Eager to try out my new Firestone Destination MT tires, Jill and I returned to Indiana Badlands Offroad Park. ( See trips 4 and 6 for the previous trips. )

We started in the "truck only" area where we watched several beat-up trucks trying to get through a mud pit that was, in their words, chest deep. It was fun to watch, but I wasn't about to try. After awhile, we went off to play in the sand. Embarissingly, we sank into the sand at the top of a steep hill with a sharp break-over, and had to get some friendly strangers in a Jeep to pull me out.

After the sand, we spent some time crawling some pretty steep rocks. I was amazed how well my new tires performed during those climbs. The tires also performed awesome on the trails through the woods, one of which had about 100 foot stretch of deep, watery mud. Jill and I found the "mud flats" again, and spent a bit of time splashing around. We also took a few trips through a pool that was a few feet deep.

Confident in my new tires, I decided to try the "bottoms" once again: a lowland area in the woods that is one huge mud bog. Taking a more aggressive line through the mud than I have ever tried before, I managed to get stuck continuously and had to winch about 5 times! That's nothing to be ashamed of, though. That area is mainly for quads, and I have never seen a truck, Jeep, etc. of any kind make it through without getting stuck.