Having done all of my Jeeping and romping west of the Mississippi, I didn’t know what to expect at the 13th annual Penn Woods Jeep Jamboree (in Bradford, Pennsylvania). This event had great people, good organization, lots of rocks, and a giant bucket full of mud.
[Not a valid template]Day one (of two) started beautifully with bright sunshine and an enthusiastic group of Jamboree trail bosses ready to help us get lined up and checked in (if you made it in late the night before like we did).
We ran the yellow trail (4-5 trail rating) the first day with trail bosses Blaine, Donna, and Roy. Blaine works as a forester and helps conserve the lease land through which we were fortunate enough to romp. He knew his way around well and even stopped us for a brief lecture on logging (Sugar Maple and Black Cherry), forestry, and conservation. The logger he spoke with mentioned the reintroduction of the Fisher (omnivorous weasel looking fella – just loves to eat porcupines). We didn’t get to see any but the logger had earlier in the day.
On this trail, we had everything from the maxed out Jamboree vehicle (37″ tires, 5″ lift) to stocker TJs and JKs.
Favorite Vehicle – Day 1:
Steve and Marie Tarbox’s 1972 CJ5 – Mostly stock with the 304 (8 cylinder). Check out Steve having fun in this video – which is all I saw him doing that day:
Ours was a JK Rubicon Unlimited with a Powerplant winch from Warn and a 1″ Teraflex leveling kit. This trail, with its deep long mud, as well as many stumps and rocks, challenged our vehicle and we used one of about 12 straps brought out during the day. Towards the end of the trail we traversed a long mud run (about a mile) and, while I had derisively referred to the stocker JK Unlimiteds with passenger tires in front of us earlier in the day, those were the same guys who gave us a pull when we high centered in the mud. Ha!