Well, for those of you who are interested . . .
George Washington National Forest is gorgeous!! This wasn't a surprise to me, but our weekend did NOT go as planned. One of my Jeeper buddies wimped out. Jeeper guys . . . I planned for some rain, but I did NOT plan for the torrential downpour that fell on our heads Friday night. We also met a few bears who took their time checking out our campsite during the night.
We stayed at the Brandywine Recreation Center and it surpassed my every expectation. Beautiful, clean, private, and spacious! There is a small beach on a lake and nearby hiking to a picturesque overlook. Highly recommended!!
[MENTION=97032]hearno[/MENTION] We never got to do the Flagpole because we ran into many road closures and because of our time table we could not reroute to hit the starting point. Will go back and report my progress though!!
My one friend who was willing to join us despite the inclement weather wanted to do more than drive around on gravel. GWNF is gorgeous, but I was itching to get back in the mud myself, to be honest. My good friend [MENTION=97856]Salman[/MENTION] was willing to trek out to the Cove to join us so that is what we did. I learned Wednesday evening that there was a Big Dog event at the Cove all weekend so we decided to join them on Sunday.
NOTE: Willis, the office manager at the Cove, vehemently stressed that NO OFFROADING was allowed without being part of an organized event. I have heard mixed reports, but I don't like pissing people off so we paid the fee and joined the Big Dogs. John (Big Dog event coordinator) gave us a break on the event price so that was cool.
We found a perfect site large enough to accommodate at least 6 vehicles and it was perfect for our group. Camp VII site 7 for those who are interested. Its quiet, remote, and right on the lake.
I attended the Big Dogs Ice Breaker in the early spring and was severely dissapointed. Full Writeup here:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/off-roading/193322-ice-breaker-winchester-va-4-24-4-26-15-a.html I am happy to report that we rolled with a legitimate trail guide who knew exactly what he was doing. Salman and I were stock so he led us through trails that would not damage us too badly. He and the other Level VI Jeeps would break off from us and meet us again. His knowledge of the trails and terrain was very impressive and I felt that my money was well spent during this event.
Salman bent his running boards up pretty good, but I think he had a good time. I stopped short to avoid hitting my spotter and the suspension travel swung my Driver Rear tail light into a tree. Other than that, we are all good!! No CEL. No weird noises. Another fun weekend in the mud and woods. I'm trying to clean up all of my footage and I hope to poste a video later this week. Will attach if anyone is interested to see it.
arty
