Allure of the BOH trails (opinion)

[Aonar]

Cheating will always be possible, there are literally apps that allow you to spoof your GPS location. Short of having to track your entire route using GPS like Gaia and sending in the file it would be tough to eliminate cheating. Then there's the entire enforcement team you'd need as a result. It's a free program that is clearly understaffed already based off how long it takes to get any kind of response from them. Don't take it too seriously. Not to mention, you can buy any badge you want off ebay, so even of they made it more stringent you'd still have people with badges they didn't earn.

I guess it is the "Paladin" in me

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[Zandcwhite]

I guess it is the "Paladin" in me

I don't like the idea of being tracked through every trail or trip in the woods just for a badge either...

 

[wibornz]

I think I am looking at it with a different perspective. it is one thing to go and get a badge or two. It is another thing to commit to getting all the badge. I was approximately 65% of the way done getting all the badges in a year and a half and put approximately 30,000 miles on the Jeep to do so. Probably spent $12,000 in the process. Then while mapping out the remaining badges to do one big trip (12,000 miles of driving + any additional miles not planned for and 6 to 8 weeks of travel) and finish them off, they added 6 or so more trails. Then they removed the trails, then they added some back. I scrapped the whole trip.

It is no big deal to burn a couple hundred dollars to ge run a badge trail. Heck some of the places cost $100 just to get into the park to run the badge trail. It is on a whole different level to spend thousands and thousands to get them. If you have no intention of getting all the badge trails, it probably doesn't matter that they added some new ones. Drive all the way across the US and then find out a week later that you have to drive back across the US to a place you just left because they added a new badge, well there is a whole different level of commitment.

The real problem is that I am goal oriented and I hate not finishing something that I set as a goal and know that the likelihood that it can be achieved is frustrating. When I started, I did not realize that they would continue to add badge after badge after badge and that it is never really finished.

So I will still do badge trails and still love the program, but I had to change my level of commitment to the badge of honor program. Now I am not obsessed with getting them. I am not driving thousands of miles out of my way and past many great wheeling locations just to get a badge. Now if I get one it is because they fit into a bigger picture and they are not the priority that they once were.

So in reading my post, don't think that I am negative about the program. I am not. I have some great memories. heck made it to Moab twice in one year from Michigan. I go to wheel with some others from this forum. Made some new friends and spent a lot of time with some old friends doing trails all over the US and the Badge of Honor program is what provided the motivation and inspiration to go and see the cool things that I have seen behind the wheel of a Jeep.

 

[Aonar]

I don't like the idea of being tracked through every trail or trip in the woods just for a badge either...

Ahh, being tracked via our smart phones. A whole other topic. I shall stay away from this one.

 

[wibornz]

Ahh, being tracked via our smart phones. A whole other topic. I shall stay away from this one.

Maybe he has never looked at his time line in google maps. You know the timeline that shows every place you went and how long you were there. That is sorted by day, places, city or the world.

This is what mine currently looks like. I think they only track it for 18 months.

yea, I get around........ Retirement is tough, but someone has to do. it.

 

[GATORB8]

Maybe he has never looked at his time line in google maps. You know the timeline that shows every place you went and how long you were there. That is sorted by day, places, city or the world.

This is what mine currently looks like. I think they only track it for 18 months.

yea, I get around........ Retirement is tough, but someone has to do. it.

Looks like you have something against Arkansas, lol.

 

[Steveo]

I have to...

 

[wibornz]

Looks like you have something against Arkansas, lol.

I have been to Arkansas, just not lately. lol. I will be in Arkansas the first week of January 22.

 

[longfiredragon]

This is my first Wrangler and I love it, and the thought of doing nothing but traveling around and doing trails is in my thoughts every day. (Even though it's still a ways off.) I think the BOH program is very cool, something that Jeep does not have to do that just sets Jeep apart.

Wife and I are going up to NC/TN area over Thanksgiving and I am hoping to get my first BOH or 2 while we are up there. Explained it to the wife and she is all in. Of course she hasn't seen the trails yet. LOL.

 

[wibornz]

This is my first Wrangler and I love it, and the thought of doing nothing but traveling around and doing trails is in my thoughts every day. (Even though it's still a ways off.) I think the BOH program is very cool, something that Jeep does not have to do that just sets Jeep apart.

Wife and I are going up to NC/TN area over Thanksgiving and I am hoping to get my first BOH or 2 while we are up there. Explained it to the wife and she is all in. Of course she hasn't seen the trails yet. LOL.

Just know that getting the badge in the Uwharrie National Forest is a great tail system that is a lot of fun. You can easily spend two days there. The Ederado Trading post has good food for a fuel station and you can buy your passes there too. Real cheap the pass is like $5.

There is some awesome wheeling in Tennessee. The badge trails are in Windrock Off Road Park. I have been going to Windrock since 2002. badge trail 26 and 51 are pretty easy, 16 may require a winch depending if you go up and weather will have a big impact on how easy or hard the trail is.. There are a ton of trails at Windrock, You can easily spend a week or more there. Also not far from Windrock is Nemos Tunnel. It is a small trail that goes through a abandoned train tunnel. Pretty cool for an hour or two.

 

[GATORB8]

Just know that getting the badge in the Uwharrie National Forest is a great tail system that is a lot of fun. You can easily spend two days there. The Ederado Trading post has good food for a fuel station and you can buy your passes there too. Real cheap the pass is like $5.

There is some awesome wheeling in Tennessee. The badge trails are in Windrock Off Road Park. I have been going to Windrock since 2002. badge trail 26 and 51 are pretty easy, 16 may require a winch depending if you go up and weather will have a big impact on how easy or hard the trail is.. There are a ton of trails at Windrock, You can easily spend a week or more there. Also not far from Windrock is Nemos Tunnel. It is a small trail that goes through a abandoned train tunnel. Pretty cool for an hour or two.

Ted,

We'll be within a few hours of Bear Wallow in WV in early November. Is that one worth going out of the way for?

 

[Coops4284]

Ted,

We'll be within a few hours of Bear Wallow in WV in early November. Is that one worth going out of the way for?

Its a nice trail system. Most of the stuff is fairly easy, but they do have some black and double black diamond stuff. I took a group back in August, and it took us a day. I would say we hit 2/3 of the trails there. Since its only a 4 hour drive for us, we are planning on going again next year and finishing what we didnt hit, as well as re-running some of the fun ones.

I have videos of it on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Z8QAfRvR3QAroozIfAWLw/videos

Just look for the Bear Wallow titled ones.

 

[GATORB8]

Its a nice trail system. Most of the stuff is fairly easy, but they do have some black and double black diamond stuff. I took a group back in August, and it took us a day. I would say we hit 2/3 of the trails there. Since its only a 4 hour drive for us, we are planning on going again next year and finishing what we didnt hit, as well as re-running some of the fun ones.

I have videos of it on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Z8QAfRvR3QAroozIfAWLw/videos

Just look for the Bear Wallow titled ones.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

I assume I don't actually need to bring helmets even though they're on the trail rules:

ORV-Specific Rules

1. ORVs are ONLY permitted on the Bearwallow, Cabwaylingo and Ivy Branch trail systems.
2. Driver and passengers are required to wear helmets.

 

[wibornz]

Ted,

We'll be within a few hours of Bear Wallow in WV in early November. Is that one worth going out of the way for?

I have wheeled Bear Wallow on and off since 2004 with ATVs. I also ran the trail with SxS and now Jeeps. The trail is very easy, but still fun. It is expensive to run. I want to say that it was just over $100 for the permit and you have to DOT helmets on inside of your Jeep while you are on the trail.

I found that the harder trails (double black Dimond) were overgrown as they were not used much the black trails were easy to do and the moderate trails were easy. It will be a pretty trail to run this time of the year, but you will probably be past the peak color by the time you go..

 

[GATORB8]

Its a nice trail system. Most of the stuff is fairly easy, but they do have some black and double black diamond stuff. I took a group back in August, and it took us a day. I would say we hit 2/3 of the trails there. Since its only a 4 hour drive for us, we are planning on going again next year and finishing what we didnt hit, as well as re-running some of the fun ones.

I have videos of it on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Z8QAfRvR3QAroozIfAWLw/videos

Just look for the Bear Wallow titled ones.

I have wheeled Bear Wallow on and off since 2004 with ATVs. I also ran the trail with SxS and now Jeeps. The trail is very easy, but still fun. It is expensive to run. I want to say that it was just over $100 for the permit and you have to DOT helmets on inside of your Jeep while you are on the trail.

I found that the harder trails (double black Dimond) were overgrown as they were not used much the black trails were easy to do and the moderate trails were easy. It will be a pretty trail to run this time of the year, but you will probably be past the peak color by the time you go..

Thanks guys. The other option I was thinking was to hit Pott's Mountain Jeep Trail closer to where we'll start out. All Trails has a route called the "Midatlantic Backcountry Discovery Route" that we could jump on right by Potts and would take us down to Damascas (VA/TN border).

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