08:2000 :: Camp Jeep 2000 —

The Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, are pretty breathtaking in their own right... but throw in a 3-day gather with a few hundred Jeepers, all of which are puttering about the trails, and you have something truly special.

Camp registration filled up before I could get a spot for my Jeep, but Scott let me sit shotgun on his trail-ride which gave me an opportunity to shoot some video. As you can see, I have included some of the stills pulled off that tape.

Our trail-ride started at 7am and lasted for 3 hours or so; it began with a short ride to the trail head (1) following this guy in his brand new yellow Wrangler.

Once on the trail (2), we shimmied up this winding path... then everything stopped. It seemed like forever, but soon we had an idea of what was ahead of us... I nice slide down a hill into a creekbed, then a shot back up the other side (3 & 4).

I think the guy in the blue CJ (5) was from New York... after his first failed attempt, he gunned it up and over the ridge — catching a little air to the excitement of the growing crowd of people who already crossed over. One guy from New Jersey couldn't get up on to the other side, so we tied him up to the Jeep that crossed before him and yanked his bitch-ass on up. Turned out his transfer case linkage was busted, and he wasn't in four wheel drive — the trail guide was able to crawl underneath and set his transfercase manually with a nice kick of the boot.

After everyone finally crossed over, we traveled around some more (6), up and down hills, crossing over logs and stumps; then pausing while we change a flat some girl picked up halfway to the next creek crossing. At this time many of us took time for a snack and introduce ourselves to the people infront of and behind use... and to answered natures call.

The last hill was turned out to be steeper than any of the pictures seemed to convey, but let me assure you that it was pretty damn steep. I ended up riding ahead with the yellow-Jeep guy to get footage of Scott rolling down the hill (7) and wading through the muddy water (8) to the other side. After this crossing, it was a just a short ride back to the trail head where we said goodbyes, then headed home for a nice hot shower.

The next day we headed back to the Jeep Village to visit some of the exhibit, demonstration and provision tents they had set up for everyone. But, I guess a tent that talks about Jeep stuff just didn't compare to the trail ride... so we cut our trip short and headed back to NoVa. I am thinking a Jabmoree is my next trip.

If you are interested in Jeep events, check out The Jeep Community.