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14 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Valley Forge Trail Riders Valley Forge Trail Riders 50th Anniversary Moonshine Enduro 50th Anniversary Moonshine Enduro History Repeats Itself! History Repeats Itself! By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart Those who've yet to discover riding dirt in the state of Pennsylvania, I've got to tell you, it's flat-out gorgeous. With seemingly endless picturesque hills and valleys, it's a mecca for woods riding and the people are about as down to earth as it gets. It's been a few years since I've done any riding in PA, and with an invite from my AHRMA race buddy Glenn Hershey, I hit the road for Fern Glen, Penn- sylvania, for the 50 th anniversary of the Moonshine Enduro. Hosted by Valley Forge Trail Riders, an AMA-char- tered East Coast Enduro Associa on club, VFTR pulled out all the stops with an en rely new lo- ca on for the 50 th anniversary of the Moonshine Enduro. Interes ngly enough, 50 years later, the loca on and amount of work required to host the 50 th were eerily similar to the loca on and efforts involved in hos ng the very first Moonshine En- duro! As an ECEA club, each club is obligated to either put on an Enduro or provide significant assistance in pu ng on another ECEA club's Enduro. In 1973, VFTR met this obliga on by assis ng RORR with their Enduro, back when it started in Port Clinton and featured a crossing of the Li le Schuylkill River. The decision was made to host their own event in 1974, but being a club based in suburban Phila- delphia, where? They needed a lot of ground and minimal landowners. Someone men oned that there was good riding (although quite illegal) at the Indiantown Gap Military Reserva on (IGMR) north of Lebanon. In the fall of 1973, VFTR made its first presenta on to the IGMR base Command- er. Approval was given in May of 1974. The bad news was that VFTR was now on the ECEA sched- ule for a 100-mile enduro in a riding area that none of the members was familiar with! Club members were provided with quadrant maps of IGMR and permission to do "recon" work during the winter months. At each visit, members were required to first check in with the Range Control office. IGMR was an ac ve Na onal Guard training base with ac ve small arms ranges and an ar llery "impact area" that was strictly off-limits for obvious reasons! During the winter of 73/74, the club spent many weekends up at IGMR, at first simply using the quadrant maps to "decontrol" the area… to find out what trails, jeep roads, tank roads, etc. were there. Then, in the spring, they pieced together the course layout with 100 true ground miles, which ran from Ma-