Cottonland Cruisers Bienville National Forest Ride (1 Viewer)

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wngrog

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Cottonland Cruisers Bienville National Forest Ride-February 2011

When you live in Mississippi and love off-roading (but hate mud), you are severely limited in your choices of local trails. Diverse terrain and dry roads are generally not what people thing of when they think about central Mississippi trails. Recently, I was told about a section of Bienville National Forest just 30 miles southeast of Jackson that offered just this. Curvy, wide and dry trails through rich old growth pines and hardwoods. In fact, the 178,000 acre Bienville National Forest, established in 1934 and named after French Explorer Jean Baptiste Bienville is one of the largest public areas in the entire state, but none of our group had ever taken advantage of the opportunity to use the park for our Land Cruiser rides.

After putting up some teaser pictures from my friend David Quirin from his dual-sport bike forum, the group was hooked. We met at the Cracker Barrel in Pearl and lined up in the parking lot across the street. We were amazed at the size of the group. 13 Toyotas lined up. Representing were 2 FJ-40's, 1 FJ-60, 1 Tacoma, two 100 series and the rest 80 series from stock to 40" tires.

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Jeff Murrah was sporting a brand new set of 35" MTR's and a Metaltech Grill hoop.

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We headed out of town on Hwy 18 to the town of Puckett and topped off our tanks and made a last bathroom break. From there we went into "explore" mode as no one in the group had ever been in this part of the National Forest.

About 4 miles out of Puckett, we saw a sign for County Road 503 and we turned North. Just up 503 we turned into the first Forest Service (FS) road FS521. The road was nice and wide and well serviced. Not dirt, not gravel, but a sandy hard-pack.
 
The first turn we came to was 521A and the sign said DEAD END so we kept going. The next road, 521E looked like a unimproved road that we could use to get to our first destination, Boykin Church. This road also had a DEAD END sign but we decided to check it out anyway. We followed some fresh tracks into the woods at the end of the improved road and were treated to a nice mud pit and a road the had multiple dead trees across it so we had to backtrack. While we were there, we took an opportunity to test out the trucks in the mud.

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100's like the mud too!

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Tacoma pre-runner with electric locker showing us up

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DEAD END it was, so we backtracked to 521 and continued east toward our first stop at Boykin Church. Boykin Church is on FS503G and is a neat old 1800's church complete with a side-by-side outhouse around back. We piled out of our Cruisers here and took in some history.

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Here Cruiser driver/beauty Val Price checks out the facilities

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2 seater complete with shag carpet and a box to keep your bible from falling in the hole!

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Greg and John Gordon Thompson check out the early graves

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This white oak was probably just an acorn when Boykin Church was built

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About the time we were going to saddle up and head out, a local drove up to check out all the "Jeeps" at the church. I asked him for directions to the creek ford we had seen on David's dual-sport pictures. He directed us back to the first road we had passed with the DEAD END sign off FS521. Being someone that HATES to turn around or backtrack, I asked him if we could get in from the other side. He directed us and off we went. The road off CR503 into the road with the ford says ROAD CLOSED. We drove right past knowing that we could turn around if it got too bad. The first section of this road was the only place that there were a few limbs that could scratch the Cruiser if you were not careful. It was a bit grown up and washed out at the beginning and then it turned right into the nice wide roads we were used to seeing.

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About 1/2 way to the ford, we stopped to watch an Armadillo snorting around. I called for the kids to come up and Bill Dearman reached into the hole and pulled the hiding Armadillo out so we could all get a good close look. It was the first time some in the group had ever seen one so close. Thanks Bill for braving leprosy so we could all get a good look :)

Here Barry Hause holds the critter for John Gordon to touch.

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John Gordon wishing the unharmed Armadillo farewell

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The ford was next. The water marker showed that the water was only 1' deep so the Cruisers made quick work of the crossing. Greg and I plan on going down the next time it floods and testing out his snorkel.

Lash Lacoste pilots my FZJ-80 across while I mark the occasion

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Bill Dearman

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Val Price

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"Purdy Truck"

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FZJ-80 making a nice wave

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Classic FJ-40 crossing

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At this point we took a nice lunch break at the ford.

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Our next move was to head across the National Forest to Jeff Murrah's hunting club for afternoon burgers. Lash, my navigator and I picked out a route that would keep us on unimproved roads for the entire 20 miles. Turns out, the county has been busy and most of the roads that were marked as gravel roads had been paved since the map was printed in 1983! Progress in Mississippi is slow, but lots can happen in 28 years. Either way, the trip was nice and took us through the historic town of Homewood.

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We made it to the "Nut Sack Hunting Club" a bit earlier than planned due to the excellent road conditions only getting lost one or two times along the way. The looks we gathered from the rural Mississippi folks as we drove by with a dozen huge Toyotas was priceless.

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We fired up the bonfire and grill and had a nice little gathering at the end of the day. The kids has a blast finding old deer bones and collecting wood. The girls bundled up on the swing and we all worked on getting the wet firewood to put out some heat. As the sun fell on the horizon the temperature dropped like crazy. The chill factor was in the 20's and the fire was not very hot but good times were had by all. Cottonland Cruisers provided the burgers and we chowed down.

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We all packed it in with the sunset and headed back into town. 1/2 of a tank later we were back in the real world. It was fun being able to spend a day on the trail with the club and not break the bank on fuel costs and see something none of us had ever seen. The area that we explored in the Bienville National Forest was just a tiny taste of what is available to explore. Next trip we will stay in the National Forest more where the roads are all dirt and see what all we can find. I can hardly wait.

Check out all the pictures at:

Bienville National Forest February 2011 - Rock Midget Photography

Also, if you have a Cruiser and are in the Mississippi area, check out the Cottonland family at:

CottonLand Cruisers | Mississippi's Toyota 4×4 Enthusiast Club

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Top notch trip report. Thanks Nolen.
 
Looks like an awesome trip. I wish I would have known about this area while I was at Ole Miss
 

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