ATHOL – An Amherst family was abruptly awakened at 2:30 a.m. the morning of Sunday, Aug. 25, to see several vehicle driving in their direction as they slept in the Bearsden Conservation Area.

“We had reserved one of the campgrounds in Bearsden, called Buckman Brook Shelter,” said Brian, who asked that his last name not be used. “There’s a lean-to shelter you can sleep in, but it was just a beautiful weekend, so we just slept outside both nights because it was so beautiful.”

The Bearsden area trails –which had been recently upgraded and repaired – were badly damaged that night by the vehicles, and have been closed pending restoration work. The matter is under investigation by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

rian said that the scenic area is far from the road and rarely sees anyone when his family camps there. Brian said on that evening, sleeping bags had been laid out in the middle of the campsite.

“We didn’t have a tent or anything, we were just sort of lying on the ground – including three small children,” he said. “It was a wonderful weekend, except that about 2:30 in the morning, I woke up and all I could hear was my wife screaming. She was sitting up in her sleeping bag, waving her arms and screaming. It took me a second to process what was going on because I’d been in a dead sleep. But I soon realized there were five huge vehicles racing down this hill, this trail that comes straight into the campsite, without any obstructions between where we were lying and the trail they were flying down.”

Brian added that two of the children are 10 years old and the third is 7. The Amherst man said he had never before seen what is known as a side-by-side, a vehicle similar, but larger than, an ATV.

“In addition to them racing down the hill,” Brian continued, “the ones that these folks had had really fantastic sound systems, and they were all blaring really loud music. They had their high beams on so they could navigate the trails at night. It was a pretty disorienting, pretty frightening experience.”

Brian said because they were traveling five-in-a-row, “They couldn’t do anything other than come right down into the campsite where we were sleeping – where we were lying on the ground – and basically turn around within feet of where we were.”

After each of the side-by-sides managed to do a three-point turn, they sped off in the direction from which they had come.

“I don’t know if they knew where they were or where they were going. None of them spoke to us or apologized or turned off their stereos. They were playing their music about as loud as you can imagine,” Brian said. “And then they took off and continued upstream along the Millers River. We sort of watched their lights and heard their music as they tore up the trails and made their way up the river.”

Brian said it was possible one of them could have been hurt or killed, had his wife not awakened and waved off the vehicles.

“We were right in the middle of the campground, and they were flying down the hill into the campsite. It was a pretty scary situation. It took us a long time to settle down and fall back to sleep.”

Despite the incident, Brian said he and his family won’t be deterred from returning to Bearsden.

“Bill (Wheeler) and Dave (Small) do just an amazing job of managing the property,” said Brian. “It’s just a total gem. So, we’ll always go back there. It’s one of the most special places in Massachusetts. But I think if we were to sleep out again, we might try to drag a log or something across the trail before we go to sleep, just to slow someone down if they were to come down the hill.”

Brian praised the efforts at conserving and maintaining “that amazing, huge piece of land. It’s spectacular. It’s incredibly well signed. The trails are fantastic. I think everyone in the region should be proud of it…and use it the way it’s meant to be used.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.