# ATV Riding around Augusta



## syates4 (Oct 16, 2009)

Recently moved to Augusta and am looking for some places to take a small sport ATV to ride. Don't need anything special, just some trails or woods. Any suggestions would be appreciated, as well as warnings. 
Thanks...


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## Working Dog (Oct 17, 2009)

I have no idea if you are SUPPOSED to ride in these two places or not but I have in the past and people still do as far as I know:

1) Lock and dam off of Mike Padgett Highway (out by the Bush Field Airport). There is a pretty good mud pit right there by the downstream boat ramp below the dam.

2) I have also rode an atv at the Augusta Canal. You access those trails right off of Broad Street in downtown Augusta.


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## syates4 (Oct 19, 2009)

Great, thanks for the help. I did a bit of scouting today and plan on taking the ATV out tomorrow. If anyone knows of some other (free) places to ride please let me know.


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## Slug-Gunner (Oct 20, 2009)

*Private Property....*

Many property owners and lease holders have posted NEGATIVE COMMENTS about ATV riders "TRESPASSING" ON THEIR PRIVATE PROPERTY OR LEASE on this forum in the past. Many public lands, both county, state and federal, often ban ATV usage on these lands. Savannah Lock and Dam (park area) and Phinizy Swamp WMA areas are a couple of them. The area mentioned above near the lower boat ramp below the Savannah Lock and Dam is either airport property (county owned) or private land (I'm not sure about the 'legality' of riding there). A lot of trucks and boat trailers are sometimes parked in that area also, when the main ramp parking area is full.

You need to KEEP ONE THING IN MIND, if you're going to take your ATV out 'dirt-riding'..... if the property is NOT OWNED by the local state or county governments, YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY (unless you have the owner's permission to be there).  There are a few PRIVATE PROPERTY areas where the owner's may permit ATV and motorcycles to use their property for riding, but they may often 'charge a $$ fee to do so and often you must sign a 'release' to hold the property owner harmless if you are injured or wreck your ATV or m/c.

Especially at this time of year, hunting season, property owners get particularly upset at 'TRESPASSERS' and it seems even more so at ATV 'Thrill-Riders' who tear up the trails and create 'ruts' and 'severe erosion' problems to the property, not to mention 'spooking' the deer on the property. 

In Georgia the property DOES NOT HAVE TO BE POSTED "NO TRESPASSING" for the property owner to take 'preventive measures' to deter such usage. If it IS POSTED AS "NO TRESPASSING", THEY CAN DO EVEN MORE DRASTIC THINGS (TO DETER 'TRESPASSING'). I have known them to dig deep ditches across ATV trails, especially in the middle of corners (where they aren't often seen until too late to avoid); put cables across the trails (usually just high enough to catch the handle bars or riders), some have even been known to bury boards with spikes or large nails in them across the trails to damage tires of ATVs. Land developers who might buy large tracts of previously 'forested lands' are known to do this quite often.

No one can stop you from going on PRIVATE PROPERTY if you decide to go around gates or barricades to do so.... but you are doing so AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you should happen to experience one of the 'hazards' or 'pitfalls' mentioned above, you have no one but yourself to blame for any damage or injuries incurred. 

On some of these PRIVATE LANDS many of the 'older' owners still have that "Good Ol' Boy" or "Red-neck" mentality that IT IS STILL OK TO SHOOT TRESPASSERS. Is it legal or correct - NO! But that won't help you if you are dead or wounded in the hospital, even if they are 'charged' or 'in jail' for it.

Does this 'risk' prevent many young people from doing it.... NO! This is because the younger generation JUST DOESN'T THINK BEFORE THEY DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. 

This post is NOT TO DISCOURAGE YOU FROM FINDING A PROPER PLACE TO RIDE YOUR ATV, but mainly as "Food for Thought" as to some of the 'dangers' you might encounter, and make you aware of them, if you TRESPASS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY to do so. 

Hope this helps KEEP YOU SAFE and able to enjoy your ATV riding.


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## plumber7527 (Oct 20, 2009)

Slug-Gunner said:


> Many property owners and lease holders have posted NEGATIVE COMMENTS about ATV riders "TRESPASSING" ON THEIR PRIVATE PROPERTY OR LEASE on this forum in the past. Many public lands, both county, state and federal, often ban ATV usage on these lands. Savannah Lock and Dam (park area) and Phinizy Swamp WMA areas are a couple of them. The area mentioned above near the lower boat ramp below the Savannah Lock and Dam is either airport property (county owned) or private land (I'm not sure about the 'legality' of riding there). A lot of trucks and boat trailers are sometimes parked in that area also, when the main ramp parking area is full.
> 
> You need to KEEP ONE THING IN MIND, if you're going to take your ATV out 'dirt-riding'..... if the property is NOT OWNED by the local state or county governments, YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY (unless you have the owner's permission to be there).  There are a few PRIVATE PROPERTY areas where the owner's may permit ATV and motorcycles to use their property for riding, but they may often 'charge a $$ fee to do so and often you must sign a 'release' to hold the property owner harmless if you are injured or wreck your ATV or m/c.
> 
> ...



one thing its also illegal to set traps are any other type of device to hurt a illegal or legal atv riders....some times you have kids riding places they should not....go ride at parsons mountain in abbeville sc its free....


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## Slug-Gunner (Oct 20, 2009)

*Legal vs. Illegal....*



plumber7527 said:


> one thing its also illegal to set traps are any other type of device to hurt a illegal or legal atv riders....some times you have kids riding places they should not....go ride at parsons mountain in abbeville sc its free....



Even though both TRESPASSING and/or making 'deterrents' to ATV travel may also be considered ILLEGAL, it won't stop either from taking place or happening. My post was simply making ATV riders aware of some of the 'deterrents' they may encounter, especially if they happen to TRESPASS TO DO SO. When those doing the trespassing start cutting locks on gates or tearing down fences to gain entry, they kind of 'throw the rule book out' when it comes to stopping them or 'payback'.

Whose to say a 2 ft wide trench across a road/trail is not for 'drainage' purposes vs. being an INTENTIONAL TRAP or a cable strung across a trail with a NO TRESPASSING SIGN on it or marked with warning tape is a 'deterrent to travel' or a trap. 

Two wrongs won't make it right, but it will make it 'hazardous', especially to the ATV rider.

I and my friends encountered a like situation in the Baldwin Hills area near So. Central Los Angeles in the late '50s when a developer purchased the property for property development that we had been using as a motorcycle dirt riding area by local area residents. He started with cutting trenches across most of the riding paths and got progressively more aggressive in ways to 'deter' the property's use as a dirt bike area. Nothing like going over a hill used as a jump, only to find a pile of concrete rubble in your landing area. The area was nothing but tract homes a few years later. Me and some cousins use to go steal watermelons from a neighboring farm in Nebraska when younger.... until my cousin got a full load of 'rock salt' in his butt.... for some reason it acted as a 'deterrent' for the rest of us. I still remember him crying and screaming for over a week. My aunt made him sit in a tub full of warm water (to add to his misery, I think).


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