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I'm up in Western Washington State, Near Olympia, and it is State Forest. Working timber land. Open to the public and a great spot. I know I sound cynical about the ATV crowd, but I am a back-country (horse) trail rider and there is a reason for it. It's an aesthetic difference, with some bad history that makes it more like a rivalry between the two hobbies.

They've got the forest divided in half, Half for motorized vehicles and half for non-motorized. A great solution really, in concept. The horseman share their side with hikers and mountain bicycles, and for tactical reasons, the hunters, just because of the noise on the other side.

We can hear them when we are our side sometimes, and it does change the whole mood of the outdoors, but it's a big place and we can get away from it too.

The trouble I've had really is that on each side there are camp spots. The horse camps are nice camps. Large campsites with corrals, and the horse-campers are quiet by temperament. The bike camps are loud, with a different kind of crowd, drinking at night and loud music, and well, loud bikes buzzing around camp. So the bikers that want quiet come and camp at the horse camps. They can use the bikes on the road in to camp. And do. They want quiet alright, until it is them coming and going, or their own music. So the horse folks complain. We ask them for quiet. When we are off riding, our horse trailer tires get slashed.

We could be allies, each fighting to protect our access to public lands. But they are different cultures, in the woods for different reasons. and we have come to see each other as the enemy. Slashed tires will do that to ya.

I don't know what the rules are in the bike side of the mountain, but the whole place is chewed up, not just trails through it, and I also don't know if there is a rule on the horse side, but there is a ~ethic~ to stay on the trail that is enforce through peer pressure and common understanding. Because we are all there for the peace and beauty, we keep it that way.