Off-Road Antics Churn Up Brooksville Road

The long furrows of churned earth and mangled grass stretch for a half mile in places. Muddy water pools in the deepest gashes.

It's a common enough sight on the shoulder of Old Crystal River Road. After almost every good rain, off-road enthusiasts known as "mud boggers" have torn up the right-of-way of the north/south connector road.

But it's getting worse.

Lazette Young grew up on this hilly stretch of road that cuts through wide green pastures and pine scrub forest.

She remembers when the area was called "Varmint-Ville" because of an overabundance of raccoons, possums and other critters. Now there's hardly enough animals left for road kill, Young says laughing.

Another sign of the times is the spread of mud bogging on Old Crystal River Road.

The longest stretch of damage extends the length of a piece of property owned by the Chinsegut Wildlife Preserve called the Big Pine Tract.

Now for the first time, the boggers are spreading out and leaving tracks all along the two-mile road. In an attempt to keep boggers away, Young's neighbors have left a sign in the grass that bluntly states "Nails."

It doesn't appear to be working.

Young believes it's a lack of respect for property.

"If they're old enough to drive, they're old enough to take responsibility," said Young, 74.

If there are to be any ramifications for mud boggers, a deputy has to catch the person in the act, said Sgt. Matt Lillibridge, traffic supervisor at the sheriff's office.

There are two basic options: A criminal reckless driving charge or a $139 careless driving citation.

Mya Barber lives close by the Chinsegut acres and doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.

"I mind my own business," she said. It's not her property, "so I don't care what they do."