How is it that as Jeeps, 4x4s, ATVs, and other off-road activities become more popular, we're given less land to enjoy them? Before I had hit my early teens the local deserts were vast unrestricted open areas. There were even lots of places where I could ride a motorcycle off-road around my childhood home. It probably wasn't legal, but it was private property and nobody really cared-often times, not even the owner. There were no fences, no Keep Out signs, and no security guards. When I got my first 4x4 there were several places within a couple of miles of my house that had difficult trails and cool rock obstacles. The fairly common summer wildfires would burn through and clear the brush from the numerous rocky canyons. The following winter rains would alter our trails regularly. In the early '90s my friends and I had rocky streambeds that rivaled the famous trails we read about in 4x4 magazines-only our trails were two miles from home instead of 200.
One of our trails picked up its name by accident. After I had found and traversed a new-to-me path, I took a few buddies out to run it. My friend Tim was piloting his Land Cruiser up the worst section when we heard a loud pop emit from his rear axle. His Lock Right locker spit its teeth allowing only one-wheel-peel. The differential made a constant funny clicking sound. I say funny, mostly because it wasn't my rig that broke. I'm sure if it had been my rear locker I wouldn't have thought it was so hilarious. Anyway, it sounded like the big spinning wheel on the game show "Wheel of Fortune." So we named the trail Wheel of Fortune.
As progress did what progress does, we lost many of our off-road spots. Today, nearly all of our local trails have become housing developments and a couple of them have become nature preserves. Some of these preserves don't even allow bicycles. These are the same trails I used to drive a 4x4 on less than two decades ago. Wheel of Fortune is under about 50 feet of compacted soil and someone's house that no doubt has a world-saving Prius in the garage.
Huge sections of our local deserts have been closed because of falsely claimed rare plants and animals in the area. At first, I honestly believed that the closures were about trying to save these plants and animals. Then I found out the plants that were claimed to be rare were everywhere in our deserts, but they only flourished during the wet years. I also sat down and spoke to a hardcore environmentalist who made it very clear to me that he just didn't want us there and he would do anything to make that happen. There was no consideration for pre-existing trails or how careful we used the areas. None of that mattered. He simply wanted Jeeps, 4x4s, motorcycles, ATVs, and off-road travel in general banned. That's what we're up against, at least in California. I'm sure other states are battling the same types.
I think what I hate most is the hypocrisy of it all. I don't like when people say one thing and then do something completely counter to it. It seems like the elitists of America are busy spending thousands of dollars to put an end to our hobby all together to "save the environment," yet they have no problem chewing up electricity to air-condition and heat an opulent 4,000 square-foot home. Of course it will have been decorated with rare century-old hardwood stripped from old-growth forests and expensive granite made from million-year-old rock torn out of the earth. These houses and thousands like them are all built on the same land that I used to ride motorcycles and drive 4x4s on. Personally, I'd rather have an off-road park, a gravel pit, or even a strip mine next door than an entire gated community full of hypocrite neighbors that want to put an end to my hobbies.
-John Cappa