Just a few notes from the monthly meeting.
The admission price for the 2011 Marengo Swamp ride has been increased to $20 for preregistration or $25 at the gate.
The remaining 2010 Marengo swamp ride t shirts are being sold for $5 each with a shipping charge of $5 for the total shipment.
one shirt costs $10 delivered to your door
two shirts cost $15 delivered to your door
three shirts cost $20 . . .
four shirts cost $25 . . .
five shirts cost $30 . . .
You will not find a better deal on the remaining sizes. This will only last till August 10th or until all supplies are depleted.
I will add shirts to the store as needed. However, the size avability will not change.
mud by entrance (19 days till ride) May 16th
The swamp conditions are dry with severe mud holes. Weather forecasts are near 98 degrees for the day of the ride. BRING LOTS OF WATER TO DRINK. The trail is mostly dry with lots of holes that have been soaking for months. The first quarter mile of the “superhighway” is almost impassable. It is muddy and very rutted with few places to travel. I recommend entering the woods about 100 feet before the superhighway and parallel the trail for the first quarter mile. The trail is moderately dry to the 2.5 mile marker. The superhighway ends and the woods begin here. The first real obstacle is the creek crossing at mile 6. If you try to cross in the water it has a very soft bottom and will probably stick you. If you travel upstream(left) about 400 feet the deep water crossing becomes a dry crossing place for everyone. The next mile will probably get pretty muddy after a couple hundred bikes but it should remain passable. After the levee crossing expect delays, there are lots of muddy holes that will slow travel down to a crawl. trail is pretty normal for marengo until mile 11.5. There you will find a new forestry road to use. For me it was the best part of the ride. Sloppy slick stuff with a few stumps to keep you paying attention. Forecast is more rain until Thursday. It should be a very good year. BTW, there will be a Yamaha outdoors 18 wheeler at the campsite for the day of the ride. CHECK OUT THE
GALLERY FOR SOME PICS FROM THE PRERIDE YESTERDAY
This is the Yamaha Big Bear 400 being raffled off by Wish I Could for $5 per raffle ticket.
There are 2000 tickets available and the winners name will be published here.
The winner is responsible for paying the taxes on the ATV.
All proceeds from the raffle go towards funding the 2010 Wish I Could children’s Christmas party & gifts
Donating $5 for the WIC children is recommended.
We will be selling 2009 T Shirts at a discount price.
2010 Marengo Swamp Ride T Shirts are Now on sale through the Online Store.
Annual Wish I Could Memberships are also being handled through the Online Store
Online preregistration is underway at http://www.wishicould.org/register.html
The cost is $16 per ATV. You can register multiple ATV’s and make one payment for all.
You will get your ATV tag number immmediately after payment by visa / mc. Your ATV tags will be mailed to your shipping address within 24 hours. There is no need to create a paypal account to purchase tags!
The 2010 Marengo Swamp Ride will be held June 5th a few miles south of Hebert, La.
Online Preregistration will begin in February with the mail out forms hitting the mailboxes late Feb. Online Preregistration
This year we will be using paypal checkout to process advance online sales of the tee shirts and ATV registrations for the ride.
The ATV tags will be mailed out using the postal service. There will be a slight increase in the cost of online sales ($16) with the $1 increase due to the cost of using the paypal checkout system. If you choose to purchase from the WIC office or our satellite preregistration sites ($15 per ATV) you will not be charged the extra dollar. If you do not preregister, ATV registration the day of the ride wil be $20 per ATV. The online preregistration is open with the ATV tags getting mailed out within 24 hours.
Wish I Could would like to thank Yamaha and Xtreme Products of West Monroe for their over and above sponsorship of the 2009 Marengo Swamp Ride.
Xtreme is a locally owned suspension company, that specializes in 2-3” ATV/UTV lift kits, wheels, tires and accessories.
Wish I Could spokesperson, Jamie Parks said “Xtreme really stepped up to the plate this year, they were among our largest sponsors.
Xtreme pulled out all the stops and provided 3 side by sides and personnel fully armed for the recovery effort.
They gave directions, winched bikes, passed out water, bug spray and gas free of charge to weary, lost and stuck riders.
They worked tirelessly until the last bikes were out.
Xtreme also sold their own shirts and donated all proceeds to Wish I Could.”
Xtreme General Manager Joe Watts said “Xtreme found participating to be a worthwhile and rewarding experience.” He went on to say Xtreme has participated in the past and plans to be a regular and ongoing sponsor. They plan on working with Wish I Could to expand our advertising scope, as well as get the Wish I Could story spread to more ATV activist.
You can visit Xtreme at 403 Downing Pines Rd. in West Monroe, LA or check them out on the web @
Yamaha has been a faithful sponsor for the Marengo Swamp Ride for Many years.
Yamaha donated a Big Bear 4×4 to be raffled off by Wish I Could. This was won by “Wild Bill” of Columbia. The proceeds from this years raffle will go to buy christmas presents for the Wish I Could Kids (Kids who have had wishes granted by WIC in the past)Yamaha also purchased the drinks and most of the food for the concession for the ride.
This years ride had
2644 registered participants.
A few of the numbers are as follows:
2004 . . . . 4290
2005 . . . . 3914
2006 . . . . 3520
2007 . . . . 3426
2008 . . . . 3416
2009 . . . . 2644
There have been numerous suggestions to improve the swamp ride. If you have any worthy suggestions please suggest them here.
- GPS location points for the mile markers
- Better trail marking/higher visability
- communication access points every few miles for emergencies
The ride this year will have different conditions in different parts of the
trail.
The road into the ride (dry and dusty)
mile 0 to .75 Muddy and rutted
mile .75 to 2.8 dry and smooth
mile 2.8 to 9.1 normal dry ground with severe spotted mud holes
mile 9.4 to mile 12.0 flooded with water between 12 inches and 5 feet
deep. (5+ feet deep in the creek bottoms where the trails cross the creeks)
The shallowest path that we found was 24 inches at the deepest point. This
shallow spot was about 1/4 mile upstream of the normal crossings.
http://www.wishicould.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=24
for pictures.
mile 12.0 to mile 12.5 rutted and slippery mud
At this point you are at mile .9 on the trail. Turn right to exit.
visit
http://www.wishicould.org/mappro/mapprow.html
for a map of the trail
If you want severe mud/water turn left at the fork. at mile 0.9
The river water level was 3 feet below the trail level at mile 7.
The river water level is slightly rising from the last time we were in there(0.08 inch rise according to the river guage 1/2 mile from the trail)
River level for Boeuf River
The mosquitoes were especially bad this year. I recommend a full can of repellant PER person. You will probably need to reapply repellant every hour or so.