Spent Friday and Saturday at Hot Springs ORV, thought it was fantastic, although a little pricey. $33/day/vehicle, additional riders are free (I think, we didn't have any riders). You can get an annual pass for $60, and then additional days are $15, so it takes 3 days to pay for itself. The office has tons of merch, stickers, hoodies, etc, but also some basic tools and parts. I doubt I could be lucky enough to need what they have in stock, but it's a nice attempt.
The trails themselves are really well marked about 98% of the time. And the map is something you can actually use & follow. Most of the trails are one way and clearly marked at the trailhead & an exit sign on the egress. Some of the trails are hard enough, not having to worry about oncoming traffic is a nice touch. The trails themselves are rated from 1-5 stars for jeeps, atvs, and dirt bikes. The rating system was pretty spot on in our estimation, although we didn't try any 4's or 5's. There are the ratings off their map:
1 - this level is for the novice. 4WD may be needed occasionally.
2- 4WD is needed quite a bit. Most stock vehicles with stock tires can negotiate.
3 - Action packed and challenging. At least 32" tall, aggressive tread tires are needed. At least a locking rear differential is recommended.
4 - For experienced off-readers only. You need 33" or taller rubber, and locking differentials on both ends. A winch and a spotter are also good ideas.
5 - The are the "real deal" obstacles for the hard-core off-roader. Go with at least 36" tires and all the other truck stuff. Mechanical and body damage is the norm. These trails require a co-driver/spotter and the driver's undivided attention. Bring a camera and a clean change of underwear.
First things first, 5 jeeps were in our group, zero locking diffs among us. I have 31" AT tires, and a stock 2020 JL had street tires. He said he wanted to burn them up before he spent money on new ones. LOL. My point is that their rating systems may have been a tad on the conservative side, but the 3's were hard enough that we didn't attempt any 4's.
Day 1: it basically poured rain on us most of the day. We got our feet wet on some of the easier trails, and then tackled the easiest of the Badge of Honor trails, called Snake, rated as a 2. It was a long windy trail through the woods (ok, all these trails are through the woods). Jumped many deer along the way, including a monster buck. There were two hard spots, which were really only hard because of the rain. One spot had a serious rock crawl followed by a slick granite(?) wall to climb. One guy made it up just before the rain dumped, so we took the bailout path, which was immediately followed by another technical section, but like most such things, just required finding the right line. Lots of switchbacks, and some decent narrow off-camber stretches. One climb near the end was also fairly hard, but only one rig needed to winch up it (the stock JL was not with us at that time). We did some other trails after, but the rain made it less fun, so we called it early. On those switchbacks, the TJ had a much easier time than the XJ's and the JKU. It was nice to be the better rig for a change.
Day 2: clear skies, and the park seemed rather dry. We expected mud everywhere, but honestly it was just the occasional low spot with water, no actual mud. Thankfully. Found lots of challenges early, including some technical steep downhill rock stuff to negotiate. Once we had a taste of blood, we moved onto the other 2 badge trails, starting with Rubicon Ridge
Rubicon Ridge
This one is the real deal, rated a 3 on their map. Almost immediately from the trailhead is a long, steep rocky descent, with 3 back to back step sections. We probably took 45 min to get all 5 rigs through this section. Probably too cautious, but nobody was pushing us from behind so we took our time. Once we got to the bottom, the trail turned into more of a nice ride, rather long. A few climbs that showed some evidence of the rain, but nothing super hard. One small decline that was 100% blind, which was fun. At the very end was another climb which was really more of a "send it and let God take the wheel", which would not have been possible for us in the rain the day before. There was a bailout that looked much easier. This was a fantastic trail, highly receommended.
This is me taking a bad line at the end of that big initial descent.
Fun Run
Tis is the last of the three badge trails, and for the most part I would say it was between the other two in terms of difficulty, although we had more trouble with it than Rubicon Ridge. It was also much shorter. The first spot was a long steep relatively flat granite incline. It took a lot of send, but we all got up it after a few tries. If this were wet, there would be absolutely no way. There was a tall pine near the top with a 4" section of bark worn off the back down low from all the times a tow strap has been put there. Was proud to have made that climb w/o assistance. The second climb was much more technical, with 2ish options, one being very off-camber and the other involving a ton of scraping. 3 of the 5 rigs needed to be winched up, although I only needed to be pulled about 6 inches and was able to drive the rest of the way. This part didn't look all that hard at first, and we took forever getting through it. Then a built TJ on 38's rolled through without much issue. Lockers would've helped here a ton.
This is one of our guys going up the first Fun Run climb.
This is the 2nd Fun Run climb that gave us so much trouble.
The one spot I had to winch.
The trails themselves are really well marked about 98% of the time. And the map is something you can actually use & follow. Most of the trails are one way and clearly marked at the trailhead & an exit sign on the egress. Some of the trails are hard enough, not having to worry about oncoming traffic is a nice touch. The trails themselves are rated from 1-5 stars for jeeps, atvs, and dirt bikes. The rating system was pretty spot on in our estimation, although we didn't try any 4's or 5's. There are the ratings off their map:
1 - this level is for the novice. 4WD may be needed occasionally.
2- 4WD is needed quite a bit. Most stock vehicles with stock tires can negotiate.
3 - Action packed and challenging. At least 32" tall, aggressive tread tires are needed. At least a locking rear differential is recommended.
4 - For experienced off-readers only. You need 33" or taller rubber, and locking differentials on both ends. A winch and a spotter are also good ideas.
5 - The are the "real deal" obstacles for the hard-core off-roader. Go with at least 36" tires and all the other truck stuff. Mechanical and body damage is the norm. These trails require a co-driver/spotter and the driver's undivided attention. Bring a camera and a clean change of underwear.
First things first, 5 jeeps were in our group, zero locking diffs among us. I have 31" AT tires, and a stock 2020 JL had street tires. He said he wanted to burn them up before he spent money on new ones. LOL. My point is that their rating systems may have been a tad on the conservative side, but the 3's were hard enough that we didn't attempt any 4's.
Day 1: it basically poured rain on us most of the day. We got our feet wet on some of the easier trails, and then tackled the easiest of the Badge of Honor trails, called Snake, rated as a 2. It was a long windy trail through the woods (ok, all these trails are through the woods). Jumped many deer along the way, including a monster buck. There were two hard spots, which were really only hard because of the rain. One spot had a serious rock crawl followed by a slick granite(?) wall to climb. One guy made it up just before the rain dumped, so we took the bailout path, which was immediately followed by another technical section, but like most such things, just required finding the right line. Lots of switchbacks, and some decent narrow off-camber stretches. One climb near the end was also fairly hard, but only one rig needed to winch up it (the stock JL was not with us at that time). We did some other trails after, but the rain made it less fun, so we called it early. On those switchbacks, the TJ had a much easier time than the XJ's and the JKU. It was nice to be the better rig for a change.
Day 2: clear skies, and the park seemed rather dry. We expected mud everywhere, but honestly it was just the occasional low spot with water, no actual mud. Thankfully. Found lots of challenges early, including some technical steep downhill rock stuff to negotiate. Once we had a taste of blood, we moved onto the other 2 badge trails, starting with Rubicon Ridge
Rubicon Ridge
This one is the real deal, rated a 3 on their map. Almost immediately from the trailhead is a long, steep rocky descent, with 3 back to back step sections. We probably took 45 min to get all 5 rigs through this section. Probably too cautious, but nobody was pushing us from behind so we took our time. Once we got to the bottom, the trail turned into more of a nice ride, rather long. A few climbs that showed some evidence of the rain, but nothing super hard. One small decline that was 100% blind, which was fun. At the very end was another climb which was really more of a "send it and let God take the wheel", which would not have been possible for us in the rain the day before. There was a bailout that looked much easier. This was a fantastic trail, highly receommended.
This is me taking a bad line at the end of that big initial descent.
Fun Run
Tis is the last of the three badge trails, and for the most part I would say it was between the other two in terms of difficulty, although we had more trouble with it than Rubicon Ridge. It was also much shorter. The first spot was a long steep relatively flat granite incline. It took a lot of send, but we all got up it after a few tries. If this were wet, there would be absolutely no way. There was a tall pine near the top with a 4" section of bark worn off the back down low from all the times a tow strap has been put there. Was proud to have made that climb w/o assistance. The second climb was much more technical, with 2ish options, one being very off-camber and the other involving a ton of scraping. 3 of the 5 rigs needed to be winched up, although I only needed to be pulled about 6 inches and was able to drive the rest of the way. This part didn't look all that hard at first, and we took forever getting through it. Then a built TJ on 38's rolled through without much issue. Lockers would've helped here a ton.
This is one of our guys going up the first Fun Run climb.
This is the 2nd Fun Run climb that gave us so much trouble.
The one spot I had to winch.
