Wheelers hit a sweet spot with their shared park
Kerry Hansen
Hutchinson Leader
Posted: Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Halfway between Hutchinson and Litchfield, an out-of-the-way, 40-acre park filled with dirt trails has provided endless fun for the Crow River Wheelers for the past 20 years.
“Few people knew it existed,” said Alvin Bertram, a member of the Wheeler’s board.
The land was purchased with proceeds from the annual McLeod County SuperCross Races at the fairgrounds, and club members volunteered their time to maintain the land.
But last year a deal with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources came together. The state agency pitched in funding to reimburse volunteers, and the Crow River Wheelers stepped up maintenance to make the park ready for the public as the Meeker County Off-Highway Vehicle Park.
“In the past, if you wanted to ride, you just had to join the club,” Bertram said. “Now it’s simply open to the public and it is on the DNR website … and it has been used a lot more than expected.”
The OHV park has about five miles of all-terrain vehicle trails and six miles of off-highway motorcycle trails, all free for public use. It’s smaller than a few other trails in Minnesota, but it is easily accessible and safe to ride for many skill levels. A brown public park sign at 18738 Meeker County Road 9 marks the turn onto the park’s dirt roads.
“It’s mostly wooded, with a clearing and a picnic shelter with tables, and a handicap accessible restroom and parking lot,” said Sandi Stone, one of the Wheelers.
“It’s a fairly small park compared to some others, and we didn’t expect it would be people’s first choice, we thought it would be used more locally,” Bertram said. “But it’s a great place to take the kids and ride around for a few hours, especially today when kids can’t go out and tool around on gravel roads by the farm.”
The Crow River Wheelers have commonly seen visitors from the metro, likely in part due to proximity. It isn’t hard to find visitors after work or school hours, or all day on the weekend.
“We have five or six trails. They’re always changing a little based on rain, and they’re getting wider from use,” Stone said. “When the water goes down, there is a mudding area and you’ll see people out here playing. Ever since our official grand opening in June (2015), every time you go out, there are people riding or playing in the mud.”
One of those visitors, Jordan Halstead, likes the opportunity to ride his four-wheeler. In the past couple of years, the 16-year-old rural Gibbon resident has visited four times, and he’s noticed the addition of new trails. He said there are no other, similar locations available within the area.
“We’re surprised how many people are traveling a distance to use our park,” Bertram said.
The majority of off-highway vehicle trails are in the northern part of the state. The nearest two trails are Tri-County Park, a 25-acre park near Faribault, and Appleton Area Recreational Park, one mile east of Appleton, in Swift County.
“It started to get boring at my place,” Halstead said. He and his friends intend to visit a few more times this year. “The trails are a decent width for the four-by-fours, and there are some mud pots. That’s nice.”
To encourage more young riders to try the sport, and be sure they’re doing it safely, the Crow River Wheelers maintain a portion of the park for ATV safety classes. Anyone interested in the next class on July 30 can contact Paul Kruse at 320-582-0222, or
[email protected].
http://www.crowrivermedia.com/hutch...cle_da664a47-765c-59e1-91f3-98725b6dade4.html
