The Canuck Attends SCARR '07 - Part One

Last October when I was at the Solihull Society's National Rally at Moab, Utah, I met a couple of the guys from the Texas Rovers group. Jim Edson and his wife Vangie invited me to the clubs annual Land Rover event - South Central Area Rover Rally - held at Barnwell Mountain Recreation Area near Gilmer, TX this past weekend.
Texas is amazing and the people even better. There was more then a little stress about the event on my part. It is a strange feeling walking off a plane someplace you have never been, hopping into a vehicle with a near stranger and driving into literally the middle of nowhere.
Event Coordinator Jon Button - JB - did a great job of alleviating my stress. Combo tour guide/babysitter (yes, I do need one those periodically), he showed me such exciting things as the drive thru 'Beer Barn' and three hours of the backroads of Texas before dropping me at my motel in Gilmer.

Eastern Texas is a beautiful part of the US and well worth visiting. It had rained heavily the previous week so everything was lush green and in bloom - perfect for a photographer!

Friday morning was my first taste of the Barnwell Mountain Rec Area. Traditionally an iron strip mine and then the 'old picnic spot' near Gilmer, Barnwell is 1600 acres of trails. I heard both 70 miles and 200 miles of trails wind their way around the mountain so I am not sure which to believe but I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least seventy miles.

Barnwell is cooperatively maintained by a bunch of the local off-road organizations with each one having specific trails to maintain as well as their own camping area. It is a truly unique area and I think the guys got sick of listening to me go on and on about how great it is to have a place like this were all your trails are within a few hundred meters of each other. Hopefully they at least realize how lucky they are even if they did get sick of me talking about it!

Another completely unique aspect of Barnwell is the erosion factor. Normally this would not be a good thing and whenever there is erosion damage to a trail or gravel road in British Columbia, the trail is closed and the environmentalists get on our case about destroying our natural areas (I agree with them part way but figure BC has enough wild area that I am sure we can all share. Don't believe me? Look at a satellite picture of the province and you'll see it is pretty much 90% uninhabited if not more).
In Barnwell, the erosion is intense - a trail can completely change after one good rainstorm. It keeps the trails a challenge for the local clubs as you never know what may be different which is kinda' cool when you consider that there are only so many trails to begin with - seventy miles of them but only so many...
Barnwell is famous for its red dirt that, from what I have been told, never comes out of your clothes and is near impossible to wash off your Rover. All I now is that I am still blowing it out of my camera and even after washing, my once white socks are an interesting shade of beige.
After registration and paperwork was complete, JB and I went for a drive so he could show me a bit of the place. We didn't get very far before we stumbled upon Edward Cook and his son Turner. Turner was attempting Twister - a frame wrenching, suspension stretching bit of trail in his '95 Range Rover Classic...look for Part Two soon!