Motorhome 4×4

Motorhome 4x4

Unique ATV Tour Cave Mines and Meadows Resort

"Hey John - would you be interested in riding in an underground mine this spring?"

We get a lot of strange phone calls at the office, but seeing that it came from a credible source and timing did not read the April 1 that they were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The call was from Justin Dawes, the guru of communications for the Kawasaki ATV. Apparently, he and his partner Jon Rall motorhead adventure, also Kawasaki, had a trick up its sleeve.

They had caught the scent of a single destination mount the west-central Pennsylvania called Mines and Meadows Resort and thought it would be an excellent destination to which could provide the brute force capabilities of the company 750 4x4.

Frankly reason, the 54 miles of trails above the ground are sufficient to visit the mines and Meadows Resort, and the varied terrain, with hillclimbs, the rock crawling and mud pits, offering challenges for experienced riders but other easy ways with soft, sweeping turns allow anyone to come and give it a shot.

The limestone mine underground, however, raises mount this destination to the next level. How many places you can go where you get large portions, plus the opportunity to run 200 meters underground in complete black, and drive through an underground lake?
The answer, as best we can tell, is one - and that is a Mines and Meadows.

Posted It Together

When meeting with Bob Svihra, the idea and moneyman behind Mines and Meadows, sometimes it is a wonder this guy can do so by linking shoes in the morning without being distracted by an idea that is rolling over his head. When he speaks, a sentence is completed only before the next gushing from his mouth, and seems less likely to keep the original theme to dismiss anything but mean.

It is foolish, however. Svihra has been very successful, having started and run business activities in diverse fields such as medical waste disposal, shoulders and harness manufacturing of the knee, creating a process to remove materials from CDs and DVD and as an investor in a variety of things, including the local motorsports complex located BeaveRun a couple of miles down the road of Mines and Meadows. So definitely a Svihra of person who has shown he can follow through on a concept, but at the same time doing that a dozen other ideas are also pulsing through his gray matter.

"A company supports the next to do, then that supports I must do the following .... I am a good builder, but a lousy keeper - so when I do something like this, I throw over my shoulder and let someone else take care of it once it's up and running, "said Svihra with a smile.

Mines and Meadows is one of his most recent start-ups. Some friends on a trip Svihra ATV through some private property about seven years ago. The trail riding was interesting, but then his friends took him boondocking an abandoned limestone mine.

"When I took mine, being an entrepreneur, I put two and two and said:" This would be a great place ATV riding. "So that's what I tried to do, "said Svihra.

Svihra invested $ 2 million in the park, in principle the purchase of more than 400 acres of land around the mine and part of the mine lease grinned family, which bought the mine in 2004 and formed the Underland Development Corporation. The park riding has now grown to over 600 hectares, with 54 miles of trails that twist through interesting and varied terrain.
Another 14 hectares are found underground in the mine limestone, providing a unique experience for visitors.

Metro:

El Mina

After a brief ride through some April showers, our Kawasaki mounted party came to the mouth of the mine. The door appeared to be about 5 feet wide and 7 feet high, with wood sign reading "mine entrance - Guided tours only" hanging over the door. The door was covered on the top and sides of wooden beams like railroad ties, and from the outside looked like we were entering a bear's den.

We saw other computers disappear into the darkness, then deep breath and ventured through the narrow gateway. The bright light outside was quickly replaced by the dark - our eyes struggled to adapt to sudden changes in ambient light. Fortunately, the brute force headlights illuminated a narrow road in front of us as we laboriously forward.

The room initial staging do not have a bit of light, thanks to the brilliance that sneaks through the door, but it is still dark. The room was about to enter the sizes a high school gym, except for a relatively low ceiling.

Once our group was in and some photos were taken, we continue our deeper inside leader. We could see our lights only to be extended, and only in the direction of these lights. Want to get a close look at the cliffs? Best back to your machine in that direction, because that's the only way we're going to see them.

The mine was established in the 1800s, while mining crews using relatively crude tools available at the time digging through a big hill to capture the natural stretch of the limestone of the place. During more than 60 years, the limestone was taken from the mine and used in local manufacture of cement until the mine closed in 1958. When digging the limestone the crew had to leave intact stone sections every 35 feet so the roof does not fall apart - in essence, leaving irregular-shaped support pillars.

What remains is a kind of "drive-thru, underground hive. As we followed our leader deeper into the mine, our main road wound through the dark, and on each side of us there would be a "pillar", then what looked like a secret room or passageway leading into the darkness. We are weaving our Brute Force 750 back and forth to shed some light on these side areas. Some were very deep, some were deep, and in some cases have a room behind the room again, with pillars separating spaces every 35 feet.

The ceiling hung about 15 feet off the ground in many places, but sometimes we lead through a keyhole "or other excavated areas was not such a big part, and we should bow their heads as our ATV climbed on the rock to move to the next room.

The darkness is pure first thing that attracts attention - it is scary, especially when everyone turns off their lights and is the darkness. Your eyes try to adapt to changing light conditions, but the truth is I never put a day - without even a blade of light coming from anywhere, is completely blinded. Fortunately, the Kawis come back to life and we were again.

Also notable is a musty damp and cool. The mine is at 55 degrees year round, and the fleet of humidity around 80 percent. He made it a perfect place for mushrooms (yes, mushrooms LEGAL!) Growing operation complete this particular mine in the 1970s and 80s. Teams of up to 45 people worked all day like moles in this cave, ensuring adequate garrison for pizzas, salads, etc..

The rating is mostly flat in the mine - you're not really going downhill in the land, rather than the land rises 200 feet in form of a hill, while passing drivers.

Finally, we reached a 3-acre underground "lake." The lake floor is in quotes because the water here is only trapped by a dam at the bottom of the mine. Still, it's a show interesting and fun to drive through.

The mine was abandoned from the mid-80s and became a meeting place for local scouts and people from the night before the family bought the land grinned.

"We wanted develop and possibly reach the entry and storage of vehicles, boats, motorhomes and campers, "said Steve grinned." Furthermore, our main objective right now is a warehouse. This is the ideal temperature for storing wine, and humidity can be controlled easily. There are a lot of square footage in here. "

In total, leisurely tour through the mine will take about an hour. There is no additional cost for the tour of mine - it comes with the price of admission, but the only way in and out is with a guide.

Above ground:

Hiking Everywhere!

The mine is impressive, but would be interested in riding in the mines and Meadows even without it.

The facility has more than 50 miles of trails that intertwine through rolling wooded landscape. Color-coded map illustrates the web of roads, easy trails with yellow and green that runs around the perimeter and in the middle of the floor system and then a mixture of blue and black trails demarcate the areas of greatest challenge.

Since brute force, we find that the system relatively easy to understand, as paths marked by number and color, and direction signs pointed the way back to the main staging area.

Better yet, many of the trails are one way in nature, making it unlikely any time you meet someone in a corner and very easy to find the way back to your tow vehicle, as all roads eventually lead to other trails that take you back.

Knowledge that there were some pilots experience with them, our guides took us to the hardest material capable park. The challenges are fun, but in the end, rock climbing, uphill and lines high voltage mudbog were ideal habitat for brute force 750.

Mines and Meadows Resort, near Wampum, Pennsylvania, is open all year except two weeks in late November or early December for deer hunting season in Pennsylvania. A day pass is $ 25 and includes a visit mine.

About the Author

For more on ATV destinations like Mines & Meadows, check out ATV Magazine in print and online. ATV Magazine highlights ATV tests, features, product reviews and more in every issue.

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