Took my Badlands to Barnwell Mountain in Texas

[illverado]

So did you pretty much do all of the trails you were capable of or was there a lot more you want to go back to do? I’ve been to northwest OHV park 3x now and am already bored of the same few trails for the same few hours each time

Sponsored

 

[GreyZ]

So did you pretty much do all of the trails you were capable of or was there a lot more you want to go back to do? I’ve been to northwest OHV park 3x now and am already bored of the same few trails for the same few hours each time

We wheeled for 5 hours on Friday and 7.5-8 hours on Saturday. We were able to hit all but one trail that we wanted to hit but ran out of daylight and did not want to try it at night. We only did one or two trails twice and probalby an hour or so total of stopping and talking and things like that. If we were with a group, there is not way we would have been able to cover nearly as much ground. I could probably do another 6-7 hours rerunning trails in the opposite direction or rerunning trails with different lines. Beyond that would be duplicating runs, but thats not really a bad thing in my mind if its not every weekend. If you go with a group of 3-4 vehicles it would also slow down how fast you could cover it all, especially if you spend any time stopped and talking.

You could also wheel until 10 pm at Barnwell, so doing trails in the dark opens up a whole new option for wheeling options.

 

[Spooled]

Nice! This park is my "to go to" list. Hoping to get up there next month before it gets hot.

 

[GreyZ]

Nice! This park is my "to go to" list. Hoping to get up there next month before it gets hot.

Thankfully the weather was fantastic for us, lows in the 40s and highs in the low 70s. Probably close to the point now that I would probably want some AC at night. I would probably remove the flares on a Raptor before hitting Barnwell. There are areas that are not wide fender friendly on the easy trails.

 

[BroncoAZ]

My wife and I heavily cross shopped a used GX460 to the Bronco before we settled on the bronco. They are wildly capable with a small lift and cutting the side steps off and have significantly more belly ground clearance than the bronco. The tow rating is also so much better with the GX than the Bronco. The top off, looks, and mpg for the Bronco won out but it was a very close decision.

I’m certainly not selling my 2 door Bronco, but the GX would suit my wife’s needs well and serve as a better tow rig than the Bronco. I still have a 2000 Ford Expedition for boat duties for now.

 

[GreyZ]

Turns out April is a easy time for my group to make a trip out to Barnwell.
We spent this past weekend camping and wheeling in Barnwell Mountain OHV Park in Gilmer TX. I took my 4 door badlands non-SAS and my brother brought his lifted GX470 on 32s. My dad was also able to bring his TJ-Rubi on 33s out. Barnwells trail rating system was pretty accurate until some SERIOUS rain Saturday night caused some pretty bad erosion. Barnwell rates their trails 1-5, and our three vehicles were solidly in the 3 range. There were again a few ledges on 3s that I just did not have the belly clearance for, but otherwise we had no issues doing 3s until the washouts started on Saturday. We got there Thursday night and were able to wheel a nearly empty park all day Friday. Friday night the rain started and we got ~2" and it continued raining all day Saturday. We did a couple trails in the wet, but it was getting waterlogged and we decided to wrap up and head home before the real deluge got there Saturday night. We were all in tents and they were starting to loose the battle of staying dry on Saturday.

I dropped down to 14 lbs in the tires and felt that was a good place to be, never popped a bead and had great tire deflection.

The GX did great, with the advance track doing some serious work. The bronco had to engage lockers a couple times, but really no issues there either except for not being able to drop down the ledges. (For example we couldn't do Green Lane because I kept getting hung on the drop in). My dad's TJ reminded us constantly on why Jeeps are the OG of off-road, but both IFS rigs were far better on the access roads at any pace. Basically what we expected.

We camped out at the "Camp ArkLaTex" and were the only ones at that camp. Crowds never really showed up, probably due to the rain. We only ever encountered two sets of sidexsides on the trails.
I have included the trail list we did, along with some photos. Planning on hitting Hot Springs OHV Park next.

Trail Notes:
Friday
Angry jeep from camp heading north. Camp arklatex is off this trail. Which is where we stayed. Fun decent at end.

On any Sunday CCW.

Omega loop CCW. One washed out section that required attn in the dry.

Desi’s way CW. Tight and rocky.

Twister CW. Good challenging area of short trails (GX470 bumped where his slider should be passenger side)

Pine hill Clyde’s Ravine. Favorite run to climb up.

Sierra Skyway uphill. Good run. Hard technical climb out at end.

L&B Turnpike CCW up SNL Bypass. Easy loop with one moderate decent and one very hard climb with a bypass

Pine hill to Clyde Ravine still good

Solihull North has BM famous leaning left hand climb that risks the driver fender. tricky off camber exit down hill

Saturday:

Linda Gale to Main Trail to On any Sunday CW(stayed right on entrance to loop)(GX470 got stuck on washed out section of OAS.)

Omega(hugged drivers side to prevent slide to right - after porter house road) CCW(GX470 slid to right and needed tow)

Scorpion Overlook CCW, turned around where it met up with Clyde’s Ravine

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I spent this past weekend camping and wheeling in Barnwell Mountain OHV Park in Gilmer TX. I took my 4 door badlands non-SAS and my brother brought his lifted GX470 on 32s. Barnwells maps system is not the greatest, but we used a combination of the Maprika app and OnX and the signs to keep track of what trail and the difficulty. Their rating is a 1-5 system and both the Bronco and GX were solid 2-3 capable.
We were both running 16 lbs in the tires and felt that the KO2s did great. On one trail called Binder Boulevard I dropped pretty hard on my rear right bumper and got a solid dent, but thankfully the parking sensor survived.
There was a 3 that neither of us could climb out of due to a couple of 24" vertical ledges. We both lacked to the approach angle to get the front tires near the ledge to climb, and I am pretty certain that even if I pushed the front up on the skid plate, I would not have the breakover to get the rear tires anywhere close.

The GX even on smaller tires has a full 3" more ground clearance, so he used his skid plates much less than I did. Mine took an absolute beating, but the only bend/dent was on the transmission cross braces that hang down. I spent alot of time rear locked, and had to front lock in ~10 places to make climbs. The GX has advancetrac that did wonders for him with a bit of the skinny pedal.

There was about 2" of rain on friday morning, but the trails dried super fast and weren't slick Friday afternoon. It helped keep the Texas dust down a bit on Friday. By Saturday it was extremely dusty and covered everything.

We camped out at the "Camp Mabey" and were the only ones at that camp, even though the park was packed in the open areas. We ran into very few people on the trails we ran surprisingly. We definitly plan to return. Here are the pics.

Looks like a blast, Eric! We're glad to see you're making the most with your Bronco!

Sponsored