OK, 600 Acres is an area of land that is owned by the Iowa Corps of Engineers. It is the area that floods every year when they flood Lake McBride. The terrain is sand, silt and dirt. Hardly any rocks. It has been around since the lake was formed and was originally used by ATV and bikes till some trucks found it. This place is completely free to run on. The only rules are you must be out by dusk and you clean up after yourself.
On a rating scale of 1 - 5, I would rate the trails a 1 or 2, but if it is wet, that goes up to 2 - 3. There are some climbs down by the lake that can be anywhere from 2 - 5.
I am hosting the run, in association with the clubs I frequent... Rough Rangers OffRoad Club, Explorer4x4.com, Ford Truck World and OffRoad World. Right not there are 4 confirmed from the RRORC, 2 from the Explorer4x4, 2 from OffRoad World and 1 from Ford Truck World. This is a multi make/model run, no one is turned away... so far we have Ford, Chevy, Dodge and maybe one Subaru coming. The last time we did an open run like this we had Ford, Chevy and Dodge guys all running together and having a great time.
There are two meeting places setup right now, the first is the gas station right off the Shueyville exit(the exit you take off of 380) and or the parking lot at 600 Acres. The time we have setup is 8am, but I will hang out at the gas station till about 9am if people are late and will be in my Explorer with the trailer attached. We usually run till about 11 or 12 and take a 1 or 2 hour lunch in Solon then hit the trails again till dusk.
The best place for hotels would be in Cedar Rapids. There are a bunch of hotels and motels around the Hawkey Downs raceway which is only 15 min from the park. I don't think anyone will want to camp, but there is a camping area on Lake McBride.
If you are local or within 2 - 3 hours it is a nice place to play, but I wouldn't drive 5 - 6 hours.
Here is a link to my webshots where you can see pictures from out various runs out there...
Web Shots I have run both my Explorer and my Bronco II here and have seen everything from a stock Geo Metro to a Military Humvee playing out there.
My family has a farm 30 min from the park and I have access to both tools and to transportation in case of any emergency.