End Of 2008 Season

This last weekend we finished our season by hosting the 30th Annual March of Dimes "4 Wheelin' With Feelin" fund raiser. The turnout beat our expectations with over 85 rally participants and $22,000 raised. Overall, I would say that the event also exceeded my personal expectations. This was an excellent, fun group. From what I observed and was told, all had a good time. It was certainly an educational experience for us to have this many people here. On the conservative side we estimate that there were 300 people here on Saturday.

During the event, the weather was gorgeous. Leaves were nearly at their peak and the temps were near 70 in the daytime, though cool at night. There were some of the "Big Dog Mudders" here and they opened up a mud pit that has seen little use so far. Best of all, we chose to close the camp store on Sunday morning so that Annie and I could join an organized trail ride. We went out to an area that is not yet open to the park which contains some more extreme hill climbs and severely tested our CJ. It was a good ending to a great summer.

In summary, we had a good opening year. I'm glad that things were a little slow, as it gave us an opportunity to learn how things will work. Based on the feedback I've gotten, we will need to add a significant number of trails and focus on building more difficult obstacles. The scramble areas have been popular and we will need to add a much greater number of obstacles. Thank you very much to everyone who visited this summer, especially those who came back multiple times and those who took the time to give much needed feedback.

Next spring, after the thaw has broken we will hit the trail building hard and update our maps. Over the summer a focus will be made to haul rocks and add obstacles to the scramble area. Check the web site for updates and a 2009 opening date.

Sincerely,
The VanCamp Family

Mid August Update

It's been a while since I put serious time in the project and posted to the blog. I'm getting a second wind for the project. We've recently updated our trail map with all of the current trails and I've scouted out locations for several more yellow trails. The trail map is now in the Off Road portion of our web site under the "Trail Descriptions" link (here). I did go the the top of the MWIOR trail and rerouted it to increase the difficulty. The trail now traverses a large rock at the top. I'm also going to plant several more boulders to increase the difficulty.

We have had clubs come from within a 2 hour drive. They have been as small as two vehicles and as many as eight. Several of the larger groups came from the Marshfield area. One group in particular had heavily modified rigs of various makes/models. That day I made the time to go wheeling and tagged along. In general we had a blast. All of the groups have seemed to have a good time (unless of course they were just being polite). We had our first rock buggy last weekend. I was looking forward to seeing it in action, but unfortunately it was having transmission problems. There have also been a number of clubs or organizations sending people just to check things out. I've been touring those visitors around in the CJ.

This weekendend we made some progress in the obstacle course. I hauled large rocks up there and have a start on a rock pile (see the pics for this blog). After trying out the new rock pile today, I decided that we'll also need to collect some smaller rocks in a separate pile for the less modified rigs. Some of these boulders were so big that I crossed the CJ up and there were only a few lines that I could manage across the pile. One of the recent visitors, Cowboy, had a good idea for an obstacle and based on that. I dug a tire pit and got a layer of tires in part of it. Now I need to check the local area for tires as all of ours didn't put a good dent in it.

July 4th Opening Weekend & Trailbuilding Update

In the past month we have been busy and are still chipping away at the project. Mike and Chris Hannis visited us several weeks ago and we built an additional yellow trail. One section was very, very wet/muddy. We also ran some of the other trails and I enjoyed watching Chris's large 2008 FJ as he nimbly navigated the red trails. That is an impressive factory vehicle with capable hands behind the wheel! We also took another weekend to map out the trail system, paint most of the trails and number them for ease of directions. We also had an individual from the Chicago Land Rover Club come on a Saturday and help cut open an old farm road as a green level trail.

We just made it through our opening weekend. It was not busy but we had some wheelers. There were some campers from the local area and two parties camping who were wheelers. We also had a party with two Jeeps and another coming tomorrow. The pics I posted are from the visiting Jeeps. So far we've had two mangled tie rods, one bent skid plate and a crushed quarter panel. That is always a good sign that we're having fun!

I have now scouted out locations for at least 3 more longer yellow level trails and will focus on getting those pushed through. We started to dig a mud pit, but it was very dry so I'll either have to find another location or bring in water. After the next yellow trails are done I'll begin hauling logs and rocks into the scramble area for obstacle building.

The campground is now nearly complete. I graveled two more sites last week and only have one to go. Unfortunately we're out of gravel and will need more. We've also put up new gates on several entrances to the property to keep wheelers off of neighbors' private land... the projects never end.

The Four Wheelin' With Feelin' March of Dimes flyers are done and should be published soon. I'm be interested to see what this fall holds for us as things develop and am looking forward to the event.

Campground Opening

We had the opening celebration for our campground on Saturday. We had lots of local people come as well as some off-roaders. The weather was off and on rain, with strong storms in the forecast, so we were happy people came to check us out. We served lunch and had hay rides. Overall it was a very enjoyable day.

Reservations

Just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that we WILL take reservations for camping this year. We had previously posted on our web site that we were not taking reservations. If you come during our open hours, you can check in at the office, otherwise we have self-registration for the camping. If you want to use the off-road trails (opening July 4) you MUST either come when we're open or call to let us know you're coming. We'll be happy to help you whenever you get here, you just need to let us know.

Friday 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Trail building finally begins!

We had a productive week with the electrical/water installed to campsites and trail building beginning. Several relatives came and put the finishing paint touches on our large building.

Mid week Luana stopped by to complete a site evaluation for the March Of Dimes fall rally on October 4th. I spent a day with Luana and her husband Rod, wheeling on our site and starting the necessary planning.

Over the holiday weekend a group from the Midwest Isuzu Club came up for trail building. One vehicle came all the way from southern Indiana. While they were here, we completed two intermediate and two difficult trails and marked some of the existing easy trails which are the main network throughout the property. Daniel was very gracious as the only participant who incurred vehicle body and mechanical damage. We did get to use the shop. :)

My favorite is a difficult trail that I think we will name "Crooked Canyon". The Isuzu Club favorite was a steeper rocky ravine that made for an interesting 80 yards. We ran it several times and I think everyone picked much better lines after some practice. The short trail will bear their club name proudly. Thank you very much to the group who drove great distances and camped in rainy weather just to help us build trails. I hope that our guests enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

Here are some short videos from the weekend trails in our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NorthwoodsOverland

End of May Update.

Things are progressing steadily and slowly. We have finished the picnic tables and the picnic table factory is now officially closed. Last weekend I put up 140' of 6' high fence to separate personal (our home) from the campground. In the next week we will be installing the electric and water sites and finishing the wooded sites. There are many things that need a coat of paint and signs to be put up everywhere. Good thing my employer is generous with vacation!

We are really looking forward to getting all of the menial "campground building" finished... and into what we really stared this project for. The Memorial weekend we have our first off road group coming for trail building and camaraderie. The weekends have filled quickly and we only have the weekends of of June 20-22 and 27-29 open for groups who would like to help build trails. The off-road park opening date of the July 4th weekend will come quickly.

Spring Update

Spring is finally here in Northern Wisconsin! Last weekend we visited the W4WDA meeting in Waupaca as visitors. It was a very informative time. We recieved ample good advice and made a lot of contacts. I'm very appreciative for the invite. Additionally, it looks like we could possibly host the March Of Dimes event in October, which we would be honored to do.

Last Sunday we were finally able to start up equipment and begin working. Jeremy spent the afternoon starting on the final 6 wooded campsites that need to be cleared/brushed. It's still a little soft but workable. Our electrician came by today and booked a day several weeks out to bury the power/water. Things are finally moving. We had planned on 2 weeks of vacation in April and May to get all this work done... but old Mr. Winter had different ideas. I guess we'll have to cram everything into May. The only good thing is that several weekends ago we had the fortune to load up the family and do some snow wheeling to get back to a friend's maple sap shack. It's hard to believe that even up here there could be bumper deep snow the beginning of April! Guess if you can't be working, you might as well be wheeling.

For the upcoming Memorial Holiday we have an Isuzu group coming for some free camping and trail building fun. In June the weekends of the 7th, 14th and 21st are open if any other groups would like to reserve a weekend. Just e-mail us if you're interested. If you would like to come by yourself contact us to find out what we're up to or if there is a group you can join. jeremy@northwoodsoverland.com

Welcome

Welcome and thanks for visiting! We are anxious for Spring to come so we can work on the trails. I guess Spring has officially come on the calendar, but we still have lots of snow. We will post as we work on the trails, with lots of pictures of course.