SWFWDA SPRING FLING 2000 - SHIELDS, KANSAS 4WD Trail (4X4 Trail

Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association member clubs: The Heartland Off-Road Association and Wichita 4X4 Club insisted that there is good 4-wheeling in Kansas. And to prove it, they hosted the association's Spring Quarterly meeting this near Shields, Kansas on May 5-7, 2000.

The terrain gradually changes as I traveled from the dry wastelands of New Mexico, through northern Texas, and then into Kansas at Liberal. From here, I proceed across the rolling plains of southwest Kansas. Irrigation has taken a somewhat dry region into a very productive bread basket. The sameness of the terrain continued. In fact, the Kansas landscape still looked much the same only a half mile from the event location!

Almost there, suddenly to my left I observed the ground level dropping away sharply: a large depression with lakes, eroded badlands, hills, and gullies (washes). Aha! So this is it, the Cat House Recreation area. Part of an 1800 acre ranch, this privately owned recreation area offers a variety of opportunities: camping, fishing, and yes, 4-wheeling!

Many of those attending the event would camp out at the headquarters, near a small pavilion built by The Heartland Off-Road Association. With individual annual memberships at the recreation area, the Heartland members can visit regularly as the ranch owner has welcomed them, allowing them to drive in the "badlands". In fact, the owner and his wife enjoyed traveling about on their 6-wheeled ATV to view all the 4-wheeling events and action at the Spring Fling and to chat with the visitors.

While there is a small store down by one of the lakes, the closest services such as gasoline and motel rooms are in the small town of Dighton and the larger community of Scott City. The camping would be primitive, or self-contained at the site.

Spring Fling participants were welcome to explore the 4-wheeling areas on there own, if they desired. Competitive events were featured and would attract the "Big Dogs" and "wanna-bees". The first event, the Canyon King Challenge, took place on Friday morning. Numbers were drawn and twenty-two 4x4s lined up in ascending order for the first course. The order would reverse for tackling the obstacles on the second course in the afternoon. Penalty points would be added, similar to the "Rock Crawling Championship" series, for such as backing up, stopping too long, driving over or outside of a border stake, and having to accept winch assistance.

Course #1 begins by dropping off a steep, eroded dirt ledge and then on to an eroded "V" plunge. From here, the route runs down a spring fed wash bottom. Large vehicles have difficulty making the turn at a narrow spot in the wash without having to back up or hitting the border stake. Of course, the tires load up with some caliche mud to add to the fun shortly ahead.

A hard left must be then taken onto huge rock steps. The rock, a shale-like material, is a bit crumbly. This layer at one time must have been covered by water as some fossils are found in the area and small chunks of petrified wood are seen here and there.

The climb at this turn and the drop into a "crevasse" just following prove to be the most difficult obstacles for many. As you may gather, crossing this deep hole and getting turned uphill was tricky.

Some "lay-overs" would take place when a couple of tires fell or slid in. From here, the course continues to twist tortuously uphill. Straddling the subsequent "V"s was the testy part, there being ample opportunities to fall into the deeply eroded holes leading to "air time", body damage, and breakage. This section of the Canyon King Challenge course claimed a couple of clutch linkages, a driveshaft and u-joint, or two, plus a taillight lens on my XJ!

Crossing this "crevasse" and getting lined up to drive up this "V" would cause trouble for a number of participants in the Canyon King Challenge. Super articulation would be a real plus.
Course #1 offered many off-camber, wheel waving opportunities.	My XJ is on line to continue up the challenging wash. (Photo by Lew Archer, San Antonio Jeep Exclusive)
An interesting alternative driving style, after laying the 4x4 over, was to continue dragging forward until the right side raised back up!	A steep climb at the top of this eroded gully was quite imposing, but would prove not too difficult to scale.

From here, the course turned back and down a series of steps and ledges, some rather abrupt. One downhill turn was quite off-camber for the short wheelbase 4x4s. Upward again, a climb up a sandy hill concluded the first Canyon King Challenge course.

I had the fastest time on this course of those in the competition. One participant that had broke earlier, reran the course in another vehicle at the very end and then just beat my time. Unfortunately, The XJ just was not nimble enough and a number of penalty points for backing up (and perhaps driving over border stakes) had been amassed during my run. The overall time would only count in the competition to break ties, so the lowest points total was still the key to being competitive.

The second course begins with a hill climb. Not an ordinary hill climb, mind you. This one has a series of log poles and cleverly crafted holes to foil the participants. High centering would be common here. The judges, acknowledging that no one had EVER scaled the uppermost log without winching, decided to remove it for this competition. The remaining dirt step would still be difficult to climb without a bit of added throttle.

The course turned back downhill and through more "moguls" at the bottom. Then, the course began a long, meandering climb up an eroded wash to the hill top.

More "air time", a route where the super-articulating suspensions really shined!

At the top, just before the end of Course #2, was a very deep "V" to straddle while on an especially steep climb. This proved to be very difficult, often a tire would fall or slide into this "abyss". Then, some pretty spectacular wheel-standing antics might result.

With about half of the competitors through the second course, it was now my turn. Picking my lines carefully and with ARBs front and rear, I managed to scale the log obstacles. Admittedly, I did have to back-up and bump over at least one log, though. Roaring down the hill and across the "moguls", I was now ready to tackle the last climb.

But, now my "luck" was about to change. I reached the first part of the climb up the gully where it begins to get nasty, where articulation and traction is a must. Abruptly, I get stuck. I back-up, again and again, unable to continue ahead. Then I notice...I had turned off the ARB lockers on the downhill and forgot to turn them back on! Duh! Now again with traction, the XJ leaps forward. I am angry at myself for losing points unnecessarily and hammer the XJ ahead. I slip and slam into the holes but continue upward.

Now I am at the steepest climb at the very top. The front end slips into the big "V" crevasse, the right front fender flare is torn off. Following that, the spotter tries to get me out with a combination of backing-up and attempts to climb this way or that way. First, the right side of the XJ is "kissing" the ground. Next, I'm looking out the driver's side widow at the gravel inches from my face. This is not good! I just cannot drive out no matter what is tried. Then, it is noticed and reported that my right front tire is not locked and is not assisting.

It certainly takes more than three wheel drive to get out of this nasty situation, so I am resigned to accept the dreaded winch cable! But I would not be alone, due to breakages or safety concerns, several other competitors were winched out of predicaments here, as well.

Later inspection would reveal that I probably smashed and damaged the vacuum diaphragm while falling into one of the holes on my helter-skelter upward climb towards the end of Course #2, which disengaged the right front axle. Even with this rather embarrassing and abrupt end to my first attempt at such 4-wheeling competition, I managed to finish in 8th place. And to add insult to injury, before the weekend would be over, I would experience 2 tires losing air (likely rocks and mud in the beads), plus an electric problem that knocked out the AM/FM radio, auxiliary fan, as well as the interior lights. (The company of the radio and the lack of engine cooling assistance sure was missed while bucking the hot headwinds all the way back to New Mexico. Must be payback time for "XJ Abuse", dont'cha think?)

The association Quarterly Meeting was held first thing Saturday morning. Following that was the featured competitive event at the Mud Bog. A pretty soggy course had been developed just for this event. Several rock berms hidden below the mud were placed foil forward progress by the competitors. It was obvious that some of those attending the Spring Fling do love the mud, their trucks could be seen sporting fresh ooze each day. The spectators loved the show as the 4x4 driver attempted to drive as far through the mud pit as possible.

Saturday afternoon, various groups drove about the ranch seeking new obstacles and climbs. Too, this gave a chance for the host clubs to lead those with stock, or near-stock 4x4s on appropriate challenges.

Fortunately, the strong gusty winds did let up this day after blowing since my arrival Thursday afternoon. And the humidity? Wow, this desert rat has not experienced such in a very long time. Heavy dew each night, a foggy mist every morning, heavy condensation inside my tent! Ugh...but I lived.

The Heartland Off-Road Association and the Wichita 4X4 Club provided an excellent catered BBQ beef sandwich dinner Saturday evening, followed by a raffle with some fine prizes. The proceeds from this raffle raised $1000 for the SWFWDA "Land Action Fund"! Thanks all.

The prospects for difficult 4-wheeling in Kansas may have been doubtful in some of our minds. But, the host clubs promised a great time and I now am among the many that were not disappointed by my visit to Cat House. If you ever hear someone talking about challenging 4-wheeling in the Heartland of the America? You had better believe them!


The log pole obstacles required much attention to avoid potential high-centering.


The last segment of Course #2 required straddling numerous Vs as it twisted upwards.