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Rail Trails |
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Haspin Acres |
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Haspin Acres is a privately-owned offroading park in Laurel, Indiana. They boast 750 acres of land (heavily trailed) along with racetracks, camping facilities, and a staffed office & snack bar. Their main clientele seems to be quad-runners and dirt bikers, but they also welcome buggies and 4x4s. |
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The First Trip - December, 1997
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Kevin and I went there a few days after Christmas, 1997. It was in the high 30's and had been raining in previous days, so Haspin was very muddy. In fact, we arrived just as they were deciding it had dried enough to allow buggies and 4x4s in!
We drove there most of the day, and when we left there were still large sections we hadn't seen. What we saw was a nice mix of trail driving and good hill obstacles, made more interesting by the greasy mud that covered the place.
We never found our way to Haspin's big hill - the Devil's Backbone, they call it - which is supposed to be very challenging. And unfortunately, we spent most of the time driving and I didn't take many pictures!
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Sorry, folks, but this is my only decent trail shot from our first trip to Haspin. I understand this place is called "The Swamp". It was pretty wet when we were there, with ice on the standing water pools.
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I told you it was muddy! Honestly, Kevin and I stayed dry; the mud was firm enough that it would roll off our Carr-Hart overalls as they flexed, so we just ended up a little dirty. But buggies don't flex. Here's mine coated with about two inches of Hoosier goo.
This shows why we don't run with windshields - they get mud on them and soon you can't see at all. It's better to just be able to wipe it out of your face and drive on.
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The tree-kickers get the worst of it, mud sprayed back by the front tires and forward by the rears. It also builds up on the floor pan, thrown forward in a high arc by the rear tires. The passenger seat gives an idea how much the passengers got. When it looks like this, nobody asks for a ride! :-)
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As you can see, Kevin didn't get off any lighter, but his body panels did save him from some of it.
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Kevin's buggy from the other side. The hood is pretty well plastered with mud. We figure we were carrying about a hundred pounds of mud each - almost like having a passenger!
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Click here to see some Haspin shots from later visits.
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