Stay the Trail

I've been in the same situation. I was able to sneak a picture of the expired OHV tag. Once they seemed like they wouldn't be rational I diverted the conversation to one of their machines, how nice it looked. They moved on without issue the illegal way. I turned what info I had in at the closest rangers office with an official statement, never heard anything back.

I would never go as far to help them out if they are that for off trail. I'm lucky enough, between winch extensions and straps to have about 350' of recovery length. I was in a recovery once off the side of the Bill More Lake trail and it taught me to carry more than needed. It is a sad day when I only get to use 1 strap for recovery.

 

I appreciate the clarification, maybe I misunderstood.

I figured the guy was stuck completely, and the environmental damage was done. Helping that guy out without notifying the authorities would be wrong.

The picture I had in my mind was one or two other wheelers going off-trail to try to dig that fucker out, causing even more damage, only to "help" that very same guy do the same damned thing somewhere else.

Maybe I'm more of a "tread lightly" guy than most, I've been that way since Scouts in the early 80's. I've seen the kind of damage that can be done by redneck wheelers in the past, it's a fairly hot-button issue in my mind.

So, what's really the best course of action in this case, all things considered? How do we prevent ass-hattery like this without closing trails?

 

We gotta be "that guy" who tells the person breaking the rules to quit being an asshat... In a nice way of course... at first... "Hey Bud, good looking truck. Just wanted to let you know that it's really important you stay on the trail. Going off trail could damage the ecosystem and result in the trail closing, so we gotta be conscious of where we're driving."

Then if they react negatively, you bust their tail lights and tell them to "stay on the *&$^ing trail, asshat."

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/idiot-off-traill.505783

 

I would avoid breaking the tail lights

 

More of a passenger window type of guy?