St. Joe, 6-10,11,12, camping!

[gnarlykaw]

We will be campin down there those dates and riding. Any takers on riding?? I might be able to even throw in lunch to boot.

 

[CAL]

Hey Rick, I'll see if we can make it. The weekend before that is a big SWR ride near Chattanooga, so it's a little iffy. But we'll try. It's been a while since we've been to St. Joe.

 

[ddzmcc]

Thinking about planning a fall trip to St. Joe for a group of guys I ride with. Only seen on the net and seen a few BB messages about the place. Is St. Joe a good place to go for Intermediate(sp?) riders? How does the place compare to say, LBL? Any info would be much appreciated.


Derick

 

[tyesai]

Thinking about planning a fall trip to St. Joe for a group of guys I ride with. Only seen on the net and seen a few BB messages about the place. Is St. Joe a good place to go for Intermediate(sp?) riders? How does the place compare to say, LBL? Any info would be much appreciated.


Derick

Myself and a group of people I work with camping their about a month ago. They have showers, laundry, and bathrooms central to the campsites and outhouses that will do because at least for us they were closer. There was no grill like you have at some state parks only a grid to throw over the fire pit so you really should bring a grill. The town of Leadington is about 15 minutes away and there is a Super Wal Mart in case you forget something, all kinds of restraunts and even some hotels if you didn't want to camp, we noticed that the was the option a bunch of people took. They sell firewood at I believe 5pm at the park but you want to get their early to get some. I think it was reasonably priced, although the guys that got it had been drinking (they had quit riding for the day) and I think they may have got a few extra pieces for free on accident so I don't know how much our 8 bucks really bought. I know it was cold that night and we didn't run out. I think we were on campsites 8 and 10, can't be sure though. The place is huge you should be able to find something to do. There was alot of fast WTFO areas, some water to play in, we found some decent hill climbs, trails in the woods to ride in, a half ass kind of natural track that people had cut out, and the coolest thing was a natural section about a hundred yards of big ol whoops. We always ended up back at the whoop section racing through that pushing each other a little bit harder but by the time you blasted through them once or twice we needed a breather. The only we didn't find was a decent jump. We had a blast and are skill levels are begginer to intermediate on bikes to include a 10 year old who had a blast, we had a guy with a quad and one dude on an old TRI Z three wheeler. Never been to LBL so I have no comparison.

 

[Crash217]

I think it's one of the most diverse places to ride in MO. there's a little bit of every type of off-road riding out there except for mx of course.

The real diversity of the park comes out when you race an enduro out there. I believe alot of the Leadbelt National Enduro was on land that is not accessable or available to the usual park visitor. But even still, what is available can be very cool. The race was this past weekend (i was in it) there was a bit of everything imagineable;

In 5 miles of trail you can go through sand whoops, hydroplane out on the river, go up big nasty rocky hills, go along the side of a hill with roots trying to pull you down, blast down a wide roller coaster feeling 4 wheeler trail with huge berms, trials ride down big rocky creek beds, jump over big logs, and when its all over, go take a dip in the lake at the camp ground on the flats.

near virgin 100 yard hills strewn with loose softball sized rocks (talk about a killer, i had to stop and rest mid way up it after dumping the bike twice when the trail went up it for a second time at mile 94! it was killing me and I'm an A-B rider!)

killer sand whoops coming through the river bottom that made me think of the daytona supercross

wild and crazy fast 4 wheeler trails with huge berms and roller coaster style hills and valley's (way cool section)

a killer water fall section where you head down a (usually) dry creek that has about 10 water falls in it, they gradually get bigger and bigger starting at about 2 feet with the last two being 4-5 feet tall! that section was really cool and a spectator point

a few big log crossings some going UP hill!

one section had us following a pea gravel filled creek that was cluttered with sections of very slick limestone and boulders and had a couple log crossings in it.

There were a few really cool pine tree woods sections with rolling hills, very light under growth and lots of little logs and roots crossing the trail. there were also times that they took you right down next to a small lake/pond. the section was giving me flashbacks of racing in louisana!

there was one section, that I can only assume was a jeep or very large 4 wheeler trail it meandered around on a hill side cross crossing back and forth up the face of the hill and then back down over the course of a half a mile. it was very cool with lots of little ledges that had you using the cracks in them as small ruts to smooth out the hill.

even went through an enormous drainage pipe under the roadway!

 

[gnarlykaw]

I wanted to do that race, but when i twas raining when i woke up, I made up my mind really quick! no way! I remember doing alot of those sections in the late seventies when they turned the mining plant land over to the state, and the off road crowd moved in quick. I'll just stick to chasing my kids around............
I short, yeah, it's a great park to ride at, and like any other place to ride, you need to be aware of the other guy as well. that's where the problems crop up. I am REALLY looking forward to this trip, and even went as far as to get a helmet cam set up for use. Corey, I hope you guys can make it, as well as a few of the regulars????

 

[Crash217]

Gnarly -- You missed out man... it really wasn't that slick throughout most of the race. the only times it got slick was when the trail took you through the woods less than 100 yards from the river. deeper in the woods it was wet, but perfect.

here's a link to some pics of the enduro there a couple weeks ago.... it'll give the people that have never been there an idea of what it's like.

http://www.blackjackenduro.com/PictureView.asp?EventYear=2005&EventID=6

 

[h20]

I'll come out and ride some just need to know when is steak night .