometimes team up with new campground friends. "We love the fellowship with the other horse people," said Roger, "but it's also about peaceful rides, quiet camping and starry skies. Horses don't need horseshoes in the sand but they have to work harder. It's good for them." Camping is allowed anywhere, and some groups form their own communities just off road, circling campers and trailers like wagon trains. One circled group of Iowans cooks over coals as their horses run loose in the section where they camp. "We have been coming to this spot for 20 years," said Jeff Pierce of Colfax, Iowa. "Windmills are landmarks for us, helping us keep on course," Pierce said. "We have been a little misplaced, but we always find our way back. Other Iowans we talk to can't imagine a riding area so huge." Their camp is in the middle of the Forest near all-terrain vehicle trails, so sometimes the groups converge. "The four-wheelers respect our horses and yield the trail to us," said Pierce. "It has been a good relationship." All-terrain vehicles, "quads," are a mix of smaller, one-seater ATVs and larger UTVs (utility terrain vehicles) with side-by-side seats and payload bed. With fat, deeply grooved tires, springy racing shocks and powerful engines, UTVs are more dune buggy than utility cart and most trails here are not for beginners. Loren Eaton, recreation specialist, is no UTV rookie. Racing away from the setting sun along the aptly named Poison Ivy Trail, he guns the engine through narrow straightaways and fishtails around steep NASCAR- style turns created by decades of spewing sand. Tightly buckled and full-face helmeted, Eaton slows when approaching blind spots and hilltops, hoping that others do the same. Wrecks are common in the Forest – on quads and from horseback. Eaton, also a local volunteer rescue captain, is a first responder. Normally his rescue UTV suffices, but at times he summons medivac helicopters to pluck serious cases from remote areas. The trail finally emerges onto the region's quad-riding Mecca, the climbing hill. Abuzz with donut- spinning riders, hell bent for speed, it is steep – climb fast or spin out. Target sand moguls at the bottom and launch four wheels off the sand! It's a circus. Foraging deer barely notice us as we noisily return to camp. They are much warier of men on foot, especially late in the year when 200 to 300 will fall prey to hunters. We arrive at the most popular campground near the Forest's northeast entrance, full of campers this warm June evening. Colorful quads dot the grounds, helmets resting on spring- loaded seats ready for tomorrow's outing. It smells of burgers as families gather around picnic tables. After a day of fishing in the pond or swimming in the river, vacationers are happy. Everyone offers me food. Parents in lawn chairs watch the kids play. Up the hill, a family reunion bustles with Frisbee throwing in a camping complex made for such groups. Up a distant road, the state's 4-H complex attracts larger family reunions and kids' groups. Two-wheel drive vehicles cannot access Whitetail campground in the Forest's southernmost region. Remotely set near the Dismal River, it brings a mixture of quad riders, horse One large section of the Nebraska National Forest comprises a labyrinth of 4-wheeler trails. Here atop the Forest's "Hill Climb," ATV and UTV riders spin donuts in the sand.