- First Name
- William
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2021
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 83
- Location
- Jacksonville, FL
- Vehicle(s)
- 2002 Ford Explorer XLT (died in August)
- Your Bronco Model
- Outer Banks
- Thread starter
- #1
Wed. Sept. 22, 2021
I had set the Waze app to a generic destination of "Gunstock Mountain" instead of the full address for the Bronco Off-Roadeo:
719 Cherry Valley Road, Gilfort, NH. We left my sister's home in Londonderry at about 6:45. My brother Bob and my brother-in-law Joe were my guests for the event. The ETA was shown as 8:03 AM ahead of the start time of 8:30AM.
The Waze directions had us turn off the road a few miles short of the resort. The pavement ended and the dirt roads became narrower and less used as we proceeded uphill. Fortunately, I had rented a Toyota Tundra TRD from Budget at Logan Airport which was 4WD. Unbeknownst to me, we had entered the Belknap Range Trails and were on the wrong side of the mountain. About eight minutes in, the last passable stretch ended by a Fire Service cabin. We headed back down and a little bit too fast on a curve we braked hard skidding to a stop about 15 feet from a very steep section of the mountain. The first of many thrills that day. I shudder to think that we might have found a way across the summit and came down through the ORX trails into basecamp in a competitor's vehicle. My passengers were sworn to secrecy about the unintentional detour. I'll attach an Alltrails map showing our route on both sides of Gunstock Mtn.
From the foot of the mountain we proceeded on the true course and arrived at 8:33. Basecamp staff were registering attendees and then the pre-event familiarization took place. Dan and Chris were our instructors for the beginning portion. Chris was the guide for our convoy through the woods. Very knowledgeable and personable -- he drives a Lexus 4x4 as his overlanding vehicle. He also ran ahead of us to confirm the hazards were not wet or beyond beginners' capability to drive over. Then he would make sure everyone got through and run up to the lead car or even to the next obstacle if it was not far ahead. He must have run 7 of the 15 miles we covered that day.
Food was good, all in my group had a Chicken Caesar wrap for lunch and either Steak Tips or Chicken Caprese for dinner. No campfire due to rain that had not been forecasted until the day before. We left at about 7AM after conversing with other guests and thanking Chris and the rest of the ORX staff.
Moral of the Story
Put in the complete address in your NAV app before you set out for Gunstock Resort!
I had set the Waze app to a generic destination of "Gunstock Mountain" instead of the full address for the Bronco Off-Roadeo:
719 Cherry Valley Road, Gilfort, NH. We left my sister's home in Londonderry at about 6:45. My brother Bob and my brother-in-law Joe were my guests for the event. The ETA was shown as 8:03 AM ahead of the start time of 8:30AM.
The Waze directions had us turn off the road a few miles short of the resort. The pavement ended and the dirt roads became narrower and less used as we proceeded uphill. Fortunately, I had rented a Toyota Tundra TRD from Budget at Logan Airport which was 4WD. Unbeknownst to me, we had entered the Belknap Range Trails and were on the wrong side of the mountain. About eight minutes in, the last passable stretch ended by a Fire Service cabin. We headed back down and a little bit too fast on a curve we braked hard skidding to a stop about 15 feet from a very steep section of the mountain. The first of many thrills that day. I shudder to think that we might have found a way across the summit and came down through the ORX trails into basecamp in a competitor's vehicle. My passengers were sworn to secrecy about the unintentional detour. I'll attach an Alltrails map showing our route on both sides of Gunstock Mtn.
From the foot of the mountain we proceeded on the true course and arrived at 8:33. Basecamp staff were registering attendees and then the pre-event familiarization took place. Dan and Chris were our instructors for the beginning portion. Chris was the guide for our convoy through the woods. Very knowledgeable and personable -- he drives a Lexus 4x4 as his overlanding vehicle. He also ran ahead of us to confirm the hazards were not wet or beyond beginners' capability to drive over. Then he would make sure everyone got through and run up to the lead car or even to the next obstacle if it was not far ahead. He must have run 7 of the 15 miles we covered that day.
Food was good, all in my group had a Chicken Caesar wrap for lunch and either Steak Tips or Chicken Caprese for dinner. No campfire due to rain that had not been forecasted until the day before. We left at about 7AM after conversing with other guests and thanking Chris and the rest of the ORX staff.
Moral of the Story
Put in the complete address in your NAV app before you set out for Gunstock Resort!
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