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Right off the bat, I will say that it was an amazing experience. Also, do not use Waze, it took us to the wrong location and almost made us late. Talking with others, this is common. Use Google Maps instead, took us right there. Upon getting there and starting, the lead instructor will introduce himself and give the plan of the day. There was an 8am group, with 3 sub groups of 6 vehicles. A 9am group, with 3 sub groups as well, not sure if that was 6 vehicles each or not. You will break into groups and step outside the base camp building, and go over basics of the Bronco, while one driver goes over some obstacles so everyone can see the articulation, and proper way to take them. One person drives, and the rest watch with the instructor discussing each with everyone else. He also asked us to introduce ourselves, our names, where we are from, and what we are looking to get from the experience.
We got into the vehicles at about 915ish, and started our drive. The instructor was up front in the first vehicle, everyone has a radio to communicate with. We started out with some pretty tame trails, stopping twice to discuss how to properly take obstacles and what not. The fording depth, what are some issues with crossing water, what to look for, etc. All in all, I thought that the instructor was very informed and had a good way of explaining things to people with no experience to people who have more. We then went to an open field, where we again got out and talked about gear selections. Explained the differences between 4H/L/A, etc. The open field driving was the only time we were outside of the tree canopy, was pretty shaded all day.
We then took a lunch for an hour, which was amazing. Catered by a local restaurant that my wife and I had been wanting to try. See pics for lunch and dinner. We had an hour for lunch, from 12-1. Which gave us a bit of time to walk around the grounds, down to the lake and other places. The site is really nice, if time had permitted we could have easily stayed at the end of the day by the fire and hung out. After lunch the trails REALLY kicked it up a few notches. Did some fairly big obstacles, that you really had to articulate and follow the guide. Also did some pretty extreme hills, we hit 28 degrees going down on one of them, and then we did it on the way back too. 15 degrees to the side was the most we did, which is what he said was about the max. Our guide took us to the top of the trail for a planned photo op. There are also many times to do this, during more of the extreme events one person got out and filmed from the side. This was also the locations to switch drivers if they wanted to. There are PLENTY of opportunities to take pictures or videos.
After doing some of the more challenging obstacles, it was about 4pm. Our group and another met in a field to discuss recovery of vehicle options. I will say, this is the only negative that I had all day. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, ended up being almost an hour. We got back to base camp at 520, instead of 5. I understand that it can be a very important discussion to have, at least going over the basics. However, where they stopped us was in the shade and pretty cool. It went almost twice as long as it was supposed to. One of the groups when introducing themselves was a mom and her two younger sons, they are from Florida. Mom bought it for the daughter, who did not want to go, and let the mom use it for one of the sons birthdays. She has a Bronco just "to look good at the beach". You could clearly tell that they, and others lost all interest in the 50 minute recovery class. It is the last thing you do before going back to base camp for dinner. I understand wanting to cover all bases, but keeping it at the intended 30 minutes would have been a lot better, and we would have gotten back on time. Or if you are doing the introductions, play to the audience. I would have much rather driven for 50 more minutes, I imagine most others would have too.
That being said, the day was such a great day. Everyone was over the top friendly, the food was great, meeting other Bronco owners was also great. Lots of out of state license plates, furthest I saw was Texas. The trails were really good, start off mild and then ramp it up, and taking small breaks to discuss options and how to proceed past obstacles was very beneficial for most people. They have about 1,000 acres that they lease, so there is plenty of trails to go on. All in all, just a VERY good experience. We got two Yeti's included, and some stickers.
I didn't get the chance, but was going to ask at the end what do they do if on a day they don't have a full signup of people? Whats the minimum they will go out with, to get a return on the investment. Is it worth their time if they only have half what they did? The reason I wanted to ask is, they could post a last minute discount, say a week out. That they need a few more to go, in order to fill up. Or maybe give a local discount. We live exactly 31 miles away. We want to go again for sure, the experience was fun but also a day date for the wife and I away from the kids. Some pics, hopefully in order of events.
Side note, I REALLY want the bigger screen now. I have the 8" low res pos. I have never been in another Bronco until today, just saw pics of the bigger screen. Pics don't really show the difference well enough. The difference is astounding, and I am really going to have to consider changing mine out. Getting back into mine after was heart breaking. For those who have swapped out their entire sound system from the stock one, I akin the difference to that. It is just SOOO much better.
We got into the vehicles at about 915ish, and started our drive. The instructor was up front in the first vehicle, everyone has a radio to communicate with. We started out with some pretty tame trails, stopping twice to discuss how to properly take obstacles and what not. The fording depth, what are some issues with crossing water, what to look for, etc. All in all, I thought that the instructor was very informed and had a good way of explaining things to people with no experience to people who have more. We then went to an open field, where we again got out and talked about gear selections. Explained the differences between 4H/L/A, etc. The open field driving was the only time we were outside of the tree canopy, was pretty shaded all day.
We then took a lunch for an hour, which was amazing. Catered by a local restaurant that my wife and I had been wanting to try. See pics for lunch and dinner. We had an hour for lunch, from 12-1. Which gave us a bit of time to walk around the grounds, down to the lake and other places. The site is really nice, if time had permitted we could have easily stayed at the end of the day by the fire and hung out. After lunch the trails REALLY kicked it up a few notches. Did some fairly big obstacles, that you really had to articulate and follow the guide. Also did some pretty extreme hills, we hit 28 degrees going down on one of them, and then we did it on the way back too. 15 degrees to the side was the most we did, which is what he said was about the max. Our guide took us to the top of the trail for a planned photo op. There are also many times to do this, during more of the extreme events one person got out and filmed from the side. This was also the locations to switch drivers if they wanted to. There are PLENTY of opportunities to take pictures or videos.
After doing some of the more challenging obstacles, it was about 4pm. Our group and another met in a field to discuss recovery of vehicle options. I will say, this is the only negative that I had all day. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, ended up being almost an hour. We got back to base camp at 520, instead of 5. I understand that it can be a very important discussion to have, at least going over the basics. However, where they stopped us was in the shade and pretty cool. It went almost twice as long as it was supposed to. One of the groups when introducing themselves was a mom and her two younger sons, they are from Florida. Mom bought it for the daughter, who did not want to go, and let the mom use it for one of the sons birthdays. She has a Bronco just "to look good at the beach". You could clearly tell that they, and others lost all interest in the 50 minute recovery class. It is the last thing you do before going back to base camp for dinner. I understand wanting to cover all bases, but keeping it at the intended 30 minutes would have been a lot better, and we would have gotten back on time. Or if you are doing the introductions, play to the audience. I would have much rather driven for 50 more minutes, I imagine most others would have too.
That being said, the day was such a great day. Everyone was over the top friendly, the food was great, meeting other Bronco owners was also great. Lots of out of state license plates, furthest I saw was Texas. The trails were really good, start off mild and then ramp it up, and taking small breaks to discuss options and how to proceed past obstacles was very beneficial for most people. They have about 1,000 acres that they lease, so there is plenty of trails to go on. All in all, just a VERY good experience. We got two Yeti's included, and some stickers.
I didn't get the chance, but was going to ask at the end what do they do if on a day they don't have a full signup of people? Whats the minimum they will go out with, to get a return on the investment. Is it worth their time if they only have half what they did? The reason I wanted to ask is, they could post a last minute discount, say a week out. That they need a few more to go, in order to fill up. Or maybe give a local discount. We live exactly 31 miles away. We want to go again for sure, the experience was fun but also a day date for the wife and I away from the kids. Some pics, hopefully in order of events.
Side note, I REALLY want the bigger screen now. I have the 8" low res pos. I have never been in another Bronco until today, just saw pics of the bigger screen. Pics don't really show the difference well enough. The difference is astounding, and I am really going to have to consider changing mine out. Getting back into mine after was heart breaking. For those who have swapped out their entire sound system from the stock one, I akin the difference to that. It is just SOOO much better.
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