Robert S, Dean (DeanO), Bob T, and myself went to CAW on 11/24. Arrived at 10 am and left at 3pm. Basically we rode an assortment of trails. This is a very "commercial" place with 500+ people on Saturday. Very busy with alot of winding slow speed trails throught the woods. Before lunch I was bored --- we mostly went blue trails with one black trail in the morning and visited the dry mud bog at the end of trail 25. I thought this was going to be a lame trip.
But after lunch it changed. We went on trail 19 (I think that's the number). The hills looked much rougher than they were. The longer we stared at them the steeper they looked. My heart started beating faster -- the trip became fun. I now plan on going back eventually. There were two "double black diamond" hills that only Dean rode and now I am mad I did not give them a shot. I look at my Cat and feel like I let it down by not doing those two hills! Makes me mad when I think about it -- heck if it was less than an hour away I would go now!
Another fun item is the mud pond near the front -- they call it a "Mud Bog" but is really a 200 ft by 75 ft manmade pond 28" or so deep. That was a blast -- water wheelies galore. Many sticks and junk on the bottom but fun anyway.
Out of a 10 I rate CAW a 6. Has some good spots I would like to try again.
Also -- Power steering would have been great for the woods -- alot of turns.
Joined: Nov 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 135 Location: hurdle mills
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #1 on Nov 25, 2007, 5:55pm »
well i hate i missed it , did robert blast through that pond ? lol mr snorkel . i know what hill you were talken about randy , i didnt make it up the first time , (this was with the 100hp 421 cheetha) i flew up it in 3rd and landed in those small pine trees at the top and bent them over , wasent a good day for me . it was about 98 degrees when robert and i were there and we ate sand coverd hot dogs lol, yea i got sick , then i had a large milk shake and got even sicker uggg , yep then i hacked . ill be there for the next ride
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,938 Location: King, NC
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #2 on Nov 25, 2007, 6:00pm »
Robert did blast through the pond many times. Bob went through it once just to lead the way -- he was first since we were uncertain on the depth. We all proceeded after Bob. Robert and Dean stayed in the pond for probably 30 minutes. The Mud Pond was a neat area.
Joined: Jul 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 717 Location: NCSU
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #5 on Nov 25, 2007, 9:58pm »
It was nicer on friday it doesn't sound like it was as crowded and me and robert were able to move pretty fast through the trails because of the lack of crowding.
We just randomly found 19 at the end of a service road.
Was the dinky little detour sign still up on that one hill climb?
Joined: Aug 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 770 Location: Rougemont
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #6 on Nov 25, 2007, 10:27pm »
On Friday there was about 300 people and the trails were still a little wet except the open trails, Saturday there was around 500 people and almost all the trails were very dusty. I enjoyed the 3 times I have been there. I would probably not go there more than 4 times a year.
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Bob T Administrator Global Moderator member is offline
Joined: Nov 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 892 Location: Jamestown
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #7 on Nov 25, 2007, 10:50pm »
Below is my opinion of CAW, it may differ from some other opinions.
Trails 19 and 18 were a lot of fun. Some very nice hill climbs. Unfortunately 18 only has one and while 19 has 3 or 4 it only takes about 10 minutes to ride the whole trail.
The green trails are just roads and the blue trails are just windy ass trails around pine trees. The longest straight path was about 10 feet.
The mud would be nice to play in during the summer.
We only rode 18 miles and I think it would be hard to ride more than 30 miles in a day. At least during the short winter hours.
It took me 2.5 hrs to get home the most direct route, Hilltop takes me 3.25 hours with a stop at Wilco/Hess. The $25 admission fee to CAW will pay for the extra gas to Hilltop. It seems to be along way to go to only ride one day, especially with the price of gas.
I would say everyone probably needs to go see for their self, but personally I can't see my self going back. If I want to ride around a bunch of pine trees I can do that in the woods behind my house.
Joined: Sept 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 2,345 Location: Cornelius, NC
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #9 on Nov 26, 2007, 10:02am »
Ok, here’s my take on CAW:
There are a couple of things that become very apparent as soon as you get in and start to ride a bit. First is that they have put a bunch of money into this place and are continuing to do so which leads me to believe it will only get better with time. Second, it’s obvious that they are trying to put in as many “miles” of trail as they can in the amount of space they have to work with. This unfortunately leads to ( as Bob said) ALLOT of tight, twisty, back and forth, round and round riding that honestly does get kind of old after awhile. Some trials are better than others in this regard but another point is that most of us are riding big, tall, long, heavy machines, which don’t necessarily lend themselves to this type of riding. I think on something a bit smaller and more nimble, that the experience might be more fun.
Lonnie and I rode from 8:30 to 4:30 and only really stopped about 30 mins. for lunch. We rode a total of 34 miles on GPS…37 on the odometer, and rode just about every trail they have with the exception of 36 and one or two of the cross/connector trails. So with that being said, I’m not sure where their claim of 100 miles of trails comes from unless they are counting the SR’s or Service Roads which we didn’t ride.
The SR’s are exactly that, dirt roads. The green trails are VERY green. The Blue trails are what I would consider more blue than allot of other place’s including HM mainly due to the fact that allot of them are off camber. Matter of fact, it seems like most of the blues are off camber at one point or another. The Black Diamonds’ and Double Black Diamonds are good black trails with steep off camber hill climbs and descents, but there aren’t many of them. Trail 19 is fun and we rode it a few times. The double diamond parts of 4 over by Mammoth Hill we fun as well. We didn’t play in either the big mud pit, or the side by side mud pit (as you can see from my pictures that one was empty) but we did do the Rock Crawl. That was a really fun.
As far as the crowds go, we got there pretty early but the place did seem to fill up. The parking lot looked crowed, but we rode all day and I can honestly say we never felt crowded out on the trails. Sure we did come across some other riders, but it never felt uncomfortably busy. I think the place holds the 300-500 people that they had there pretty well for a park of only 2500 acres.
The primitive camping facilities looked nice and are just about done. They say the RV spots will be worked on next. The Welcome Center is almost done and looks really nice.
So, will I go back? Yes, but my situation is a little different than others. First, I have small children which I can see would have a lot of fun here. My little guy on his 50 could ride for miles on the dirt service roads and green trails without any problems giving him lots of valuable seat time. When he gets tired of that, I can put him on with me, and then CJ and I could hit the blues which would be a good ride and somewhat challenging for him in spots getting him some more good experience. Second point is that it’s close for me. I’m only about 1.5 hours away, so it’s a great option for me to run down and do a day trip with the kids. I could get up at a normal hour, head down, let them ride for 3 or 4 hours and head home all in a comfortable amount of time, so that’s a plus in my book.
I’ll agree with Bob, this place is no WV, and never will be and if I’m going to head out for a weekend of serious riding, I’m heading NW. But considering where CAW is, I think it’s pretty easily one of the best places in NC/SC to ride ( especially considering there aren’t that many to choose from). Now granted, I’m not a big fan of R&D’s or Forest Games, but if they were all the same distance away, I personally would go to CAW and pay the $25 even if the other two were free……but that’s just me….no offense to the people who love those other places.
So, as Bob said, I think everyone needs to check it out for themselves. Lonnie and I discussed the idea of maybe having one of the club picnics down there. They definitely have the facilities’ and the room for us and would probably love to have us. There is a little bit of something for everyone from easy trials for the kids, mud pits for the mud lovers, and I didn’t mention that they have multiple mx/endure tracks for the sport quads. They also have a fare amount of single tracks for Jeff and Niki on the two wheelers and even rent golf carts for anyone else who just wants to tool around. They are also working on those Canopy/zip line rides that would be interesting to try out as well and when they have the camping fully operational, we could even make it an overnighter for anyone who wanted to.
Anyhow, I’ll shut up now…..back to your regularly scheduled program…..
I ride because the voices in my head tell me to!!!
Joined: Nov 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 2,582 Location: clemmons, n.c.
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #11 on Nov 26, 2007, 1:00pm »
My take on the place was that while it was a tight trail system it was nicely done and they are still in the process of completing everything. Everyone will have to remember this is an ATV Park and they are trying to have something for everyone. I enjoyed the trip and will go back again, maybe not 5 to 10 times a year but a couple times a year for sure. It would be a really nice place to have the club picnic's and such. Yes its a little far for some of us but others in the club drive that far for other events. When all the facilities are done it will be really nice. Thats my 1/2 a cents worth.
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,938 Location: King, NC
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #12 on Nov 26, 2007, 1:21pm »
CAW will definitely have nice accomodations in the next year. It would be a good place for a club meet. I probably would not go more then once a year but a meet would be a good reason.
I did really enjoy the hills on 19 and the other various hills. I am amazed I did not crack my plastic on the 50 trees I hit with my rear fenders thinking I had already cleared them. I cleaned up my Cat this morning and it took way too long (gotta get it ready for the parade). The Mud "Pond" near the front was full of sticks and weeds that wedged in every crevice on my CAT. I was expecting to see a torn cv boot but they all looked OK. Normal mudholes do not have the quantity of small junk at the bottom that the manmade one does at CAW. It was fun though.
Joined: Nov 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 372 Location: Winston-Salem
Re: CAW 11/24/07 « Reply #13 on Dec 2, 2007, 8:19am »
Good reports guys. Nikki and I have been a couple of times and we had fun each time. Nothing new as far as trails go but it is at least an hour closer than WV so it makes for a less rushed day trip. The single track is fun here but it is by no means the single track at BMMSP or Hatfield/McCoys. Trail 19 was fun but it was way too short. The green sections let us really open it up while the blue's get a bit annoying in some spots. It seems the Blue trails on the East side of the park are the most winding. It's pretty fun.
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