BIKES: Kawasaki Takes On The Badlands Off-Road Park

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BIKES: Kawasaki Takes On The Badlands Off-Road Park

Mark Mitchell tests Kawasaki's latest off road machines at the Badlands Off-Road Park...

Mark Mitchell | Posted January 10, 2010 Charlotte, NC

The Badlands Off-Road Park turned out to be the perfect venue to try out both the new 2010 Kawasaki Teryx and the KFX 450R sport quad. (Photo: Kawasaki)

The Badlands Off-Road Park is a privately-owned off-road area of about 800 acres in western Indiana just outside the small town of Attica. I had never heard of Badlands Off-Road Park before, but once again the Kawasaki advance team had done their homework and it turned out to be the perfect venue to try out both the new 2010 Kawasaki Teryx and the KFX 450R sport quad. The park is obviously well-known in the area as a line forms early each morning with all kinds of OHV enthusiasts ready to spend the day riding in and on a wide assortment of vehicles, We saw everything from purpose built jeeps and buggies to every kind of ATV and motorcycle you can name. Everyone was considerate and well behaved despite the wide variety of machines and riders, everything from groups of dirt bike riders to families all mounted on age appropriate ATV’s. Once you start to explore the Badlands you quickly start to realize why this place is so popular. Over the course of the day we checked out every trail and obstacle we could find and came upon some unique features of the park that turned out to be a lot of fun, more on that later.

The morning of the ride turned out to be a cold and wet one and with temperatures hovering in the low 40’s. Luckily the steady rain from the previous day was over and by the time we made the 45 minute bus ride from Indianapolis to the Badlands the day was shaping up to be clear and sunny but cold. Once we got started though I never even thought about the weather again, I was having way too much fun. The terrain at the Badlands is not what you might expect and is actually quite varied for a park located in the middle of Indiana. On top of that the park is laid out in a very sensible way with good signage at trail intersections and feeder trails that all connect back to a loop trail around the perimeter of the park. We started out on the well-marked 6 mile loop trail that encircles the park and features lots of hills, several big mudholes and a few choice water crossings to play in. After that first sighting lap we started to explore. One by one we checked out the numerous cross trails intersecting the main loop and all seemed to lead eventually back to the center of the park where there is a serious rock crawling section, and a large area of unexpected but impressive sand dunes bordered by a hilly section with row after row of long winding pea gravel hills to climb up, down and over. In addition there are two top quality motocross tracks, plenty of nice level parking and a shop/store stocked with any kind of part, accessory or riding gear you might need. They even have full-time mechanics in the shop to help you install accessories or make repairs to get you back on the trail.

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Mark Mitchell

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