COMPLETED TRIP: Dry River Run (Has been closed due to abuse)

[Trail X]

I met up with a bunch of off road enthusiasts this past Saturday and spent a day in the woods with them.

We met at the Sheets in Harrisonburg, VA. To begin we had 7 trucks.
5 Jeep JKs from JK-Forum.com
1 Toyota Land Cruiser from 1H8Mud.com
1 Chevy TrailBlazer from... well, here



Some of us were members or members-to-be from Capitol Off Road Enthusiasts, Inc. ([url="http://www.core4x4.com"]www.core4x4.com[/url])

First step of the day was to air down once we got to the trail. I went down to 25 psi. A lot of guys went down to 20 or 15 psi. It's amazing the difference in ride quality when in extremely bumpy conditions.



We stopped a few times during the trip, which was when I took most of my photos. So, instead of typing a ton of stuff for you to read, I will let the pictures do most of the talking:



Where we stopped for lunch:







We had to help a fullsize Chevy out of a very deep mud pit. He joined us for the trip.









The trail ended at a very cool trip down a creek:



Time to air up for the road:



Of course, a photo-op with all the trucks:



I'll try to steal some more photos from the other guys that went on the trip.


VIDEOS!

I know you all wanted to ride along, so I took some in-truck video. I know its kinda long, but I think it's worth the entire watch. Enjoy:

Part 1:


Part 2:

[Trail X]

A few more pics, taken by other members of the trip:



Thanks to atomicmecha at JK-Forum.com:











Can you believe how overgrown the trail had gotten? It was a creek bed, and I guess with all the rain it just grew like crazy...












Found some more pictures from JNRSTEL:











Incase these images disappear, this should be a static link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jnrstel/DryRiverRun?authkey=gAJW67p-Rrg#

[Philberto]

Any more info on the closure? Any possibility it can be reopened? Anybody in particular responsible for it?

[Trail X]

There was an ownership squabble between the national forest and the City of Harrisonburg. Harrisonburg won, and closed the land because they said the added silt was clogging their city water filters. Plus, they stated that the abuse was so extreme that it would take years for the land to heal.

Believe me, I contacted the city about the closure, but they aren't willing to budge an inch. I shared with them the TreadLightly principals, hoping they may allow a small group to enter the land with special permission... but to no avail.

Some of the damage was admittedly bad though... especially the one huge mud hole (see above pictures). You only saw idiots go in there... and all they'd do is spin their tires until they needed to be winched out. I somewhat understand their closure... but it really sucks that the idiots ruin it for the rest of us... especially since it means the idiots will now start going up the other trails.