By Jim Oaks
I hadn’t been on the trails in Wellsville since 2006. Our Spring Round-Up this year was actually held at the Southington Offroad Park since the legal use of the trails here became questionable.
I decided to hold a Return To Wellsville Trail Ride on October 5th, 2013. At first it looked like there were some people in our forum planning to attend, but by the time the day arrived, it was just Myself, ‘mdn14’, and ‘sloth69mustang’. In the photo above, my Ford Ranger is the blue and white one in the background, mdn14 is the blue one to the left, and sloth69mustang is in front of that with the snorkel.
We came across a waterfall that guys were climbing on motorcycles. I asked them if I could give it a try, and then surprised them when I went all of the way up in the Ranger.
Heading up the trail on the powerline is always fun. It can be steep, deeply rutted, and have large loose rocks. I’m heading up the hill in the left of the photo below.
Here’s sloth69mustang below.
At one point, we came to a clearing at the top of a hill overlooking the Ohio River. In the photo below looking north, you can see Wellsville, Ohio to the left of the river, and Mountaineer Racetrack in West Virginia to the right.
Looking south you can see State Route 7 following the river, and the SR 213 Rest Area at the bend. The rest area was one of the places where people would meet before heading to the trail.
The rain had moved in, so we decided to head back to the front section and play in the mud.
mdn14 got stuck…….
I pulled him out……
Time to make the donuts…….
Even though it was just the three of us, we had fun. This would be the last trail ride I would ever have in Wellsville. I never realized until 2020 that I hadn’t featured this trail ride outside of the forum. In 2016 I moved from Ohio to Texas. And in 2019, I returned to Ohio to host a 20th Anniversary Trail Ride at Southington Offroad Park.
Links:
TRS 20th Anniversary Trail Ride
The Return To Wellsville 2013 Forum Discussion
More Photos:
Click the photos to enlarge.
Jim Oaks is the founder of TheRangerStation.com, the longest-running Ford Ranger resource online since 1999. With over 25 years of hands-on experience building and modifying Ford Rangers — including magazine-featured builds like Project Transformer — Jim has become one of the most trusted authorities in the Ford Ranger off-road and enthusiast space. In 2019, he was loaned a Ranger FX4 by Ford Motor Company to test and document across the TransAmerica Trail. Jim continues to inspire and guide Ranger owners around the world.
