GONZOOKIN 2005
Great Suzuki Event Held At a Premier Off-Road Park
Editor: Eric Bewley Story/Photo: Neil Tackett
HAZELTON, PA – Gonzookin is held each year at the Paragon Adventure Park. This year’s participants drove Suzuki vehicles in all states from bone stock to extremely modified. Known for it’s positive and supportive atmosphere, not even the rainy weekend could dampen the spirits of all who ventured to this great event.
In the following few short paragraphs, I’d like to tell you about my experience at this year’s event. More of a slide show than a story. I hope you enjoy the following pictures.
Here are my vehicles along the road to Gonzookin. I never realized how big my Tracker had gotten until I hitched it to my Grand Cherokee.
The staging area at Paragon Adventure Park. This is where we met up at the beginning of the day to separate into the different skill groups for the trail rides. There were all kinds of Suzuki 4×4’s there, from stock and modified Samurais to Trackers and even 4 doors and XL-7s.
Here is a highly modified Samurai working his way up one of Paragon’s Double-Black trails. The stocker group I rode with that day stopped for a break along the main road through the park right next to this trail, so we got to walk over and watch the rock crawling action.
The stocker group I was riding with winding it’s way through the woods. The trails were excellent and a lot of fun. The group I was with was also friendly and helpful to each other. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer group to ride with!
Here is the “101 Play Area” at Paragon Adventure Park. This is where people can pretty much do their own thing. Here I am driving my Tracker through a bowl that was made by bikes and quads. You had to keep the speed up or you risked falling onto your side!
This shot shows the exit of the bowl from pic 6. If you hit it just right, you’d pop into the air! I must have done this over a dozen times for the camera once I learned how to hit it. This has to qualify as the biggest air from a stocker-class entry!
My campsite at Suzuki Central, also known as the Red Ridge Campground. The campground was very nice, with showers and a pavilion and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
This is where the big cook out feast held at Suzuki Central on Saturday night. The food was plentiful and delicious and I’ve never seen a grill that big in person! There was a raffle held after dinner where people got to buy chances at all sorts of donated off-road stuff. I won an ARB gift certificate!
Sean DeVinney piloting Crusty The Tracker down a double-black trail on Sunday. Most people seemed to head out Sunday morning, but a small group of us went back over to Paragon for another ride. This time I got to drive some more intermediate trails, double blues with names like Chicken Run.
Here is Suzuki Central on Sunday afternoon. I was the last one to leave and I wish it didn’t have to end! I met a lot of new friends and even put faces to usernames that I already knew from ZUKIWORLD’s message boards.
The weekend was a great time. Even though it rained all day Friday and most of the night, the weather started cooperating on Saturday and stayed nice the rest of the weekend. The camaraderie shared with each other out on the trails just can’t be beat. Never before have I experienced such a positive atmosphere. Will I be attending next year’s Gonzookin? You don’t really have to ask…
