The obstacles rise out of the southern Johnson County landscape in a series of physical challenges.
Each offers a different kind of test — scrambling up the cargo net climb, hurdling the wall, running knee-highs through a maze of tires, marching up to be king of the hill.
When the Gatling Gauntlet was created by county tourism officials, it was envisioned as a thrill-seekers paradise inside Johnson County Park.
But anyone heading to the park to test their mettle will find each obstacle wrapped in yellow caution tape with “No Trespassing” signs attached.
Since late fall 2022, the Gatling Gauntlet has been unused, stuck in limbo. The county park’s insurance company decided the course posed too great a risk, and refused to insure it, said Kenneth Kosky, executive director of Festival County Indiana, the county’s tourism organization.
Officials are hoping to work with state legislators to change existing laws to allow obstacle courses such as the Gatling Gauntlet to be looked at like other activities with increased risk, such as horseback riding or equestrian events.
“People who participate in these activities know it’s not like taking a walk in the park,” Kosky said. “You’re climbing obstacles and doing fun challenging things. If it could receive that same classification, it would be as easy to insure as the equestrian activities.”
The Gatling Gauntlet had been a vision of Festival Country Indiana since 2017. The goal was to create an attraction to bring people to Johnson County Park, a hidden gem in the southern part of the county that was being under-utilized.
Kosky worked with Festival County board member Brian Alvey, a veteran and founder of The Warrior 110 nonprofit, to test out other obstacle courses in the Midwest. Using Alvey’s military experience, they worked to design a course that would be challenging and unique to Johnson County. Obstacles such as hurdles, a stone lift, a tire course, rope swing, balance beam and a climbing wall were all included.
Construction of the course cost about $100,000. Festival Country designed the course and paid for construction, branding and marketing, while the county provided land for the course and was in charge of ongoing maintenance.
With its military-style obstacles, and because the course is basically across the street from Camp Atterbury, organizers opted for a name paying homage to that tradition: the Gatling Gauntlet. The Gatling gun was the world’s first machine gun, which is an 1861 invention that was operated via hand crank and was towed around the battlefield on wheels.
Work started on the course in September 2021, and it opened to the public in the summer of 2022. For about six months, it achieved what organizers had pictured — it brought people of all kinds to Johnson County Park who otherwise might not have come.
But in late 2022, officials were blindsided by the county’s insurance company, Travelers Insurance.
“It had been cleared by the insurance company, just like any other park amenity, and had operated without incident. Then, the insurance company reviewed it and determined it was unlike anything else they insured,” Kosky said. “They required it be shut down while they evaluated it.”
Ever since, Kosky and other county officials have been going back and forth with the insurance company. The park administration completed a risk assessment on the obstacle course, and offered to modify any particular obstacle that gives the insurers pause.
So far, nothing has changed the course’s status.
“That process has been ongoing, and hasn’t resulted in the insurance company being willing to insure it so it can reopen,” Kosky said.
The next step is to work with legislators on a law that would allow obstacle courses to fall into the same category as equestrian facilities, similar to the one at the Hoosier Horse Park inside the Johnson County Park.
“It’s understood if you participate in equestrian activities, it’s understood that there is inherent risk of injury,” Kosky said. “So the park is protected under Indiana law. We’re basically looking for state law to include obstacle courses in that same light.”
While the process plays out, the caution tape and “No Trespassing” signs will remain in place. But officials hope to have the situation resolved soon.
“It’s looking unlikely that it will be able to open this year, but the goal would be to make progress from a state standpoint and be able to reopen next year,” Kosky said.
