While the area's high temperatures may have slowed many outdoor enthusiasts, those who ride off highway vehicles are still hitting the trails.
The Chattanooga area offers several popular sites for OHVs, including Prentice Cooper State Forest, the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest and privately owned Aetna Mountain Adventures.
The Houston Valley OHV system, located about 25 miles from Chattanooga in the Chattahoochee-Oconee, ranks the largest in Georgia with 25 miles of trails.
"It has a big developed trailhead where there is vault toilets and lots of parking. There is a ramp that you can unload your stuff with, so it is definitely a much more developed trail system," U.S. Forest Service employee Karen Larsen pointed out.
Larsen, a national resource specialist for recreation, said Houston Valley also offers a variety of easy to difficult trails for riders to enjoy.
Other OHV trails in the Chattahoochee-Oconee forest and located in the Conasauga Ranger District include Rock Creek, Rocky Flats, Tatum Lead and Windy Gap, Milma Creek and Tibbs.
Georgia has 12 OHV trails located within forest service boundaries. Except for Rocky Flats, no OHV wider than 50 inches is allowed on the trails within the Conasauga district, according to Larsen. And Rocky Flats, which is for full-size vehicles, is closed as a result of last year's flooding.
The entire Houston Valley OHV system is closed Jan. 1-April 1 each year and is subject to closure at other times when rainfall is significant.
"There are some wet areas and people like to go, and they basically start driving through the woods to get over those wet areas and then they mud bog in them, which is definitely not something that we want folks doing," Larsen said.
As with many recreational areas, there are people problems.
"Probably the number one biggest problem is that people don't stay on the designated trails and they do a lot of resource damage when they get off trail," Larsen acknowledged, adding that the second biggest problem is nonpayment.
The forest service charges $5 per operator at Houston Valley. All other OHV trails are free within the Conasauga district.
In Tennessee, Prentice Cooper State Forest brings out the riders.
"They come out here in droves. I mean it is pretty full every weekend," said Ben Lewis, an aide with the Tennessee Division of Forestry. "Somewhere around a hundred, easily, or better."
The state-owned property contains about 26,000 acres and around 100 miles of trails.
"The biggest problem is a lot of these people, especially out of state around Georgia, come up here and they get in these food pods with their ATVs and stuff and tear it all to pieces," Lewis said.
With the exception of Tower Road, the trail system is closed in December and remains closed to OHVs until May.
Joey Blevins, general manager of Aetna Mountain Adventures, couldn't pinpoint how the mileage at his site.
"I don't know how many miles of trails. They just go everywhere. I don't know how you would even go about trying to log the miles," Blevins said, estimating up to 50 riders each weekend.
"There's not mud bogs up there. There is always some mud holes, and it is a wise decision to have a winch."
While most of the time the trail area is set aside for members only, this weekend anyone can ride the trails at a cost of $22 for an operator and $6 for passengers.
Annual membership is $275 and members are given a key to a gate that allows year-round access.
Rossville residents Victoria and Ricky Robinson and their 4-year-old son, Logan, rode at Houston Valley last Saturday. They have two OHVs.
"Houston Valley is just a lot of mud. It's a lot of Georgia clay, and we like to really get dirty," Victoria said. "We were there for about three and a half hours. We are usually there for about five or six or more. It was just too hot.
"We try to go at least once a month. We try to camp when we go," she added.
Sometimes the couple heads to Prentice Cooper to ride.
"Prentice Cooper has more rocks and we like that, but my son really likes the mud," Victoria related.
Rocky Face, Ga., resident Chris Williams prefers Prentice Cooper to the nearby Georgia site.
"It depends on which trail you go down up there," he said. "I would say that Prentice Cooper is a little smoother, I think."
The auto shop painter, along with his wife, Makayla, and 3-year-old son, Braylon, also took to the trails at Houston Valley last Saturday. The family tries to get on a trail at least once a month.
Williams said he never really has been scared during his eight years of riding an OHV.
"We don't really ride crazy. We mostly just putter around," he said.
Regarding his young son, "He likes to ride," Williams said. "He wants to take his own four-wheeler, but he ain't quite big enough to do it by himself yet on the trail."
Both public-area trails require riders under 18 to wear helmets, while Aetna Mountain Adventures requires every rider to wear a helmet.
Contact Gary Petty at sports@timesfreepress.com