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offroad-list Digest Mon, 22 May 2000 Volume: 2000 Issue: 067

In This Issue:
Second Annual Xpedition Expedition - Trip Report

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From: BLUESKY636 aol.com
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 23:16:05 EDT
Subject: Second Annual Xpedition Expedition - Trip Report

Well, the Second Annual Xpedition Expedition started off with a bang as a
major thunderstorm rolled through the Harrisonburg Virginia/George Washington
National Forest on Friday, May 19. The entire area was drenched with
torrential rain with accompanying thunder and lightening. In fact, when Deb,
the Pups and I arrived at the Sheraton 4-Point, the power went out knocking
out all of the computers just as we were trying to check in. Things were
looking pretty bleak.

Anyway, I got set up by the pool to check the participants in as they arrived
and to show off all of the great raffle prizes and hats that were available.
Several people stayed to swap stories about fourwheeling until the pool
closed for the night.

Saturday morning arrived warm with a slightly overcast sky. At the driver's
meeting, the "rules of the road" and schedule for the day were reviewed.
Everyone was pumped for the day's action. At precisely 9:30 AM (well,
almost), 17 Ford Expeditions lined up in the hotel parking lot and began the

journey through Harrisonburg to the trails. I led group "A" which consisted
of three other Expeditions whose driver's all had previous fourwheeling
experience. We headed to Old Long Run Road and Second Mountain. Mike Wolfe
and Tom Cody led group "B" to Dunkle Hollow Road/Flagpole Knob/Stone Camp
Road.

When group "A" arrived at Old Long Run Road, we proceeded to tackle the first
obstacle: a short, steep, off-camber rocky hill. We went down first to show
everyone how it is done. The rocks were quite slippery and wet because of the
rain from Friday. As the rocks rolled around, the tires would slip off of
them into little potholes before climbing up the next rock. We made it down
with no problem and waved the remaining trucks down. Everyone was quite
excited as they crawled down the slope. The rocks would move and the trucks
would slide as much as they would roll. Once down, we had to get back up,
which is actually the harder task. You had to apply steady throttle pressure
to keep your momentum up. If you backed off, the rocks would roll and the
tires would slip off into the potholes. Neal from Oklahoma was the only one
to have problems on the way back up. He is used to driving over dry,
irregularly shaped rocks in Oklahoma as opposed to the rounded and wet rocks
typical of this trail. It took him a few tries, but he finally made it up the
slope to the cheers and applause of the others.

The rest of Old Long Run Road crosses over Long Run several times. The
crossings are all very rocky with some steep entrances and exits to the
stream bed. Some of the slopes pitch the Expedition's nose or tail high in
the air and will actually lift a wheel off of the ground by several inches.
One of the crossings leads to an uphill rocky crawl with the road bed filled
with basketball and larger sized rocks. Careful wheel placement is required.
You have to climb up over two rocks with the left and right wheels. If you
slip off of the rocks, the tires will fall into a rut and you risk losing the
bead as the rocks press against them. Neal had a few problems here too as he
couldn't quite get his tires lined up right to climb the rocks. It took
several tries and the rearrangement of a few rocks, but we finally got him up
and over the section.

Further on down the trail was a fallen tree that stuck part way out into the
trail on the left. On the right was a standing tree. The Expeditions had to
be squeezed between these two trees with only a few inches to spare on either
side. Go too close on the left and you risked ripping a sidewall. Too close
on the right, and you creased a fender or door. As we passed between the
trees, Deb was watching the passenger side as I watched the driver's side. We....

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