Mounds Phase 2 supposedly approved!
#1
01-15-2009 | 01:41 AM
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From: SE Michigan
Mounds Phase 2 supposedly approved!
Found this posting on GLFWDA - Great News!
Quote:
Off-roaders to get boost with new addition to Genesee County's Mounds ORV Park
by Elizabeth Shaw | The Flint Journal Thursday January 08, 2009, 1:48 PM
Note: The time stamp of this article has been changed from its original post earlier today. New information was added.
GENESEE TOWNSHIP, Michigan Off-road enthusiasts will have something more to roar about this year at the Mounds ORV Park.
Genesee County parks officials got the word over the holiday break that the state Department of Natural Resources is giving them $100,000 to build the next bigger, badder and better phase of the Mounds Rock Crawl.
A DNR grant last year built Phase One, a three-quarter-acre rock course designed to be handled by most stock off-road vehicles, with rocks 12 inches in diameter or less.
The new Phase Two will cover about 1.5 acres with a rolling log jam trail, a staircase feature and a rock crawl with boulders 30 inches or more in diameter.
"It's not so much the size of the course. It's the challenge. And this is going to have you going over things you just shouldn't be going over," joked parks Deputy Director Ron Walker.
One of those revving his engines in anticipation is Bob DeVore of Swartz Creek, a longtime Hummer enthusiast and self-described "retired jarhead" whose pewter H2, complete with replica 50-caliber machine gun turrets mounted on the hood, is a familiar sight at the Mounds.
"I just love the challenge. It's man and machine versus Mother Nature," said DeVore, who helped supply the original course concepts used in the Rowe Inc. engineering design for the three-phase, 10-acre area. "This is not a fast-paced sport. It's very slow, tedious work with a spotter. You pick your line and work your way through very methodically. It could take a half-hour to get 100 feet, depending just how well the rocks are placed."
The Mounds is the only public ORV facility with a rock crawl in the Lower Peninsula, said Walker, and regularly draws off-roaders from as far away as Ohio and Indiana.
"A lot of people stopped going to the Mounds because it would turn into just a lot of mud, which is fun too, but this is opening up the horizons to even more people coming to play because it's a different avenue, a different approach to off-highway fun," said DeVore. "Since they opened the first phase, there's not a weekend there's not somebody out there on the rocks. It's been very well-received."
In fact, DeVore first caught the off-road bug at the annual Hummer Happening hosted at the Mounds by Al Serra Auto Plaza's Hummer division.
"That's what had me embrace this whole concept of off-highway usage," said DeVore.
Walker said they hope to get started on the project in the late spring but transporting the heavy boulders will have to wait until after the frost advisories are lifted from the roads.
"Depending on the weather, it could be finished by late summer, early fall," said Walker.
And after that? DeVore is already rubbing his hands together in anticipation for Phase 3.
"My truck can do levels one and two, no problem. But if they build it to a tee, when we get to the Level 3 Extreme, I couldn't do it without assistance. I'll need a winch to scramble up and over. I can't wait."[/align]
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Quote:
Off-roaders to get boost with new addition to Genesee County's Mounds ORV Park
by Elizabeth Shaw | The Flint Journal Thursday January 08, 2009, 1:48 PM
Note: The time stamp of this article has been changed from its original post earlier today. New information was added.
GENESEE TOWNSHIP, Michigan Off-road enthusiasts will have something more to roar about this year at the Mounds ORV Park.
Genesee County parks officials got the word over the holiday break that the state Department of Natural Resources is giving them $100,000 to build the next bigger, badder and better phase of the Mounds Rock Crawl.
A DNR grant last year built Phase One, a three-quarter-acre rock course designed to be handled by most stock off-road vehicles, with rocks 12 inches in diameter or less.
The new Phase Two will cover about 1.5 acres with a rolling log jam trail, a staircase feature and a rock crawl with boulders 30 inches or more in diameter.
"It's not so much the size of the course. It's the challenge. And this is going to have you going over things you just shouldn't be going over," joked parks Deputy Director Ron Walker.
One of those revving his engines in anticipation is Bob DeVore of Swartz Creek, a longtime Hummer enthusiast and self-described "retired jarhead" whose pewter H2, complete with replica 50-caliber machine gun turrets mounted on the hood, is a familiar sight at the Mounds.
"I just love the challenge. It's man and machine versus Mother Nature," said DeVore, who helped supply the original course concepts used in the Rowe Inc. engineering design for the three-phase, 10-acre area. "This is not a fast-paced sport. It's very slow, tedious work with a spotter. You pick your line and work your way through very methodically. It could take a half-hour to get 100 feet, depending just how well the rocks are placed."
The Mounds is the only public ORV facility with a rock crawl in the Lower Peninsula, said Walker, and regularly draws off-roaders from as far away as Ohio and Indiana.
"A lot of people stopped going to the Mounds because it would turn into just a lot of mud, which is fun too, but this is opening up the horizons to even more people coming to play because it's a different avenue, a different approach to off-highway fun," said DeVore. "Since they opened the first phase, there's not a weekend there's not somebody out there on the rocks. It's been very well-received."
In fact, DeVore first caught the off-road bug at the annual Hummer Happening hosted at the Mounds by Al Serra Auto Plaza's Hummer division.
"That's what had me embrace this whole concept of off-highway usage," said DeVore.
Walker said they hope to get started on the project in the late spring but transporting the heavy boulders will have to wait until after the frost advisories are lifted from the roads.
"Depending on the weather, it could be finished by late summer, early fall," said Walker.
And after that? DeVore is already rubbing his hands together in anticipation for Phase 3.
"My truck can do levels one and two, no problem. But if they build it to a tee, when we get to the Level 3 Extreme, I couldn't do it without assistance. I'll need a winch to scramble up and over. I can't wait."[/align]
__________________
[/align]
#2
01-15-2009 | 01:05 PM
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 12,491
From: Boat Town USA MI
RE: Mounds Phase 2 supposedly approved!
Man that is so cool!!!!! The rock garden was a blast back in November, but after the soon to be addition, it should be way fun. UBP, Diff and shackle plates, here we go!
I also wanted to say, phase one was challenging, we watched 4X4 Pickups, and a Cherokee not able to get it done, and of course one of our guys winched one Pickup off. Probably their tire issues mostly, but the Hummers did very well, impressive actually.
How about a pic of Tainter (pre mud bath
) to celebrate this great news??? [8D][8D]
I also wanted to say, phase one was challenging, we watched 4X4 Pickups, and a Cherokee not able to get it done, and of course one of our guys winched one Pickup off. Probably their tire issues mostly, but the Hummers did very well, impressive actually.
How about a pic of Tainter (pre mud bath
) to celebrate this great news??? [8D][8D]
#3
01-15-2009 | 02:10 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 727
From:
RE: Mounds Phase 2 supposedly approved!
Bob Devore is a great guy, I know him personally. If he is helping to design the Level 3 you better believe its going to be great! However that Level One looks a little boring for HUMMERs.
#4
01-15-2009 | 03:13 PM
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 12,491
From: Boat Town USA MI
RE: Mounds Phase 2 supposedly approved!
Yep... Bob is a good guy andwas part of our crew in November. Wheeled with him two weekends in a row. He gets around!!
I think this pic I caught of him is way cool.
Level FOUR? That is Bob spotting.
I think this pic I caught of him is way cool.
Level FOUR?
That is Bob spotting.
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