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WHERE to ride off-road

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 11:55
by troy
This is an attempt to list all the places to ride that are relatively local to Kansas City. Unfortunately, there aint' a lot of riding areas close by, so "relatively local" is about a 6 hour circle from Kansas City.

This is a list in progress. If you know if places not on this list, post up! To discuss any of these riding areas, please click the name to go to the discussion thread for the riding area.

On-Road (Gravel)
http://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1180



Off-Road Trails

Perry Lake
NE of Lawrence, KS (< 1 hour)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Locations ... Trail.aspx

Midwest Extreme Park at Merwin, MO
Merwin, MO (about 45 minutes from metro)
http://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1360

Riverside Motorcycle Park ("Oakland")
Topeka, KS (1 hour)

Santa Fe Trail Cycle Park | Carbondale
Carbondale, KS (1.25 hours)

Soggy Bottom Camp
Cameron, MO (1 hour)
http://www.soggybottomcamp.com/


Pomona ATV & Motorcycle Ride Area
Pomona, KS

Cooper Creek ATV Area ("Deepwater")
Deepwater, MO (1.5 hours)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/HT/ATVArea.cfm

Otter Creek ATV Area at John Redmond Reservoir
Burlington, KS (1.5 hours)
http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/recreat/O ... 0Reservoir

Bottomland Cycle/ATV Area at Council Grove Lake
Council Grove, KS (2 hours)
http://www.atvfan.com/atv_reviews/viewi ... cle_Trail/

Tuttle Creek Spillway Cycle Area
Manhattan, KS (2.5 hours)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/tc/OffRoad.cfm

Tuttle Creek ORV Area
Randolph, KS (2.7 hours)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/tc/OffRoad.cfm

School Creek at Milford Lake
Junction City, KS (2.5 hours)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Locations ... rails.aspx

Finger Lakes
N of Columbia, MO (2.5 hours)
http://www.mostateparks.com/fingerlakes/trails.htm

Disney, OK
2500 acres of rock crawler playground below the dam at Grand Lake of the Cherokees in Oklahoma (3.5 hours)
http://www.google.com/search?q=Disney,+OK

Lake Kanopolis Motorcycle Trail
W of Lindsborg, KS (3.5 hours)
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/KA/Recrea ... nities.cfm
(Very hard to find information about the trails at Kanopolis.)
Supposed to be trails at N end of dam at Riverside Park.

Glade Top Trails
Ava, MO (4 hours)
This is not technically an off-road park, but if you are plated, you can ride the Glade Top road and access lots of trail off-shoots.
http://www.ozarkmtns.com/foliage/gladetop.asp
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=571757

Chadwick
Ozark, MO (3.5 hours)
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mtnf/re ... ecid=21762

FlatNasty Offroad Park
Jadwin, MO (5 hours)
http://www.flatnasty.net/

St. Joe State Park
Park Hills, MO (5 hours)
http://mostateparks.com/park/st-joe-state-park

CLOSED Freeman Off-Road Resort
Bunker, MO (5.5 hours)
http://www.freemanoffroad.com/index.html

Mill Creek ATV System
Combs, Arkansas (5.5 hours)
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 350135.pdf

Mack's Pines
North of Dover, AR (6 hours)
http://www.arkansasoff-road.com/brockcreek.html

Brock Creek
Jerusalem, AR (7 hours)
http://www.arkansasoff-road.com/brockcreek.html


Where to ride your ATV in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 16:15
by allkidd
Hey troy thanks for the riding location information. I've never been to tuttle and school creek. Are they worth the extra drive and how do they compare to Lake Perry? I would prefer the extra drive to ride at chadwick or mill creek rather than Perry or fingers. I don't really care for it, but there is also Deepwater at Truman Lake.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 21:09
by troy
randykidd wrote:Hey troy thanks for the riding location information. I've never been to tuttle and school creek. Are they worth the extra drive and how do they compare to Lake Perry? I would prefer the extra drive to ride at chadwick or mill creek rather than Perry or fingers. I don't really care for it, but there is also Deepwater at Truman Lake.
I've not ridden at Deepwater (Cooper Creek ATV Area), but should have included it. I added it to the list.

The only time I tried to ride at Tuttle, we camped the night before then it rained hard so we knew it would be a terrible muddy mess. So we went to School Creek instead. I've been told Tuttle is more fun for Rock Crawlers--it's not a real large area and has some large rock ledges. It gets muddy fast. School Creek, in my opinion, is the best trail riding area in KS (legal, non-private that is). It has all kinds of terrain including rocks, trees, sand, mud, hill climbs, bowls, etc. It has enough rocky areas that even with lots of rain you can ride there. Also, and I can't figure this out, but even on a perfect weather Saturday, it's not crowded.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:10
by Savage
Good idea.
I'll add that Tuttle Spillway is in Manhattan and not worth driving to.
"Tuttle CreeK" is in Randolph and has HUGE loose boulders. Cool place to go to but be prepared that's its set up for big Jeeps.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:28
by troy
Savage wrote:Good idea.
I'll add that Tuttle Spillway is in Manhattan and not worth driving to.
"Tuttle CreeK" is in Randolph and has HUGE loose boulders. Cool place to go to but be prepared that's its set up for big Jeeps.
Thanks! I knew the 2 areas were separate, but have been to neither. I added "Tuttle Creek Spillway Cycle Area" as a separate item in the list.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 14:15
by ajayhawkfan
Council Grove Reservoir, Council Grove, KS, had an ATV park below the damn in Outlet Channel East area. http://www.kansas-outdoorsman-guide.com ... rvoir.html Council Grove is a little less than two hours from KC

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 15:45
by allkidd
A couple of years ago there was talk of either the city of Sugar Creek or Kansas City alloting some land on the Missouri River for a ATV/MC riding park. The idea was to attract riders riding in illegal areas to ride at this controlled park. I thought it was basically a done deal but haven't heard of anything lately. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Another riding area, although the bikes have to be plated, is the 4WD roads off the Glade Top Trail in Southern Missouri. Easy to spend a couple days there and not cover all the trails. Except for these two weeks of hunting season, there isn't anybody there.

http://www.ozarkmtns.com/foliage/gladetop.asp

The Glade Top is 23 miles long but it is all the trails off the road that are good for riding.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 16:31
by troy
Thanks, guys! I've added these into the list. I think what makes sense now is for a thread dedicated to each linked from the item here. The area-specific thread would be a place to post trail descriptions, related links, route files, tips, things to know, etc.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 15:39
by fbj913
Dont Forget St. Joe State Park

http://mostateparks.com/park/st-joe-state-park

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 21:49
by g1shadow
Anyone ride ever ride Otter creek .. Kind of wondering what the trails are like. If its worth the drive or not

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 22:23
by Rusty Jug
Walters ranch

It's by Cole Camp Mo, right around 2,000 acres private land 8)

Will try to find the website :?:

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:54
by ne14Yah
Hi Guys . . . I am a nubi here, so go easy. Just an update on what I know about the Midwest Xtreme Mototcross facility: I live a bout 2 miles away and stopped in to talk to the owner on an off day wanting to know the hours available to ride. I was told that the only ride times available now are on race days only.

If anyone is ever heading down toward my way on a ride, give me a shout.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 02 Jan 2013 22:02
by Creekside
Great list.

Can we start one on scenic dirt/gravel roads very close to the greater KC area? Stuff we can hit on the long way home?

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 04 Aug 2013 08:37
by piratekiller13
I want to explore this glade top area but the only plated bike I have is the 990 adv. Anyone think this bike is too big for those trails or terrain?

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 04 Aug 2013 15:19
by ajayhawkfan
piratekiller13 wrote:I want to explore this glade top area but the only plated bike I have is the 990 adv. Anyone think this bike is too big for those trails or terrain?
If you are talking about Glade Top Trail that can be ridden on a Honda Goldwing. Some of the roads off Glade Top range from easy to rough like most Ozark roads. I ride them on my 1200 GSA.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 04 Aug 2013 15:52
by troy
piratekiller13 wrote:I want to explore this glade top area but the only plated bike I have is the 990 adv. Anyone think this bike is too big for those trails or terrain?
I echo what Eddie said. I'm not an expert for the Glade Top Trails, but the actual "Glad Top Trail" is a major traveled, wide, mostly smooth gravel road that runs primarily on the ridge. (The "top" in Glade Top".) I tend to find the roads that run in the valleys along and through creeks to be more interesting.

There are reportedly a lot of off-road worthy trails/roads that run off of the Glade Top. On [urlhttp://www.rideforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... t=20#p9115]a ride we did back in June 2011[/url], we started down a rough side road only to put a hole in the oil pan of a BMW F800GS. Doh!

I think you'll find suitable stuff to please you on your 990 ADV. If you don't mind company, post up your plan and an invite in the Ride! forum. 8)

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 04 Aug 2013 15:54
by troy
Creekside wrote:Great list.

Can we start one on scenic dirt/gravel roads very close to the greater KC area? Stuff we can hit on the long way home?
I don't think folks are ignoring this post. I think the issue the serious lack of "scenic dirt/gravel roads" very close to the metro.

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:01
by ajayhawkfan
troy wrote:
Creekside wrote:Great list.

Can we start one on scenic dirt/gravel roads very close to the greater KC area? Stuff we can hit on the long way home?
I don't think folks are ignoring this post. I think the issue the serious lack of "scenic dirt/gravel roads" very close to the metro.
Do you think Mission Hills and the KCCC would mind if I cut through their golf course on my long way home?

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:52
by troy
ajayhawkfan wrote:
troy wrote:
Creekside wrote:Great list.

Can we start one on scenic dirt/gravel roads very close to the greater KC area? Stuff we can hit on the long way home?
I don't think folks are ignoring this post. I think the issue the serious lack of "scenic dirt/gravel roads" very close to the metro.
Do you think Mission Hills and the KCCC would mind if I cut through their golf course on my long way home?
Just put a sticker on your bike that reads

KC Lawn Aeration Services

Re: WHERE to ride

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 19:03
by Hockey Dad
Hello, newbe "hockey Dad" my first sign on, wanted to know if anyone has heard of a new place up in Lathrop MO to ride???