This was our 2nd trip to Disney, first was this time last year. I was in my JKU that time, and water levels were much, much higher. A few spots people had water coming over their door sills & noses down into a deep hole, but never any real problems. To be safe, one guy added a snorkel for the trip, and I relocated my 32RH's breather hose and extended my other breathers as well. It may have been unnecessary this trip, but better safe than sorry.
The park itself is part state park, but 100% public land, mostly behind Pensacola Dam, which is the longest multiple arch dam in the world. There are 2 other smaller dams, each of which have cool geography behind them. There is some cool rock crawling to be done in that area, and it transitions into a wide riverbed which is bedrock underneath so it makes for good wheeling, no fear of getting stuck in soft mud. There are a few DEEP spots, so it's not a total free for all. When the water is up, you can do an island hopping sort of thing for several miles...super fun. And some good sized shelves to climb up, some are waterfalls with good water conditions. The river transitions into the hills, which give you the wooded trails with tons of good climbs, dry creek beds, that sort of thing. Plus plenty of steep stuff & technical sections. And then of course there is a soup bowl area with a ton of mud holes if thats your jam.
The group was my TJ, an XJ, a JKU, a Samurai, and a friend who just bought a side by side. We like him so we only tease him behind his back about it. The Sami broke 3 drive shaft u-joints and eventually grenaded his slip yoke, but he had a lot of backup parts with him.
From the top of the dam:
From below the dam:
Riverbed below another portion of the dam. This is about 50' above the river bed, so there is some nice waterfalls and climbing to be done to get to the bottom (not pictured).
Water is super clean with a rock bottom...clean except for where we stir it all up.
Pics never do the steep stuff justice. This was a butt pucker for sure. Rode that tree just ahead & to the left of my spotter on my roll bar. Super sketch, but we did it.
The Sami has never seen a hole he didn't want to conquer. We were on our way out of this section when we got the call on the walkie: "uh guys, I'm gonna need a pull" and then we came back and found this.
And then the Sami hitting this with a full head of steam:
The park itself is part state park, but 100% public land, mostly behind Pensacola Dam, which is the longest multiple arch dam in the world. There are 2 other smaller dams, each of which have cool geography behind them. There is some cool rock crawling to be done in that area, and it transitions into a wide riverbed which is bedrock underneath so it makes for good wheeling, no fear of getting stuck in soft mud. There are a few DEEP spots, so it's not a total free for all. When the water is up, you can do an island hopping sort of thing for several miles...super fun. And some good sized shelves to climb up, some are waterfalls with good water conditions. The river transitions into the hills, which give you the wooded trails with tons of good climbs, dry creek beds, that sort of thing. Plus plenty of steep stuff & technical sections. And then of course there is a soup bowl area with a ton of mud holes if thats your jam.
The group was my TJ, an XJ, a JKU, a Samurai, and a friend who just bought a side by side. We like him so we only tease him behind his back about it. The Sami broke 3 drive shaft u-joints and eventually grenaded his slip yoke, but he had a lot of backup parts with him.
From the top of the dam:
From below the dam:
Riverbed below another portion of the dam. This is about 50' above the river bed, so there is some nice waterfalls and climbing to be done to get to the bottom (not pictured).
Water is super clean with a rock bottom...clean except for where we stir it all up.
Pics never do the steep stuff justice. This was a butt pucker for sure. Rode that tree just ahead & to the left of my spotter on my roll bar. Super sketch, but we did it.
The Sami has never seen a hole he didn't want to conquer. We were on our way out of this section when we got the call on the walkie: "uh guys, I'm gonna need a pull" and then we came back and found this.
And then the Sami hitting this with a full head of steam:
