Tri-State Outdoor News

This installment almost wrote itself in response to an e-mail that I received after the release of the November issue. As a writer, I love getting feedback and responses about the topics that I write about and would be taking about anyway.

The e-mail was from Tony Lance, vice president of the Redbird Management group. His reason for contacting me was in reference to something I had said in my last article. In that column I talked about me living in between Redbird Off-Road Area in near Dugger and Interlake near Lynville and how I would prefer to go to Interlake because “the size of the property was 10 times larger.” I stand corrected! In the past couple of years, Redbird has doubled its size with about the same acreage still waiting in reserves (that the state already owns). What I was reporting was old news. The last time I made the trip to Redbird a few years ago, I was not overly impressed with what was offered to me – an ATV guy. Redbird has had the reputation of only being a Jeep and Truck playground. As Tony explained, most if not all of the volunteer work that was being done on trail development was due to the Jeep community but over the last couple of years a lot of work has gone into designing more ATV and single-track trails.

Here is a little background on what is now known as Redbird State Riding Area. In 1943, the Friar Tuck mine opened and operated until 1952 in Greene County. Then in 1945, the Redbird Coal Company began mining the Sullivan county side until it closed in 1950. In the 1970’s reclamation began based on the standards of that day which consisted of planting some pine trees.

Known more as an area for off-road vehicles such as Jeeps and four-wheel drive trucks, improvments over the last couple of years has turned the Redbird State Riding Area into a place more ATV friendly.

My first memories of what I knew then as “Dugger” was of completely barren hillsides with some small adolescent trees and ponds with electric blue water. The big hills all had names like Powerline, Carbody and many others I can’t think of 30 years later. In 2003 Redbird became the first state-owned off-road park in Indiana. Phase one consisted of a total of 600 acres and now 5 years later has grown to 1,200 acres with 600 more waiting to be developed.

After responding to Tony’s e-mail, he suggested that I come take another look at Redbird, and that is exactly what I did. He was kind enough to drop what he was doing to escort me around the property. I took my Side-by- Side so we could chat while we explored.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled into the very well-groomed parking lot was that I was one of only a few people there. The improvements to the site were evident even before unloading with a good up-front appearance and a loading ramp so you don’t have to bring yours. Of course, this is a pay-to-ride park requiring a valid state registration on your machine whatever state you live in. The upside of that is that the gatehouse is manned during hours of operation, drastically reducing the fear of theft or vandalism on the stuff back at the truck.

Now on to the trails, and there were a lot more of those to explore this trip. The trail markings were some of the most extensive I have ever seen; you could tell that hours of work had gone into this development. There was enough hill climbing to challenge a veteran as well as areas that are more familyoriented and still fun to rip around. My personal favorite spot in the new development was the track they had built at the top of a bluff in a clearing utilizing most of that area. I couldn’t think about anything but my kids out whooping and hollering, racing around and then trying to get them to quit after several hours if they were there. There is no question that Redbird has shed its distinction of only being a Jeep haven with me. There is even a separate area south of the road for single-track motorcycle trails. Redbird hasn’t lost its focus on the Jeepers though, with several clubs adopting trails to keep them at the top of the heap of the crawling world.

Due to its closing for the season as of November 30 you will have to wait till spring of ‘09 to check it out, with the DNR stepping in to run the daily operations. So with that, new schedules and opening hours are sure to change for 2009.

As for now, the daily user fee is $10 per day per vehicle. They also hold special events throughout the year such as the latest one, which was a night ride with camping in the parking lot at a cost of $40.00 for the whole weekend starting on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving.

Another thing that has improved is the website with more up to date information which can be found at WWW. REDBIRDSRA.COM. Redbird itself is found just north of State Road 54 about one mile east of Dugger. So thank you Tony, for taking time to point out that Redbird does in fact deserve another look.