Americas Hard'ish way home..... what if we had one here...

[Stu_Barnes]

Ok ladies and gents,

Just throwing this out there. If we were to have a mini version of a Hard way home, where would you nominate for it to be. Let's assume that we can put together 2 events, possibly 3......
The rest of the Grenadier community both on this forum and elsewhere are starting to have get togethers and are putting events together I thought why not North America as well.

With that in mind, just thinking out loud, with everyone scattered to the winds it would have to be somewhat convenient to the bulk of the forum membership, let's say within a days drive give or take.



So ideas please, for type of event, location (if someone has a ranch that they would volunteer.......) and any other crackpot ideas to go into the mix. Time wise I was thinking March next year (obviously not set in stone) giving us enough time to plan and more importantly for INEOS to get deliveries into customer hands.

Stu.

Also feel free to contact me via the forum messaging service or via email: admin@theineosforum.com

 

[salamor the seeker]

Titus canyon would be sweet.

I could help organize something in utah

 

[anand]

Dropping the vehicles into the middle of any of the BDRs out West would work (or even the NEBDR).

Higher altitudes out west though wouldn't be clear until Summer.

I would suggest something BDR-esque, where it is a trip over several hundred miles (or over 1,000mi) instead of a single property.

Plenty of other routes exist, including the KAT, portions of the TAT, the Pony Express Trail, the Rubicon (if you wanna get spicy). As well as a couple dozen (or more) readily available shorter distance routes.

Looking forward to this hopefully coming to fruition!!

 

[Roving.Grenadier]

I like the BDR idea. I've only done one of the five original Oregon BDR's and it was absolutely amazing.

 

[holdmybeer]

Deliver my vehicle at the Arctic Ocean. Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields in Alaska. I'd take the Dalton Highway south to Fairbanks. The Haul Road. Arctic Circle bragging rights for northern virgins. Scrape the bugs off, then link up the Denali Highway in either direction. Truly God's highway. Then any of a number of stunning and rugged roads south through Yukon and British Columbia. Stopover at our our yet-to-be-revealed INEOS Automotive dealer in Vancouver, BC. Wash off the bugs again and tighten some bolts. Lol. And continue to Seattle. Or California. Or wherever is home. Beep beep.

 

[Roach]

SoCal BDR, end in Benton and then trek over to Mammoth or maybe Yosemite Valley (time of year depending) for some R&R

 

[ADVer]

An Alaska/BC/Alberta trip would be epic but a lot of miles. A BDR type route would be more manageable. The northern sections of the recently released ORBDR are really nice (from Hood River to Sun River). The southern sections are more high desert, rocky with higher risk of punctures. The Northern California route is expected to be released in February,and should be great. The Washington BDR is a nice route, relatively easy. For a longer and more remote route, either the Idaho or Wyoming route would be perfect. As I’ve posted elsewhere, the BDR’s and the Grenadier go hand in hand, route planning is already done, just technical enough to make it interesting and a great way to get well into the backcountry, and see some cool little towns, with well spaced fuel stops, and options for dispersed camping or lodging. (Ridebdr.com).

 

[IG_in_AZ]

I like the BDR idea. It's on my short list of first things to do when I get mine.

 

[GrenADV]

Let's do a get together in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. I envision it being a place where all of us Grenadier owners can express ourselves through community, creativity/nudity/self-expression of grenny paraphernalia and other 4x4/overland/vehicle-enabled adventure accoutrements. Then, when it rains and turns the playa into a sticky playdough, we can all test out our lockers, winches and recovery gear in an attempt to pull each other out.

In all seriousness, similar to Overland Expo, perhaps we could do a West (maybe somewhere in Colorado or Utah) and East (somewhere in Virginia/WV, Pennsylvania, or North Carolina) event, where we could have a couple days of camping, vendor tents/booths, workshops/training, and a few guided trail rides. I'm a BMW Motorrad (GS) rider, and I know that the Touratech Rally does something like this each year. I've ridden a couple of the BDRs in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on my GS, and they've been amazing, but I'm wondering if it's too disruptive/not welcomed to have a convoy of Grenadier's in areas that locals typically use as their daily thoroughfares. I'd be game to help plan something!

 

[anand]

In all seriousness, similar to Overland Expo, perhaps we could do a West (maybe somewhere in Colorado or Utah) and East (somewhere in Virginia/WV, Pennsylvania, or North Carolina) event, where we could have a couple days of camping, vendor tents/booths, workshops/training, and a few guided trail rides. I'm a BMW Motorrad (GS) rider, and I know that the Touratech Rally does something like this each year. I've ridden a couple of the BDRs in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on my GS, and they've been amazing, but I'm wondering if it's too disruptive/not welcomed to have a convoy of Grenadier's in areas that locals typically use as their daily thoroughfares. I'd be game to help plan something!

If in the East I'm quite positive we could use the Overland Experts training properties for an event like you've mentioned; after all, it is where the initial US training and media testing occurred. In comparison to the (very) small amount of routes experienced on the PTO2 tour stop, the property is ~200 acres of specifically created training routes; with camping space on site (we hold several weekend trainings per year, this past weekend being one of them, where students camp on site)

 

[Stu_Barnes]

The BDR routes are really interesting. Do we have any more ideas or suggestions for the eastern half of the continent?

 

[anand]

The BDR routes are really interesting. Do we have any more ideas or suggestions for the eastern half of the continent?

There has to be some form of being forced to sit in major city traffic if it is on one of the coasts (or Dallas/Chicago/etc for that matter)... It's only fair to be properly representative of the area

 

[Krabby]

In that case I nominate south bound Garden State Parkway the Friday of Labor Day weekend.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

You could do a North Vancouver Island, then take the off-road route from Holburg down to Port Alice and eventually Zellabos. Then dip over to Powell River and take the Sea to Sky/backroads across mountains to Osoyoos. From there you can pick up the Washington Backroad Discovery Route.

This kind of a plan would give people a unique, remote destination to meet in (Holburg, Van Island), followed by a route that is at least 60% off road/gravel and comes within spitting distance of most of the major population areas in the PNW so folks who couldn't do the whole thing could peel off and head home.

 

[anand]

The BDR routes are really interesting. Do we have any more ideas or suggestions for the eastern half of the continent?

If spending time in America's hat (Canada) is acceptable, there are plenty of routes... Trans-Lab Hwy, or even just a gorgeous area like Cape Breton... North Maine Woods perhaps as well?

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

If spending time in America's hat (Canada) is acceptable, there are plenty of routes... Trans-Lab Hwy, or even just a gorgeous area like Cape Breton... North Maine Woods perhaps as well?

I'll give this crazy idea away.

Does the Ineos Forum want to host the first ever driving trip to Nunavut? Because there's a way to do that, that no one has ever done, and the Grenadier is the tool to do it. Northern Quebec near the Translab.

 

[anand]

Does the Ineos Forum want to host the first ever driving trip to Nunavut? Because there's a way to do that, that no one has ever done, and the Grenadier is the tool to do it. Northern Quebec near the Translab.

I'll just add myself to that list at this time...

We could get real world fuel economy numbers on the Trans Taiga along the way

 

[Stu_Barnes]

I'll give this crazy idea away.

Does the Ineos Forum want to host the first ever driving trip to Nunavut? Because there's a way to do that, that no one has ever done, and the Grenadier is the tool to do it. Northern Quebec near the Translab.

Yes.
No idea what I’m getting myself into. Check.
Not checked with the boss. Check.
Not in possession of a Grenadier. Check

What could go wrong.

 

[anand]

What could go wrong.

Nothing.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

So I'll give a few more hints:

Technically, the border of Quebec was set in 1912, and runs along the shore of Hudson and James Bay - you can see it in this pic in this article, both where it is now (black line) and where they want it to be:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-calls-for-urgent-extension-of-northern-border-1.3261668

So, there's this river that runs through northern Quebec and comes out into James Bay. At some point in the last 100 years, a whole bunch of sand and silt has been moved down the river to a little island just at the mouth. That island is technically - with current borders - in Nunavut. One year, the current was such that the distance between the island was just a few metres; maybe not drivable, but certainly easy enough to bridge across with some decent 2x12s. The latest Google Maps now show that same gap as more like 500 metres, so obviously not 2x12s. But if the ice and silt shift again (which they will) it's very doable.

Whether it's technically Nunavut or not is arguable, but your GPS coordinates would show you on land and outside the current-day border of Quebec which is on some maps within the border of Nunavut. So, it's arguable - but it's inarguably unique and fun. Any excuse will do, after all.

I want to be abundantly clear that this is absolutely nuts -- like Top Gear Special levels of nuts -- and not a good idea for anyone to actually do, but if anyone wants to join me I'm hoping to make it part of an East Coast adventure one of these years and I'll keep y'all posted.