Riding Jericho

Halfway through our vacation, we decided to pack up the kids, machines and gear and head over to the Jericho Mountain State Park trails.

We’d heard a lot of negativity about the trails but, club and local politics aside, we had a great day. The views are amazing and and make up for the fact it’s mostly logging roads. (Although there are several trails meant for advanced riders.) While it’s probably not a great trail system for “the guys”, so to speak, it’s a good day trip for a family.

I’ve got my fingers crossed they’re able to get access to Berlin, though, because they need access to food and gas. Mostly food.

Here’s the pavillion up at the scenic view area. It was the perfect spot to have a snack while the guys looked over the map. Behind them you can even see the cement foundation for the outhouse they’re building. That’s right! A real outhouse for those of us who can’t pee on trees!

View from the pavillion:

Support Wounded Warriors this Labor Day!

If you’re looking to ATV in New Hampshire for Labor Day this year, check this out:

Big Rock Campground is sponsoring a Pig Roast Sept 5th. The food part of the PigRoast will be from 4 to 6pm. The day will be filled with guided trail rides starting from BigRock Campground at 9am. The North Country ATV Club will have their tent up and be selling their t-shirts, jackets and memberships to the Club. All proceeds from the PigRoast will go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Advance ticket sales can be made through BigRock Campground. Tickets are $7.00 per person for the meal.
Call 603-922-3329 or email bigrock1@localnet.com for more details!

Labor Day at BigRock Campground is always a good time and you can help support a great organization at the same time!

4th of July weekend: part 3

Needless to say, it rained off and on most of the holiday weekend. Not a suprise as it rained off and on—mostly on—for an entire month. As you can tell from the previous posts, however, a few showers didn’t dampen anybody’s spirits.

It didn’t keep us from riding, either. NO DUST!

4th of July weekend: part 1

Because wrapping up all the awesome that is Fourth of July weekend at BigRock Campground in one shot would result in an epic blog post so long your fingers would cramp from scrolling, I’ll do several posts over the weekend. First up, my youngest sister, M, who joined us for the weekend.

She has a cute pink 110cc machine of her own, but her riding has been limited to a sandpit type area someplace and her own backyard. When faced with the NCATV trails, which she hadn’t seen before, she opted to leave her 110 at home, claiming she just wanted to ride in the box with Stu.

It started out that way:

Once we got out to an easier part of the trail, however, she was ready to give it a shot. SK generously agreed to take a turn in the box so M could take a turn on his Sportsman 90:

That went well for a while but, needless to say, an eight-year-old boy’s only going to share for so long. Eventually he wanted his machine back, but M was having too good a time to go back in the box. It’s a big jump from 90cc’s to 700, but Stu coached her through a few miles on his King Quad:

Fortunately for her, TK wasn’t in the mood to ride so, after the first day, M was able to abscond with his 300 Hawkeye for the rest of the weekend. It’s a nice steady machine—and fully automatic, which her 110 isn’t—so she was able to have a good time and boost her confidence on some of the hills without worrying about shifting. She did really well for a rookie!

Because of all the rain creating some very fun puddles and mud, I can only imagine what her mother thought when she opened M’s bag of laundry, but what’s a little dirt in the washer?

Part 2 tomorrow…

Got plastic?

SK did a little redesign on his 90 this past weekend:

We were heading downhill and the brakes got away from him a little. He bumped into his Dad’s King Quad a few times to slow it down, the way he’s been taught, but the aggressive tread on the KQ’s Zillas picked the front of the Sportsman up and sucked it in. After getting SK off his machine we got it loose, but he’s now minus one front grill. Only cosmetic, since in 2003 the small machines didn’t have functioning lights, and we probably won’t replace it.

Later, he jumped on behind his dad for a little playtime.

Unfortunately, I played in too much water the first day and soaked my boots. Limited to sneakers, I was “grounded” and had to go around the puddles for the rest of the weekend. (While the lesson should be not to soak your gear on the first day of a long weekend, I think having a spare pair of boots is a good idea.)

Clearance, or lack thereof

In my last post, I talked about the adventure trail at BigRock Campground—stumps, muck and rocks of doom. It occured to me today that Stu always tells me to follow him—put my tires where he put his—and where the King Quad goes, the Rincon can, too. I wonder if he remembers that, with the lift kit and big tires compared to my stock, he has not just a little more ground clearance, but easily twice the ground clearance I have.

Thank goodness for plow plates!

Got mud?

Another great weekend at Big Rock Campground! SK and I were both getting over being sick, so we took a slow and easy putt out to the Bog with the kids.

A little later that evening, however, Mom and Dad decided we weren’t done and headed to what Big Rock regulars call “out back”—a private adventure trail on campground property, restricted to adult campers with 4×4s.

The infamous muck hole got Stu first:

If Stu and his King Quad can’t get through a muck hole, then I don’t think anybody can, but I don’t have a Rincon so I can cruise down dirt roads.

It didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Oh, the indignity of being winched.

I’m seriously thinking about throwing away the jeans and boots and buying new, but it’s worth doing nasty laundry to have fun like that. I wish I had pictures of other parts of the adventure trail—like the twisty turns, hellacious stumps and the rocks of doom, but I was too busy holding on.

SK’s First Solo Adventure

Memorial Day weekend—the unofficial kick-off of the ATV-ing season! We spent ours at Big Rock Campground and were joined Saturday for a day of riding by friends from atvalliance.com. A good time was had by all, but the King Quad decided to croak halfway through the afternoon ride.

On the positive side, SK had been promised his first out-on-the-trails solo ride Sunday. Because it takes time to build up those thumb and shoulder muscles, we stuck to the rail bed and logging roads, but he still put about 20 miles on. Pretty good for a first ride! With the King Quad down, Stu and I rode double on my Rincon, which was an experience. I’m not used to being a passenger, especially on my own machine. But for the first time I was able to take pictures while in motion from the front of the line. Usually I’m stuck in the back.

The boys heading down the rail bed:

Heading up to the Bear Bait scenic picnic area:

Our boys at the top of Bear Bait:

SK taking a break (and resting that thumb):

What did he think of his first solo ride?

Opening weekend!

After swinging by Full Throttle Motor Sports to pick up the rebuilt and ready-to-go King Quad Friday afternoon, we headed north to Big Rock Campground for North Country ATV’s Trail Clean Up/Landowner Appreciation Day, which marks the opening of the trail system.

First order of business: the infamous sand hill. The womenfolk picked up garbage (how do you lose a pair of sneakers?) while the menfolk filled in the washout. When it comes to shoveling sand, I have no problem with old-fashioned division of labor.

TK, during one of our rest stops. Time to get those right-hand thumb muscles built up again!

TK and SK at the best of the Morse Mountain trail scenic overlooks. It was our first trip up there and the scenery was gorgeous. A little windy, judging by the kids.

SK at one of the other Morse Mountain stops, overlooking Groveton.

After returning to the campground for burgers and dogs (and some to-die-for brownies), SK got to do a few laps on his Polaris. (The blur is a camera issue, not any great speed on his part.)

It was a great weekend and an awesome start to the 2009 riding season. There are some great ATV events happening this year. I’ll try to make a master list and post it this week.

To top off the weekend, a picture taken from Route 3, just south of Whitefield, I believe: