In the 1970’s I raced off-road motorcycles in the southwest. In those days I raced across many pristine areas. Thousands of us did it. And following our trails came thousands more 4 wheeled OHVs, especially in the past 20 years. There was an environmental movement in the 1970’s to greatly restrict this activity. There’s still plenty of off- road racing opportunities but it will never be as back then. Much has been restricted, and much has been paved over, eg Pikes Peak use to be all dirt road, now it’s all paved . The fact is we did a lot of damage, and the flood of modern off-road 4 wheelers available for near everybody to drive has only made it thousands of times worse. There were almost 200 million people back in the 1970s, now there are over 350 million in America and billions in the world with social media telling everyone where the special places are. Off road racing, and off road adventures are the love of my life, but we are losing it, not because of closures, but because we are destroying it. Somehow we got to figure this out for ourselves and future generations if we even care about them. And judging from what our recent ancestors destroyed in past 150 years, I’m not sure this general will do any better.

Not even a minute in, and already amazed at the cinematography. Great job with the video and thank you for bringing awareness to what’s going on!

We went through this on a smaller scale here in the East. They divided the users and used each groups complaints against the other. The erosion issues, rutting, speeding and vegetation damage. Then for those reasons given, they started to close the trails to all the users. We united, held meetings on the pro's and con's, and we got signatures. One of the best positive presentations we gave was, the trails cost the park nothing since there were volunteer groups repairing and cleaning up the trails. We presented pictures before and after the closures. Things had gone down hill since they closed them. The accessibility of the trails, also opens up the park for all users to include park services for free, due to the volunteer groups. The trails attract people to the park, which is proportional to the amount of trails offered. This still seamed to fall on the wrong ears. Then one day at the Pro Philadelphia Bike Race, I just happened to find our mayor. I told him we weren't asking for a penny and it wouldn't cost a penny. That this recreational feature was already in place. No over head, no clearing for a parking lot. He just needed to allow it. And he did! I so hope your efforts work to reopen these trails. They are scenic, they are historical and allow us, the tax payer to see what we are paying for, rather then those few BLM trying to justify their jobs.

I appreciate your message and your feelings. I live in southern Nevada and go into Southern Utah often to photograph it. Before, when I was younger and not handicapped, I used to do what you are doing with my 4X4 but since I have become handicapped, I got rid of my off-road vehicle and now drive an all-wheel Subaru which takes me to a lot of places but not like a 4x4. Yes, out in the Southwest we have it made with miles and miles of land to explore. I have lived in Rhode Island, and I ran away from there because back East is just too crowded with people and cities. Keep seeking out trails and having fun with your dogs. Oh, thanks for posting this.

These trails aren’t overused and the OHV community members pick up more trash and help out more people than any other group. When I hit trails in the Angeles NF I actually can’t pick up enough trash from the weekend partiers. Bad apples, not responsible off-roaders, are to blame. The spray paint mess they leave in old mines and on the old, remaining structures is shocking. So they are to blame and we all suffer and pay the price. 19:07

My family has been vacationing in Moab for going on two decades now. We have an immense amount of amazing memories together enjoying these breathtaking areas. We always tread lightly, stay on existing trails, pick up other people’s garbage every time we’re out, stay courteous to the various other trail users, and we make as little noise as possible. All of the areas we’ve always enjoyed are now closed. Not being able to make more memories there makes us all sick to our stomachs.

I have hiked on areas around Moab that are "closed forever, that nobody will ever be able to see again." The experience was quiet and peaceful. One can still see the road and damage to the area. Maybe now I'll consider making these "closed" trails part of my next visit to Moab.

Thank you for building awareness. I think public lands should be kept for the people not from the people.

We need LESS government not more!! Thanks for sharing this great video..

Great job Ron also bringing awareness to closures. The trails are beautiful. I really enjoyed pictures of the night sky. 👏👏👏🎆

Thanks for helping to raise awareness of the catastrophic government overreach that is taking place. Oh, and nice xj man! Anyone wanna trade a zj for an xj?

Can still hike, backpack and/or ride a bike there right?

We went this same thing in Colorado 50 years ago when they started picking areas for wilderness areas. I went to several meetings and quickly found out that had already made up their minds 14:03

Best video yet Ron! Amazing!

Great video, thanks for posting it. As always, stay safe out there.

A wonderful video with excellent views! I rode Hey Joe Canyon on a mountain bike in 2019, all alone, no cars or people there - it was a great experience. 45 minutes both ways from the fence on the edge of the river. Unbelievable, that you can't go there any more.

They closed trails where I live and everyone just ripped the gates down and went anyways. They eventually quit putting up gates and no trespassing signs.

Its very unfortunate of those trails being closed and that there are people that cant respect the land. Im also very concerned about the effects that this could have on the other trails in Moab. This will most likey cause the usable trails to become even more traveled facing the same result.

Great video. All I’ve done since we left there is plan our next trip back. Love the area.

I have traveled many trails in Moab, but I can get behind this because Moab is out of control these days , maybe one day we can get a hotel for 100 again some day, and biking or 4 wheeling without a bunch damn side by sides everywhere

Great Video. We just came from Moab last week, did a video. But man this is so dumb hearing this. It's amazing place to explore, I was there first time this year! Just wow! Very sad that they closed some trails down!

I was off roading 4 times in Utah this past season, so my move next month out of the lower 48 has had me already missing what the Moab area has to offer. But then I heard about this shutdown, can't say I like this trend. It's sad to think where things are heading. 248,573 miles

I really loved this video. Nice job on the entire thing. Sad times.

I've visited Utah several times, been off-roading there, it's the best. I've met Benjamin Burr, became a member of BlueRibbon Coalition . . . that's the easy stuff. Trying to convince the people in North East Pennsylvania is like talking to the walls of a mental institution. I'm going to post your video on my FB page but, these people here are ignorant AF here.

We went there on Easter Jeep Safari. Up that canyon, there is more interesting equipment plus the mine, although access to the entrance is blocked. I'm going to be sad to lose access to it. Love your video!

Moab area is awesome, been there many times. Trail closures are sad, speak up and be heard.

Excellent info and video. I’m not a 4x4’er, but we did travel to Moab for mountain biking last year and will again this spring. We will be riding some of the canyon roads and it is extremely concerning that now that they have closed these roads, they will continue to push to close more of these roads and eventually leak into the mountain bike trails. These agencies are out of control and should be investigated for fraud and conflict of interest. I will research those pro-trail groups to get more familiar with the issue. Thanks for your work.

The pickle trail is my favorite trail there! Damnit! The guys at snail trail are awesome!

I get a national forest pass which doesn’t cost much but overall provides $$ for rangers to patrol, clean up, etc. You don’t need one to travel on national forest roads but if you stop, camp, and such you need the pass or get a ticket and fine which is more than the pass. Basically a reasonable program.

Thanks for the info! ✌🐢

Urban person here, but sad to hear these roads are being closed. These historic roads are a part of nature. They allow people to be in nature .

Thanks for the video. I’m sorry to hear of the closing of Hey Joe Canyon and Mineral Bottom. I did a lot of camping there back in the 70’s when Moab was just a little mining town. You should read Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey.

I like that Backcountry Beagles is driving your everyday mans rig.... we see all too often these really expensive rigs 100K plus driving the land and making video.... this is true to life and realistic... take your rig, build it up and go explore.... very authentic!

We call those "Michigan pin stripes". Many of our trails are overgrown like that

Technically you can still go there. You just have to walk.

Glad we went to Moab when we did.

Thanks!

Road closures throughout Utah and the West are rampant right now. No new roads are being opened, and roads are closing faster than I've ever seen before. There's a Substack blog about what's happening here in the West -- I believe it's called, "The Fleeting West." The great irony is that the closures are occurring in part due to the explosive population growth throughout the West, entirely driven by migration, and the land management agencies are primarily headed by coastal, urban transplants who don't understand our historic land uses in the West. I appreciate that you're bringing light to the issue. The closures are also being driven by over-use and over-use due to exposure on social media. The destruction of access for those of us rooted here is a sign of colonization of the West by new, exurbanites who can't understand anything but infrastructure and parks. Keep up exposing the BLM's taking of our lands ... it's a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it.

Great video beautiful scenery and I am sure that one of the sections in your video was In my neighbor's video from one of his trips

People in general, which means ALL people, need to understand, when 'they' talk about land closers of government land, please understand that government land is OUR land!!! WE are the government, as set up by the founding fathers! People that sit back and say " well, this is a shame" are part of the problem. WE THE PEOPLE need to take back what is ours. NO ONE should be able to take it away from us... unless we let them. Which seems to be what is happening! EVERYONE should be upset about this! But that doesn't seem to be happening! Kudo's to those who are getting involved and posting video's such as this.

Great video. Thanks

Very cool Ty

Great video production... new subscriber now.

That’s insane, and ominous. In crazy times when we all need to get outdoors and recreate in the midst of natural beauty, Big Brother takes away (or minimizes) that necessary activity.

I'm from England but visited Utah and it is the most amazing place I've ever seen. To close these sites is nothing to do with preservation, it's to do with a mindset. It was my understanding that these are "public lands" and therefore available to the public. This is so wrong to my way of thinking. Best wishes to all in your quest to stop this nonsense.

Great Video! Sad about all the trails :(

blame side by sides

The United States Forest Road Closing Service does that out west as well. Can't have any of us having too much fun. They have all kinds of excuses as to why, but really, it's just to justify administrators' jobs and then the whole power thing.

These areas will still be accessible but only to foot travel. That is how they are best visited anyway. If you were there on a holiday week you would see dozens of off road vehicles. Too much of Utah has way too many vehicles visiting the once quiet beautiful back country. Get out and hike!

It started when I was still a kid, with Wilderness Areas. I thought they were a good idea at my young age, but my father warned it was the first step to the government locking up all public land. He was right.

Godamn I hate the government more and more everyday.

A non elected government agency pressured a non elected government agency to close the trails that the people use

Closing trails to motorized vehicles is a violation of the ADA. Motorized vehicles is the only way someone like me with limited mobility can enjoy these areas. I cant hike in that far, and there are no wheelchairs capable of the journey. Unless they provide some alternate means for me to enjoy this area, it either needs to be entirely closed to everyone, or open to those with special needs. I believe a lawsuit based on discrimination against the disable would succeed.

Nice Jeep. I had a dark green 99 sport I sold about 5 years ago in stock condition.

Ash and Ron, keep doing what you are doing! Enjoy it, be in love. Awesome video! The government (including local, city, county, state) does not like NOT making some kind of revenue from its land. BLM is public land and does not fit the plan of making revenue wherever possible. State taxes are increased, wildlife management areas increase the cost of licenses, etc. Eventually, if not already in some cases, your will not be able to freely do what you want on your own property. (is it really yours? has it been in your family for generations?). I am hopeful but skeptical about what we own and how free we really are.

Last Easter Jeep safari. I wanted to go on Hey Joe Canyon but I didn’t have time and we had to leave early. I told myself I’ll be back next year. I guess that’s not happening now.

@13:07 incredible capture!

If people cannot police them selves then they need to be policed.

Thanks for publishing this; being from the East coast and a visitor to MOAB years ago, I feel the loss. I'll be in MOAB Nov 2023 again. You drone work and video is fab.. What Drone is being used? BTW.. Joined the Coalition after reading of this on Jeep Forums.

I'm torn on this. On one hand, I'm sad/angry that it is now going to be much more difficult to see and explore these areas. On the other hand, it will be nice in a few years to be able to see a beautiful landscape that doesn't have black tire marks up the face of every rock in sight.

I've had that particular sea urchin, "Vana" (in Hawaiian) on sushi and it's good.

We have the same problem in Alberta Canada. Offroad user groups are working to volunteer to do road trail maintenance and advocate for access. Common sense should prevail.

Very good video, great content, photography, and editing. I've traveled to Moab yearly for the past 36 years with over 50 trips. The beauty changes by season and never fails to disappoint. I agree with your observations that nearly all trail riders protect and respect this land while the vast majority of armchair environmentalists have never had the experience of awe and felt their own insignificance by traveling deep into the presence of this majestic and timeless land, while not raising an eyebrow to the new oil wells and flames of the wells' gas flaring that mar our night skies . Great job and thank you for spreading the word on this most recent BLM ruling.

The government is relocating Aliens from Area 51. Won’t be reopened until the Aliens get their casino licenses

Sweet XJ! Love my 99...This is just the beginning in this governments efforts to keep people from using public lands. We pay over 50% of our income in taxes while they take and take and take from us. If we don't wake up and start using what we have always been using and just accept everything as a loss than we will continue in that direction. Time for us to take back what this government has taken from us since we have the numbers and power to do so. Don't let them bully us into submission with everything.

This was the result of a Federal Law that the BLM was not strictly following or enforcing. Some citizens groups sued the Federal Government to enforce the law as written. The law has been on the books for many years. The Government lost the lawsuit and was forced to rework the travel plans for all the areas covered in the suit. You are now seeing Government enact the compliance measures due to the rulings. This isn't the agencies fault it is the citizens fault. We elect the legislators but we then "set and forget". We send them to govern but we don't follow what they are crafting, then it takes years before you see the fallout. We don't actively seek out and heavily participate in the BLM public comment periods, so others get overweighted influence. One happy group of camping citizens and another mad group of OHV citizens. Welcome to our late to the table apathetic involvement in just in time world

Waaay to many "Jag Offs" who ruin it for all. I could see this coming from left field!! Good luck Moab.

I wish I could of got out there

LaNd 0f tHe FreE

I love bikepacking Hey Joe Canyon. It’s my fav! Hope it’s not closing to bikes?

So will you still be able to get to hey Joe canyon?

have they closed these to motorized vehicles or all/any types of travel?

I am willing to bet many people will do it anyway.

It irritates me so much that 10% of people ruin it for all. I know that most people are good, I see folks clean up all the time, personally have been on many clean up trips. Those that don't respect the land ruin it for all. Those people don't respect so many things and they will never change. I am glad you were able to enjoy them before they were gone.

Because you have dogs i subbed

I’m torn, on the one hand, we don’t want to destroy these areas by abusing them and over using them, but on the other hand, we want to be able to go into them, and touch them with our own hands.

That Wild Country by Mark Canyon, got questions about public land, read this book. We all need to be more aware of what our public land managers are proposing and working on.

One more thing....if the 100's of thousands of off roaders left Moab for 1 year...the city/businesses would join the push to keep trails open. Be cognizant of what and where you put your money

You can go there, you just need to bike or hike.

Those aren't scratches, those are desert pinstripes

People need to just say ENOUGH!!! And just take what is ours.

Closure is not management

This is just a little bit of what is going on to our trails !

They gone close it and pump the water of the green river, blaming it, later on, onto « warming »!!!!

Gov needs to keep their hands off open spaces. Maybe they want to reserve it for something they don't want us to see! Hmm!

Great video! I just subscribed to your channel. But I wonder if closing these roads is going to work as expected. Responsible off-roaders obey "road closed" signs. The BLM may need license plate cameras? Maybe officers or someone giving out tickets on the spot? They may need road blocks, rocks or berms, chains, gates or something to stop people, as well as road closed signs. Lets see how this closing works out. There may be unforeseen consequences because this seems like a heck of lot of road changes.

Your drone footage is super smooth. Which drone are you using?

WARNING, controversial comment! There’s a lot to unpack here, esp if you’re NOT JUST an off- roader. Let me start by saying that I am an overlander and use plenty of trails. I just did 33 days/3500 miles from Arizona all the way up to Big Sky, Montana and back again, staying in the first gen Tundra the whole time. I’ll try to make this quick. To say that you could never see this land again because of the trail closures is extremely misleading. You’re completely discounting all the mountain bikers, backpackers, bushwackers and the like. As backpackers and bushwackers, we have a saying called “going through the asshole filter.” That basically refers to getting to those beautiful places where people in vehicles can’t get to. Those are the magical places where you can experience nature as it was meant to be, untouched, relatively speaking. If you think these areas are great sitting in the seat of your vehicle , park at the gate that will be closed, strap a backpack on and get down there and witness it without jeeps and side-by-sides rumbling past you. The author stated how he’s not gonna act like people in vehicles don’t destroy trails and vegetation and leave litter etc., well it only takes a few people to ruin the natural environment for the people who want to see it untouched. And I know people are going to say that that’s exclusive but it’s not. You can get down there and check it out as well, you just have to be a little less lazy about it. As for people who are handicapped, that is unfortunate, but I guess even with vehicles there’s plenty they won’t be able to see. I don’t think every corner of our beautiful lands should be accessible to people who want to simply drive there. Get your boots on and see the true badass-ness of the American West, it’ll do you some good. I applaud the foresight to keep as much land vehicle free as possible, God knows there are trails everywhere. We need our untouched magical places. Be open and adventurous enough to go through the asshole filter people!.

So muck for a Free country! Turn off you will not be allowed to leave your 15-minute City... give an inch they will take a mile.

Social media doesn't help either. the same thing is happening to all of our hiking trails here in Washington. everyone has to have that picture to share to get the likes. then 1,000 of people follow.

I don't think that you are speaking the truth when you say, "You will never be able to see these areas again" they are closing to vehicle traffic, not to people. You will still be able to walk there. While I am sure that some people that might drive there would never walk, doesn't mean that it's closed forever and will never be seen again.

This summer we drove from Arizona to Alaska and back. You know how much rubish i collected at each camping site your jaw will drop if i tell that i ran out of whole pack of Home Depot garbage bags. If i start posting all the videos of me cleaning trash you will be shocked how much rubish these sack of wanks are throwing. Good video mate!

This is frickin sad. Just when I was able to financially build out my 4runner to run the areas of Moab, and be financially stable, just my luck that a lot of trails are being closed down. I worry about the future of recreation in the Moab area and a lot of areas out in the West that was available to the public, but are now being closed for bullshit reaons.

It would be nice if we could hear what you are saying. The music is way too loud.

Figure I would ask. What do you suppose is their plan to actually close these trails? I cant imagine enforcing this will be easy.

Im so disgusted bye this, i just now after my 3rd year traveling there. Started to really know the area. Its my favorite place to ride my bike. I pray we can fight this

"You can't have two trails by each other or lead to the same place". What? Who says? Those literally hurt no one.

What are the musical tracks used in the video?

You keep mispronouncing BLM its bureau of land mismanagement. Great video and photography. Oh do the Beagles come back when you call them? Cause I have never seen that happen before with those dogs.

When do they start selling it off to the developers?