A few weeks ago Alpha a member of this forum from the Miami area contacted me. He saw posts of past Citrus rides and asked me if I could put together another ride. Since he is traveling a long distance I was going to try to make this a two day ride. I never had a chance to get together with anyone from this site before. I hope that there are at least a couple of members that can join us.

Saturday 8-27 Citrus Track

Trail Description: (See trail scouting report post on bottom of page) The trails at Citrus are mild but fun. Normally mild trail = boring trail but Citrus has some attention getting sections if you choose to take them. It is a perfect place to take a newer vehicle for a trail ride. The trails are wide and most obstacles have easy bypasses so you do not have to worry about paint damage or getting into a situation that will tear up vehicle. Citrus also has a several caves that are a short hike off the ORV trail. I am not sure if anyone is going to want to hike out to them in the August heat but bring a flashlight in just in case.
Link to past Citrus ride: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38234
Link to Past Citrus ride: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35573
Link to Citrus Map: http://myfwc.com/media/185577/10-11_Citrus.pdf

8-27 Citrus Ride Schedule
First Meeting Spot for South Pinellas/South Tampa People:
Meet at the south west Corner of West Shore Mall parking lot 8:00-8:15 We will drive north on the Suncoast Parkway (589) to the second meeting spot.
Second Meeting Spot: The 7-11 on State Road 50 just east of the Parkway.
7-11 Address: 15310 Cortez Blvd. (HWY 50) Brooksville, FL 34609
We will meet up at the 7-11 9:00-9:15 Then drive up the Parkway to the trails.
Third Meeting Spot: County Road 480 and the North Trail #13 Entrance 9:40ish


Tentative Sunday 8-28 Sunday ride canceled



Ride Requirements & Rules
Licensed 4WD vehicles in safe/sound running condition only. Also please have at least one solid recover point on your vehicle.
Follow Tread Lightly Principles: http://treadlightly.org/page.php/tread-principles/
Be safe and reasonable….No drinking and driving etc.

Checking in.

I am gonna second the recovery points, but in my opinion it should be at least one SOLID recovery point front AND back, as well as bring your OWN tow strap (or be ready to buy someone a new one.)

Fortunately if you have an xterra (with a tow hitch) you automatically have some BEEF tow points in the front and rear, you'd just need a hitch insert and shackle ($10 at harbor freight.)

CB radios would make everyone's life a lot easier as well on the road and on the trail.

Here's to a good turn out.

Cheers!

Alpha is correct.
If you are going to take your vehicle off road you need to have solid recovery points in the front and rear. I should have written at least one solid recovery point, preferably two (1-front & 1-rear). If we were riding in a more hard core area I would have made front and rear recovery points mandatory. The trails at Citrus are mild and as long as you listen and not act like a fool you can get by with one. If we do a Richloam ride Sunday front and rear recovery points will be required

As far as a CB radio…Yes two way communication is nice but I do not have one in any of my vehicles. I been meaning to install one some day but never seem to get around to it. I use a set of hand held Motorola radios. I picked up a set of 3 at Target for about $50.00 last year.

Wish i could make it but i will be out of the country during that time. Hopefully, there will be a next one i can make.

Bummer…I was hoping you could make this run. Maybe next time. I am already thinking Ocala in October.

I'll be in TN that weekend. Hope I can make the next one...

Ocala in October would be cool. I dont forsee at the moment that being an issue. Keep me posted. Thanks

On Sunday 7-31 I got together with 3 members of the New-X site to check on trail conditions at Citrus. Below is a copy of the scouting report I posted on that site.

It was definitely wet out there on Sundays scouting ride. I drove my Rover through most of the holes to test water depth and some were deep. There was one hole on trail #15 that had water breaking over the hood so it was pushing 4’ deep. Not all of the holes have bypasses and some of the bypasses looked sloppy. (see note below) Trail 6 had a section that was super sloppy with clay like mud that dries like hardened cement. On the south end of Trail 15 there were two sections that had downed trees across the trail. It looked like there were two paths of downed trees going through the forest. I guess there was a tornado or two out there recently. Another thing worth noting is the trails are a bit more grown in and tighter. There are no super tight sections but you need to pay attention to avoid scratching your paint.

As long as we have average rain fall and do not get any type of major weather event that soaks the area we should have a good time. If you have 4WD and use good judgment you should not have too much trouble at Citrus.

Based on the amount of water at Citrus it is safe to assume Richloam is going to be much worse. I am going to cancel the optional Sunday Richloam ride. We can run all the trails at Citrus on Saturday and if people still want to do more riding we can take a 20-30 minute road trip to Croom or Richloam to get more trail time.

Note: Most of the mud holes had bypasses. All of the deeper ones including the 4’ deep one had a bypass. The holes that did not have bypasses or had sloppy ones could be done in a stock 4WD.

Dont think my xterra is offroad worthy yet .. but id love to go, just dont think i can keep up with you guys.