Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one in southern NE trying to get out and actually wheel, but that could also be because there isn't anywhere to go around here. For the most part, I scratch the offroad itch when I'm visiting my mom in WV or my inlaws in PA, but I can at least hit up the beach in the summer and 508 when they have a Jeep weekend. I did manage to get pulled over by the Environmental Police on what I *thought* was a legal trail in Freetown State Forest a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, they gave me a warning, because apparently the ticket is $750.
I donāt if it will help, but you might want to look at the trails used for the Killington Jeep jamboree. I went to it twice. They have a good verity of trail difficulties. Iām sure you canāt go on any of the Killington mt trails, but they connected to a butt load of other trails. Maybe listed on onX Off-road app?
One of my good friends is a guide for that event. We did some of those Class IVs around that area in 2022, some of the roads were a bit tight, but we squeaked his JLUR and my JTM through "stock". I don't think many of them are on OnX (at least they weren't when we ran them two years back.) The thing to be careful with in VT is that most of the unmaintained roads are shut down to traverse during "Mud Season" up there. BIG damage can happen while the snow runoff makes its way down during the spring thaw, so they try to limit traffic on dirt/gravel.
I've heard about MaBell, supposed to be one of the few decent legal trails in MA. I don't get out that way very much, except when my father in law is racing at Lebanon Valley every couple of years.
I can confirm that there aren't any points of interest marked on OnX around there.
Part of the issue is that anyone who finds a legal unmaintained road isn't too forthcoming about letting the world know about it.
I was up there a few months ago with my JK. There are now a lot of No Trespassing signs on the go-arounds, meaning that in some areas you have no choice but to take some fairly challenging lines. Many of the obstacles are becoming really rutted-out due to people just spinning until they either give up or get enough heat into the tires to grip & stick.
The Friends of Sylvester Road worked with the city of Northampton to post signage on the property lines because there were signs of people using bypasses almost 200 feet over into private land. MaBell is (to my knowledge) the only public-use off-road trail for full-size vehicles in MA, and we work to try and maintain access for all to that small stretch of trail.
Is Old Florida Road still open? I remember doing that back when I had my CJ5
Yeah, Iām thinking of doing Jericho this year ā¦ā¦..but with my son and the dirt bikes. Weāll see. Pretty sure you need a winch on 4x4 vehicles at Jericho Which I donāt have.
When I got pulled over at Freetown, the cops were nice as can be. Two vets and two rookies, all on quads. I got the feeling that the older guy who seemed to be in charge wouldn't have even given me a formal warning if he wasn't breaking in the rookies. Bottom line is to just keep the Jeep on Copicut or Quanapoag Road, don't get tempted by any side trails, even if they're two-track and not gated or posted. Anything else is for dirt bikes only.
People bypassing deep into private property has been an issue on my favorite trail down in WV, to the point where I'm worried the county is going to gate the public right of way. Thanks for trying to keep legal trails open.
OFR is still open, but that gatekeeper rock about 100ft in has grown awfully big in the last few years with the dirt base in front getting dug out/washed away. A friend of mine just did it with his JTM Mojave with the 2" AEV spacer lift and 37s, so its doable.
