URE - 4/11/09 - Perspective From The First Trip Of The Year

J.C.

J.C.

Volunteer
Moderator
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
Greensboro, NC
Made a run to Uwharrie today with CherokeeKid88, first time this year, to check things out.

Rode some with quickracer and v8pickup, saw DylanW, RatLabGuy, baddog, chuckman, a large group from Carolina K5 and a slew of Nissans.

There were probably 25-30 rigs in The Outpost parking lot when we got there and it was pretty congested with tow rigs, wheelers and onlookers.

I was extremely pleased with the trails as it appears the FS did not do as much "paving" as they usually do during the winter closure. The first ledge on Daniel is getting seriously nasty! A huge rain/hail storm Friday night had left the trails pretty slick and it required some wheel speed to make it up. The second ledge is getting easier if anything and presented no problems while still being a nice challenge.

Further up Daniel at the rock garden three large trees had been cut and felled across the extreme left line of the trail. Not sure if the FS is intending to close that bypass or if they just haven't got it cleaned up yet. There are still several different lines to take but if it stays blocked it will be tough to get a stock or unlocked rig up easily.

We rode Dickey Bell after Daniel and there are some nice challenges forming on that trail as well, especially when ridden in the northern direction from Falls Dam. We saw one ranger all day, at the 553/Dickey Bell intersection but she just waved as we went by.

Heading up to Kodak Rock the hard right line before Kodak has eroded more and with the slickness of the trails today required a bit of speed to make it up, no crawling today!

Same at Kodak. Some of the lines that normally present no problems were very challenging and the middle line was undoable for me. Everytime I got the front up the rear was sitting in a mud hole and I just couldn't generate the wheel speed necessary to make it up. It appeared that no "paving" was done there as well! There are several nice lines opening up on the left side where the trees used to be and the upper exit from the Kodak area is also getting a lot tougher!

All in all a fun if uneventful day! A big thanks to the FS for maintaining the trails but leaving some nice challenge areas for those that want to give them a shot!
 
Sounds great. I am glad to hear they didn't smooth out the rough spots. Hopefully that will continue in future years. I am hoping to make it down there soon.
 
we went today allso and ran falls dam and dickey bell and went to kodak rock and came in from the topside and went down was good but wishing we had came up it instead we hade one guy do kodak rock first trip ihave been on up there was a good day and very impressed with the xj
 
Good to see ya JC, sorry I didnt get to ride with ya. I did end up getting to ride rocky mt loop. Had some fun on the ledge, but made it on the first try..had to line up a little funny to go up the middle of kodak area. But i ended up making it after a few attempts to line up right. Got a little drivers door damage, but nothing too bad. I think ratlabguy has a video of me at kodak area.Also, Ratlab guy did great in the yota and gave the ledge all he had. He did have to back down, but thats was the funny part. Seems he didnt see the giant tree and backed dead into it at a good speed. I almost peed a little laughing, but not much damage, so all was good.

I went over to the track and met up with a lot of folks. That was a fun time. It was fun to run with the big boys. I came close to keeping up with bigwoody and the boys, but the ole xj has it's limits. Not for the lack of trying tho! Man what a blast. The track is definately a technical type track. Rough too!
 
^^^ yeah great day for me too.
John, sorry we didn't get to run w/ you.
Yeah we hit RML before teh stables - yes the word is "slimy".
Gave that ledge a lot of work - sorry JC it was prob me that slimed it up for ya'. just couldn't quite make it over, kept gettin gfront crossmember hung up w/ all 4 wheels spinning.
And, yep, I really pegged that tree hard, I'm sure it was funny, too bad yo udidn't get a vid - Meg is stil lcomplaining baout her kneck from it hahaha. Oh well.
Here's quickie of Dylan on Koad, sorry I erased the first few minutes of failed attempts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbNjCt6OuwE

Then the "play" at the Stables race/rally track was awesome. Hats off to the guys for makin ga nice course - it's gonna be wild - just hope nobody lands in the lake lol. Def impressed w/ my Yota, took it bettert han expected.
Unf didn't make it back to teh trials, had an inverted shackle issue that I didn't wnat to push my luck on given the long drive home.
 
Thanks JC for the pull,Daniel was the first trail we hit,discovered my Toyota would not engage into 4 low,so i ran it in 4 high with stock 410s,Rather than ruining everyone day,i parked my rig after completeing Daniel and road with V8 pickup for the next 2 days.Did some nice camping @ Arrowhead with my son,All in all we had a good time.
 
I was one of the Carolina K-5's that was out there yesterday, It had been awhile since i had been to ure, and it has changed some. I guess the rain the nite before didn't help that either. Was it me or was there more trash on trail this time than normal. Every time we stopped we picked up beer cans and trash. I even picked up a muffler from the side of the falls dam small ledge, that was still slightly warm and covered in wet mud. To me if a beer can bounces out of an open truck bed you probably won't know it, but if you loose a muffler you'll probably know it. I just hope that these idiots don't ruin ure like apparently they have Tellico. Ok rant over. We had a great ride, and look forward to coming out again later in the year for another planned group ride. Who knows there may possibly be some unplanned rides as well. We had a great time, and we had some stock rigs and some rookies and had to keep them in consideration when picking what trails to ride. We stayed on the easier stuff as not to scare them off, and they will definately be back for more of the drug that we call "wheelin". It was good to see such a good turn out, seein as it is Easter weekend, and w/ all of the rain we had.

Did anyboby see the Yota truck that rolled on wolf's den and mashed the roof in pretty bad I hope they are ok? We saw the truck Fri evening parked at a camp on wolfs den, and then a pic of it was hanging in the Outpost Sat. morning.
 
Willc said:
pics of daniel
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these are pics of (V8 pickup)s runner on daniel.pics dont due justice.was a good climb.
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Some pics of me playing!! Also did some geocacheing!! Great weekend to be at URE.
 

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I had a great time. Thanks again JC for helping with quickracer. There was no "crawling" on the hard stuff it was Slick!
 
drkelly said:
Sounds great. I am glad to hear they didn't smooth out the rough spots. Hopefully that will continue in future years. I am hoping to make it down there soon.
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Myself, Mark and JT rode Sat. evening, we all had more trouble with the ledge on daniel than we had anticipated. It required my buggy to be in "drive" and on the floor to make it.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Myself, Mark and JT rode Sat. evening, we all had more trouble with the ledge on daniel than we had anticipated. It required my buggy to be in "drive" and on the floor to make it.
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Dang Greg..I had to pull another guy up that ledge with the xj. I didnt have my d-rings in the back bumper, so rather than move them, I just backed up the ledge and pulled with my front bumper.:shaking:
 
Thanks to T-bone for being the best trail leader. Hailstorms and tornadoes aside we had a wonderful time!!
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JC said:
I like the second one, is that fear or shock on your face :)
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Complete shock!! That is not the good pic. When the mud came rushing in the driver door (or lack there of) she really came unglued!!
 
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