OVERLAND RALLY - Atlanta area to Ashville caravan

[GXO]

Hell, I remember teaching some of the people here a 4x4 class, I think it would be a good thing for people at GSMTR to have a beginners group with a volunteer instructor and easy trails.

Assuming I get my GX done I would sign up to teach that class/lead that trail ride.

I think I remember how to shift into 4L

 

[Hilldweller]

I especially liked the cartography and financial planning classes...
And Shirley Deane rocked me to my foundations. What a gal.

Tell me more about Golden Mountain; I've never been there.

EDIT: I just looked it up; not all that close for our people to be volunteers.
I still think Durhamtown Plantation in mid to late March would be great. Close enough to for a good volunteer effort, it's their slow time and they'd roll out the red carpet for us....

 

[TeddyBoy]

I especially liked the cartography and financial planning classes...
And Shirley Deane rocked me to my foundations. What a gal.

Tell me more about Golden Mountain; I've never been there.

EDIT: I just looked it up; not all that close for our people to be volunteers.
I still think Durhamtown Plantation in mid to late March would be great. Close enough to for a good volunteer effort, it's their slow time and they'd roll out the red carpet for us....

Golden Mtn: not a place for a daily driver unless you keep to trail 1 and 2 but you'll get bored in a hurry. the rest of it you need a descently built rig for, lockers and 33 would go a long way but they have some very extreme trails too for the bigger rigs to play on.

the last 3 years we;ve doen DT in late Feb and then again in May/April and it seems to work out fairly well. there are even spots that dont have mud.

 

[BMThiker]

What GMP has that many off road parks don't have, is infrastructure...pavilions, sidewalks/boardwalks, fishing ponds, playing fields, bathrooms, showers, bunk rooms, RV sites, power, water. And it is laid out in a smart design. Its not hard to find the stuff and you don't have to drive around too much to get to them. And there is great potential for even more...working concession/kitchen, more bathrooms and bunk rooms.

The Flats was not much more than a few trails and a big flat camping area with no shade. It did have a good area for teaching basic 4WD technique. Brian McVickers, the OWR organizer, really would like to move the event to a place that has more facilities.

DT has some of the above list, but its not as much fun to wheel IMO. DT is huge too, so much so that I think it would be hard to "rent" the park for just a single event. GMP is still small enough to rent with exclusivity.

My two pence.

 

[Hilldweller]

DT has some of the above list, but its not as much fun to wheel IMO. DT is huge too, so much so that I think it would be hard to "rent" the park for just a single event. GMP is still small enough to rent with exclusivity.

My two pence.

DT offered us a huge new field they acquired recently with private exclusive access; they also offered to section off one of their ATV trails for our exclusive use for recovery work, basic classes, etc.
The only downside was the distance from one area to the other but it wasn't any harsher than what we did in Amado.

GM seems like a good idea too. I'd just like it to be closer to home...
I would really like it to be at High Valley in Suches ---- but that didn't work out. And it's not a very convenient place for rookie adventurers to find.
The best 2 things about the Flats were the price and location. It's noteworthy that both the Amado event and this one were within spitting distance of an interstate.

 

[Hilldweller]

YouTube - ‪2011 SE Overland Rally & Workshop.wmv‬‏

 

[TeddyBoy]

DT offered us a huge new field they acquired recently with private exclusive access; they also offered to section off one of their ATV trails for our exclusive use for recovery work, basic classes, etc.
The only downside was the distance from one area to the other but it wasn't any harsher than what we did in Amado.

GM seems like a good idea too. I'd just like it to be closer to home...
I would really like it to be at High Valley in Suches ---- but that didn't work out. And it's not a very convenient place for rookie adventurers to find.
The best 2 things about the Flats were the price and location. It's noteworthy that both the Amado event and this one were within spitting distance of an interstate.

Bill I gotta give ya a hard time about this post but it's all in good fun. I thought the whole idea of being an "expeditioner" and having all the toys like RTTs and refrigerators and propane showers was to get off the beaten path and not to stay close to interstates or make it convenient for others to find. I'm just sayin'

 

[Hilldweller]

Bill I gotta give ya a hard time about this post but it's all in good fun. I thought the whole idea of being an "expeditioner" and having all the toys like RTTs and refrigerators and propane showers was to get off the beaten path and not to stay close to interstates or make it convenient for others to find. I'm just sayin'

Oh, I agree.
That's why I wanted the event to be at High Valley in Suches.
Bill Tanner would've also handed over the keys to Amicalola, only charging for single-vehicle entry and pavillion rentals. There's a stretch of land that he would've bush-hogged for us to use to dry-camp for free.

But there is the consideration to folks who have to travel to get here; they want it to be easy, I suppose.

Personally, I thought that the Amado location was horrible for camping. That's why we didn't camp there; we found a ranch about halfway between there and Mexico and camped next to their horse stables. It was really nice --- no wind or dust.

It is what it is though. A chance to see some cool rigs, expensive widgets, and meet online personalities.

 

[BMThiker]

I have to admit though, once you were in The Flats, you really didn't feel like you were next to a highway. There were mountains surrounding us. It was quite picturesque, especially at dusk.