The 14th annual East Coast Xterra Challenge is taking place Thursday, July 17th – Saturday, July 19th. NEXTerra is very excited to be hosting this event!
There are several active threads about it, so make sure you check them out! Here are just a few:
ECXC 2014 Forum
ECXC 2014 Event Thread
ECXC 2014 Nexterra Attendees
Supporting Members, here’s your chance to enjoy some last minute snow wheeling. We’ll be heading to (See Supporting Members Forum…) this Sunday (the 9th). There’s going to be lots of snow & hidden stumps… skids definitely recommended, lockers would be nice to have but not required. This was a great time last year and this year will be no different. Join us!
-This is a Supporting Members Only Event.
The Officers and Supporting Members of the North East XTerra Club will be hosting another dual location event on Sunday, January 5th, 2014 at Rausch Creek Off Road Park in Tremont, PA and Saturday, January 11th, 2014 at Gremlin Graveyard in South-Central, MA.
Information and sign up HERE!
-Bklyn.X
We had a great night at the inaugural Nexterra Halloween Run with a 23 club members & guests in attendance. Vehicles & drivers in attendance had varying levels of experience & modification – 7 Xterras, 1 heavily modified 4Runner, 1 Tacoma, 1 Raptor, 1 Frontier, 1 Pathfinder, 1 JK Rubicon & 2 TJ Wranglers.
After meeting up just as the sun set, we convoyed down to the Gremlin Graveyard, where we aired down & had a brief drivers meeting. With a little bit of rain in the days prior, we were in for muddy trails, slippery stumps & rocks. The group also had the luxury of a well-lit landing area at Gremlin, where Ernie had arrived earlier in the evening & setup a generator & lights – thanks Ernie. Ernie was also our trail leader for the night & led us through the driver meeting.
Airing down & the brief drivers meeting later, Ernie led the group into Gremlin & the darkness, pierced only by the lights of our rigs. As usual at Gremlin, we had to negotiate mud, water holes & the abundance of stumps/logs. The night time added to the excitement & challenge of the location, if you haven’t tried a night run yet – I highly recommend trying it. It’s a whole different look & feel from wheeling during the day. All the rigs made it through with minimal problems – an Xterra & the Pathfinder both found logs jammed under their truck that had to be removed, neither one received any damage from those incidents. The only other casualty of the night was a damaged steering on a 1st gen Xterra, damaged after making it up a difficult ledge. Some creative trail repair from the group, allowed the Xterra to make it back off the trail & all the way home safely. Meeting back at the landing allowed us to talk about the trail & the run. Everyone had fun & definitely put this on the to-do list for next year.
For those who may not be aware, Gremlin Graveyard is private land to which Nexterra has land use access via our membership in the North East Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs (NEA). Trail difficulty is mostly stock friendly with a few tough spots & harder options for the more modified rigs. One of the unique features of this location is the abundance of stumps of varying sizes & the huge difference the weather makes on the trails. Snow, rain or just the height of grass can make a world of difference. Nexterra had the privilege of organizing runs at this property multiple times a year to take advantage of each season/weather condition.
Thanks you for all those who came out to play, you guys made a good event great. Looking forward to wheeling with you soon!
See you at the Nexterra Winter Exposure Runs in January (Jan5th-Rausch Creek, Jan12th-Gremlin Graveyard).
-DirtySocks
North East XTerra Club Members evaluate one of many obstacles encountered
So we’ve wanted to run this trail in Massachusetts for more than a few years and finally did last Saturday. We are sorry for not making this an “Open run” or let you all know about it in advance but it was an invitation only event that was limited to folks we knew would go and navigate this very difficult trail.
The trail was everything we hoped it would be and more. It did not give you a moments rest. The one time I took a mental break for just a sec I got high centered, in a relatively easy section of trail, on a BS rock and had to winch off it. Everyone broke my balls. We have been on tougher trails but they were all much shorter than this so you could run it, take a break and run another. Not with OFR; there is a beginning, an end, one obstacle after another with no by-passes, two large ledges to circumvent, sharp rocks jutting out all over and deep water crossing at the end that we had to do in the dark…some scary crap.
One guy broke 2 CV’s at the same time on the 1st ledge (he was the only one to make that obstacle without winching but paid the price). We had to pull both front axles out and disconnect the front drive shaft so that he could get back to the trail head in 2WD. Two guys broke brake lines (steel ones) and one guy cut the side wall of one of his GY Kevlar’s. Six of us were able to run the whole trail. We started at around 10:30am and did not finish until after dark at around 8:30pm.
We had 1 Toyota, 2 Jeeps and 4 Xterras. NEXTerra might run 7 or 8 trucks at the max, 4 or 5 would be best. You’d need min 33s, a winch, full armor, front/rear tow points, a locker would be good, two would be better and a crew you trust and most importantly; go with guys you trust, go with NEXTerra guys. This is no place to be with strangers.
Ernie was the only one who had run it before although he said it was eight years ago and the trail was easier then. He said that the “super storm” washed away much of the dirt so now it’s mostly rocks.
If you are in the northeast and like running hard trails with your built up rig I suggest you put OFR on your ‘list’. It is awesome!
-Bklyn.X
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