we went to cass, ar. it was supposed to be me(samurai), bro-in-law #1(zr-2 track), bro-in-law #2(bronco II), cousin(xj), dad(xj). ended up being me and bro-in-law #1. both xj's broke, bronco had carb problems. so...they all rode with me and #1. couldn't get any one out to take pics so i had to take my own.

we had a good time anyway!!

poser


#1 stuck... quick tug with the sammy got him out


one of many(14 i think) creek crossings

i don't think so...

i don't think so...inside view

need a band aid  damn tree!!


after all was said and done i was the only survivor of the weekend. cousin's xj broken front axle, dad's xj 2 cut tires, #2's bronco carb just didn't want to work, and # 1's motor locked up on the way home from the trails. yes..locked up tight. i guess it stopped oiling.

Is that at Byrd's Campground in Cass, AR?  Give me more info so I can add it to our list of 4x4 Parks.

yeah  its a great place to stay.
ive been there for a rocktoberfest and it was one of the best times ive ever had !
went there with the KK in 01

no, not at byrds but i have been there before. there was an event there this weekend but it kind of bombed. seems that no one showed up. i guess people still haven't gotten over the mess that happened at mudstock a few years ago. it's a nice place to wheel and camp but events still tank every time.

we just rode any trail we could find..and boy did we find a lot of them. national forest lands and some private lands.

yeah  it seems we were on private more than anything else last time.

why do you think events   bomb  there?

well, the last event(Mudstock, hosted by sportsintherough) i went to at byrds was a disaster.
first off, i paid $55 to get in with my 4-wheeler for the 3 days.
the drag race, figure 8 race, and hill climb went without incident, but then there was a 2 hour break.
everyone, spectators included(90% of them were drunk), started trying the competition lanes in there 4wds before the competitors had a chance too. by the time the break was over the mud pit was torn up so bad no one could get into it let alone out of it. there was a full size, alcohol burning, chevy on 44" swampers so stuck even his 12000lb hydraulic winch and another 9000lb warn together couldn't pull him out. the rock garden had 2 Heeps stuck on top. one drunk idiot fell out of a tree(almost onto my front rack) from about 25 ft up while trying to connect a winch cable to pull out another stuck Heep. amazingly, he was basically unhurt. while all of this was going on, no one, not event staff, security, the owners, no one, tried to stop any of this from happening.
the event coordinators finally got out and called off all competition. so, the first day was also the last day. no refunds. no rain checks. no more competitions at byrds.
the blame game went on for some time over this mess. sports in the rough says it was byrds fault for not having enough security, byrds says it was their fault.
the sheriffs dept. had to take several people to jail(accusations of rape and under aged drinking, among others).
sports in the rough http://www.sportsintherough.com/ still has competitions just not at byrds.
so far any event held at byrds since then has bombed because no one wants to go to MAYBE get to see a competition. there was an event Memorial weekend that no one showed up for. it BOMBED!

so basically it turned into a girls gone wild, mud diving, drunk fest.
i might not have cared so much if not for all the kids that were there, including my own.

don't get me wrong, byrds is a great place to wheel and camp. i, along with many others, just will not attend another event there.

wow    what a change.

i went there for the best family event ive ever been too.  it was rocktoberfest quite a few years ago. they had blow up slides and jumpy things and events for the kids along with events you mentioned above.
there was a newly built rockpile and everything was run top notch.

what the heck happened?

the whole "family event" thing is why we went. it was advertised as such so we took the kids. little did we or they know, just shy of 3500 people would show up. i think that may have been part of the problem. they just weren't prepared for that type of crowd. it didn't help that the sheriffs office only sent out 2 officers at first then 2 more and so on....only 4 paramedics and one ambulance were there as well. just didn't get the organization it should have. if not for all the money being raked in they might have thought to turn people away since they knew they were unprepared. i personally heard event staff saying "my god we weren't expecting this many people, we've got to get more security out here."
while the 'party' was going on, all staff and security disappeared. hell, it took 30 minutes to find a paramedic when the idiot fell out of the tree. guess where we found them...in the air conditioned house talking with all the staff and owner.
we've been back to byrds since but only to camp and canoe. they are trying to get the reputation built back up, but it's slow going.

sports in the ruff
you maybe shouldnt judge all of byrds events based on there performance.
I am a member of the rockcrawlers that put on rocktoberfest, there is a very concious effort put into keeping cost down and keeping it a family event.
I personally believe that byrds is a great base camp for exploring the area. they also have some very fun trails, a challenge is never far away. you should all consider rocktoberfest this year. we have a different club pres than last year but hopefully we can hold on to the progress the previous had made.

Glad to hear it !!!!!

ive been planning on attending this year or next because it was such a family oriented event.   really glad to her that !!!

redbeard, did you attend the may madness event? i was in the area and heard no one showed for it. we didn't really care to go to an event that weekend we just wanted to ride trails so, we didn't really check it out. we are, however, thinking of going to rocktoberfest.

i suspected the whole blame game was just that, but until i hear better about byrds i'm kind of skeptical about anything put on there. my cousin lives in ozark and has come up with some good news about byrds lately. maybe their karma(if you believe in that stuff) is turning around?

where do you ride around there? the pics above are up around upper and lower jethro roads and up near white rock off shores lake road.

I did not make madness. I was at work in the gulf. madness is kind of a point and click kind of event, I do not thing near the planning goes into it. not to say it is a bad event I have met the guys that put it on.
I heard it was alright from a few people but they are the kind that if the trails are open they are happy just to have the company. not so much the event itself.
I realy hope that we have another good quiet rocktoberfest this year so maybe people will start to see byrds in a new light.
I like to run around all over, we go exploring in white rock and spend some time at byrds Probably 4 or 5 times a year down there.
hope to get more time in.

Byrds does not put on events, they only host them.
it is the event promoter who is responsible for security.
Byrds will take care of an event for anyone for a price.
most people try to make the most profit and run it themselves.
it is kinda like blaming a city park for the crowd that hangs there instead of the crowd itself.
anyone with further concerns with byrds can contact me or I will post more contact info for byrds.
they are realy good people and are realy trying to host quality events.
thanks

well, that explains a lot. i did hear after that mess byrds owners were very upset that people were blaming them for the whole thing. i guess every one did what was natural, blame all involved.
we've been to byrds camping and riding since, just no events.
we'll try and make rocktoberfest and see how it goes.

I was at madness in may this year, great fun. -Come get ya some -puts this event on and those guys are great. My buddy runs in the big tire class and we had a great time. Rocktoberfest event is great also, jamie sawyer is back as president of rokcrawlers club and he is an awesome guy to wheel with also. Yah i agree the mudstock got way outa-hand the last one they had, thats why byrd's won't let bob hazel host any more events there. Pam that run's the campground now is really nice, we love going down there. I strongly reccomend this place to anyone who hasn'e been there. The trails across the street from the campground are top-notch, and miles of them. Just had to put my 2cents in, Thank you........Gary