Rangers keep ATV users on the right track

ENNIS, Mont. — On almost any given day, Jonathan Klein can find evidence of illegal off-highway vehicle use in the mountains of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest around Ennis.

But this day is more encouraging.

High up, near the top of a lonely ridge in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Klein, a recreation specialist for the forest, and ATV ranger David DeSimone spy an ATV left just yards away from a Forest Service sign indicating the area behind it is closed to motorized travel.

There's no one around for miles and it would have been a simple thing to continue up the road to the top of the ridge. On almost any other day, no one would have been the wiser.

But these riders paid attention to the signs and stopped their machine. A closer look revealed the vehicle was both licensed and complete with the accessories needed to make it street legal.

"This is what we like to see happen," said Klein as he climbed off his ATV and started walking up toward the ridge.

A few minutes later, the men came across John and Judy Hochmuht of Livingston, preparing to take a photo of themselves in front of the craggy peaks and mountain lakes that fill the background.

"There ought to be a good guy ticket," Klein told the Hochmuhts after introducing himself. "If everyone was like you, there would be no problem at all. It just gladdens my heart."

The Hochmuhts said they've been coming up to this area for the last 25 years. Recently, they traded in their motorcycles for an ATV.

"We're ridge runners," said John Hochmuht. "We just love being able to get up to areas like this."

"We appreciate being able to still get up here," Judy Hochmuht agreed. "Without having an open road, we wouldn't be able to do that."

But not everyone bothered to stop at the sign down below. On a nearby ridge a pair of ATV tracks wind their way up and over the top. Klein shook his head.

"That's just what we're trying to stop," Klein said. "That track probably started with one or two ATVs. Other people probably saw the track and followed it up the hill. In the thin soils that we have here, that track will probably be there forever, just like the old wagon wheel tracks that you can still see in some parts of the country."