BTB.E. is going on its first ever spring run! Since the club’s 2019 inception, we’ve only done late fall events with the tops up and lots of mud. This time around we plan on having the tops down with some dry land to conquer under the sun!

Info:

Full information about the park can be found on the Badlands website using the following link. All key details noted below.

BADLANDS WEBSITE

Weekend Hours: 9 AM - 7 PM EST

$25 per driver / $10 per passenger age 12+ / $5 per passenger age 6-11 / FREE per child age 5 and under

Vehicle flags are required & sold onsite.

Adult drivers must sign Adult Waiver at the gate.

Minor Waiver - Anyone under the age of 18, and NOT your child, must have a parent complete this form, have it notarized, and submit it at the gate prior to entering the trails. Children accompanied by their parent(s) do not require a Minor Waiver.

Waiver can be found at the following link:

MINOR WAIVER

Plan:

Good idea to gas up the Jeeps and check all fluids/systems the night prior. The park has a walk-up diner with tons of options ~ pulled pork, chicken wraps, burgers, and something called the infamous Sasquatch Burger! Ordered a burger on the way out after the last trip and it was surprisingly pretty solid.

6:30 AM meet at Mariano’s ~ Northfield. It’s a 2.5 hour drive to the park in Attica, IN with a 1-hour time change into EST. If we leave at 6:45 AM with one stop along the way, we’ll arrive @ 10:30 AM EST, which gives us 8.5 hours of potential trail time.

Gear:

• Drinking Water

• Snacks

• Mobile Phone

• CB Radio ~ we’ve yet to use these but would be nice to have

• Gloves

• First Aid Kit

• Fire Extinguisher

• Extended Wheel Jack (1.CB has one so not critical if you don’t)

• Winch with Full Accessory Kit (installed on at least 2 Jeeps)

• 4-Point D Rings (for recovery if stuck)

• Air Compressor (also have 2 onsite ~ used to re-inflate tires after pre-trail deflate)

• Trail Flag (sold onsite)
  
  -CB

Badlands covers 1,400 acres of sand dunes, wooded trails, streams, mud, and rock. To put this into perspective, our first event at Rally Park was 30 acres and our second outing at The Cliffs was 300 acres ~ so Badlands is the real deal.

This site has an array of trails ranging from Level 3 (moderately demanding) to Level 9 (very demanding). Rally Park was a 3-5 and The Cliffs was a 3-7, so we’ll have access to more challenging terrain if we choose to push it.

Info:

Full information about the park can be found at the following link. The important stuff is noted below.

Weekend Hours: 9 AM - 7 PM EST

$25 per driver / $10 per passenger age 12+ / $5 per passenger age 6-11 / FREE per child age 5 and under

Vehicle flags are required & sold onsite.

Adult drivers must sign Adult Waiver at the gate.

Minor Waiver - Anyone under the age of 18, and NOT your child, must have a parent complete this form, have it notarized, and submit it at the gate prior to entering the trails. Children accompanied by their parent(s) do not require a Minor Waiver.

Waiver can be found at the following link:

Plan:

Good idea to gas up the Jeeps and check all fluids/systems the night prior. I’m most likely going to rent a trailer and haul the TJ down to be safe. I’m also going to pack water, snacks, and lunch for my family. The park has a diner with grilled food options, so probably not necessary to bring a lunch unless you really want to. Menu says pulled pork, chicken wraps, burgers, and something called the infamous Sasquatch Burger, so might be legit!

6:30 AM meet at Mariano’s. It’s a 2.5 hour drive to Attica, IN with a 1-hour time change into EST. So, if we leave at 6:45 AM with one stop along the way, we’ll arrive around 10:30 AM EST, which gives us up to 8.5 hours of potential trail time.

Gear:

• Drinking Water

• Snacks

• Mobile Phone

• CB Radio

• Gloves

• First Aid Kit

• Fire Extinguisher

• Extended Wheel Jack

• Winch with Full Accessory Kit (installed on at least 2 Jeeps)

• 4-Point D Rings (for recovery if stuck)

• Air Compressor (to re-inflate tires after pre-trail deflate)

• Trail Flag (sold onsite)

The Cliffs is rated “moderate” for level of difficulty on AllTrails.com. It’s similar terrain as our first event at River Road, but 10-times bigger at 300-acres.

This location is unique in that it allows ATVs and dirt-bikes on the trails and they also have one of Illinois’ largest zipline courses onsite.

Info:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/illinois/cliffs-insane-terrain-ohv-trail

April 1, 2020 - Nov 1, 2020 / Saturday and Sunday ONLY / 9 AM - 5 PM

Trails close @ 4:45 PM

Parking lot closes @ 5:45 PM

$25/driver and $10/passenger

Must sign release waiver provided at the gate.

300-acres of trails, hills, ravines, rocks, and motocross area.

Participants under 18-years of age riding their own vehicle must have full adult supervision at all times.

Helmet required for ATVs and dirt-bikes.

Trail flag must be displayed at all times. They’re sold onsite for $15.

Plan:

Good idea to gas up the Jeeps and check all fluids/systems the night prior. Make sure to pack drinks/snacks/lunch. 7:15 AM meet at Starbucks to grab coffee/bite to eat. 7:30 AM hit the road. Arrive at 9 AM and spend around 6 hours running the course before heading back. Maybe we hit an outdoor BBQ joint on the trek home or just call it a day - we’ll wing it from there!

Gear:

• Drinking Water

• Snacks

• Mobile Phone

• Gloves

• First Aid Kit

• Fire Extinguisher

• Extended Wheel Jack

• Winch with Full Accessory Kit (installed on at least one Jeep)

• D-Rings

That’s it… now all we need to do is make this happen!

-CB

River Road Rally Park is geared towards beginners and has an onsite Field Marshall to assist if anything goes awry. This place is definitely where we want to start out before tackling anything more substantial like a Jamboree event down in the Badlands of Indiana. This will give us the chance to test our Jeep’s capabilities in a moderately low-stress environment that’s not too far away from home. We can also pretension our winch cables and get familiar with how the recovery straps work, etc. This will all need to be done anyway before heading out to the bigger, more remote locations down the road.

You can access River Road’s website for additional info, map, photos, and waivers here:

https://riverroadrallypark.com

Details:

River Road has a track and a trail.

The track has multiple obstacles including tires, rocks, mounds, mud, etc. You can choose whatever challenge you want based on your Jeep’s capabilities and how aggressive you’d like to be. If anyone wants to break an axle over some huge rocks, the rest of us can sit back and admire them from the sidelines!

The trail is a bit more intensive, because once you enter, you need to follow through to the end. They said it’s more or less challenging depending on how wet the ground is.

Their only requirement is that each Jeep is tagged with a red trail flag. They sell them for $20 and we get to keep them.

They said to plan on being out on the course for about 3 hours. We’re welcome to stay longer, but that’s the amount of time it should take to test our equipment and try out some obstacles and the trail.

They’re open October 12th, 13th, 26th, and 27th. No reservations necessary.

$25 per driver for daily admission.

Let me know what date works best for you guys and let’s get our first official event on the calendar!

-CB