I recently went up to UFWDA's Annual Wheel In event held at Oak Ridge, VA. For those who don't know, it is (was??) the site of Camp Jeep. I went up on Thursday late morning, wheeled Friday and 1/2 day Saturday and came home late that night.

I got up to the Crabtree Falls Campground Thursday afternoon, checked in and towed my CJ over to the staging area for the wheel in. I dropped off my jeep, got it ready for Friday and checked in. Met a bunch of great folks this weekend. I met a gentleman by the name of Galen, who Richard knows.

Friday morning I woke to about 2 inches of snow. Got over to the staging area. Some great folks I camped with saved me a space in line. Steve and Mark were our guides for the day. I can't say enough about them.  Both of them had XJ's. the group had mostly TJ's, with a few new JK's, I think 2 YJ's and my only CJ.  we took off and wheeled pretty much the whole day, without much incident. the trails were slippery, causing a 4dr JK to get his front fender taken off. He hit a few trees that day. Some of the trails had more difficult bypasses and all were accomplished. CJ-5 hill was conquered by all, all going up on their own power. no cable was pulled. funny thing is, they say when it's dry, only about half the folks make it up. My only "issue" of the day is when my fuel pump had issues...the issue was that it had no fuel to pump...the damn gauge started giving me issues, and I thought I had about a quarter of a tank left...nope...empty..!! damn!!....well, we were at our last obstacle and someone drove me down some gas and I got home just fine. it was basically raining on and off by then and I was looking for some warm food and dry clothes. I was the only one without a full top..( that was added to my list of to do's..)

Saturday was more of the same. I rode with the same group. Most of the group was from Norfolk, VA and their club was Middle Peninsula Jeep Assn...they were a fun bunch of folks!! we only did 1 trail in the morning, as the trails were slick as snot!  We got to play on some rocks for a while. I tried 3 times to get up that rock, and my rear diff was hanging up. Rather than spend all day there ( I was the last in the group), I just pulled cable and away we went. we went about 100 yards and stopped. A TJ hit a tree pretty good, breaking the radiator, causing a leak. it buckled her fender, hood and bumper pretty good. We got her patched up and took off. I had a guy by the name of Erik running with me, and he was one of the vendors who came. ( there were a bunch of vendors scheduled, but with the economy, most backed out.) it was good to see some vendors there. Erik's shop is out of Pa. We left the trail after that and headed back to the staging area. the TJ and her husband followed me out.

They served some awesome BBQ from a place in Richmond VA. it was great!  All in all, it was a awesome trip and I'm making plans on attending again next year. I also met some folks from Pa who run the Pa All Jeeps meet in York Pa. all the magazines run articles about it and from what I hear, it's even better in person...

If you're looking for some good wheeling (I'd say moderate trails...worse when wet). Oak Ridge is a place to go. with mostly TJ's, JK's present, with a few others, it was pretty well represented. most jeeps had 33-35in tires, so it was a good fit.  Thanks - Brian