HIGHIGHTS
The group left the Windrock Park General Store Parking lot on a Saturday morning at 9:30am.
Planned was to make it all the way to the furthest most northern end of the park as quickly as possible, then hit Trail 71, which is a black trail and then wheel our way back towards the General Store where we had our trucks, trailers, spare fuel, spare tires etc. Rock Bouncer driver Trevor first had to battle a fuel pump failure followed by transmission problems. After a hand full of different (and creative) approaches of fixing the issue, he made the call to turn around. He was the only participant that did not make it all the way to the end.
In order to spare us all some dirt road time we decided to hit Devils Elbow on the way up to the north side.
A very steep, very rocky climb that we would hit later again on our way back down to the south side.
The Caryville Flats
This trail system was a fun lunch stop in between some of the black trails on the northern side.
A bunch of different hill climbs - from mild to wild!
Very fun place to mess around and have fun!
Trail 7
This trail has been off the map for a while! Luckily, Jeremy (who’s local to the park and knows his way around) was able to locate the entrance to it. This trail is extremely overgrown, with very steep and loose climbs. Non stop. One after another. It was on this trail that Hollie’s front wheels stopped spinning and, after a brief investigation, it was clear that her driveshaft had become disconnected at the transfer case. Closer inspection revealed that 2 of the 4 bolts were missing and the remaining 2 sheared off from the night’s abuse. Luckily Marvin had a spare set of Tom Woods Driveshafts with him and was able to give Hollie the exact bolts she needed to continue on!
Trail 15 at 04:23am. For real?
This trail is close to camp and pretty much the gate keeper of a whole series of extremely gnarly trails. Deep V-Notch alike wash-outs and dirt climbs that throw your rig onto each side and basically make you feel like you’re laying on your side the entire time. Next comes a JKUsized bolder you have to get around followed by a long, wide and very steep rock face. Very much like stair steps, with huge undercuts and muddy sections in between.
Rattle Rock
This trail is one of Windrock’s by far hardest trails was the very last trail of the challenge. Having to conquer mile long rock garden after 22 hours of non-stop four-wheeling is literally insane.
The last vehicle crossed the finish line at 9:30am sharp on Sunday morning which completed the 24 hours Hell and Back challenge on the dot.