There are several adventures I’ve written about that were awesome. There was a camping trip in January 2022 that is on the top of the list. Last year there was so little expectation, admittedly so little preparation, for the “January Adventure Trip” to the Ozark Mountains in 2022 that we just went for it. We were just “a bunch of dumb polar bears” was the general phrase we used as we froze, laughed, and poked fun of each other. That’s the summary looking back a year ago at this trip.
This year we decided to give Polar Bear Run another go. The weather didn’t look as bad as last year. There were still a handful of trails I’d drawn out that never were run. There was a pretty much must have visit to Oark General Store. Lots of meals to cook this year. So many gear upgrades to test out. All new rigs to try out. And the same want to not-freeze, laugh, and poke fun at each other.
We decided to camp in the valley this year. The winter wind was killer last year and we all remembered it. As I made my way from Little Rock to the Ozarks I had a hard time keeping the bid square brick on the freeway. I had no desire to be up on the top peaks of the Ozarks with that kind of wind. Thankfully we had a nice, small spot with great tree coverage. After setting up camp, we rolled out to Oark General Store. Just a warning… don’t get a double bacon, cheese burger unless you mean it. The Oark Burger with bacon is the perfect burger to have a couple of fries with. BEWARE THE DOUBLE! (It’s fantastic!)
After lunch we decided to just cruise around the Ozarks and put some lines on the map and possibly drop a couple of pins in the map. Turned out that we would do neither as I started losing bolts left & right on the LJ. We’re talking about gravel roads and nothing in the way of terrain, so who knows when these things came loose. I felt like a big ol’ dummy with what should have been a basic bolt check from the lift install, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
The first night found lots of laughter and an overall appreciation for weather warmer than 18 degrees. We talked through the trails to run the next day and decided to take on one of the routes I’d drawn out for last year. The trail had a good amount of elevation change and looked like we would see lots of marked hollows and scenic vistas. In my experience it always looks great on the web site map. In fact I’m batting 1,000 for drawing out trails that have a mud-bog section, a waterfall, some crazy terrain showing up, and a couple of other things that aren’t worth mentioning.
As we hit the trail it wasn’t long before we were marking some potential camp sites and finding trails that were closed. That’s to be expected when you’re just out exploring and it’s something that I’ve come to appreciate. Maybe the trail will be open in another season! After having a great time crusing some forrest service roads we “took a left turn at…” you get the point. That’s where things started getting interesting. The Ozark Mountains are great for opening up trails where you can really have fun in your offroad vehicle. Then again, you might end up like me and have a couple of broken lug nut studs.
That’s right, day two led to my second break down on the train. Oddly enough we were a couple of trail miles from The Pig Trail when we noticed the breakdown. When did it happen? How long was I rolling that? Who knows. In the end we were needing to limp back to camp, but according to the side by side group we ran into, we had a lot of stuff left to climb just to get to the gravel road that leads to The Pig Trail. So, the road that we drove out last year was just a couple of trail miles ahead, but I had stuff breaking and we had obstacles ahead.
Not going to lie, the trail was awesome, but I spent just about every second assuming that I was about to lose my rear passenger tire. There were a couple of really hairy sections that I would totally love to run again! I just need to get comfortable with the LJ. That’s when I realized this was the first real trip where I pushed the Jeep and learned more about it. RIOT ’22 was the first offroad adventure for the LJ, but I stayed away from most obstacles on that trip. Great trip, but I didn’t really push anything.
This time I did and it showed.
This trip was special for a lot of reasons, but above all it was my friends. It’s easy to get down when things don’t go your way. It’s especially easy to get down when you’re the one who planned the trail. I always feel especially responsible for everyone having a great time. Not just fun, but a great time! I want everyone to have an epic adventure and I often forget that we are all out there seeking different things. We are all on our own adventures and I just want them all to be awesome!