Northwoods Overland - Off road park

2010-12-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

We published our dates for 2011 and updated some policies so take a look around our web site (www.northwoodsoverland.com). Some highlights include:

Simplified our group discounts
Updated prices for camping
Specific office hours for the weekends we are open

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

2010-06-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but mid June is already here! We ended up opening for a weekend in mid May for several clubs, which was earlier than planned. That Friday evening 5" of snow fell across the Northwoods... making for an entertaining day of wheeling.

So far this year we have seen a dramatic increase of visitors which unfortunately conincided with the closure of McCaslin Mountain. While it is discourgaing to have another wheeling location closed, the hidden blessing for us is that many have visited who prior had always kept with past routines (which didn't include NOL). We have gotten very good feedback from people so far this year.

As to trails, we are working on extending the yellow trails and are continuing the concept of having a continuous loop of yellow. Right now the newest addition of the trail ends to the northwest of the covered bridge. I hope to get it to the north edge of the park yet this summer.

So far in June it looks like the two weekends will be at less than 50% of capacity and we have almost no reservations for the July 4th holiday. This trend confirms our decision to limit the open weekends and on the personal side has been a big improvement for our family. Please don't assume we're full on holiday weekends! Call to find out.

The March of Dimes Director, Luana Schneider contacted us this week to discuss the 4 Wheelin' With Feelin' ralley in October. We are pleased to announce that NOL will once again be honored to host the event.

Hope to see you in the park (tires down of course... Cowboy).

Sincerely,
Jeremy

2010 Season is Nearly Here

2010-03-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Spring is in the air! With temperatures in the low 50's the snow is melting and another summer of wheeling is on the way.

This season will bring some significant changes to the off-road park. For our personal sanity we will be offically open to the public for six weekends that are posted on the web site. Larger groups can reserve other weekends. Business was very slow in mid summer and we spent many weekends hanging out with an empty facility.

More importatly... as was the case in the past two seasons we are adding trails! This summer we plan to work on completing the yellow loop on the east and north side of the park. Currently it runs along the southern edge from east to west. If the yellow trail is completed, the orange tight & technical trail will be extended to connect with the yellow. We also have plans to improve to obstacle area as not much was done with that portion of the park last summer.

As always, our old workhorse family Jeep recieved a little TLC over the winter. Frequent winching from last summer damaged the winch cable badly enough to merit a replacement. I opted for the safety and strength of a sythetic cable. A damaged rocker guard was replaced with a seriously beefy upgrade and some improvements made to the power steering setup.

Hope to see you in the park this summer!

Sincerely,
Jeremy

The End of the Season is Around the Corner

2009-09-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hey All! We have had a CRAZY couple of months that involved having no internet connection or access to our computer files, so that's why we've been very remiss in updating the site and blog. So here's the latest and I'm so sorry we can't update the site too. We should be back up within a month or so.

Our last open weekend will be this coming one. Then we will be hosting the 4 Wheel'n with Feel'n rally on October 3. Then we close our doors for the season. We have a had a good run this year. Mid-summer was very slow, but business has picked back up nicely towards the end of summer and into fall.

On the personal front, we've moved off site so it has been a bigger challenge to be available when we are needed, but overall it has gone well. We are in temporary living right now, but soon will be moving to a new home in Rhinelander, closer to Jeremy's day job. The hour long commute is wearing us down and it is time for a change for our family.

But don't fear...we are not shutting down! (As the rumor mill may have suggested.) We will be open next year, most likely on Memorial Day. We will only open the trails certain weekends though. Since we are limiting the open days, please check the web site and blog for information. We should have those dates ironed out by the end of this calendar year. The campground is open anytime using self-registration.

If you want us to shoot you an e-mail when we have the dates, just send us an e-mail to info@northwoodsoverland.com. Let us know you'd appreciate an e-mail when we set our open dates for next year and we'll get them to you.

Wishing you all a great Fall!!!

Trail Building Update!!

2009-06-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've neglected my blogging duties... but here is an update. We have added a significant amount of trails this spring. Check out the full map on our web site at this link:
http://www.northwoodsoverland.com/trails_descript.htm

We had a great group come up in mid May from south eastern Wisconsin. While they were here we put in a good amount of the new Orange Trails. I owe a big "thanks" to Anders who worked diligently to organize the group. The orange trails are much more difficult than our other existing trails. They are very tight, off-camber and have lots of twisty moguls. Not for a stock rig... awesome for a well built short wheel base machine. Best of all, I like these trails! Vehicles as large as a Grand Cherokee can squeeze through with some work, but may incur some scratches. It's a good thing I put power steering on the CJ last winter because these would be NO FUN without it. The CJ's new cage is already quite scraped up and that should hint at how tight these are, and perhaps how lazy I am when it comes to backing up.

We also eliminated the yellow trail coming out of the campground and went north with it to come off of green (1) so that all trails come and go out of one point. On the east end of that yellow trail before it goes to the scramble area we added a leg to the north. This helps tie two yellow trails together. The goal is to build a large orange loop through the center of the park and a large yellow loop around the perimeter.

We have had a lot of excitement so far this year. Memorial weekend was fun. Cowboy from Going Broke Off-Road was here... and we had to recover his truck with the skidder, which was not pretty. Cowboy was a good sport about me rolling the truck on its side into some trees and then rolling back into the front end with the 12-ton skidder. Fortunately Jesse was able to winch the truck back onto it's wheels (mostly) which enabled us to get off of the tree and a sticky situation. They were videoing the "recovery" but I haven't yet been able to get my hands on any pics or videos.

It has been wet in the Northwoods. We have had tons of rain. Some of the trails have been getting very muddy and one of the yellows has become winch mandatory. So far nothing has been able to make that trail without a tug. Thankfully the holes are small (but deep) and are a short winch. I've had to pull two full clubs through so far. Some of the green trails have also become rutted and difficult.

We're excited to be open again for another summer. The coming July 4th weekend will mark the first full year the park has been open. I'm beginning to be more comfortable with where we are at with trails and can now more clearly see where we need to go with trail building. Come visit and let us know what you think!

Spring 2009 Trail Building Begins

2009-05-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

The WI4WD Association Spring Fling was here this weekend. We did not have a large number of people, but made up for it by working hard and having lots of fun. The weather was beautiful, making for ideal trail building conditions. I had flagged off a new trail that will go from the trail head around the entire property to the north side. My flagging was more ambitions than our energy! We completed about 1/5 of what I had flagged.

We had decided that a new category "Orange" trail will be added. These are very tight and twisty with lots of opportunity for flex and off-camber sections. There was one very built up '08 'Yota Cruiser in the group and we had to use some creative winching and cable cranking to squeeze through. Extremely tight for that size... I would not recommend it. It is a good thing that Hannis is a good sport about pin stripes, etc. on a rig that new. :)

Orlin's clean early 70's CJ5 was impressive. I loved the healthy bass growl of the 401ci small block. You can hear it quite well on the YouTube video. With 35's and locked front/rear he kept up to the old Northwoods Overland CJ7 quite well. Of course the senior Hannis brought his TJ Rubicon which, with a short arm Rubicon Express lift, 35's and some other toys, walks through everything he points it at. Check out the air under his front left tire on the video (too bad the tree was obstructing a good camera shot). He took a hit to his hard top and left with some nice cracks.

Check out a video clip from this weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGJj0WPikFc&feature=channel_page

After polling together feedback and reviewing what last year's visitors had to say, here are our plans (roughly): we will add a new trail color, orange, which will be very twisty and technical woods trails, extremely tight for anything larger than a short wheel base Jeep. The orange trails will wind around in a large loop, crossing other trails. The yellow trails will be coordinated better to make a large loop around the premiter of the property (outside the orange loop). Each loop should take a good part of the day to complete. The red trails are yet to be determined but must be made much harder. We have been scouting the areas near each and will work on lengthening and making them harder.

Hope to see you this summer!!!

Spring 2009 Opening Dates

2009-03-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

As the weather warms and snow slowly fades from open fields we are beginning to plan for the 2009 summer. The campground will open in early may and the trails will open to the public for the Memorial Day weekend.

For this summer we are planning to add trails, trails and more trails. I can clearly see the need to add more miles of harder tails and expand the obstacle course. Much of the feedback we have gathered is that our facility has a surprisingly beautiful campground with some off-roading. That is definitely not what we have in mind...

End Of 2008 Season

2008-10-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

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.