I was graciously invited to attend an NTC weekend being held at Harris Mountain Offroad. This is a ~100 acre private property located in Granby, MA. It was opened to the NEA clubs a few years ago and has numerous trails and obstacles for different levels. It has been touted to have some of the hardest trails in MA.
I made the trip out before the squall line of rain and tornado warnings moved into our area. With address in hand and owner contact info, I pulled in and got the trailer situated for the weekend. Harry and Hannah joined me shortly thereafter. It was a very quiet and peaceful evening of conversation but some of that rain did move through overnight.
Saturday morning was a bit murky but began to clear as others arrived and unloaded. After a relaxing couple of hours of getting acquainted, we headed into the woods with about 9 rigs. At the first rocky hillclimb, our trail leader broke a front driveshaft and after a quick trip back to camp, the spare was installed and we carried on. There were some pretty difficult lines and obstacles encountered and overcome. We ran the hardest trail, called "the creek trail". There were some very off-camber spots and squeeze points where cages got scraped up or "flops" occurred. All but one was able to self-recover. A bit later in the day, we were at a rock ledge climb where a couple of guys were making full throttle assaults but none were able to surmount it. One attempt resulted in a rollover and another rig/winch was able to right it with relative ease. After some cool down time to refill fluids and re-situate accessories, it was time for dinner. NTC provided burgers and hots and even some premium cuts of beef! So good! A bonfire and libations, and a night run, closed out the day.
Sunday started cold but clear. Some had left the night before and others early in the morning. Those of us remaining met other new arrivals and, after the meet and greet, split up and again headed into the woods. Our little group of three wheeled uneventfully until about 2:30p, then loaded and headed for home.
A couple of front driveshafts, a broken motor mount bolt, some wrinkled tins and tube scrapes were the only carnage that I was aware of. In spite of that, a good weekend was logged and new friends were made.
Let's go wheelin' !!!
