Off Road Trips

19th ORT in The Lone Ranger – Turkey Bay 7-27-13

We made the trek down to the hotel room north of LBL via lots of back roads, and very minimal highway driving:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Saturday morning, we met up with XFactor (‘yota) at Mrs. Scarlett’s restaurant next to the hotel. With full bellies, the group loaded up and continued down through the LBL area to Turkey Bay:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

At the park, we met up with the rest of the group. I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous as this was the largest group of people I’ve ever wheeled with (11 vehicles in total). All good folks mind you, it’s just that we don’t usually all wind on the trail at the same time together 😆 So while we didn’t cover as much ground as a smaller group, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Over the course of the day, we covered a little over 10 miles, though the bulk of those were running some easy trails on the way out of the park (West side of the park):
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Our trail leader Railman immediately led us to a fun little hill climb through the woods:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

When no one was looking, TJ99 decided that he wanted to put on a show for us (Photo doesn’t do it justice, but that was one steep hill he was very tippy on):
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Not to be outdone, the NCL Clan…
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

….decided to tear a sidewall:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

All within the first 15 minutes or ¼ mile of trail 😆 Thankfully that didn’t set the tone for the day, and we boogied on after the rest of the group made it up:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

We then wandered off to a play area:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

We then wandered into this awesome creek-bed-type trail with some very off camber sections. It’s by far the most I’ve had my truck leaned over and I was fully expecting to dump it on its side (See the go-pro vid at the end). The only photos I have of it is Xfactor going through the same section. I don’t know how he managed to keep it off the door as well!
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

We then poked along until we got to the rock garden area of the park. It was a little odd riding around on loose rock like that:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

After a break form lunch, we jumped back into the woods:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

We came out and watched a few folks run the gauntlet (a very deep V notch):
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

From there, we poked our way up to Rocky Road:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

And then, we took the long way back to the park gate (along the West side of the park) and I didn’t take a single dang picture of it.

Aired up, we hit the road and took more back roads home:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

On a whim, we stopped here…
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

… and I’m glad we did! That was some dang good eats there!

All and all, another great trip with some good folks and new friends. I look forward to getting back down that way again in the future.

Link to photo slideshow:
http://saral.zenfolio.com/p271971481/slideshow

Go Pro Vids (first one is the creek trail)

Random photos from other folks:
Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

Sara L.: 19th Off-Road Trip Turkey Bay 7-27-13 &emdash;

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