Gulches ORV
July 2006

Gulches is a small 150 acre park located about 150 miles from Charleston. Heard some good things about the park so decided to make it a day run with Brian and his '76 CJ5. We loaded up the night before and headed out at 7:00 arriving at the park at 10:30. It was already hot and knew it was going to be a scorcher. After unloading the rigs, we went up to pay the $15/rig. We then found out that there was also a $10/yearly membership per driver and $5/passenger riding fee. Since both my daughters drive, this was going to make a $15 fee jump considerably. Being a smart business man and easing the shock, he waived the membership fee for my daughters, which helped some but still came t $35 for a days riding.

Once you had a feel for how the park was set up, it was easy to get around. There are two main trails that form a "V" with most other trails being one way and running between these. There are easy/short to long/steep (400'/45*) hill climbs. Steep enough that even the front end of my Scrambler with it's 109" wheel base was light on the front. Brian didn't even attempt the steepest hill. There are also a number of other short obstacles and man made challenges. In my opinion, the only true obstacle was the one called ship wreck. You drop in the bottom of a gulch just below some large rocks with a natural spring just above them. This guarentees your tires to get slippery and clogged with mud making it almost impossible, even in well buit rigs, to make it up without winching. The park is so sure you can't, if you do they will have you name engraved on a plaque in the office.

We rode around the easier trais getting a feel for the park before we decided to stop by the river for a light lunch. Afterwards, we started hitting the hills and obstacles. Last obstacle to try with the Scrambler was shipwreck, but after watching a couple other rigs try and determining my plan of attack, I decided against it. I'm sure I could have made it farther than the other rigs, but one line had guarenteed driveline breakage and the other guarenteed body damage. Neither of which I was willing to risk. So by about 5:00, we were loaded up and heading home after a fun but long and very hot day.

One of the things that made it enjoyable for us was we had the park almost entirely to our self because of the heat and drought. Not sure if I'll ever go back, but was very glad to make it at least once.

Gulches Trail Map and Trail Description

(c) 2006