Two times of the year, it is important to be in southeastern Ohio: During the fall colors and the spring greening. In mid-April, we were lucky enough to ride the region's Wayne National Forest just as the tree buds were securing their foothold on the season. It was a trip that would have been worth the trouble regardless of the month.

The Wayne National Forest boasts more than 100 miles of off-road vehicle trails. Three riding areas in Wayne allow OHVs, Monday Creek in Nelsonville, where we would ride, as well as Hanging Rock and Pine Creek in Ironton. While OHV access to Wayne periodically comes under attack from extreme environmentalists who can't appreciate the freedoms and rights of others, it has been a favorite public riding area of responsible recreationists for decades. How favorite? Wayne National Forest authorities estimate the park has about 67,400 permit-requiring visitors annually.

Open between April 15 and Dec. 15, our ride fell on Wayne's first ridable weekend of the year and, judging from the large crowd of eager off-roaders, it was a weekend that several people had been looking forward to for some time.

Gearing up
Joined by Ohio correspondents Shane on his KX250 and Randy on his highly customized four-wheeled monstrosity -- an early 1990s Yamaha Warrior -- our ride thankfully would not be a lonely one. On any substantial trail system it is important to have along experienced guides, and both Randy and Shane had been to Wayne several times in 2001.

Taking a breather.

Shane, who we used to ride with in the late 1980s before a college career mercilessly interrupted our struggling motocross one, swung by a little before 9 a.m. After running an errand for his wife that achieved nothing and showed that women everywhere can be the bane of dirt bikes, we hit the road with Randy following. The plan was to pick up another former riding partner who would put our 1977 IT250 through the paces; however, he went fishing instead, raising a debate about his manhood that lasted until we encountered a raging monsoon just south of Athens.

The rain, which had been forecast, had us primed to turn around. Luckily, it broke just in time and the only forecast that proved truly correct was Shane's that he would come down with a "fever" that morning and have to call off work.

Several local businesses sell permits for the off-road trails at Wayne. We bought ours at the Crossroads gas station on the north side of Nelsonville. At $5 a day and $25 for the year, Wayne National Forest remains one of the best deals in dirt biking.

The ride
We unloaded at the Dorr Run trailhead, an access point to the Monday Creek area. With multiple parking and camping areas right off the gravel roads that snake through Wayne, there are several options for where to start your ride. The crowd was made up mostly of large groups of ATV riders. It was a diverse group, with several kids and women in the mix. A few disappointing cases of kids riding quads, albeit slow-moving ones, without helmets were encountered, but, for the most part, the visitors were rule-abiding, clean and respectful of others.

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