The Washington ATV Association - Club O' The Month

A large portion of the trails were cut with a Sweco dozer, which makes trails precisely as wide as an ATV. These trails are great fun and require all of your attention to stay on them. Many of them run along steep hills, and riding off one of the trails would be painful and expensive.

The route we took would best be described as an intermediate-level trail. It's a technical ride, meaning you have to pay attention or you are going to get in trouble. This is not a broad two-track that you can tool along ogling the scenery. Here you will need to stop the machine to drink it all in.

The scenery is worth a break from trail riding, as this part of Washington features a verdant mix of heavy green undergrowth as well as those moss-covered trees of the Pacific Northwest. It's so gorgeous and lush it makes your head swim.

The trails in the area are at least part of what makes the WAATVA's annual Spring Fling Fun Run a big draw. The event is held on the first weekend of April each year, and 2007 will mark the event's 16th anniversary. The '06 run drew 703 riders for the two-day event.

"We had so many riders turn up last year!" club member Stacy Brady said. "They kept coming in, and we said, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!'"

The size of last year's event was credited to doing a bit more promotion than in past years. The key to its success was renting a booth in at a big off-road-vehicle swap meet. The club used the booth to both drum up interest in its event and hand out literature for Tread Lightly, the BlueRibbon Coalition and other organizations dedicated to preserving trails and responsible use.

"We do our best to be ambassadors of the sport," Kathy said.

The Spring Fling is an opportunity for the club to do something it does almost as well as maintaining trails-working with local authorities. Putting on an event of this size requires the cooperation of a number of state agencies, and the WAATVA works with them exceptionally well. In fact, the club has been asked by the DNR to help other clubs get organized.

The club is friendly with a number of state representatives who ride ATVs, notably Dan Kristiansen and Bill Hinkle. Some club members are part of the Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance (WOHVA), a group that advocates off-road vehicle use in the state. WOHVA organizes an annual rally at the state capitol, which brings thousands of ORV enthusiasts together to support their sport.

"There were trucks with quads on the back, with jeeps, motorcycles and trucks on trailers on the capitol grounds," club member Stan Bowman said.

The Spring Fling is the club's defining event, where the work they do on the trails and in the halls of government come to fruition. Kathy runs that event with a bit of a velvet fist and is credited by many of her fellow club members with bringing enough organization to the club to make the fun run such a success. The club strictly enforces the rules, sticks to a no-tolerance policy for hooliganism and emphasizes that the event is a ride rather than a race, with the overall goal to have a good time.

"No scowling is allowed," Kathy said.

If you are part of a club that would like to be profiled, drop me a line at lklancher@comcast.net or www.atvrider.com. Bonus points if you send me a lead for a local brewery to visit while I'm there!