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My personal poor financial decision aside, I wish the best to the Durhamtown folks. Mike could be a bit gruff in my experience but overall I loved that place.
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It's literally out in the middle of nowhere and offers the opportunity for so many to enjoy. Of course some people will get hurt, we all have free will to make our own decisions and sometimes they are bad ones.
In my opinion the place was run well and very safe. Lots of signage and one way direction.
I only went during the week so less squids.
bummer though. would it have been that hard to design a one-way trail system with signs ?
Everywhere else was direction arrow one way. That said I did hear of a guy who crashed hard on a track out in the woods because some doofus's entered the track on sxs's and ran it backwards...Can't help stupid.
Durhamtown was not a safe place, there is no doubt about that. However I don't think two-ways were ever really a problem. I rode nearly every trail at that place and the only two ways I can think of are the main road from the lodge to the parking area, the ingress/egress for the GP track, and the area back by MX4 and Monster mountain. The only one that was particularly egregious was the one by MX4. That one had about 3 blind corners on that little stretch of trail. The main trail was two lanes, one towards lodge and the other towards the trails. The two-way by GP monitored by a staff member that (in theory) is making sure nobody is getting on to the GP track while someone was either rounding that corner or trying to get off the track.
I think the biggest issue with this place was the staff. A lot of really pleasant people, but most were either not trained to handle the danger and throughput that place had, or didn't care/respect the danger that comes with a place like this. I almost fractured my hip on the GP track because the staff that was supposed to be timing when someone could enter the GP track didn't do his job and let a kid on an ATV on the track just as I was coming down the big turn and I had to dump my bike at speed to make sure I didn't demolish myself and a child.
Mike on the other hand was a dick. I spoke to him with my dad at length on multiple occasions. He always was at odds with his staff, and pretty much everyone I talked to who worked there said they had been fired multiple times. I also heard that prior to his "incident" on the rhythm track with an improperly assembled SxS that he was a very abusive employer. Not to mention most of the people that worked there lived in trailers on property and bunked with other employees. The place was a veritable Tiger King of offroad resorts complete with incompetent staff and doubly so for the owner.
As for why they closed so abruptly, I can't imagine that the lawsuit didn't hit them pretty hard. Sure, they had a lot of gross income, but between the cost to maintain a place like that must be astronomical. Also it probably doesn't help that they just lost a negligent safety suit and likely have an (allegedly) wrongful death verdict coming down the pipeline that finding insurance at this point was nigh on impossible.
Also, that land wasn't owned by Mike, from what he told us he leased it from the Durham Brothers which is an operation that owned all that land and the better part of the surrounding area for lumber. Given how high the cost of lumber has gotten maybe when the time came for them to renew the lease they thought that actually using the land for the lumber is a better investment than leasing it to a rinky dink offroad camp?
There's definitely a lot that's likely going to come to the surface whether it be old drama or new(er) stuff coming to the surface. I already have talked to a few ex-employees on reddit who think there was some (allegedly) suspicious activity going on, especially around the Adam White death, who was impaled on the Bomber track as I understand it.
I guess it's time to visit Highland Park again. Its been a long time since I've been there. While Durhamtown conjures up imaging of Bubba trashing his SxS in a mudhole, Highland Park makes me think of James the Accountant whose Klim gear costs more than my dirtbike
The exposed culvert pipe is inexcusable. Leaving hazards like that then pointing back to the waiver makes zero sense. Fix the obvious dangerous shit, AND point back to the waiver. Do both and you won't be open to this type of bs in the future.
A few folks give Ricky a hard time at SnD for being so strict, but damn, he is protecting his investment and making sure there ARE no incidents, while also making people sign a waiver. Its not wrong to do both.
Places like that need to be strict too, if someone goes the wrong way down a one-way, especially in a SxS they will kill a bike rider going the correct way. Especially with the speed you can carry down those trails and the sheer amount of blind corners. I just don't know how you can feasibly enforce that much acreage without constant surveillance or a staff member at every junction. A lot of places like that have to work on the honor system.
I never found the trails there to be poorly marked if you're going the right way. Granted, I never went the wrong way so I can't vouch for how obvious the signage was for people who were going the wrong way.
Regarding the culvert and whatever happened to the guy off Bomber that got killed I have to emphasize that there was definitely negligence in the actual safety of the place regardless of how respectful and conscientious the other riders were.
Pit Row
Rode Lucerne, apple valley, el mirage etc...as a kid and plenty of people goy hurt or died too. Only difference is public vs private property. To be honest the riders/drivers themselves are the issue, imo not a specific facility, within reason of course.
A couple of us got ripped on once by the owner for taking a shortcut jaunt on the road to get over to the Mike's place house where we were staying. He was right to rip us. He said "Can't you read the signs! If there weren't signs to follow there would be chaos!" We all do dumb stuff occasionally I guess.
The conditions of the tracks (except the Bomber) was suspect almost every time I rode there in the latter years. Then there was the proliferation of quads, and that was soon matched by an even worse scourge: SxSs. I don't know a single person who didn't have a quad/SxS near-death experience out there. If you haven't, consider yourself lucky.
I hate it that DT is no longer going to be an option for fellow dirt riders. It's a shame. They had a kick ass formula that simply wasn't destined to remain successful...for a litany of reasons. Yes, it started out as "amazing" but the experience in the last few years was from from it. Sorry, just my opinion.
It's exactly why we don't ride the Dunes or Browns Camp or certain PNW tracks. Poor or no management leads to chaos out there, and people die as a result.
Mike
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