National Forest Closed Roads Question

GClyde28

FNG
Joined
Dec 7, 2017
Messages
42
Location
Austin, TX
Quick question for the guys that get to spend more time out west every year than this Texan.

Are closed roads or roads that are seasonally closed per the MVUM map in the national forest usually chained shut or is it more the honor system. Reason I ask is I have a few areas I like from e-scouting in the unit we are heading to that are "roadless" in the sense that people aren't supposed to be driving in there this time of the year but was just curious if y'alls experience has shown that people tend to not follow the rules or those areas could maybe be trusted.
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,249
Maybe/maybe not. There are areas of national forest where every offshoot/seasonal road is locked by a gate and there are other areas where they are not. Most I have been to are gated but in my experience is not a hard and fast rule.

If there is not a gate 100% expect people to be jack wagons and violate the rules...even if marked with a sign many times the sign just disappears.
 

sram9102

WKR
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
998
Location
IN
Not really a closed road but we went into a place last year where there was a gate that was open and was suppose to be dirtbike, horses, or foot traffic behind it. There was an obvious 2 track behind it that went on for a few miles on the back side of the gate. Ran into a couple of older gentlemen that had been hunting the same area for decades that were hunting out of an old bronco. Had to be an interesting climb up the back side of the ridge. Several 4 wheelers and dirtbikes running around.
 

def90

WKR
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Aug 12, 2020
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1,577
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Colorado
Around here the USFS roads that have seasonal closures have chained gates on them that they open in the spring/summer and close in the fall.
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
503
Location
Idaho
Another tip if you run into a forest service gate that is open during hunting season. Call ahead and find out when that gate will be locked up. Found that out the hard way one year when I got locked behind one on the way out several days before the posted date stating it would close. Didn't have cell service and was many miles from the truck. Almost rolled a side by side off the mountain trying to get around it since there was no fence on one side.
 
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GClyde28

FNG
Joined
Dec 7, 2017
Messages
42
Location
Austin, TX
Awesome. Thanks fellas! I'll reach our to the local station and get some more information from them.
 
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