"We are all adults here; if you pack it in, pack it out, everyone should recreate responsibly and do their part, even if it means staying later and cleaning up someone else's mess"
Tim Young, Amarillo Texas
This long time traditional event is now under severe scrutiny. Generations of people have come to recreate at the Canadian river just north of Amarillo; with motorized vehicles of every conceivable configuration. All of the controversy seems to be about pollution, "they" say that trash is being left behind, and people driving motor vehicles in the river bed leave behind chemical toxins such as motor oil, antifreeze etc. Well personally I don't see any of that happening, in fact after my conversation with Mr. Tim Young and after truly listening to him; I realized that the majority of these folks are very conscientious about our environment, and are very concerned about their freedom to use and care for these public lands in a very responsible fashion. Personally I did not attend this event, Cynthia did, and this is what she saw:
On the brisk cool morning of February 22, 2003 thousands of people from all over the country gathered at the Canadian River to enjoy the great outdoors. They came to enjoy the sand drags and the mud bogger races many others brought their dune buggies, dirt bikes and four wheelers to play in the sand, climb hills, and sight see the paths and trails like: "Widow Maker", "Bulltaco", and the winding tunnel of trees along the "Whoop-ti-do" trails.
Throughout the day while in company of my friends Tina and Terral Walker, I met some friends of theirs; Tim and Lisa Young, their daughters, Tiffany & Tasha, and of course mother Kay. As you can see generations of families have enjoyed the river, Tim himself, has been coming here since age seven. Tim runs his own business, as a siding contractor known as :
Showcase Siding & Home Improvements
Wife Lisa; performs the very admirable task of home schooling the two daughters. Tim must be quite the busy one as he is also on the board of directors for the Texas Off Roaders Association, these guys work really hard at not only promoting these events, but to provide a little insight into when and where to cross waterways so not to disturb nature in any way.
Like Tim and Lisa, my good friends Tina and Terral Walker have been taking their VW dune buggy to the river for years. It is a time to get away from home and the rest of the rat race and participate with the great out doors, and just enjoy some sunshine.
Instead of completely closing the river to the public, I think it would be nice to make it into an official State Park; something like Palo Duro Canyon. Charge a minimal admission to cover the expenses of security and maintenance, this would insure to the land owners and the public in general that there would be no misuse of the land, as it would still be available for public recreation.
It was getting dark when Tim took Tina & I for a thrilling ride in his buggy on Bulltaco trail, Thanking God for his experience and confidence as only the lights on the buggy lead the way down the trail.
To finish off the day we all gathered around the warmth of the campfire and simply enjoyed the company of others.
Cynthia Ann Lamb
Currently there are three proposals in Austin facing Congress to entirely eliminate vehicular recreation in "NAVIGABLE" river beds statewide .
When push comes to shove, and the brass tacks show their ugly little heads, what we have here is the same old story. Tim figures that about 2% of the people participating in this sport really abuse the hell out of things, and therefor everyone has to pay the price. We could sit here all night long and dwell on policy and politics, but the fact is that I truly detect sincerity in what these people have to say. They are indeed treating our great outdoors with a lot of respect, they are doing their absolute best to teach others to do the same. So lets all give them a little support, and protect the freedom of the public to enjoy public land.
S. Parker Lamb
All photos and story in red text by Cynthia Ann Lamb
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