Sneak peak at Kansas Rocks, July 26 2003

(Click on image to enlarge)

A few weeks ago Jake e-mailed me about coming up to Kansas to GPS map some trails at a new park they were working on.  Well, an opportunity to get a preview of a new wheelin place is something I'm not going to pass up.  With the new family addition of Jayson's getting closer, he's looking to get in as much wheelin' as possible while he can.  So, Jayson and myself loaded up and drove to Kansas Saturday morning.

It's really not a bad drive from here.  Basically, you get off the turnpike at the Miami exit and head north up hwy 69 to Fort Scott.  Then it's about 15mi west of there.  I had programmed the route in my GPS and set autopilot for the trip.  I did manage to get off course a bit when I missed a little jaunt that 69 takes and got off on Kansas hwy 7.  Hwy 7 parallel's 69 all the way up to Fort Scott, so we just ran 7 up for 10 or so miles then cut back over to 69 on 400.  Man, that was a mistake.  Hwy 7 is a MUCH better drive than 69.  It's only a 55mph speed limit (65 for hwy 69), but hwy 69 is riddled with towns, stop lights, road construction and lots of traffic.  The trip back we ran hwy 7 all the way.  It's a very peaceful scenic run with just a couple small towns and a few stop sighs.  I'd highly recommend it for those of you coming up from Oklahoma.

Ok, back to the park.   In a full 6+ hours of wheelin, we managed to cover less than half of the trails they have.  Generally, the park consist of a large area (240 acres) of wooded hills with narrow trails that zig zag throughout.  All major trail sections will be marked with signs like the one shown below.  Green circle is easy, blue square is intermediate, and black diamond is extreme, where extreme means body damage and or breakage likely.  At the moment, most of the trails are very narrow, which will be a challenge for the bigger rigs, but that'll change as time goes on.

Most of the trail sections are short, but there are plenty of challenges to be found.  Notice the black diamond marker for this section.  Being very new, the trail conditions are all loose soil (dirt and rock).  As traffic increases, these spots will change quickly with new and challenging ledges that are just waiting to come out!  Bill, demonstrated why this section got the 'extreme' marker.

Being all new, most of the trails have yet to be named.  However, after this tree pealed open the quarter panel on Jake's rig, it looks like this section may have earned the name 'can opener'....

Here's an example of a blue square (intermediate) section.  Without lockers, or on AT tires, this loose rocky ledge would be much more of a challenge.

Jake was kind enough to show us one of his favorite spots.  Here you can see Jayson working his way thru it.

I handed Jake my camera and he snapped a few of me coming thru.

Jake offered a little ballast support for Bill's right rear.

This is an area called Carnage Canyon.  Several loose rock climbs out, with a pretty big ledge at the top.

Now for Jayson's turn up.

Jayson passenger for the day, his nephew Keldon, enjoying the ride.

Then we let Jayson lead and look what happened....
For some reason he still thinks his Samurai is small.   ;-)
He was able to get free without assistance, but not before everyone had a chance to harass him about it (and of course I got pictures)...  :-)

So, was it hot you ask,,,,, YES!

Was it dusty,,,,, YES!

But despite the heat and the dust, we all had a great time.

This is going to be a top notch park.   Take a peak at these facilities!  Large gravel parking lot, permanent shade/rain shelters.  And another really nice building, not for sure what is going in here, but I can guess it will be well appreciated essentials {Jake tell's me this is a cabin being built}.

I want to thank Jake for showing Jayson and myself around all day.  Also, need to give credit to some incredible work these Kansas guys are doing here. 

For the latest information on the park check here:
http://www.ksrockspark.com

Oh yea, and the reason I was there...  Here's some GPS facts on the area.  As I understand, they have something like 8 sections.  We touched on three.  Section one is mostly green trails, with some blue mixed in.  Section two had Carnage Canyon and several really good spots.  And section three with lots more fresh trails.

Park Entrance    Parking    Carnage Canyon    Section 1 Entrance

N37 57.464 W94 52.159 N37 57.574 W94 52.136 N37 57.891 W94 51.727 N37 57.630 W94 51.970

1040 ft    1039 ft      995 ft    1030 ft