Monster Trucks Damage Red Pryor Mountain

What was supposed to be a brisk, weekend outing turned into a disappointment when hikers reached the top of Red Pryor Mt.and found monster trucks churning up the wet ground; none of the trucks had license plates. A letter by one of the hikers written to the Forest Service explained:

"[m]y concern in reporting our sighting is that these vehicles appear to be capable of traveling almost anywhere on the Big Pryor/Red Pryor mountain block and to be quite damaging to existing roads and areas that are currently roadless. The trucks are highly modified with large tires (tractor tires in one case) and with shortened wheelbases. On the day of our hike, the top of the mountain was snow-covered and the vehicles appeared to stay mostly on the road or on the snow. However, a return visit to Red Pryor yesterday (May 13) revealed many more tracks; a steep slope on the southeast side of Red Pryor Mountain had obviously been used for a hillclimb on a large snowdrift and in places the trucks had clearly been traveling off the snow and off the road. Their tracks were also plainly visible in many places (particularly in the soft Amsden “red beds”) on the mountain access road (Red Pryor Mountain Road), 10 days after their visit."

The response from the Acting Beartooth District Ranger was to call a law enforcement officer (LEO) on the adjacent Gallatin NF because the Custer NF's LEO position will be vacant through the summer.

The Pryors Coalition will be following up on this incident and monitoring the area duringthe summer. To learn more about them please visit http://www.pryormountains.org/.