We rode Saturday from 8:30 AM to 5:45 PM. My first time. WoW! It's vast and diverse and they say it changes allot. If you come back in a few months it will all be different. You could ride for a week and not cover everything. Getting close to the windmill electric generators with the three 90 foot impellers was a sight also. Get A Map, you will need it!
The tire thing really surprised me. There was still snow in places and lots of mud from the thaw and rains. At first I thought I was in for trouble with my ATR 25 incher's.
The Equipment
2002 P650 with 25" Dirt Devils about 1/2 worn.
2003 P650 (Mine) with 25" ATRs' with only 38 hours on them and machine.
2004 P700 with 27" Mud Lites on C wheels. Brand new tires and 38 hours on the machine.
19?? Artic Cat Manual shift 500 with 26 or 27 589's (not sure). The tires were not new. This guy lives for this stuff. Goes somewhere just about every weekend.
2001 Yamaha Kodiak 400 Auto 4X4 with OE Dunlops. Like new.
1999 or 2000 Yamaha Grizzley with ITP Black Water 27" XT's, With about half life of wear.
Guys, we hit lots of mud. No deep slop pits. They were there but we choose to keep moving around them to cover as much ground as possible. The area's I was noting the most how the tires performed was on the long steep slick muddy up hill sections. Some really deep rutted.
I'll start by saying none of the tires mentioned failed us. The Black Waters did get a side wall puncture right at the rim. The Dunlops even got up to the tops. I could not believe it.
We got into a situation where we went up a real long sloppy, deep rutted, curved steep incline mixed with a few rocks. So bad we new we did not want to try and go down it. At the top there was another one but worse. We had to wait until a group of 2WD banshees and the like destroyed there machines. Chains coming off and clutches burning out. They should not have been on that trail. They finally got to the side and we went past. A strange group. We waited a long time on them and their buddies just stood around without helping them. We gave a hand and offered to pull them up but Noooo! Hmmmm?
All though all the tires got us to where we wanted to go, I saw the 589's really work. Next was the mud lites. This guy went up one hairy section with one hand while wiping mud from his face! The Black Waters did their thing too. The worn Dirt Devils and Dunflops kept going also. The man on the 02P650 and Dirt Devils is 60 + years old and rode the hardest. If you can keep up with that guy on rough trails ALL DAY you are in shape! I was the youngest at a spry 50.
As for my ATR's and OE ground clearance? I am going to stick with these tires unless they make a 26" version. These tires are like suction cups on wet rocks. We did lots of creek crossings and over muddy rocks. They really surprised me in the mud. They self clean really well.
That's about it. I would like to mention how much I love that on demand locking front end. No servo to wait for. I never waited until I needed it. If it looked tough I pulled it. The Elka front springs really saved my arms. They are on the softest setting and bottomed very little. I will be checking with Elka to get the rear as good as the front for soaking up the bumps without being mushy.
Love it!

 

I,m glad you enjoyed the ride at winrock, My first trip there was very intimidating with all the steep rocky washouts and such.
did you ride trail #14 its a blast as long as you have 4X4, there are a lot of slick uphill sometimes rutted
hill climbs. and it sounds like you rode with George, but he usually rides a Polaris 650 since he owns
a polaris dealership. He really does tear it up on those trails though, He ride there every week, so knows those trails by heart.
P.S. PM me if you decide to go back .

peace
scaboy

 

Are you coming back up for the Spring Event in April, Rock??????...........By the way, did you ever get a cross reference belt for the Prairie from your parts guy? I wonder if gates already makes that belt for the prairie......

 

Stakk, I most likley will not do the Spring Event in April. As for the belt cross reference, it's a no go. After serious searching I found out there is none and I found the Japanese company that makes the belts exclusivley for them and will not sell to the public. I guess I'll have to go with the P700 belt for my 03. Unless it is ill advised. I'll add the black spring then also.
Scaboy, I'll let you guys know when I am going to return. Hopfully before it gets good and hot. Not sure of the trail numbers we rode. I know we did 18, 9, 11 and more.