Crozet, VA 04.10.2011
Trail Rides
Archive
Archive
NVJA Fall Crawl 2011
My first time at The Cove Campgrounds was an experience to remember! Â I headed out to Gore, VA to meet up with a group of Nova Jeepers to wheel the Fall Crawl off road weekend hosted by Big Dogs Offroad.
Archive
RCPFA Benefit Run 2011
This ride went by way too fast! I wish I could have spent both Saturday and Sunday wheeling but because of work I was only able to make it down on Sunday. 5am rolled around really quick and I didn’t have much time to make a cup of coffee and pack up my gear before heading out to Gainesville to meet up with the 29S crew. No one came. Rolled down to Crozet as a one Jeep convoy, arriving shortly after 8am. Turn out was really good! A good show from NVJA was there. The usual suspects from RCPFA were there as well. Some new faces turned up. We broke out into our respectable trail groups; I joined the Blues/Low Blacks group led by Rich and Hayden. We ran trails all morning including Boulder Byway, Heckler’s Hill, Vortex, and Slip & Slide. After lunch the two morning groups merged. We lost a couple of rigs due to breaks. After lunch everyone followed Scott and his dad as we made our way through more of the Black trails. A little body damage but no major incidences. For the first time I got to put rubber to rock at Poser Rock which was really cool, although I wasn’t daring enough to actually go over. Per tradition we rounded out the second half of the trails with a little Body Shop entertainment. And per usual there was a little carnage! Charles got winched out with some bumps and bruises but I imagine that won’t stop him from showing BS who’s boss the next time around. Chris put on a good show in the LJ, but I bet Heather’s view was more exciting than the rest of ours! Because I was called into work I had to leave quickly after Body Shop. Not only did I take the wrong route out of Crozet, but my Jeep started to over heat. After removing the thermostat and nursing the Jeep up the highway, I finally arrived home 5 hours later.
Archive
The Ramphog Memorial Charity Ride 2011
This past weekend Nova Jeepers honored one of its fellow Jeepers who past away recently with a trail ride through George Washington National Forest. Dave “Ramphog” Thrasher was a highly revered member of the Northern Virginia Jeep community. In his honor NVJA held a memorial charity ride to raise money for Summer’s (Dave’s daughter) college fund.
Early morning start at Starbucks in Leesburg at 6:30am. I met another Leesburg Jeeper, Dave, for some caffeine and then we headed south to Manassas to join the CaraJeep all the way down to Harrisonburg. A quick “Hello. Drivers Meeting. Lineup” and we were off. If you’ve never been to George Washington National Forest it truly is an amazing place.
The Forest this time of year is very lush and vibrant. All the precipitation this Spring left the trails very wet. All together the surroundings were amazing, the company was more than anyone could have asked for, and the experience was one I’ll never forget!
Click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
Archive
Crozet, VA 04.10.2011
The RCPFA had their open wheeling weekend this past Saturday and Sunday. I had planned on making it down both days, but Saturday my rear driveshaft was acting up and prevented us from making the trip down to Crozet. Spent all day Saturday getting things fixed and in order, so that we could wheel on Sunday. And we did!
The trails were still really wet from the rain over the previous couple of days, making everything slick and interesting. Hayden was great and did his best to navigate me through the obstacles, but my heavy foot and listening problems put me in a couple of predicaments.
I had a hard time all day gaining traction. Heckler’s Hill, although not that easy the last time we were at Crozet, really proved to be a challenge this past weekend. Ended up getting winched to the top and managed to take some body damage and loose my driver side mirror. Boulder Byway also was a different animal this time around due to the rain. I made it almost all of the way through but ultimately needed a tug to unpin my rear shock mount.
The early fog made for some very interesting pictures. The title shot of Charles and Bobby is probably my favorite. Our group had stopped so Hayden could walk us through Heckler’s Hill. Charles and Bobby dropped out of the fog a little further up the mountain heading towards us giving me an excellent opportunity to photograph the erie setting ourmorning trail riding took place in.
Crozet is one of my favorite places to wheel! And this season I plan on making it down there as often as possible. 2 trips down many more to go!
Click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
Archive
NVJA/RCPFA Winter Bash 2011
I officially became a member of NVJA (or Nova Jeepers) in January 2011. My first ride as a member was the NVJA/RCPFA Winter Bash 2011 trail ride down in Crozet, VA. The RCPFA collaborated with the Trail Rides Committee of NVJA to put together a joint ride at RCPFA’s home offroad park. It. was. a. Blast!
Our early morning began at 5:30am with a CaraJeep from Leesburg to Gainesville down to Crozet, VA. We arrived at Crozet around 8:30 and broke into groups according to trail difficulty. As this was my first time as a driver at Crozet I chose to run Lower Blue trails to get use to the park terrain. It took a little while to get over the jitters of meeting and wheeling with new people. But once the jitters were gone…the real fun began!
Our group consisted mostly of new JK owners ranging from completely stock to slightly modified.
Click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
Archive
Archive
Gettysburg, PA
December of 2008 a group of us from Leesburg took a road trip up to Gettysburg, PA to visit and wheel with Paul and Lyndsey’s cousins. A friend of theirs had some private land that we were able to play around on.
Click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
Archive
First time at Crozet
My first trip down to Crozet, VA to wheel I was Jeepless. Evan and Paul and spent the entirety of the winter months to finish up the Rusty’s lift on Paul’s Cherokee and decided that Crozet, home of the RCPFA, would be good ground for its inaugural run. My Jeep at the time was still stock and just wasn’t ready for Crozet. So I rode down with Evan as the designated photographer.
Crozet, Virginia is beautiful. The land that we wheeled on is privately owned and only open to the public certain days of throughout the year. Crozet is located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley just off of Route 64. The terrain is very hilly and wooded.
Click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
