Trail etiquette
Nearly every closed trail in Texas was closed because of something somebody did, not because of the land itself.
We are volunteers, not professionals.
Nobody here is a certified recovery operator, a mechanic or a medic unless they tell you they are, and we do not check. This is what the group has learned, offered freely. It is not training, not a standard, and not a substitute for hiring somebody who does this for a living.
Permission is per-visit
- Private land means the owner's word, this time, for you.
- Somebody else having had permission is not permission. Neither is having been there before.
- If you cannot say who gave you permission, you do not have it.
Gates as you found them
- Open stays open. Closed stays closed. Latched stays latched.
- If you find a gate you cannot work out, turn around.
Stay on the line
- No cutting corners, and no new line around an obstacle. The bypass becomes the trail, and then the trail is twice as wide.
- Driving around a mudhole is how mudholes become fifty feet across.
- If the trail is too wet to drive without widening it, it is too wet.
Leave it better
- Pack out what you brought, and some of what you did not.
- Fill the ruts you cut if you can.
- Do not leave recovery gear, straps or boards behind. Somebody will, and it will be blamed on all of us.
Around other people
- Yield to anything coming uphill, and to anyone on foot, on a bike or on a horse. Stop and turn the engine down for horses.
- Slow and quiet near houses, camps and stock.
- Do not block a gate, a turnaround or a narrow spot while you sort yourself out.
If you break something, say so
- A broken gate that gets reported is a gate that gets fixed.
- A broken gate that gets found is a trail that gets closed.
If somebody is hurt, call 911 first.
Injury, a vehicle in moving water, or anything in a traffic lane is an emergency call, not a recovery request. We are volunteers with trucks. Nobody is on shift and nobody is obliged to come.