Post by Lyle on Mar 22, 2005 9:25:09 GMT -5
Comments from John Stewart - a very nice article about the park in
the entertainment section of Friday's Denver Post.
_____________________________________________________________________
<http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E2766345,00.html>http://w
ww.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E2766345,00.html
Article Published: Friday, March 18, 2005 Getting away to it all
Off-road gets theme-park treatment
By <mailto:ewill@denverpost.com>Ed Will
Denver Post Staff Writer
A chorus of spectators shouted "Stop!" as Joey Archuleta's blue
rock-crawler teetered at a dangerous angle on its driver-side wheels
in a jumble of massive rocks.
Another rock-crawler driver heeded the commands and ended his effort
to winch Archuleta's vehicle free from the rocks that had captured it.
Archuleta's spotter, Ryan Jensen, 22, of Golden, grabbed the
passenger-side door frame, pulling down on it. Someone else rushed to
the driver's side and pushed up. The winching began again.
Archuleta's vehicle traveled a short way on two wheels, righted
itself and bounced down the rock course.
This scene unfolded Sunday at Colorado Off Road Extreme - also known
as CORE. A private off-road park where four-wheelers of all shapes
and sizes can be put to the test, it sits on an 800-acre parcel of
prairie in eastern Colorado where massive rocks are as common as
aspen. The park, off Interstate 70 5 miles east of Deer Trail, is
owned by Carl and Julie Miron.
CORE boasts mud pits, obstacles and racetracks. But most of all, it has
rocks.
"The rock came from Denver from construction sites that had to get
rid of it," Carl Miron said. "There've been 60 loads of rock hauled
out here so far. That's about 3 million pounds of rock."
The Mirons plan to put in a picnic area this summer with playground
equipment and a track for remote-control trucks.
And fellow off-road enthusiast Wendell May soon will open his TRW MX
Ranch, which features tracks, jumps, mud pits and open spaces for
motocross and ATV riders, on 240 of the 800 acres.
Carl Miron dreamed of opening an off-road park since moving to
Colorado 20 years ago.
"I am from northern Michigan, and we do a lot of muddin' back there,"
Miron said. "But out here there is no place to do it. My original
idea was to build a place you could go muddin'."
Miron created five mud pits, ranging from 50 to 200 feet long. He dug
out the dirt, piled it around the trenches and pumped the pits full
of water. The challenge in mudding is simple: Go as far as you can as
fast as you can. The result leaves vehicles shrouded in enough mud to
stock the Amazon Basin. That seems to be the point.
"People have told me, 'You ought to open up a car wash,' " Miron
said. "You know what? I could have a car wash right here (at the
pits), and they wouldn't go in it. They want to take that truck back
to Denver so everyone sees the mud on it."
And that's good advertising.
Miron has expanded his park dream to include rock crawling, where
vehicles negotiate daunting rock patches. It is one of the top
four-wheel sports in Colorado.
"I don't know anything about rock crawling," Miron said. "I just gave
them a place to play."
Jim Schreiner, a diesel mechanic from Thornton, joined in the fun on
a recent Sunday.
Schreiner drives a rock crawler that started out as a '91 Chevy S10
pickup. But $40,000 in customizing later, the truck's own mama
wouldn't recognize it.
"This time of the year (CORE) is great, because the mountains have so
much snow you can't go up there," Schreiner said. While a growing
amount of public land is being closed to four-wheelers, private parks
are no substitute for lost access, said John Stewart, director of
environmental affairs for the United Four Wheel Drive Associations.
"It should not be looked on as a replacement for the general public,
the general off-road recreationist," he said. "A lot of the off-road
recreationists are family members who want to go up for a Sunday
drive and a picnic and look at some scenic overlook. They're people
who go out and look at spring wildflowers. They're rock and mineral
collectors and hunters and fisherman."
Stewart said his group supports the private parks because they meet
the needs of a niche market in the four-wheel community.
While there are about a dozen such parks nationwide, Stewart expects
that number to grow steadily. And he agrees with Morin that the
commercial parks are better places to hold rock-crawling and mudding
competitions.
"You can have spectators," Miron said. "If you go to the mountains,
there is no room for people to get in there. There's no place for
them to park or place for them to view."
Morin said another benefit for extreme four-wheelers is they get more
time doing what they enjoy most.
"A lot of these guys will tell you that if there is no one on a
trail, they can go up and go through it in an hour or so," he said.
"But they'll go out there, and it will take them seven or eight hours
to get though it just because they have to wait on people broke down
and in the way."
Jensen took his first shot at a CORE rock course on Sunday with his
tube-chassis crawler. He just had a little taste of it when his
crawler broke down. His enthusiasm remained undimmed. "This is
wonderful," he said. "It is my first time ever coming here, and I
lasted 10 minutes. But I'll be back as soon as I get it put back
together."
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or
<mailto:ewill@denverpost.com>ewill@denverpost.com.
--
John Stewart
Director, Environmental Affairs
United Four Wheel Drive Associations, www.ufwda.org
Natural Resource Consultant
California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, www.ca4wdc.com
Recreation Access and Conservation Editor, www.4x4wire.com
Moderator, MUIRNet - Multiple Use Information Resource Network
the entertainment section of Friday's Denver Post.
_____________________________________________________________________
<http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E2766345,00.html>http://w
ww.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E2766345,00.html
Article Published: Friday, March 18, 2005 Getting away to it all
Off-road gets theme-park treatment
By <mailto:ewill@denverpost.com>Ed Will
Denver Post Staff Writer
A chorus of spectators shouted "Stop!" as Joey Archuleta's blue
rock-crawler teetered at a dangerous angle on its driver-side wheels
in a jumble of massive rocks.
Another rock-crawler driver heeded the commands and ended his effort
to winch Archuleta's vehicle free from the rocks that had captured it.
Archuleta's spotter, Ryan Jensen, 22, of Golden, grabbed the
passenger-side door frame, pulling down on it. Someone else rushed to
the driver's side and pushed up. The winching began again.
Archuleta's vehicle traveled a short way on two wheels, righted
itself and bounced down the rock course.
This scene unfolded Sunday at Colorado Off Road Extreme - also known
as CORE. A private off-road park where four-wheelers of all shapes
and sizes can be put to the test, it sits on an 800-acre parcel of
prairie in eastern Colorado where massive rocks are as common as
aspen. The park, off Interstate 70 5 miles east of Deer Trail, is
owned by Carl and Julie Miron.
CORE boasts mud pits, obstacles and racetracks. But most of all, it has
rocks.
"The rock came from Denver from construction sites that had to get
rid of it," Carl Miron said. "There've been 60 loads of rock hauled
out here so far. That's about 3 million pounds of rock."
The Mirons plan to put in a picnic area this summer with playground
equipment and a track for remote-control trucks.
And fellow off-road enthusiast Wendell May soon will open his TRW MX
Ranch, which features tracks, jumps, mud pits and open spaces for
motocross and ATV riders, on 240 of the 800 acres.
Carl Miron dreamed of opening an off-road park since moving to
Colorado 20 years ago.
"I am from northern Michigan, and we do a lot of muddin' back there,"
Miron said. "But out here there is no place to do it. My original
idea was to build a place you could go muddin'."
Miron created five mud pits, ranging from 50 to 200 feet long. He dug
out the dirt, piled it around the trenches and pumped the pits full
of water. The challenge in mudding is simple: Go as far as you can as
fast as you can. The result leaves vehicles shrouded in enough mud to
stock the Amazon Basin. That seems to be the point.
"People have told me, 'You ought to open up a car wash,' " Miron
said. "You know what? I could have a car wash right here (at the
pits), and they wouldn't go in it. They want to take that truck back
to Denver so everyone sees the mud on it."
And that's good advertising.
Miron has expanded his park dream to include rock crawling, where
vehicles negotiate daunting rock patches. It is one of the top
four-wheel sports in Colorado.
"I don't know anything about rock crawling," Miron said. "I just gave
them a place to play."
Jim Schreiner, a diesel mechanic from Thornton, joined in the fun on
a recent Sunday.
Schreiner drives a rock crawler that started out as a '91 Chevy S10
pickup. But $40,000 in customizing later, the truck's own mama
wouldn't recognize it.
"This time of the year (CORE) is great, because the mountains have so
much snow you can't go up there," Schreiner said. While a growing
amount of public land is being closed to four-wheelers, private parks
are no substitute for lost access, said John Stewart, director of
environmental affairs for the United Four Wheel Drive Associations.
"It should not be looked on as a replacement for the general public,
the general off-road recreationist," he said. "A lot of the off-road
recreationists are family members who want to go up for a Sunday
drive and a picnic and look at some scenic overlook. They're people
who go out and look at spring wildflowers. They're rock and mineral
collectors and hunters and fisherman."
Stewart said his group supports the private parks because they meet
the needs of a niche market in the four-wheel community.
While there are about a dozen such parks nationwide, Stewart expects
that number to grow steadily. And he agrees with Morin that the
commercial parks are better places to hold rock-crawling and mudding
competitions.
"You can have spectators," Miron said. "If you go to the mountains,
there is no room for people to get in there. There's no place for
them to park or place for them to view."
Morin said another benefit for extreme four-wheelers is they get more
time doing what they enjoy most.
"A lot of these guys will tell you that if there is no one on a
trail, they can go up and go through it in an hour or so," he said.
"But they'll go out there, and it will take them seven or eight hours
to get though it just because they have to wait on people broke down
and in the way."
Jensen took his first shot at a CORE rock course on Sunday with his
tube-chassis crawler. He just had a little taste of it when his
crawler broke down. His enthusiasm remained undimmed. "This is
wonderful," he said. "It is my first time ever coming here, and I
lasted 10 minutes. But I'll be back as soon as I get it put back
together."
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or
<mailto:ewill@denverpost.com>ewill@denverpost.com.
--
John Stewart
Director, Environmental Affairs
United Four Wheel Drive Associations, www.ufwda.org
Natural Resource Consultant
California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, www.ca4wdc.com
Recreation Access and Conservation Editor, www.4x4wire.com
Moderator, MUIRNet - Multiple Use Information Resource Network