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
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