Anniversary ride was held over the Columbus Day weekend at Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area in PA everyone totally enjoyed the day. The park office provides restrooms and a small gift shop. The staff appeared very professional and knowledgeable. Park provides a map app as well as paper maps., superb. The adventure area is outstanding. Large number of trails from “Greens to Blacks”. There were a great number of ATVs and bikes, as well. All trails were marked along with return/exit routes back to the marshalling area.
The following rigs participated on the ride: Bryan Folts, Patrick Wilson, Alan Staiman, Mike Anderson, Natally and DK Stewart and John Harvin. All camped at AOAA with the exception of John.
On Saturday, only a single issue of which a high center by Patrick Wilson when he was not paying attention as well as his sway bar not reconnecting. As we returned to the marshalling area, Alan Staiman got a life-time photo of his rig in a coal “coal” dragline bucket. We had dinner in town where we held the monthly meeting. Saturday night brought some heavy rain but cleared prior to sun rise.
For Sunday ride, Patrick due to his sway bar issue and the long ride home, he and his family elected not to ride on Sunday. The trails on Sunday provided some very good scenic views of the area. The trails were quite muddy. Mike Anderson decided to take a mud bath in his rig. Thankfully, he did it through with some effort. We had all decided if he did not, then, he was the one to make the mud swim. Most of the trails we ran were “Greens and Blues”. Mike and John did take a small excursion on a “Black” trail totally made up of boulders. We both had to winch ourselves off rocks once as well as I pulling Mike back an additional time. All of us had to navigate a large mud hole, as well. Thank you to Alan Staiman and Bryan Folts for guiding along with DK Stewart good navigating from the rear
As for any future rides to AOAA, I would recommend keeping trail groups small to 5 or 6 rigs keep the line moving.
John Harvin