[Jeffro06]

There was supposed to be a Jeeps Gone Wild club run on 11/15/09, but it was cancelled. Having missed the last club run and needing a fix, I decided to go wheeling on Saturday 11/14/09.

I found to willing participants, 5cents (Kris) and Sobster88 (Justin). We decided to hit the The Badlands.

Justin, who traveled down from Madison WI, met up with me at the Petro Travel Plaza in my town.


Justin's jeep and my jeep at Petro.

We met up at 0500 and headed south. I could tell it was going to be a great day, because it was 46 degress as we headed out of town.

We arrived at the park at 0930 Indy time. Justin had decided to camp over, as driving all the way back to Madison was a bit much for one day.

There was quite the crowd waiting to check in. The line was all the way out the door, must have been 50+ people waiting. That's the first time I have ever had to wait to check in. I think the good weather had something to do with it.


L-R: Me, Kris and Justin.

We headed down past the tubes, looking for a trail Kris said he had taken the last time the group went out. The trail ended up being part of the Trek race course. It wasn't hard at all, but was fun none the less. We followed the orange arrows all the way back to the begining of the Orange Trail, where I assumed the lead.

By the time we stopped for the first photo op, we were into the Orange Trail pretty good.


Justin coming down a ledge.

We followed Orange past the half way exit and eventually found some yellow trail markers, which took us back to the dunes where the entrance to Orange is located.

We decided to head over to the quarry.


Kris makes it up the wall....with a scrape or two.


Justin climbs the wall......there was a smell of rubber in the air.

After the quarry we ventured out into the woods surrounding the area, looking for trails we don't normally do. We found a few new (to us) spots.


Justin found a rock to pose on.


Kris and Justin coming up a section we had never been on.

We made our way back over to "Kevin's Trail". The big mud hole looked pretty nasty, worse than it did the last time I was there, so we went to either side.


Kris got hung up.....showing Justin "what not to do."

As it turned out Kevin's Trail ended up being the sloppiest part of the day. The mud holes seem to be growing.


Justin in one of several mud holes on Kevins Trail.


Kris making his way through.

We made our way to the creek, but not without another snatch 'em moment.


Justin got high centered.

We made our way down the creek to the rock formation, which is actually a part of the Blue Trail, I believe.


Coming out of the creek at "The Rock".


Justin coming down the ledge.

I made an attempt at going up, slid to the driver side, got spooked, said nope. I ended up going to the top and coming back down, like Justin. After that I decided to try going up one more time. I hadn't the ledge square the first time, so I figured it was worth another shot. Ledges where I may have to bump it, or get on the skinny pedal, worry me a bit with the D35 and all. The last thing I want to do it break down, 3 1/2 hours from home.


Headed back down the creek.

Once at the tubes we exited the creek, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and headed back into the creek. As we went back up the creek, with me leading, we took some side routes....more exlporing.

I pulled out of the creek onto a section of Blue Trail, that I'd never been on, which led us up a rocky path to the quarry pond.


Justin coming up the rocky path.

We ended up following some Green Trail markers, which took us back over near Purgatory, the to the quarry.

We came upon a hill, which looked inviting, but doubtful. It was really dug out at the bottom, almost verticle for the fist couple of feet. The base was also a mud pit. Kris and I both tried it. Kris was dragging his bumper and decided enough was enough. I started to climb it, slid back and decided that too was enough. I didn't want to get half way up (if I could even do that) then slide back down, land on the rear bumber. It felt as if you could tip over backwards if that happened...no thanks.


Kris giving the hill a shot.

Once back in the quarry we played around a bit and took some poser shots.


My poser shot.





We made our way down to the quarry pond, where Justin attempted the step up.


Not quite.

Try as he might, his bumper and gas tank skid were determined not to let him up the hill.

[Jeffro06]

I made it up the step up, but Kris and Justin took an alternate route.


Kris climbing out.


Justin's turn.

With all the things Justin tried...which was nearly everything...we had to laugh when he couldn't make it up this hill....


The GSA's let him down!

From there we headed back to Orange....via the Green Trail....the hilly section. We just picked a spot and dove into the trail.


The hill in the background looked worse from the top.

You get a big surprise when you start down a long steep hill, thinking you're in 4LO, and you're not......ask me how I know.

We had a few "moments" on the green trail. Taking it backwards, and not really following a marked route made it interesting. I didn't take any photos during this section, not sure why. It may have done with me being preoccupied.

After green we did Orange again...no pics. We went to the half way point, without stopping for anything, then headed back to Kevins Trail. We made it through Kevin's, non-stop. Then it was on to the creek.


Justin crossing the creek.

As we did Orange, Kevins and the Creek again, we took different sections, when we could, so it wasn't the exact same trail as the first time.


Aren't they pertty?


Kris at the end of the creek, and the end of our day.

We decided doing the creek last would help with some of the clean up. Being as how we were near closing time we called it quits.

After airing up and getting the jeeps road worthy again we stopped by the office/store and grabbed some goodies.

Kris headed for home, while Justin and I stopped at McDonalds.

After we finished eating I gave the jeep another walke around. I decided to check my lug nuts, being as this was the furthest I had driven since my last rotation. Good thing I did, I found one lug (front passenger) lose....real lose. I checked them all before heading back to the road.

Justin headed back to the camp ground and I headed for home.

It was still so nice out that I drove weill into dark with my window down....unbelievable day.

According to Justin's tripmeter we put 25-30 miles on inside the park. We hit more trails on this trip than on any other trip I have ever been on. It was a blast. No breakage, and no damage (well none that I've seen yet) and great weather....what more can you ask for?

I want to say thanks to Kris and Justin for coming out.

They both have pictures....hopefully some of me. Kris and I have some video...which may make it onto YouTube eventually.

I will post a link to all of the days photos after I get them loaded to my site.

Well that brings a close to my 2009 wheeling season....see you in 2010!

[Xjay98]

Great trail report!!!

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by Xjay98

Great trail report!!!

Thanks.

Click Here To See All The Photos I Took.

I don't have any real exciting video, but I'll post it up........much later.

Hopefully Justin will make it back home today and post up some of his pics.

I'm not gonna hold my breath for the pics and vids Kris took.

[awillard69]

As usual, a great report... another small, capable group... you can really explore a lot of the park like that.

Looks like you guys had a blast.

Thanks for sharing.

[TheEddie]

Looks like you guys had a perfect day! Thanks for the pics.

[Sobie]

The album of pictures I took can be viewed Here.

It was a really nice day. Thanks for the great recap!

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by sobster88

The album of pictures I took can be viewed Here.

I like this one:



Did you get wet last night? I ran into some rain on the way home and got to thinking about you and your electric blanket...

[Sobie]

I didnt get any rain last night. I did run into rain on the way home this morning.
Camping was good. Even though it only got down to ~50, everything outside the tent was damp from high humidity. So 50 felt more like 30. The electric blanket kept me nice and toasty through the night.
I like that picture too. I think you could have made it, you were almost to the top there.

[awillard69]

Nice pics, Justin.

Where exactly was that one above of Jeff taken?

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by awillard69

Nice pics, Justin.

Where exactly was that one above of Jeff taken?

It's on that section of Green that runs along the quarry edge, near purgatory.

[Sobie]

I think this was the most fun trip I've been on. Almost anything I attempted, I was able to do.
These are my 2 favorite pics of the day.


I never realized I picked up a tire here. I know of 2 times I felt uneasy on other trails though.

[Jeffro06]

Here are the videos I got. I'll warn you now, turn your volume down, unless you like random YouTube music....

Most of the video is the race course section, pretty tame, but you can still see where it goes, if you'd like.

[YT]Tj5kybhVHK8[/YT]

[YT]6NS9L4E5BIc[/YT]

[YT]pd6x0JfDClI[/YT]

[YT]pHwj3c8lTCk[/YT]

[YT]t6tFiMGTtpE[/YT]

[YT]Uo9t3PNc4e4[/YT]

[Sobie]

I found a little bit of damage. Theres a superficial dent in the gas tank skid. Its probably from one of the ledge drop offs around the park somewhere.

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by sobster88

I found a little bit of damage. Theres a superficial dent in the gas tank skid. Its probably from one of the ledge drop offs around the park somewhere.

Or from you ramming it into the ground trying to get up that step up down by the quarry pond....you did leave an imprint of the tankskid in the ground.