Carolina Adventure World (CAW) is located approximately 1 hour south of Charlotte, NC in Winnsboro, South Carolina. Access to CAW is easy just off of I-77 and a couple of other paved roads. There's a great theme park atmosphere at this place. They regularly have live bands and special events. It is also been reported that several ATV/UTV manufacturers use this location to test their equipment.

As we rolled into the facility we were greeted by an employee at a gated guard shack. She came out with her ipad and checked us in quickly (we did pre-register and filled out our waivers online). We were given an wrist band to wear and maps of the trail system. After the gate was opened we quickly discovered how huge the parking lot area was at CAW. Then we drove past the live band stage and could only imagine how crowded CAW would be in the summer or during events.

There's two gas and food places just off the I-77 exit but CAW has the only lodging (campground & cabins) in the immediate area. We did a day trip this time so we can't give a fair review of the cabins. The campground area looks good... clean and close to the main building with bathrooms & showers.

On to the trails...

CAW has very well-marked trails. We read some reviews that seemed to indicate otherwise, but we saw trail markers about every 50-100 feet on all the trails we rode. There are also a lot of Service Roads (marked by SR) but you are allowed to ride on the service roads. CAW also uses the standard Green (easy) Blue (medium) and Black (Most difficult) color coding. A lot of the trails are one-way which is a good safety feature and makes for a less stressful ride.

We started off on a blue trail and was having a good ride until we came upon a pretty tricky rock climb. It seems the CAW "blue" trails are more difficult than many other trail systems. We also encountered 2 fallen pine trees across the trail that we had to move. Most of the trails wind through areas of pine trees which is a good atmosphere but as most people know pine trees do not have a good roots and fall a lot in wet, windy weather.

Okay with the trees out of our way we started doing what we do, RIDE! We quickly went across the "big bridge" (very cool). The Carolinas have mostly red clay dirt which makes for a very sticky surface. Yea, sticky mud is fun to ride through (check out our video). We also hit some deeper mud areas, including a mud pond that was a blast.

CAW also has a mud bog area and a drag strip area for ATV/UTVs. Unfortunately these areas were closed when we visited. CAW also has a GREAT wash area with many stations to clean out your ride and/or your radiator. Nice!

We did ride almost all the trails in under 4 hours so it would be nice if CAW could expand their trail system but we really did have a great day at Carolina Adventure World and plan to visit again soon.

Our Scoring (out of a possible 100)is as follows:
Trails: 92
Mud: 98
Scenic: 88
Facilities: 97
Access to Lodging: 98
Access to Food/Gas: 93
Average Overall Score= 94

REVIEW BY: Trail Riders Life Crew