Carolina Adventure World
Posted: 10:02 pm Nov 12 2007
Carolina Adventure World (CAW) is a new riding area in SC. It is located about 1 hour south of Charlotte and is easily accessible from I-77.
CAW has an extensive trail system with over 100 miles of trails; easy, moderate, difficult, and most difficult (single track). The trails
are very well marked and are connected by dirt roads all over the
park. The only trails we rode were easy because of the kids, but we
all had a great time. The easy trails are slightly wider than
ATV-width, and the soil was very sandy. In some spots the "soil" had
the consistency of all-purpose flour and traction was tricky at times.
The easy trails had almost no uphill or downhill sections, and the rocks were very few. There were also very few ruts in the trails, which is surprising considering how many ATVs were down there. Brushy Mtn, despite their claim that they are more focused on dirtbikes, has much more rutted trails in my opinion.
You can really have a good time blasting through those easy trails. I
kept it slow to prevent one of the kids from trying to keep up with me, but I remember thinking I could banzai through there with no problem! I do remember seeing some "black diamond" trails as we were cruising through. One of them looked like a goat path up a pretty large hill at a respectable angle; that would definitely be challenging for me.
The MX track is boring. It, like the rest of the park, is clearly focused on ATVs. (The "mud bog" and "rock crawl" reinforced that point.
) There were two tabletop jumps and one small jump in a fast section, and that was it. The MX track is long and fast and that made it fun, but if you like jumping, you will probably be disappointed with their MX track (and you are probably on the wrong forum anyway... 
) I still have not
tried their "endurocross" track but I want to.
The ATV/dirtbike ratio was around 60/40 and some of the trails are two
way, but despite all of that, we didn't have any problem. To the
contrary, we had a great time. CAW is still very much "under
construction", but it is a wonderful riding area and Lord willing we
will go back many times in the future.
The easiest trails at Brushy Mtn are more difficult than the easy trails at CAW. I think CAW is a great place to trail ride with your kids. My kids like the kiddie MX track at TNT better, but the trails (and the food) are much better at CAW.
Downsides? Well, the sandy soil sometimes makes for shaky traction on the trails, and the MX track is definitely not made for a jump-jockey. Will
we go back? Absolutely!
EDIT 11/27/07: I've been back and rode several of their intermediate trails...loads of fun and much more interesting than their easy trails! The endurocross track is interesting too; it is poorly marked so it is difficult to know what direction to ride in, but there are several sections with different types of obstacles.
CAW has an extensive trail system with over 100 miles of trails; easy, moderate, difficult, and most difficult (single track). The trails
are very well marked and are connected by dirt roads all over the
park. The only trails we rode were easy because of the kids, but we
all had a great time. The easy trails are slightly wider than
ATV-width, and the soil was very sandy. In some spots the "soil" had
the consistency of all-purpose flour and traction was tricky at times.
The easy trails had almost no uphill or downhill sections, and the rocks were very few. There were also very few ruts in the trails, which is surprising considering how many ATVs were down there. Brushy Mtn, despite their claim that they are more focused on dirtbikes, has much more rutted trails in my opinion.
You can really have a good time blasting through those easy trails. I
kept it slow to prevent one of the kids from trying to keep up with me, but I remember thinking I could banzai through there with no problem! I do remember seeing some "black diamond" trails as we were cruising through. One of them looked like a goat path up a pretty large hill at a respectable angle; that would definitely be challenging for me.
The MX track is boring. It, like the rest of the park, is clearly focused on ATVs. (The "mud bog" and "rock crawl" reinforced that point.
) There were two tabletop jumps and one small jump in a fast section, and that was it. The MX track is long and fast and that made it fun, but if you like jumping, you will probably be disappointed with their MX track (and you are probably on the wrong forum anyway... ) I still have nottried their "endurocross" track but I want to.
The ATV/dirtbike ratio was around 60/40 and some of the trails are two
way, but despite all of that, we didn't have any problem. To the
contrary, we had a great time. CAW is still very much "under
construction", but it is a wonderful riding area and Lord willing we
will go back many times in the future.
The easiest trails at Brushy Mtn are more difficult than the easy trails at CAW. I think CAW is a great place to trail ride with your kids. My kids like the kiddie MX track at TNT better, but the trails (and the food) are much better at CAW.
Downsides? Well, the sandy soil sometimes makes for shaky traction on the trails, and the MX track is definitely not made for a jump-jockey. Will
we go back? Absolutely!
EDIT 11/27/07: I've been back and rode several of their intermediate trails...loads of fun and much more interesting than their easy trails! The endurocross track is interesting too; it is poorly marked so it is difficult to know what direction to ride in, but there are several sections with different types of obstacles.
