Musterground Road Exploratory Runs

Some shots from today.

 

Interesting short story.
For those that saw my post in the SC thread about me opening my car door into another vehicle the other day at wall mart.

I met up with the guy today in the same spot today and we discussed the body shop estimates.
This guy is 55 and super cool. Turns out he retired from Duke Energy because of a triple bypass heart surgery and was part of the
Bad creek project from way back. I want to say it all started way back in the late 50's and he was a transport/materials guy
who unloaded parts from a boom truck deep down, like a mile or so where the G.E. 6FA turbines are located.

He said it was litterally a nitemare every day he would drive down the tunnel and the seals would leak deep down below the earth
and he wondered if he would make it out alive each day withought the tunnel flooding.

I sat in his jeep at walmart for like 2 hours swapping stories of bad creek, from what I have learned over the years, stories about the air force and my grandfather being shot down in a bomber over german held belgium and his son being in the air force.

we talked about his triple bypass and my full hip replacement and life in general. And how when "that" greater being...no matter who or what it is comes to call, you answer.

Was pretty cool. Reminds me of my peoples up home

 

That's pretty awesome. I like just sitting and listening to older guys like that but 55 is still mighty young!

 

My old drinking buddy was this IT guy but he was in the army and was a machinist at one point and did a bunch of other things before getting into IT. I use to just keep asking questions to keep him talking he kept me entertained for hrs on end telling stories and many bottles of beer.

 

dudes like 6'5, 200 plus.
Really good shape. I told him that when I saw him walking towards me that I kept saying to myself...
"please don't let this be the person who owns this jeep". lol, he laughed.
So I chose the highest estimate he got from Porters body shop and told him to please stay in touch.
He hasnt been to the muster grounds since he was part of that project years ago.

I have a feeling we will be in touch for an adventure soon.

 

Nice!

 

Its tough to get people to talk about it. Especially vietnam era peeps.
My grandfather never did and he was a POW in ww2 and went on to fly experimental F-86 sabres in the korean war.
But man....so many stories lost.

 

If the weather is decent, I will be camping this next weekend. 4/21.
I found 3 different camps with cut firewood already.
Camp 2 and camp 4.
Camp 6 is as far as ive been and I havnt explored it much but its a nice clearing.

 

I don't think I've seen where you took picture number 5. You must have gotten back in there further than I've been. Last time I went (before this weekend) I got stuck at a locked gate and had to back back out along the side of the mountain. Turned around and left after that.

 

@saundern should post his up in here, too.

 

Pic 5 was the farthest I went. That's where hunting camp 6 is. It opens up into a clearing and there's like 4 different spurs/offshoots from there.
I drove around that area for a sec and wasn't paying attention to my surrounds and forgot which rd I came in on. Luckily I picked the right one coming back. Lol.

I want to say my tripometer said 12 miles from the parking lot. I talked to an older fella further on down at the lookout and he said it went back about 25 miles. So there's still alot to explore out there.

As far as exploring that place with an open diff.....I wouldn't recommend it. Atleast not without a winch. Especially alone.

 

No, there's some rocky climbs up there that would make life a pain for a 2wd truck with no locker for sure. That climb just after the river, and then there's a rocky shelf that would be tough.

I talked to a fella when I was out there before that said to try the gates, that they aren't always locked.

 

I need to get out there and go do some more exploring. I really want to hit Chestnut Mtn for a weekend and explore all the off shoots. I paid much more attention last time I went and there were quite a few that looked like it would be fun to explore.

 

Both roads seem to have a good bit to offer for exploring. I've done more at CMR than MGR just because MGR is seasonal. But I think MGR has some secrets, just gotta find them.

 

@Matic @ovrlndkull @EricL

Do any of y'all have coordinates to the entrance?

Disregard: I guess I should go back and read the first post!

I wonder if my wife's Subaru could make it. I have been nothing but impressed with that things abilities. It has much more space for gear and dogs is why I'm considering that instead of the reg cab.

We took it up the mountains in Cherokee NC where our cabin is, we got to the top of the mountain and a dude on a 4wheeler passed us and had the most confused look on his face, like a "how the f did they get that "car" up here?!"

 

Man subies are impressive the dealer here has a lifted one on some BFG KO2s it looks pretty sweet

 

My wife would kill me. She has put 25k on that car in a year.

Really though, I don't recall a vehicle that I've been more impressed with in all categories.

 

As a former mechanic I really liked working on them they were pretty easy wrench on and very reliable.

 

Man, I don't know about that.
Probably the hill and the switchback right at the pipes might be a bit difficult.
Also in pic #2 of my shots, it's pretty rutted out further on down. I'm just afraid with the low clearance on the subi that you would be banging up the bottom pretty good.

You would be ok till you got to the pipes but then it gets tricky.
Unfortunately, there are no places to camp prior to getting to the pipes.


You can't miss the entrance. If you get to whitewater falls, you went to far.
It's on the same side of the road about 1/4 mile back.

It almost looks lime an entrance to a gypsum plant or something.

 

Highway 130 north.
The same one as we were on to get to chestnut mt.
It's about 10 miles from hwy 11.