WindRock June 25-July 2

tobaccoroad4wd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2015
Location
Rougemont
My wife and I are headed to WindRock, for the week of 6/25-7/2. We will be riding all over, but will take a day trip to Gatlinburg at some point.
We will head back to Brushy Mtn State Penn, because history and old prisons are cool, plus you can get there through the trails.
We also want to his the Sand Mines.
I understand that many won’t be able to make a week long trip, but wanted to extend the invite to anyone who might want to join us for some of it.
I don’t know what or if any cabins are still available for rent, or even if the campground has availability.
We will be in the buggy and plan to hit harder trails but will have some easier days or partial days for checking out scenic overlooks, the prison etc.
 
Imma try my best to show up, at least 1 day. Buggy should be ready (if I don't break it between now and then).

Never been to neither the State Penn nor the Sand Mines.
 
My wife and I are headed to WindRock, for the week of 6/25-7/2. We will be riding all over, but will take a day trip to Gatlinburg at some point.
We will head back to Brushy Mtn State Penn, because history and old prisons are cool, plus you can get there through the trails.
We also want to his the Sand Mines.
I understand that many won’t be able to make a week long trip, but wanted to extend the invite to anyone who might want to join us for some of it.
I don’t know what or if any cabins are still available for rent, or even if the campground has availability.
We will be in the buggy and plan to hit harder trails but will have some easier days or partial days for checking out scenic overlooks, the prison etc.
We'll (myself, RQ, @uglyjeepoffroad, @Tater.) be there 6/22-27 for the 21st Annual Jeepster JAM.
Supposedly some huge event/ride/group happening that week, so we opted for Half Moon Campground...
Hopefully, will be able to hit some of the backside trails (that either takes trailering around or 3-4 hour ride from the front just to start)?

We hit Brushy Mtn. last year... food was "OK", squeezin's sampling was very cool, and walking around left you awestruck.
I'd also recommend a ride up to MoCo Brewing in Wartburg, good folks running it and great beers and if'n you're in Wartburg, might as well hit the Nemo Train Tunnel (mind blowing that it was all done by hand).
 
We'll (myself, RQ, @uglyjeepoffroad, @Tater.) be there 6/22-27 for the 21st Annual Jeepster JAM.
Supposedly some huge event/ride/group happening that week, so we opted for Half Moon Campground...
Hopefully, will be able to hit some of the backside trails (that either takes trailering around or 3-4 hour ride from the front just to start)?

We hit Brushy Mtn. last year... food was "OK", squeezin's sampling was very cool, and walking around left you awestruck.
I'd also recommend a ride up to MoCo Brewing in Wartburg, good folks running it and great beers and if'n you're in Wartburg, might as well hit the Nemo Train Tunnel (mind blowing that it was all done by hand).
If youre at halfmoon and dont mind some asphalt, go back out to hwy 330, turn left, and waldens ridge road is on the right before hwy116 intersection. Thats the entrance for waldens ridge. If you turn left up hwy116, youll run right into the south/north side split on windrock thats on g1. Turn right and explore the north side if you want to avoid traffic. Nothing over there that is mapped is real hard except for 71b. And the devils elbow pending what kind of rig your in.
 
If youre at halfmoon and dont mind some asphalt, go back out to hwy 330, turn left, and waldens ridge road is on the right before hwy116 intersection. Thats the entrance for waldens ridge. If you turn left up hwy116, youll run right into the south/north side split on windrock thats on g1. Turn right and explore the north side if you want to avoid traffic. Nothing over there that is mapped is real hard except for 71b. And the devils elbow pending what kind of rig your in.
Thank you! Avoiding the clusterfawk (to skip whatever's happening at "mainside" Windrocks) is EXACTLY one of the reasons we opted for Half Moon! Fortunately, one of our guys is a local that helped cut both "Atomic Ridge" and "Waldens Ridge"... so getting to any of them shouldn't be a problem.
We've got a mixed bag of jeepsters/Commandos... a couple Dauntless 🙄V6 powered/locked/33"s to assorted V8 power on 36"s-42"s. The larger question will be whether there's enough balls/testosterone present to collectively agree to either is another story 🤣
@Caver Dave hopefully get to run into y’all.
Will DM you my contact info
 
Had a bad ignition switch, only took all day to find it 🤦🏽‍♂️Always the last thing you check. The toggle switch had a loose post on it, if you wiggled it the switch would go open circuit for a check second.
 
Thank you! Avoiding the clusterfawk (to skip whatever's happening at "mainside" Windrocks) is EXACTLY one of the reasons we opted for Half Moon! Fortunately, one of our guys is a local that helped cut both "Atomic Ridge" and "Waldens Ridge"... so getting to any of them shouldn't be a problem.
We've got a mixed bag of jeepsters/Commandos... a couple Dauntless 🙄V6 powered/locked/33"s to assorted V8 power on 36"s-42"s. The larger question will be whether there's enough balls/testosterone present to collectively agree to either is another story 🤣

Regardless what anybody else ever tells you, I dont recommend atomic ridge in anything that isnt buggyish (tons, big tires, good cage, etc) related. There have been many different types of vehicles winch across it but IF something went wrong, it would potentially be 10x worse in something not buggyish. There is a local jeep shop and a few of them went across it not long ago but they were the "next level" jeep jk guys if that makes sense.

Waldens ridge is the single best regular trail ride at windrock. Nothing hard that isnt bypassable so most anything with 33s-35s and at least one locker can ride it, good views, the death sections are bypassable, and in a tuned buggy you can drive pretty quick through there.

The northside seems endless in a way and it is prolly because most of the time you are in the middle of nowhere but its good trail riding. Its just a long ways from the truck if something bad happens lol
 
Thank you! Avoiding the clusterfawk (to skip whatever's happening at "mainside" Windrocks) is EXACTLY one of the reasons we opted for Half Moon! Fortunately, one of our guys is a local that helped cut both "Atomic Ridge" and "Waldens Ridge"... so getting to any of them shouldn't be a problem.
Whos the local guy?
 
Whos the local guy?
Toad (Mike Valentine)... hopefully you're NOT the guy that threatened to whip his ass in the old camping field at the DR years ago? That fellow had a brand spanking new SuperDuty, got stuck entering the field, Toad offered to pull him out of the low spot and proceeded to hit 6000rpm with the stroker in the ShitRocket#1... it splattered 12" of mud/grass onto the entire front of the truck... and covered the windshield of the guys rig 25' back on the trailer 😲
 
Toad (Mike Valentine)... hopefully you're NOT the guy that threatened to whip his ass in the old camping field at the DR years ago? That fellow had a brand spanking new SuperDuty, got stuck entering the field, Toad offered to pull him out of the low spot and proceeded to hit 6000rpm with the stroker in the ShitRocket#1... it splattered 12" of mud/grass onto the entire front of the truck... and covered the windshield of the guys rig 25' back on the trailer 😲
Ha no that wasnt me. I know Mike but he prolly doesnt remember me cause it has been years. Actually the last time he rode with us he got mad and left and I havent seen him since. Thats been like 10 years ago.
 
Toad (Mike Valentine)... hopefully you're NOT the guy that threatened to whip his ass in the old camping field at the DR years ago? That fellow had a brand spanking new SuperDuty, got stuck entering the field, Toad offered to pull him out of the low spot and proceeded to hit 6000rpm with the stroker in the ShitRocket#1... it splattered 12" of mud/grass onto the entire front of the truck... and covered the windshield of the guys rig 25' back on the trailer 😲
This guy sounds like a wonderful fellow
 
Ha no that wasnt me. I know Mike but he prolly doesnt remember me cause it has been years. Actually the last time he rode with us he got mad and left and I havent seen him since. Thats been like 10 years ago.
That would've fallen into his "married with children"/angry phase of life... can't blame him, we've all BTDT 😁

This guy sounds like a wonderful fellow
Actually, having known him for the better part of 22 years, aside from a few "minor incidents" (*potentially* involving alkyhol) and being a fawking squid 🙄, he's a stand up guy and has been a great friend.
He spent 13 long weekends assisting me with assembly/initial build my Commando 21 years ago... put me up, fed me, drove me around, and countless other actions... never asked for a dime (outside of initial rig purchase).

Also, semi-legendary for flat out embarrassing a slew of high dollar rig/buggy owners, by driving past/around them on 33"s... 🤣
 
Buggy is operational.
Replaced the switch, replaced some ring terminals and a ground wire and she’s tan without incident. Didn’t have long before the storm hit, but I’ll take some time tomorrow and run it for longer just to be sure.

Big thanks to @Chris_Keziah for being a mobile trouble shooter for me.
 
So far, had a brand new ignition switch fail which cost us 2 days of ride until it dies, limp back to the cabin, try to fix it, run to town, back to the cabin to try and fix again.
Buggy ran great all day, although we took it kind of easy considering we weren’t fully confident in the longevity of the fix.

Plan to hit as much as possible tomorrow, got a guy coming in for the day so hopefully he knows more about the park than I do and we can find some fun stuff.

Big thanks to @adamk and @Chris_Keziah for helping me through with limited tools and way too much irritability to figure it out on my own.

Solid state switch bank is in my future…
 
@Bebop
Short answer, no. Longer answer is the wiring is a little lackluster, (years of use and vibration, no wiring conduit) and I haven’t/didn’t take the time.
@Chris_Keziah found the first switch to be bad; one of the terminals was loose, in the switch itself.
Several wires had bare spots, as well as a loose connection at the fuse block itself. That was patched before we left.
The new switch worked fine, but the terminal had worked Itself loose from the switch when I pulled the panel. So, I bypassed the ignition switch and tied the kill switch to the ignition. (Thanks to Adam and Chris.)
 
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