Post edited 3:57 am – August 26, 2010 by Hawk

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Hey all!  I happened to stumble across the site after clicking on a link someone posted on the Xterra Owners Club website.  Haven't been on any of the old Xterra boards in a while, but I'm looking to get the X off road again!!

 

I'm another Xterra owner from the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, namely Crystal Lake.  Currently own a 2000 Xterra SE 4x4 with 134000 miles, that is set up with a set of BFG MT's (90000 miles on them  :(  need to be replaced VERY SOON), sliders, front bumper guard (not a brush guard….more of a bull bar) equipped with some Piaa 520 lights, Shrockworks rock sliders, and a few other 'tweaks' that make the truck different from others…..I'll get pics up once I get accustomed to the site.

 

I haven't been off road since I flopped the X in a ditch after hitting some black ice back in 2007, but I think it's time to get it off road again.  Haven't been to too many places off-road…..mainly Lake Geneva Raceway when it was around, some friends' land, been up to the logging trails in Hayward, rock crawling in Sedona, AZ, etc…

 

Been a member of the Xterra Owners Club (www.xterraownersclub.com), Midwest Xterra Owners (no longer around) and Midwest Nissan 4x4 (www.mwn4x4.net).  Because of the lack of off-roading I've been doing, I've been VERY quiet on the other boards.

 

Anyways, just wanted to give a quick introduction before I let the fun begin!!!

Post edited 11:10 am – September 15, 2010 by Hawk

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Thanks all for the welcomes.  I haven't had much time to browse the forums to see when the next Meet n Greet is, or where it is, but I do hope to make it to some of them!!  I've seen there are a lof of guys named Pete on the board.  Made me laugh because that's my name too….not a common name, but seems to be lots here!

 

The Lake Geneva Raceway off road area was nice because it was close (only about 40 minutes from my house).  It was also a good place to test the ability of your rig without doing too much damage.  There was the possibility of doing damage, but rarely (if ever) did I see anything major happen.  I think the worst I was was an Xterra slide down a hill backwards and a tree scraped up the door and took off a mirror.  That was probably the worst of it.  The only problem with it was it was only about 5-7 acres or so.  Not very big, but definitely fun!  It was indeed sold to developers about 3 years ago.  They were supposedly going to put mid rise condo complexes on the site.  Haven't heard if that ever happened with the economy tanking.

 

Edited to add:

Just looked it up on Google maps which seems to have been fairly recently updated (images taken within past 6 months in some spots)…..it looks like the track and offroad areas are still there.  The track looks pretty poorly maintained and unused, but the offroad area looks like there are signs of recent use….I know it's Google Maps, and it's not 100% up-to-date, but it looks like it may still be there 'unofficially'….

Post edited 1:07 pm – September 16, 2010 by Hawk

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grantypanties218 said:

where is thise lake geneva spot i live east of rockford (belvidere)

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Nice!  I drive through Belvedere on my way to and from work in Rockford every day!  Straight through on 20.
 

 

Based on the 'birds eye' pics from Bing Maps as well as the aerial from Google Maps, it looks like the track was demolished, but not cleaned up.  There are also other structures on the property that were demolished in the images.  

 

The track itself is located on the northeast corner of Edwards Blvd (120) and N. Bloomfield Rd. in Lake Geneva.  It's just west of 12.  The offroad area is just east of the track, and runs from Bloomfield Rd. north to Townline Rd.

 

Hopefully that pinpoints it for you  lol

As has been said, Kevin Dawson sold the racetrack to some developers a few years ago. I was lucky enough to be there on of the last days you could be out there. I can't remember the year, but it was New Years Eve day. I have video somewhere. Lots of mud and I have to find it, but a guy in a 2wd 1ton van actually drove down the steep stairs where the spectators sat (more than once!). Kevin is a great guy, and it was horrible that people would keep building closer to the track and then complain about the noise. As reference I grew up on Bloomfield road less than 3 miles to the east from the track, so yes I'm still pretty pissed I don't get to watch the races in Lake Geneva anymore!

Not that I am aware. I have no idea who to contact now that Kevin sold the area. I would guess it would be trespassing for now. I am sure it's public record so we could trace them down, but the fact that they purchased the track really points to them not wanting to have any motorsports activities.

Post edited 2:15 pm – September 20, 2010 by Hawk

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keithert said:

The track at Lake Geneva was by FAR my favorite wheeling spot.  It was close enough to go up for the day.  It had enough trails of different types to keep me happy.  It had a quary, woods and some spots with deep mud.   A club called Hitman Offroad would rent it for the day pretty frequently and charge 20-30 depending on how many showed up.  I would wheel a lot more if the place were available to us. I also wheeled there with the Xterra club.  They were pretty open to all brands.  I remember wheeling with some guys named Nish and Backpacker from the club.

 

Is your Xterra lifted or stock height?  From the pics it looks stock.  If so you've done some pretty gnarly trails out west for not having a lift.  I went on the Broken Oar trail in a rented Wrangler.  I turned back when the rock climbs got steep.

 

I think the land was purchased with the intent to build houses there but the economy must have put those plans on hold.

 

Here are some pics from an outing a few years back.  http://www.keithert.com/pics/t…..a_oct.html

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Nice!  I agree with the LG spot.  One of my favs….probably because it was so close.  There were definately some deep mud pits there.  Deep enough to come up over the hood when entering them.  I've wheeled a bunch of times with Nish and once with Backpacker.  I'm not sure what they've been up to.  I know Nish lives in my town and I see him from time to time on the road.  Backpacker is up in McHenry and I've only run into him once in our daily routines.  I made a cool GIF that I made of Nish dropping into one of those mud pits and coming out the other spot.  From an October run back in '06.  Motor drive is great on cameras  ;)  I may have been on a run or two with you, but I don't recall ever seeing a Geo Tracker out there.

 

My X is at the stock height.  It's definitely gotten me through some steep climbs and some hairy trails.  It's a lot more capable than people give it credit for.

 

Here are a couple other pictures….the first one is my first time at Lake Geneva….I made that climb with street tires.  Slipped down once, but ultimately made it up.  THe second pic is from the Broken Arrow trail.  Actually had the Pink Jeep Tours stop and watch us climb up that.  At the top, you have to cut it hard right, or you'll go over the edge  lol…Good times!!  

 

 

Cool.  I almost thought about the Jeep tour, then said screw it….I'll do it with my own rig lol  The "staircase" you came up on was probably Devils Staircase.  There's a pic of me going down it up in my pics.  I was told that you really can only go down it because it's been so traveled that it's become slick and tough to maneuver.  Supposedly, the only way they'll let people go up is if they have a winch and lockers, plus you need someone to stop the traffic on the trails as the trail's direction takes you down the staircase and not up.  It's definitely a good time and there are definitely soem high pucker factor areas where there's dropoffs just off the trail.