Jo’s oldest grandson, Adam, took us 4 wheeling Missouri style in his older Jeep Cherokee (XJ) which has been duly modified as you will see from the pictures. There is little public land in Missouri accessible to 4 wheelers, so private enterprise has stepped in to fill the void. This 4 wheel drive park is about 25 miles from St Clair and covers 600 acres of wooded steep hills with plenty of ravines and a live stream for those who like to play in the mud.
While Jo and I drove to the park in our Jeep Grand Cherokee we did not run it there. I took about 25 minutes of video from Adam’s Jeep to show some of the trails, including one which Adam could not go up for want of a rear locker. The road deserves a name, but Adam says naming rights go only those who can drive up it.
When we paid our $10.00 per person admission fee the cashier gave us this rough sketch of the roads in the area, color coded for difficulty level. The more challenging roads were named by signs in the field.
As we started, Adam's Jeep was relatively clean. Contrast this view with the ones at the end! It has the venerable Jeep 4.0 L 6 cyl engine, front lockers, more rugged larger tires, a lift kit and torsion bar release for greater articulation.
This road is typical of the easier roads in the park.
This road is named, so it must have a lot of challenges.
And here is the lower part of the Stairway To The Moon.
Ruts like this one are common. I got out here to get shots of the Jeep going up this road.
Climbing the hill.
And topping out.
This is typical of a lot of the roads – a steep downgrade to a stream or gulley and straight up the steep hill.
In competition, rock crawlers are to go up the rock between the small tree just to left of center and the red painted line on the right. We saw several spots like this which look impossible but are climbed by the rock crawlers.
Here is the live stream and one of the large rocks to keep the area interesting.
At the end of the 3 hours spent at the park Adam is reattaching the front suspension components while I am just getting in one of the pictures. Note that the rear vision mirror is turned in.
Jo and the now muddy Jeep. Adam was adept in snaking the Jeep through trees and no new marks were made on it.
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