77GreenMachine
Phillip Talton
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2010
- Location
- Trinity, NC
Right outside Princeton WV there is a hidden gem that I discovered last week. So let me tell you a story.
(skip to the bottom for links and info if you don’t wanna read the story)
Me and a handful of folks had planned to head down to Gulches for one last great wheeling trip, to top off an unmatched year of wheeling for most of us. We’d been looking forward to it for about 2 months. But last week the weather wasn’t looking too good, Gulches will close when it rains quite a bit, and I understand why. Skip has no choice because of the river behind it and the road getting too dirty.
Back up 2 weeks ago, and I had picked up a new client at work. Told him I was into rock crawling and he asked if I’d ever heard of Kairos Resort. Nope never heard of it. So I looked it up and it was SxS and dirt bikes only. But then he told me he was heading up there to ride dirt bikes for the weekend, so I told him to ask them if they were going to consider opening up to full size rigs like jeeps and stuff. So he called me on Saturday to tell me they do allow them, and that he seen a couple there.
So when we saw the rain threatening our trip, we debated going to Harlan instead. It’s only 1.5 hours further and we all love Harlan, and it’s still fun in the rain. Then I had the thought about maybe trying Kairos since it’s actually closer than Gulches was. So I called them up to personally confirm we were allowed. Dude said they had plenty to offer, we were welcome and would cut the cost to camp in half due to the fact that they currently have no water. They had to get a new well, and it should be done very soon.
So we all decided to head on up and try the place. We figure if it’s a bust, we’ll still have fun hanging out and know not to come back. I’m excited to say I can’t wait to go back!
Me, @Chris_Keziah, @adamk, @Joe J., @D2320M, @Desertfox1023, and a handful of others arrived thru out the evening on Friday. It is less than 3 hours from Greensboro! We got off 77 in Princeton WV, and went up 460 for about 20 minutes is so. Then turn off that onto Shumate Falls Rd, which turned to gravel and snakes beside the New River for about 3 miles.
Then it got interesting! It turns back to black top as you split left to the resort, and right away goes into a 180* switchback, and then around a turn and goes straight up. I mean UP! Like the climb to Windrock isn’t nearly as steep! It’s not real long, but it’s the steepest grade I’ve ever seen. Several of the guys stopped and put it in 4low. I didn’t have that option so I had it to the floor in 1st gear going 10mph. When I go back, I’m hitting that hill as fast as I can in 1st.
We got to the top and checked in, the guy was super nice and they have a nice little place to get passes and stuff.
We decided not to go out cause it was getting dark, and they don’t allow riding at night. So we hung around at camp enjoying great food, drinks and lots of laughs. @Noel even deep fried a turkey! The campground is the nicest one I’ve ever been to! Lots of gravel, water & power, all nice and level, lots of trees around, and a huge parking area not far away. They have a nice bathhouse and everything. RV camping is $45/night but when you see how much money they’ve spent to grade and gravel such a nice place you don’t complain. It’s seriously nice, and the spots are big enough to get 2-3 tow rigs with trailers in one site!
The next morning we all had breakfast, and hit the trails by 10am. We should have gotten an earlier start, but oh well. We ran a trail that wound down the mountain for a while and the snakes back and forth thru a creek and the creek is also the trail. We went down this creek for a good mile or more, nothing too hard, but certainly fun and beautiful. There was a waterfall you can crawl somewhere but we couldn’t get past some downed trees that recently fell. We got turned around and headed back to an intersection I’d seen on the way in. Going up that trail I was able to see into a ravine that looked like a LOT of fun, and clearly was a trail. In fact it turned out to be one of the nastiest trails I’ve ever ran! It is not for tires smaller than 35s and open diffs, and body damage is very possible.
20’ into the trail, one of our guys decide to take a dirt nap
It just kept getting better and better as it went. I was out front, and after several ledges and obstacles that required rev limiter beat downs, I was met with one that was impossible looking, sketchy, high risk of flipping, high risk of major breakage, and slick. So I tightened up my harness, put in Dale, and gave it my best shot. I did not succeed. In fact I found myself very stuck between literally a rock and a hard place after it slid over and fell down in a hole. I couldn’t move so i had to be winch backwards and sidewards. I tried it again, did the same thing so I winched over it.
Right before that ledge was an optional exit to the trail above that runs parallel with what we were in. This is great for anyone who doesn’t want to do it but wants to watch.
Some people took the exit but it required winching too!
After I made it over the ledge, I had to winch again not far ahead. Only one person made it over the nasty ledge without winching, and that was a tube buggy with Yota axles, 39” sticky iroks and a Vortec 4.3, he said his winch didn’t work so he HAD to make it! Lol
Even a buggy with a built LS, rear steer and 49” iroks didn’t make it. This trail had us all dropping like flies. One guy broke a front 44 shaft, another broke a front 60 shaft, one lost steering, and my fuel cell was leaking.
Imagine Rail Bed, mixed with Crawford’s Cry, but 5 times as long. That’s the trail. We pulled into the trail at 11:45 and got everyone out at 3pm
We headed back to camp for a late lunch. It was raining and most of us were wet and cold and hungry. Fried bologna sammiches back at camp and a fire, along with all the broken rigs made us want to stay at camp and call it a day. Did I mention my raggedy RCI fuel cell was leaking? I was not real motivated to get back in that thing, it smelled horrible and dangerous.
30 minutes later we decided that we would go back out for just a little bit, take it easy and just “scout”. So me and Chris hopped in his Jeep, Adam and Will, Derek, and Joe rolled out. Found another creek to ride in that was a lot of fun, then we made some poor decisions.
Big bold letters on a white sign warned us the hill ahead was steep. We pulled up and looked down at it, and I may or may not have encouraged Chris to go down it. He said it was a terrible idea, so I said let’s do it. We regretted it right away, as it was steep, loose mud and we immediately lost control and gained speed. We nailed a tree with the front driver side tire, and I was certain it was going to break the steering, if not break the whole knuckle. We then slid the other way where we took out a 4” round sapling. Completely uprooting the tree, the root ball caught the rear tire and it all that saved us from sliding into a ravine where we were certain to roll several times. I’ve been wheeling for close to 11 years now, been in a few rolls, and that was the sketchiest moment ever for me. It was a great time. We jumped out with shaky knees, and checked everything out. Somehow nothing was broke in the front, but the rim was now square and had a massive chunk of the tree shoved in the bead. Id warned the others on the CB not to come down. In fact, I was holding the mike and giving them a play by play as we slid down the hill, in a panicked voice. They thought I was kidding till we told them to walk down and help. @Desertfox1023 decided to come down the easy way, he slipped on a rock and slid on his butt all the way down. Gracefully though, it was like in slow motion, we laughed and had time to talk as he was sliding down.
Some carful winching between some narrow trees got us out of that spot and back to level ground, where we dealt with the tire that was somehow still holding air. We cleaned out the bead and I used a 5lb convincing stick to finesse the rim back into something that resembled a round wheel. But it actually looked like a stop sign. It got it back to camp though! On our way out we got the call that @adamk flopped his on its side on their way back out. They made short work of uprighting it, but he busted out the rear side window and those 2 dood XJ parts are very hard to find. So he’s a little upset.
It was good and dark, and raining pretty good as we met back up and headed back to camp. Once back at camp @adamk parents had a massive pot of chili cooking all evening. I must say it was the best chili I’ve ever had! A full belly, dry clothes and and a fire despite the rain, more fun was had at camp as we talked about how much we liked the place, how little we got to see, and how we can’t wait to come back! I really want to see the place with at least 2 solid days to wheel, and hopefully much drier.
We woke up this morning to snow, and due to the climb into that place we panicked a little and got in high gear to leave, but it mostly stopped by the time we got loaded. But I would not want to be caught in the snow there. It would be impossible to leave.
Did I mention it’s less than 3 hours from Greensboro?
So, I’ve rambled forever. Here’s the info you all want.
Kairos Resort
Edit:
Nathan Alls
540-641-6723
That’s the guy that is local, knows the park well and will show anyone around. Call him ahead of time and he will show you the wild stuff and/or the mild stuff.
Great campsites, power and water.
Lots of parking space.
Bathhouse.
Can fit a motorhome, or 40’ goose easy.
Gas station 10 minutes away.
Cracker Barrel 20 minutes away
Hotels 20 minutes away.
Lots of mild trails, and lots of wild crazy
trails.
They only recently realized they are missing the crowd for full size rigs. It’s 1500 acres, 45 miles of trails. We were told go anywhere we can fit, if we wanna hit something, go for it. Wanna ride up the creek? Go for it. Only thing they asked was to stay off the single track trails, to preserve those for the dirt bikes.
I highly recommend the place, it needs more traffic and new trails are being made every weekend. We were also told there is another place to wheel 10 minutes away that’s 800 acres. If your in a big tire rig and you want it to be hard core, call them ahead of time and they will try to have a few local guys take you right to the great stuff! I didn’t take too many pics. But others that came can post some more here.
(skip to the bottom for links and info if you don’t wanna read the story)
Me and a handful of folks had planned to head down to Gulches for one last great wheeling trip, to top off an unmatched year of wheeling for most of us. We’d been looking forward to it for about 2 months. But last week the weather wasn’t looking too good, Gulches will close when it rains quite a bit, and I understand why. Skip has no choice because of the river behind it and the road getting too dirty.
Back up 2 weeks ago, and I had picked up a new client at work. Told him I was into rock crawling and he asked if I’d ever heard of Kairos Resort. Nope never heard of it. So I looked it up and it was SxS and dirt bikes only. But then he told me he was heading up there to ride dirt bikes for the weekend, so I told him to ask them if they were going to consider opening up to full size rigs like jeeps and stuff. So he called me on Saturday to tell me they do allow them, and that he seen a couple there.
So when we saw the rain threatening our trip, we debated going to Harlan instead. It’s only 1.5 hours further and we all love Harlan, and it’s still fun in the rain. Then I had the thought about maybe trying Kairos since it’s actually closer than Gulches was. So I called them up to personally confirm we were allowed. Dude said they had plenty to offer, we were welcome and would cut the cost to camp in half due to the fact that they currently have no water. They had to get a new well, and it should be done very soon.
So we all decided to head on up and try the place. We figure if it’s a bust, we’ll still have fun hanging out and know not to come back. I’m excited to say I can’t wait to go back!
Me, @Chris_Keziah, @adamk, @Joe J., @D2320M, @Desertfox1023, and a handful of others arrived thru out the evening on Friday. It is less than 3 hours from Greensboro! We got off 77 in Princeton WV, and went up 460 for about 20 minutes is so. Then turn off that onto Shumate Falls Rd, which turned to gravel and snakes beside the New River for about 3 miles.
Then it got interesting! It turns back to black top as you split left to the resort, and right away goes into a 180* switchback, and then around a turn and goes straight up. I mean UP! Like the climb to Windrock isn’t nearly as steep! It’s not real long, but it’s the steepest grade I’ve ever seen. Several of the guys stopped and put it in 4low. I didn’t have that option so I had it to the floor in 1st gear going 10mph. When I go back, I’m hitting that hill as fast as I can in 1st.
We got to the top and checked in, the guy was super nice and they have a nice little place to get passes and stuff.
We decided not to go out cause it was getting dark, and they don’t allow riding at night. So we hung around at camp enjoying great food, drinks and lots of laughs. @Noel even deep fried a turkey! The campground is the nicest one I’ve ever been to! Lots of gravel, water & power, all nice and level, lots of trees around, and a huge parking area not far away. They have a nice bathhouse and everything. RV camping is $45/night but when you see how much money they’ve spent to grade and gravel such a nice place you don’t complain. It’s seriously nice, and the spots are big enough to get 2-3 tow rigs with trailers in one site!
The next morning we all had breakfast, and hit the trails by 10am. We should have gotten an earlier start, but oh well. We ran a trail that wound down the mountain for a while and the snakes back and forth thru a creek and the creek is also the trail. We went down this creek for a good mile or more, nothing too hard, but certainly fun and beautiful. There was a waterfall you can crawl somewhere but we couldn’t get past some downed trees that recently fell. We got turned around and headed back to an intersection I’d seen on the way in. Going up that trail I was able to see into a ravine that looked like a LOT of fun, and clearly was a trail. In fact it turned out to be one of the nastiest trails I’ve ever ran! It is not for tires smaller than 35s and open diffs, and body damage is very possible.
20’ into the trail, one of our guys decide to take a dirt nap
It just kept getting better and better as it went. I was out front, and after several ledges and obstacles that required rev limiter beat downs, I was met with one that was impossible looking, sketchy, high risk of flipping, high risk of major breakage, and slick. So I tightened up my harness, put in Dale, and gave it my best shot. I did not succeed. In fact I found myself very stuck between literally a rock and a hard place after it slid over and fell down in a hole. I couldn’t move so i had to be winch backwards and sidewards. I tried it again, did the same thing so I winched over it.
Right before that ledge was an optional exit to the trail above that runs parallel with what we were in. This is great for anyone who doesn’t want to do it but wants to watch.
Some people took the exit but it required winching too!
After I made it over the ledge, I had to winch again not far ahead. Only one person made it over the nasty ledge without winching, and that was a tube buggy with Yota axles, 39” sticky iroks and a Vortec 4.3, he said his winch didn’t work so he HAD to make it! Lol
Even a buggy with a built LS, rear steer and 49” iroks didn’t make it. This trail had us all dropping like flies. One guy broke a front 44 shaft, another broke a front 60 shaft, one lost steering, and my fuel cell was leaking.
Imagine Rail Bed, mixed with Crawford’s Cry, but 5 times as long. That’s the trail. We pulled into the trail at 11:45 and got everyone out at 3pm
We headed back to camp for a late lunch. It was raining and most of us were wet and cold and hungry. Fried bologna sammiches back at camp and a fire, along with all the broken rigs made us want to stay at camp and call it a day. Did I mention my raggedy RCI fuel cell was leaking? I was not real motivated to get back in that thing, it smelled horrible and dangerous.
30 minutes later we decided that we would go back out for just a little bit, take it easy and just “scout”. So me and Chris hopped in his Jeep, Adam and Will, Derek, and Joe rolled out. Found another creek to ride in that was a lot of fun, then we made some poor decisions.
Big bold letters on a white sign warned us the hill ahead was steep. We pulled up and looked down at it, and I may or may not have encouraged Chris to go down it. He said it was a terrible idea, so I said let’s do it. We regretted it right away, as it was steep, loose mud and we immediately lost control and gained speed. We nailed a tree with the front driver side tire, and I was certain it was going to break the steering, if not break the whole knuckle. We then slid the other way where we took out a 4” round sapling. Completely uprooting the tree, the root ball caught the rear tire and it all that saved us from sliding into a ravine where we were certain to roll several times. I’ve been wheeling for close to 11 years now, been in a few rolls, and that was the sketchiest moment ever for me. It was a great time. We jumped out with shaky knees, and checked everything out. Somehow nothing was broke in the front, but the rim was now square and had a massive chunk of the tree shoved in the bead. Id warned the others on the CB not to come down. In fact, I was holding the mike and giving them a play by play as we slid down the hill, in a panicked voice. They thought I was kidding till we told them to walk down and help. @Desertfox1023 decided to come down the easy way, he slipped on a rock and slid on his butt all the way down. Gracefully though, it was like in slow motion, we laughed and had time to talk as he was sliding down.
Some carful winching between some narrow trees got us out of that spot and back to level ground, where we dealt with the tire that was somehow still holding air. We cleaned out the bead and I used a 5lb convincing stick to finesse the rim back into something that resembled a round wheel. But it actually looked like a stop sign. It got it back to camp though! On our way out we got the call that @adamk flopped his on its side on their way back out. They made short work of uprighting it, but he busted out the rear side window and those 2 dood XJ parts are very hard to find. So he’s a little upset.
It was good and dark, and raining pretty good as we met back up and headed back to camp. Once back at camp @adamk parents had a massive pot of chili cooking all evening. I must say it was the best chili I’ve ever had! A full belly, dry clothes and and a fire despite the rain, more fun was had at camp as we talked about how much we liked the place, how little we got to see, and how we can’t wait to come back! I really want to see the place with at least 2 solid days to wheel, and hopefully much drier.
We woke up this morning to snow, and due to the climb into that place we panicked a little and got in high gear to leave, but it mostly stopped by the time we got loaded. But I would not want to be caught in the snow there. It would be impossible to leave.
Did I mention it’s less than 3 hours from Greensboro?
So, I’ve rambled forever. Here’s the info you all want.
Kairos Resort
Edit:
Nathan Alls
540-641-6723
That’s the guy that is local, knows the park well and will show anyone around. Call him ahead of time and he will show you the wild stuff and/or the mild stuff.
Great campsites, power and water.
Lots of parking space.
Bathhouse.
Can fit a motorhome, or 40’ goose easy.
Gas station 10 minutes away.
Cracker Barrel 20 minutes away
Hotels 20 minutes away.
Lots of mild trails, and lots of wild crazy
trails.
They only recently realized they are missing the crowd for full size rigs. It’s 1500 acres, 45 miles of trails. We were told go anywhere we can fit, if we wanna hit something, go for it. Wanna ride up the creek? Go for it. Only thing they asked was to stay off the single track trails, to preserve those for the dirt bikes.
I highly recommend the place, it needs more traffic and new trails are being made every weekend. We were also told there is another place to wheel 10 minutes away that’s 800 acres. If your in a big tire rig and you want it to be hard core, call them ahead of time and they will try to have a few local guys take you right to the great stuff! I didn’t take too many pics. But others that came can post some more here.
Last edited:
