Red Cloud Off Road Park

At the January meeting we decided to hold the March meeting on a trail, and to do it at one of the new locations we wanted to check out as a club. Red Cloud Off Road had opened in 2014 and CORE had not gone to check it out yet. So it was decided, we’d wheel all morning at Red Cloud, and then have our meeting after. In on the fun were the following:

JC with his Super Swampers gunned it, flinging mud over anyone outside to watch, and climbed to the top without aid.

  • Andrew and Cherie Taylor, Fred Granruth and Shelley Fitch (Members) – Silver Nissan Xterra
  • JC (Member) and Jimmy McArdle (Guest) – Black Jeep TJ
  • Kevin, Tyler and Kelsey Barnes (Members) – Black Land Rover Discovery
  • Mike and Jake O’Grady (Guests) – Khaki Nissan Xterra
  • Roland, Allison and Lily (Guests) – Blue Toyota FJ
  • Serguei and Sebastian Sviatyi (Guests) – Blue Jeep JKU

We all met up in the commuter parking lot right at the gate at 10am. After saying our hello’s and meeting the new guests we aired down and headed to the registration tent. Once signed up (and lunch ordered) we headed out to explore. Fred and Shelley were riding along with us for the day, and Cherie enjoyed the fact that Fred got to be the navigator on this trip, a responsibility that comes with the front passenger seat! Our first trail was T. Weed, near the entrance. It’s a relatively easy loop, with a few muddy holes, some requiring you to enter at an odd angle. Something to get everyone in the right state of mind, and get a little dirt all over! Following T. Weed we went north on Casper and eventually entered Camp Castle.

Almost immediately we had to stop. A tree had fallen across the trail, and was too spiney and tall to just run over. A call went out over the CB for tools and in no time we had an axe, a machete and a bow saw! We made quick work of the tree and moved on. We continued on eventually working our way back along Long, Sword6, and Casper. On Casper we all went along the “moguls” as we called them, some opting to do them more than once. Then a long steep slippery muddy hill climb to get back to the entrance to the park. Four of the 6 vehicles made it up, the others finding an alternate path around the base.

We stopped to have lunch at the registration tent. One cool offering of Red Clouds is that they cook hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, and for only a few dollars you can have a warm lunch (with chips and a drink) on the trail! Most of us chose this option and enjoyed the freshly grilled food while hanging out around their campfire.

After lunch we decided to explore the south part of the park, eventually making our way to Rat6, Xmitter, Smoke Screen and the rock garden. We then headed west and entered Picasso near the entrance to the park. We looped around on Picasso eventually getting to Jim’s Pit. It’s a stream crossing with steep slick muddy banks on both sides. I wasn’t able to get back out of Jim’s pit without a winch, and some help from the others to anchor it to a tree on the other side. Once out I spun around to help others. Everyone tried a few times, quickly figuring out the effort was to be in vain. I ended up winching everyone, until we got to JC. JC with his Super Swampers gunned it, flinging mud over anyone outside to watch, and climbed to the top without aid. The feat impressed his passenger, Jimmy, to no end!

We left Jim’s Pit by driving up the stream which was pretty cool, flexing our stuff as we exited the stream, and headed back to the parking lot, again by way of a few obstacles! It was close to 3 and so we decided to take a quick group shot in the parking lot, and then rinse our vehicles off (required at Red Cloud) and then head up into the commuter lot to hold our meeting. A few had to leave for the meeting, but we voted in 3 new members, so all in all a good meeting. I think we’re all looking forward to the next time we can get down to play at Red Cloud again!



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Photo Album: 03/15/15 Red Cloud Off Road

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Trail report written by Andrew Taylor. Pictures courtesy of Fred Granruth, Shelley Fitch, Cherie Taylor, Roland Thro. GPS track courtesy of Serguei Sviatyi

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