ALL-NEW NOHVCC ADVENTURE TRAIL DEBUTS IN COLORADO

The colorful new interactive program on OHV safety and riding ethics gets great reviews

The Adventure Trail consists of ten panels and messages that wrap around the interior of the NOHVCC semi truck.

        Following many months of planning and development, the all-new NOHVCC Adventure Trail made it's debut at Suzuki's CycleFest August 27-29 at Copper Mountain, Colorado. While the interactive OHV safety and ethics program is designed primarily for young folks, adults can also enjoy the short tour that takes place inside the NOHVCC semi.

        "The new Adventure Trail has a much more professional look than the original one that we've been using for the past several years," reports NOHVCC Communications Director Steve Casper who was on hand for the unveiling in Colorado. "Now it's a lot easier to get folks interested when they poke their heads inside. And once they're in, they tend to spend more time looking at the panels since there is so much more going on in the big, elaborate illustrations."

                                   COLORFUL AND HUMOROUS

        The new Adventure Trail was developed primarily by the NOHVCC Youth and Education Teams that met at the NOHVCC National Conference earlier this year in Portland, Oregon to lay the groundwork for the project. The colorful and humorous illustrations were done by Canadian artist Robert Van Nood who is well known for utilizing lots of wildlife and spectacular scenery in his paintings.

        Like the original Adventure Trail, youngsters enter the exhibit armed with a 10-question quiz that coincides with the ten primary messages that are found in the large magnetic-backed plastic panels. In the past, there was only one quiz which was designed for all ages, but that turned out to be too easy for many of the older kids. Now there are two Adventure Trail quizzes; a relatively easy one for 5th graders and below and a more difficult, multiple-choice test for 6th graders and above. "They've got to think a little more now," says Casper. "But we didn't get any complaints about the test being too hard or too long- in fact there's a bunch of funny wrong answers hidden in both tests that seems to keep their interest up."

                                   ADULTS CAN LEARN AS WELL

        "Most of the kids at these events are accompanied by their parents and they also end up going through the entire tour as well," says NOHVCC Colorado Representative and Board Member Steve Gunderson who helped with the debut. "We figure that even some of the adults can benefit from the messages but we don't tell them that as they go in!"

        Jim Cooper, a Transportation Planner from the BLM and who is a NOHVCC Organizational Representative, manned the NOHVCC booth in Colorado.

           "All of the kids I saw that weekend were very receptive and enthusiastic about the presentation and content," he reports. "I also had a great time chatting with a wide variety of motorheads there. The kids bring their parents over to the table and then we get a chance to show them everything we have to offer. At the same time we get to hear from them about their local concerns regarding OHV recreation. It turns out to be as educational for us as it is for them."

        The CylceFest event also marked the debut of the new double aluminum stair system with rails that allows safer access to the semi.

                                           ONGOING PROJECT

        Though the primary Adventure Trail is complete, there are many other AT sub-projects that are planned to be completed by the end of the year. One of the most exciting prospects is to develop smaller-scale reproductions of the Adventure Trail for other outdoor recreation organizations to use at their events. This would consist of various-sized poster reproductions of each of the ten panels that can be affixed to different structures.

         An all-new Adventure Trail activity book for kids is also in the works that can be used as a stand-alone product or passed out to participants at the completion of the tour. The NOHVCC staff is also working on printing handout poster reproductions of some of the messages for use at events.

         "It's all about keeping the sport of OHVing happy and healthy," says NOHVCC Executive Director Russ Ehnes. "If we can get the next generation of riders on the right trail as far as safety and riding ethics go, we will be helping to ensure the future of our chosen form of outdoor recreation. And if they happen to have fun while they're learning, that's just icing on the cake."

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