Bandit Runner

My buddy Tom and I went to Badlands Offroad Park in Attica, Indiana for the first time. We didn’t really know what to expect, because it was the first time at an actual offroad park for either of us. Tom has much more experience wheeling than I do, as he used to live in Colorado. I was in my ’02 with 35’s, and he has a ’97 with 33’s. Open diffs all around.

On the way down:

Passed some cool looking windmills:

After checking in, we first started on some nice easy wooded trails and a few hill climbs:

But they quickly turned into some good mudding:




 
After that we decided to play on the rocks in the quarry:

Bandit Runner

Tom getting a little tipsy:












Tom got hung up on his gas tank skid, so I gave him a little tug:

Me stuffing the rear tire:




(Keep in mind I’ve NEVER rock crawled before. So if it looks like I don’t know what I’m doing, that’s why.)

Bandit Runner

Then we heard there was a cool trail called the River. So we found it and dropped down into it:


Towards the end of the river trail, there are these huge culverts that you drive through, and drop out of:

That was a little scary, as we had no idea how deep that pool was:


Time for a snorkel!
Quickly trying to get out:


Up and out:

Whew! Made it out! Glad I put my deckplate back in beforehand.
Then we decided to call it a day and head home:

Filling up on the way home:


Back at home. The wife wouldn’t let my truck back in the garage before hosing off the first layer of mud:


As far as damage, my buddy caved in his rocker panels and the corners of his rear stock bumper a little, but nothing too bad. I ended up with scrapes on my custom rear bumper and on my sliders (better than the sheetmetal, right?) Also my rear bumper came up when I landed hard on it, and it hit my rear quarter panel causing some minor damage and a cracked taillight mount. I thought an inch of space between the bumper and body would have been enough, guess not. We also ended up with a lot of pinstripes, as some of the trails were pretty tight.

My buddy found a nice aftermarket muffler on one of the trails, and also an oil filter wrench. Who changes their oil out on the trail? Must have been one of those J**ps we saw out there.

I was very impressed by the ability of my truck. It seemed to go anywhere I pointed it, even with open diffs. My only complaint about the park was that the trails were not clearly marked and their map sucked, so we didn’t always know where we were. Overall, we had a great time, and I learned a lot about rock crawling. Can’t wait to do it again! I am already planning my next round of mods too.