Well we have a new Maryland Forum to disccuss DCL.

I have been coming to the lake for 25 years. I for one think Garrett County needs to develop a much better trail system. They have over 100 miles of state approved trails, but none link together.

I would like to see a loop of the lake and trails that would take you to Oakland and north thru Accident to Grantsville.

To be able to connect to Mt Davis and Laurel Highlands in PA would be ideal.

It would be great to be able to access places like Wisp, Swallow Falls, Mt Nebo rec area, Savage River Forest.

The sleds would cause minimal if any damage to the environment.

I would be willing to pay an increased registration or buy a Garrett county trail pass to have better trails and grooming.

Hey DNR are you listening?

I agree that md dnr may actually be able to get some registation or trail access money if they had some type of trail network. While at the ski sawmill hillclimb a few weeks ago, i was told that ski liberty had a snowmobile hill climb a few years ago. A few snowmobile oriented events like that and the outlook on the sport might be seen in a little better light as far as gaining some trail access. I have access to some equipment for clearing trails and would volunteer time and equipment when needed.

Rob

there is a group that has been trying to get a mtn bike trail around the county and lake for some time now. Don't know the status but they have been working on it for years. probably didn't get much help from DNR or our county commissioners. steve or brian at high mountain sports would probably have some better insight as to the feasibilty of a sled trail/loop/network. i have not heard anything on the bike trailfor probably going on two years now.

garrett county is like the forgotten step child of md politics. i just don't see the occupiers of the 4th floor of the tawes bldg in annapolis paying a whole of attention to sledders, much less appropriating DNR funds for snowmobile trail development.

i have 4 wheeled most of the DNR trails around the county and they are just ok. in some places they have snowmobile only trails but i've never sledded on them. if anything like the 4 wheeler trails they are not very long. i no longer 4 wheel on the DNR trails 'causse they are so heavily patrolled, last time i went out was stopped three times, twice by the same officer. that was sorta of it for me.

a trail system would be nice but more than likely you would need some private land access and unfortunately private land owners around here don't have the same outlook on sledders like you see up north.

this coming sunday is last day of the ski season at wisp. still plenty of snow over there for a hill climb. that would be cool. as you say with more sled oriented events might open some eyes.

got an email today form new england outdoor in millinocket in Maine. said they have another month of sledding and conditions are mid winter. they got a lot of snow this year. some of us were going to go up there this year but didn't work out. i look at my sleds every day in the garage and sure would like to ride again but does't look good.

great that we have our own spot on hcs.

I believe that one of the locals that I have talked to is on the committee that's been working on that bike trail. I am sure this is a very uphill battle but I also think the opportunity is definitely there. There are obviously a fair amount of sledders in DCL when conditions allow. Hell, I know there are lots of people who ONLY rider there. Shit just get out to ANF or Potter or a little further to NY and especially Quebec to see what you're missing (thats just what I found in a quick search).

People are already riding there on public and private lands so we might as well try to organize it better for everyone's benefit. BTW in the last 5 years MD DNR has received grants totaling nearly $65,000 allegedly for snowmobile trail development and maintenance from the federal RTP program.

As I was telling Lee, I am real optimistic that DCL can be connected by trail to Mt Davis Pa. I do worry about private land access since as it is now people just kinda ride where they have for years without getting hassled. It is possible that the formality of asking some of these land owners will be rejected. Even if we never get a club or anymore organized trails we can at least use this forum to help each other explore the what riding can be had and how to get to different places like Grantsville Oakland Keysers Ridge etc.

I think the bike trail has recently cleared a major hurdle to make it more of a reality. I don't have any details of that. In the past Wisp has hosted freestyle snowmobile events maybe even a hillclimb

did not realize that. what is RTP?



how would you get across 68? new germany? is someone working on this?



now that you mention it i do remember that wisp used to hold a sled water skip event across one of their ponds. 20? something years ago?

There are alot of sledders around. i have seen weekends (not this year) where you would swear there were more sleds on the lake than boats you would see on some weekends at the lake during the summer. A good friend of mine (now gone) used to say there is nothing quite like the sound of a well tuned snowmobile ripping down the lake.

Sweet glad we have our own thread!!! I'm all for a trail system that would connect up into PA. IT wouldn't make sense to have one around the lake. Growing up at DCL sled billy makes agood point about getting stopped alot, point is we will get pulled over alot and patrolled alot. These jackass supertroopers here don't have a better thing to do. I think that we could possibly use and under pass to go under 68 or an overpass. Screw it I don't have much to do in the fall or spring I'll whip out the chainsaw and start cutting just show me where.

With regards to the hill climb:
I know Karen Meyers one of owners she is a member of Deep Creek Yacht club. I'll run the idea past her this summer since I'm doing a dinner with her. Here son Tac spiker ownes deep creek powersports just across the PA line he is a Ski doo dealer. So she'd probably vote yes but I'm not sure about Bob Rudy and others. Their main concern would be liability but there is something neat about bringing back old garrett county pastimes.

RTP = A portion of the federal highway excise tax on fuel is designated to go to the Recreational Trails Program. The total is divided in half, the first half is split evenly among the states. The other half is prorated per state based on their trails.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/index.htm

I am in contact with the MD state administrator of this program to see if we can come up with any eligible projects - with or without a club, or gov't support. I actually plan to find out if seed money for a club is eligible.

I am sure a way to cross 68 can be found. I'll bet its already there somewhere. If there is no actual trail crossing then as Chad says work a route over to an underpass or overpass and make a short shoulder ride. Scouting this out, to me is an early priority since looking at maps and aerial photos seems to show that it can be done. Who ever does any scouting please make a GPS track log. I have GPS tracks via snow to get from Mosser Rd to the Mangroff Plantation section http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/tra...e/mangroff.html of the Savage River Forest legal snomo trails (near Accident - stop into to Annies first for some pie!). From there we need to link to the Negro Mt area trails http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/tra...romountain.html. These 2 legal trails seem to come within less than a mile of each other. The Negro Mt trail goes very close to 68 and is probably part of the way that some sledders are getting from the lake to Grantsville. Again from the Atlas i have it looks as if you could ride from Negro Mt all the way to Mt Davis, PA - from there it also looks as if you can ride to Rockwood, PA and I am pretty sure you can get from Rockwood to 7 Springs. Voila - DCL to LH linked up. It aint all gonna be legal, yet, but if its there I'd LOVE to try that next year.

Now a problem I see is that many of the legal MD snomo trails do not allow ATVs but that sure would be the easiest way to map it out over the summer. I'm not against MT biking it but it sure will take longer.

My Dad is friends with Karen too and I'll ask him about her position. Wisp does offer sled tours of the slopes after skiing hours. You ride on their fleet behind their guides.

sounds like you've got something going here...and by the amount of views so far on this post, it shows plenty of interest too.
keep it going

I have been following this thread and think it is a great endeavor! I will try and support this effort as much as I can.

My wife and I are building a camp in NY state, so a lot of my time has been spent on researching things I need to get done, plus I will be spending a lot of off days and vacation time up in NY to get things finished.

Deep Creek Lake has a lot to offer, and there is a lot of money in the area. We just have to make noises in the right places!

Bob K.

Using google earth and topo software I can tell you for sure - barring and fences or other obstructions I can't see in the photography - you can ride unpaved roads (part way along a paved road) from the Mt Davis Lookout to Rockwood PA in under 10 actual trail riding miles. One problem I see is that the last northern most mile or so is along a powerline on a NW/SE axis which could be gated off here and there. I'm now gonna try to connect this route to High Point Lake - easy and then south to Keysers Ridge and into MD's Savage River Forest trail which I can get to from McHenry MD - Deep Creek Lake. Once I have it all mapped out (some time over the summer) we'll take the ATVs and Bikes up there to try to confirm it. Once I have the software figured out more I'll post the route file which can be loaded into a GPS. Judging by what can be seen on the aerial photography there are countless trails in the area. Enough such that you could probably spend a whole weekend exploring on the sled and not cover it all. That route I created is just the most direct one I see and there may be a better way to get to the south side of the bridge. Of course getting across the river is a problem too if we want to extend the ride north to 7 Springs of LH.

Now I am trying to find a way from the Negro Mt DNR trail to the way to Mt Davis. I can see parts of the Negro Mt trail on the aerial and it connects with a powerline that runs WNW/ESE. We might be able to take the powerline to Amish Rd and ride along Amish RD which looks to have an overpass over I-68. Starting a scouting run at Amish Rd and the powerline would allow us to test that we can get to the DNR trail and across I-68.

Now we are getting somewhere. Count me in!

If we could get a track laid down this summer.... could make for some great riding next year, if we get some snow.

Wisp a few years back had the GNCC ATV races, so I doubt they would be opposed to the liability, so long as turn out was good enough to make a financial return. I wish you guys luck talking with Karen Myers.

I agree with your friend... always did like to hear the sound of a sled blasting down the lake on a quiet night. At least as long as it's not followed by a "glub...glub...glub"

Oh! Thats funny. Had the Arctic Cat running this morning. We can rebuild it - we have the technology. I'll be plotting out several things to investigate. I see I-68 as the big challenge other than getting north of the river at Rockwood. I think we're gonna have to run along I-68 to use the Amish Rd overpass and get to trails on either sides. Lee, do you know if those are mostly "camps' or residences up on Mt Davis? I see one or two that must be quite nice, others could dumps.

I'm seeing Amish rd crossing 68, but what/where is Mt.Davis. I can't find it on the map. I see a "pipeline rd" running from Rt.40 all the way to Rockwood, crossing Mt Davis Rd,...is this just an area or an actual location ?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...&iwloc=addr

Mt Davis Road goes to the peak I guess. My laptop is out for service until Mon. Mon or Tues I'll post links to the pdf topo maps I made with routes from Garrett County Airport to Mt Davis (25 miles) and beyond to Rockwood (36 miles). The routes might get 5-7 miles longer after scouting out all the questionable areas. I don't have the attachment space on HCS and I don't have my ftp settings on the wifes computer and the pdfs are over 10MB ea.

I have no set plans to get to DCL before mid July but will be open, life and wife permitting to head up sometime that someone else might go with ATVs and GPS. I have to get my ATV from my Dads in McHenry.

I got my GPS track from the run to Accident in the topo software. The track log takes you very close to the west entrance of the Negro Mt trails and I feel sure we can cut across the powerline there and up through the woods to the entrance. I can't believe I didn't think of this before (using google earth and topo) to find more riding. I can see lots of opportunities for exploring so I hope to spend more time in DCL this summer and next winter to work through some routes. I'm not getting much info yet from the local guys but I'll stay in touch with them to add to my routes. By fall I might be able to publish an unofficial map certainly with at least a McHenry to I-68 loop. I expect to also be able to map out a McHenry to Grantsville and lake to Oakland route.

I am have uploaded the pdf maps I made to my site.

The north half is here
http://www.inspectorjack.com/maps/dcl2rwoodn.pdf

South
http://www.inspectorjack.com/maps/dcl2rwoods.pdf

My red tracks are best guesses using the topo software and google earth images of trails that I either know exist or expect to be able to ride - they include published legal snomo trails, seasonal roads, farm hopping, powerline cuts and obvious dirt roads. There may still be obstructions such as fences or streams that are not passable, etc.

The yellow tracks are road riding that I expect will be short enough to be passable or that it appears have a large enough shoulder or surrounding land that its possible to ride along it.

The purple tracks are the questionable areas where I think a route probably exists or could exist easily. They include places where the tree cover makes it difficult to say if the trail is there, the I-68 crossover at Amish Rd etc. The 5 mile long purple run from the airport along the powerline is questionable but I know I can get to the legal MD DNR trail that starts there at the S in Savage River Forest using my previous GPS track which is not shown on this pdf but will be on a future one.

After I made these pdf s I lost the topo document when upgrading the Topo! software so I have to recreate a lot of this work in the file that has the GPS track. Also got fit in work!

looks great...think it will ever happen ?
Are most of these rds/trails/fields open to ATV use ? I'd like to come out with my 4wheelers also.
What GPS are you using, and would you suggest any different model/software for it ? My Magellan Roadmate is very basic and won't let me create new trails.

I use a Garmin GPSMap60CS. If I was buying tomorrow for the sled I'd probably get a Garmin Vista HCx. Most of the same features useful for sledding as the Map60CSx but $100 cheaper. I would also put Garmin City Navigator NT in the GPS. I made the tracks using National Geographic Topo! BackRoads Explorer 3D ($30 at REI) while referring to Google Earth to see if it looks like trees are cut where the trails appear to be.

I am 100% confident that I could ride from McHenry at DCL to Accident then on to the Negro Mt trails (the irregular "A" shape - those are legal MD DNR trails) and get right up to I-68. I am fairly confident that I could park somewhere on Rt 40 just north of I-68 and ride all the to Rockwood Pa. The trick is to connect the tracks on either side of I-68. Amish Rd is the most likely looking chance but that purple track is about a mile on each side of I-68 along the shoulder plus up and over the overpass. I will try it next winter unless scouting it over the summer rules it out or finds an alternative.

Not sure how much is legal by ATV but I've ridden most of the way to Accident on ATV from McHenry. And I'll probably leave from my Dads house in McHenry on ATV to see if I can get to and over I-68.

No input from anyone?

looks great jack. i had to blow up the southern map to be able to see distinction of your purple line (the unknown power line) and all the other reddish purple lines....any idea what those are? they seem to follow some of the roads.

i always thought there was a trail from the top of meadow mtn at the state park to 68 and would go thru the upper part of new germany state park. i know there is a 4 wheeler trail from the park office on new germany road (right across from entrance to park) that goes to 68 and ends up somewhere around lower new germany road that is an underpass at 68. not famiiar with north of that in PA but that is near the meshach browning hunting club on the casselman and there is a small bridge there to get across to the west side of the river.

i have online access to the taxmaps and recorded plats for garrett county. if you have a question about ownership on a particular seciton/parcel let me know and i can look up and psot.

i have a four wheeler and would be willing to help with scouting the trails and with cleanup. I know several of the park managers and can make inquiries about any additional trail locations and also trail maintenance by us.

I keep looking at your links...going to plan an atv trip with my son out there in a few weeks hopefully. Guess i need Md reg before I come out ?
Also, been a little busy searching dealerships...looking at leftovers...great prices this time of yr

for dnr 4 wheeler trails yes you do need the reg, believe you can get at any state park but i always go to the deep creek state park to get mine.

and yes, if histtory is any indication, you will get stopped

You can get a DNR reg at some dealers too including Bills up in DCL. I do believe that some of the trails I've mapped out are not legal for ATVs but they need to be scouted.

I think what you're talking about are actually the roads. Again I think lots of powerline riding will be available and hopefully help connect some routes.



I think that trail you're talking about exists and might also be the way guys are getting to Grantsville. The way the dnr has that trail diagrammed online makes it real hard to figure out where it goes. Spent most of that time focusing on on DCL to Mt Davis. The lake to Grantsville or that trail you talking about is on my list too. Please who ever rides anywhere make GPS track logs and we can load them into the topo and publish it. Gotta study that I-68 crossing to see if it would be easier to connect to getting to Mt Davis. There is a powerline cut just north of the PA line which might be used to cross I-68 near lower new germany then cut west on the powerline cut.



I'd love to know what these people's opinions are regarding more snowmobile trail development. I have been in contact with one of the administrators of the MD RTP (Rec Trails Program) to discuss grant funding eligibility. Any grant needs to be sponsored by a non-profit or municipal entity (a snowmobile club would qualify). The program does allow for the DNR or a municipality to sponsor a program that is carried out by another entity under contract - such as us. The RTP program is specifically intended to be used for various trail development, maintenance, or improvement, and further, specifically, among other trail uses, snowmobile trails. I do think that whatever grant is applied for is intended to 50% funded with the grantee arranging for the other 50%. Haven't studied it enough yet. I waiting for a little more input from the group who actually live and have businesses in the area before getting more serious with club actions.

For now I think we can just map out some interesting routes on which we can take some good day trips rather than just touring the lake.

Thanks for the input.

I am checking this thread regularly and would be interested in checking the route possibilities on atvs with others. I definitely understand the first few trips may be ride at your own risk. If there is anything us lurkers of this thread can do to help out just let us know. Some of you seem very knowledgable of the area but didnt want you to think others were not interested.


Rob

talked to someone i know at the DCL state park and there is a way to get from the park to the new germany trail that goes to 68. he said that there is a small portion of private land you cross but they have never had any problem...way out in the woods kind of thing. did not pursue anything else with him until, as you say, more input from others.

in this thread (or somewhere, cant' readily find) you talked about what a good handheld gps would be. i don't currently have one but am interested in getting one. what would you suggest? something that interfaces well with a portable and also can store lat/long waypoints for download and mapping in another coordinate system (like state planar, etc). thanx.

as far as funding on the private side i would participate and i know others that would also be interested.

what a beautiful day in GC today. mid to high 60's with bright sunshine. did some riding today w/o having to wear a coat. some weather moving in and we're supposed to get some snow on the morrow. has dropped 10 degrees in last hour or so.

Yeah, my wife and sister are at our place for a ladies weekend with some friends.

I have a Garmin map60CS. We looked into the best GPS for sledding last year for 2 riders and decided on the Garmin Vista HCx. It does most most everything the new 60CSx does that would be useful for everything but offshore fishing for about $100 less. The screen is slightly smaller in dimension but shows the same amount of info at a time due to having basically the same pixel count. Since the x is for Expansion card I think you can store as much info as you need (tracks, routes, waypoints etc). I also recommend getting the City Navigator software which lets you look up millions of points of interest such as gas, lodging etc. That came in real handy deep in Quebec last winter when my buddy ran out of gas. The GPS will tell where the closest services are.

I've got an idea where the trail you're talking about is but haven't taken the time to review the aerial photography to try to map it out yet. It looks like parts of it are shown on the USGS topo software I have. Hopefully someone can GPS it and post the track log. Eventually we can piece everyones track logs together to continually add to an unofficial map. My brother and I were looking at google maps briefly today and we need to also map a way if possible to get from the lake over to the trails at Herrington Manor. My first ever snomo ride was there many years ago.

Ever ride down by the dam? Is the lake usually safe down there or not? Can't say I've ever taken that direction on the ice.

Another vote for the Garmin 60CS. It has been trouble free, great battery life and reception. The screen can be hard to read at times without the backlighting on.

The ice towards the dam is good, but the area at the dam itself is often open.

Count me in for anything in regards to the trails. At the very least, we have some areas to explore when the snow starts flying.

As everyone knows there are several unconnected LEGAL DNR snowmobile trail systems around Garrett County.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/trailguide/

Its such as shame that there are so many ~10 mile trail sections that are unconnected. I have started to draw them out on the topo software to try to devise routes to connect as many of them as possible. Interestingly from the Potomac River Trail system it looks to be quite feasible to get into West Virginia south of Garrett County. It also looks possible to head west in to West Virginia from the Garrett Trail system which is part of Herrington Manor State Park.

A little more regarding the GPS. I power my GPS from the built in 12v DC adapter plug on my sled (er I DID and plan to again when I get a new Apex). My GPS is set to always have the backlight on when powered by the adapter and stays on via the batteries whenever I shut down the sled (or if a bump jars the adapter plug out). As for mounting I had mine mounted using a RAM mount on 2 different places on the dashboard for the sled but have finally settled for the handlebar mount. You could have as many inexpensive handlebar mounts as you need to put the cradle on your sled, bike, atv, etc. Prior to my sinking my receiver developed a problem with the backlight going out but I found that I could whack it and it would come on again. If you ever go to the Mich UP or NY or Quebec you can download FREE trail map image packages to follow when you are riding the trails. It is definitely nice to pull to an intersection and know right away or be able to figure out which way to go in a short amount of time. You'll still get lost but getting un-lost is much easier. And again all of that saved our asses several times in Quebec over the last 3 seasons that I've had a GPS on board.

This is what I was thinking when I asked way back when about connecting trails around DCL. This is more inline with a "family" ride for me.
But, I'm also very interested in the trails you laid out to head to LH. That would be great for the "guys ride".
Sounds good...glad to see it...
Still want to plan a weekend out with the ATV's...I just need a different GPS.

I see from your profile you updated your ride.

just a little...twice the motor and 21 yrs newer...it's about time don't ya think ?

Is it Winter yet...

Hey Indy, Did you buy used or find a new leftover?

New leftover...couldn't beat the price.

Hey guys still here been crazy eliminated half the salesforce they kept me luckily. I'll be up in a few weeks I'm liking what I'm seeing on the maps good work jack. Jack saw yamaha apex brand new for $7400 for 08 spring special.

I'll be up at the honi this summber and on the water lee and jack let me know about scouting out trails I'm game for a weekend or two of it.
Chad

Nothing beats a new sled with warranty... at used prices. I think you'll be real happy with the new sled.

I have seen some crazy prices advertised on leftovers.

Glad to hear your hanging in there Chad... Jack has put a lot of time and research in the virtual trail exploration dept. Hopefully it will pay off next winter. Stay in touch.... maybe we can all meet up this summer.

Lee I'll be up about every other weekend. Let me know looking forward to meeting up with you guys.

havent been on for awhile. have i missed any updates on the trail exploration???

Rob

Unfortunately there's been no new action that I know of. With school, summer camps, recitals and everything else I haven't even been back. I know lovett has been there with a new quad but I don't know how much exploring he was able to do. I'll be up in 2 weekends but don't expect to do much exploring. I'll make time in the fall tho, it needs to be done.

I was alerted that my sunk sled was on ebay last week and the auction ended at $2550. I'd love to hear what they wind up having to do to get it running. It sure looked good except for the rust on the brake rotor.

I saw that but thought.....nah.....can't be same sled

I haven't had a chance to get out either....I work for a utility company and we just bought a neighboring system and have been working about 70hrs /wk....I can't wait for Winter! it's hot out

The sled still has all of my custom stickers on it. Even the actionjack across the windshield.

all is quiet on the DCL subject...
anyone out scouting?

Didn't get to the condo nearly as much as I had planned to this summer. Am planning to be up there for a few days for Autumn Glory. Hope to get out on the quads then to see if I can get up to my 68 or further from my Dads (near the community college).

I'm trying for the same weekend as well...on another post, you mentioned parking/riding from the airport. Would i see an obvious trail to start out on with my atv's? and this would be on private property?

i fugured with the first signs of fall that this thread would fire back up.

I just got turned on to this site and wow, it’s good to see that there are more crazy snowmobile people in md. I would be glad to help with a trail system around DCL , We have been riding the lake area for years and it seams like every year we loose ground to ride on.
Here is a link to some great ice ridding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPDvp2_Flbg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bge71BwBA4A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFJ6g19eSC8&feature=user

Welcome to HCS. I see you're not afraid to get wet. See you at the Honi this winter.

Action Jack I am picking up that you went for a swim last winter if so welcome to the DLC winter swim team me and my brother both took a dip last winter. COLD , COLD COLD.

Gentlemen hope all are doing well. Action jack and trailtime welcome highvoltage (Shawn) with open arms. He's a good guy as well as his bro. I'm looking forward for the snow to start falling.