I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in good timing. And this month, ours was perfect. Quite some time ago, I had scheduled a story for this issue that centered on one of the last groups of four-wheelers to run Lower Helldorado in Moab before the property it runs through was sold by the state to a private citizen who has since closed it to all vehicles. It's a good story, with some great photography and trail rigs.
Then, just a few days ago, I got a call from an associate who informed me that the property that Upper Helldorado runs through had just been auctioned off by the state. In fact, it was part of a 300-acre parcel that had just been purchased by an unnamed private citizen. As I was beginning to imagine losing not only all of Upper Helldorado, but also the parts of other trails that run through the surrounding area, I received another call that was much more welcome.
As it turns out, this parcel of land was purchased by Jeremy Parriott of BFE Films, a committed four-wheeler who has some grand plans for his new piece of property. When he discovered that the Helldorado land was going to be auctioned, Jeremy made a few phone calls and put together a group of guys who were willing to go in on the purchase with him. As fate would have it, there were no other bidders, so Jeremy and his friends won the auction handily.
We spoke to Jeremy just a few days after he became the new owner of Upper Helldorado, and at that point, his quickly developing plan was to turn the entire area into an OHV park. This is welcome news for four-wheelers everywhere, who will now not have to mourn the loss of yet another trail. It's also indicative of a prevailing trend in the off-road world: that of private citizens buying large tracts of land where they can go four-wheeling. Although more common in the eastern half of the country, this practice is becoming more prevalent in the West, as trails fall prey to closures by the BLM, Forest Service, and other regulatory agencies.
We applaud Jeremy and his friends for putting their money where their mouths are and taking such a big step to support four-wheelers everywhere.