North Carolina has extremely light regulations for owning and ATV in that state as well as only a few rules for riding on publicly managed lands. The public riding ATV trails are managed by the National Forest Service. There is a small fee charged before you ride on these ATV trails and you will be given a permit that must be displayed prominently on your ATV.
You do not have to register your ATV at the time of this writing in the State of North Carolina. The National Forest Service asks that when you ride your ATV on any of the trails, that you adhere to the guidelines set forth by Treadlightly when you use any of the ATV trails. You also must stay on the designated ATV trails and trail blazing is not allowed. Make sure you have the most current maps for the areas you are riding your ATV on, as in order to keep the trails as natural as possible, periodically certain trails are closed down and others are opened in order to give trails the chance to reclaim themselves and new growth to occur the there is always a new area to explore on your ATV.
In order to ride your ATV trails you must have a muffler and spark arrestor in place to insure that your chances of starting a forest fire with a stray spark from your ATV will be at a minimum. If you're going to be riding your ATV in the early morning hours or after dark, they do ask that you have working headlights on your ATV.
If you'd like to order a map of the latest ATV trails that are open for riding in North Carolina, visit https://www.cradleofforestry.com/store//c2.html.
