Allen Dickenson (me) and co-pilot Xuan - Falls Church, VA – ‘95 4Runner
Limited
Bill Miranda - Leesburg, VA - ‘90 4Runner SR5
Joe Russo - Burke, VA – ‘87 short bed Pickup
Andy “Just bob it!” Zook and co-pilot Jason - Lancaster, PA – bobbed
‘84 Extended cab Pickup
Ryan Bascom - Warrenton, VA – ‘87 4Runner
Bob Bascom - Warrenton, VA – ‘78 FJ-40
John Smith and co-pilot Laura - Washington, DC - ‘87 Pickup
Dale Roberts - Rockville, MD – ‘93 4Runner
Mike Pelland and co-pilots Fran and Ryan - Telford, PA – ‘94 X-cab
Pickup
Patrick J. Skelley and co-pilot Soren - Bedford, VA - ‘93 4Runner SR5
The Trail
The primary trails we hit on this trip were the Second Mountain trail
and Gauley Ridge. These trails are located approximately 15 miles
west of Harrisonburg, VA on Rt. 33. There is a sign marking the trailhead
for Second Mountain on the right on Rt. 33. The trails follow the
power line roads up the mountain at times, switching back and forth under
the lines. The trails are open year-round, but the main entrance
off of Rt. 33 runs up a gravel road that runs across private property and
the gate is sometimes closed, but it is rare. If the gate is closed
(it never has been when I’ve gone), there is another way into the trails
off of Rt. 612.
Friday, Oct. 9
I met up with Bill, Ryan, Bob and Dale at the Sheetz in Haymarket, VA and headed out for Harrisonburg at about 4:30. After a slight detour and a stop for dinner at a fine fast food establishment, we picked up John on the CB once we hit Harrisonburg, gassed up and headed to the Brandywine campground. We finally arrived at the campground at about 8:30.
Once at the campground we all set up camp and sat around the fire to
await the arrival of the others. The camp volunteer/host stopped
by and said hello (as he did several more times during the weekend).
He was much friendlier than the ranger from the Pine Barrens trip (no illegal
searches this time). He was about to close the gate at the front
of the campground, so we asked if it would be o.k. if we locked up for
him, seeing as we were expecting 2 more. He agreed and went back
to his spot to retire for the night. The first to arrive was Patrick
with his co-pilot, a 6 month-old German Shepherd named Soren. After
setting up his spot, Patrick joined the group by the fire. After
a while, John and Bob went down to close up the gate. As luck would
have it, before they even got back to the fire, a call came over my CB.
It was Mike and he was outside the now-locked gate! Ryan went down
to bring Mike, Fran and her son Ryan up to the camping area along with
all of their gear. After they got their tent set up, Bill informed
us that he may have a way to get Mike’s truck past the gate. Bill
generally carries just about everything in his truck, including all kinds
of medical supplies, several different knives, lots of tools and every
soundtrack known to man. <not completely legal stuff deleted>
Mike pulled his truck into the camping area. After swapping some
stories huddled around the fire, we all decided to go to bed and get some
sleep for the day ahead.
Saturday, Oct. 10
The plan was to meet at the campground at 10am and head to the trails, but the group still wasn’t complete (plus we were running late getting everything packed up and ready for wheelin’), so we waited around a little longer. At about 10:30, Joe pulled into the campground. Knowing that Andy was coming and he was coming from a long way away, we finished loading up the trucks and stuck around until about 11:30.
Everybody was itching to hit the trails, so we headed east on Rt. 33 (hoping to run into Andy on the way) over the mountain. We took a turn off the road to try a warm-up trail that loops through the woods, through some decent mud holes and crosses Dry River (which is aptly named as it hasn’t had much water in it for months) a couple of times. When we returned to the road, we all agreed that it was time for a little lunch, so we stopped at a small country store on Rt. 33 for some of their world-famous (o.k., so they just really hit the spot) country ham sandwiches before heading out to the trails.
After ascertaining that the gate was open on the front side of Second
Mountain, the group proceeded up the multi-bermed initial climb up the
trail. Shortly afterward we came to our first decent obstacle, a
mud hole followed by a large berm, then
another berm that drops off into another mud hole. I made it through
with some mild t-case skid plate and rear bumper rubbing. After pulling
up far enough to allow the other vehicles to park, I ran back to see Mike
high-centered on the first large berm, a victim of the pickup’s long wheelbase.
He was tugged backwards off the berm, but not to be discouraged, Mike took
another wack at it. A little more throttle, a better line and a slightly
rearranged rear bumper and Mike was past the obstacle. Everyone else
made it over with only minor rubbing, except for Bill, who wisely took
the bypass to keep the running boards intact (Bill did conquer the obstacle
on Day 2).
We continued on up the trail until we came to an open area under some
high-power lines. Having wheeled here several times before, a few
of us knew that we were at the top of two pretty nice hill climbs.
After Ryan parked his 4Runner and jumped in with Bob in the Cruiser, we
eased down the hills and up a short, off-camber climb to a spot where we
could all turn around and
head back to climb the hills. We all climbed the first hill with
little trouble. It’s a pretty steep hill with lots of loose gravel,
but is a pretty straightforward hill climb. Then came the more difficult
hill. I started up and got about half way before loosing traction
on the larger loose rocks on this hill climb when I spun a tire on either
axle (lockers are on the wish list). After backing down, I gave it
another go, spinning here and there but made it up to the top. John
decided to take the bypass on the left side due to the carb stalling out
on him twice on the first hill. Patrick was up next. He got
about half way up before his driver’s side front tire caught about 2 ½
ft. of air and he lost traction. After a few more tries and a couple
different lines, Patrick joined me on top of the hill. Bill, having
left his skid plate at home (but had just about everything else we ever
needed with him), took the hill on the slightly less dangerous left side.
Dale made a few valiant efforts at the hill, but decided that following
Bill’s line was best. The Cruiser was next. With its torquey
2F and short wheelbase, the Cruiser is made for hill climbing. Despite
a little bouncing and clawing with what basically amount to be 33 inch
racing slicks, Bob made it up on the first try. With his locked front
& rear Xtra cab, Mike made the hill look easy. Joe, with his
35’s and front locker likewise just walked up the hill. After we
had all 
crested
the hill, we forged on until we came upon the “articulation ramp”, a ramp
used for loading ATV’s onto pickups. A few photo ops later, we continued
on until we came to the intersection of Long Run Rd. and Gauley Ridge Rd.
We went straight through on Gauley Ridge Rd. A short way up we hung a right down a narrow trail. After stopping to pick up some firewood, we reached a few good stream crossings. Since it hasn’t rained hardly at all this past summer, the streams were almost completely dry, leaving behind a few neat rocky crossings. It was at this point that Mike earned the “Hard Core” award for the trip, choosing to follow the streambed instead of the trail for a short way. Mike did make it back to the trail, but not without first leaving a few paint and metal streaks on the rocks to mark his path. A little further down the trail we came to a very large tree that had fallen in our path. There was, however, a bypass by dropping down a rather steep 5 ft. embankment into the streambed and going around the tree before rejoining the trail. Mike was quick to jump out and help in the spotting, as he thankfully did all day. All made it down the bank and around, with the only real incident coming when Ryan smacked a small tree with his brush guard, straightening his bumper and doing no real damage in the process. Only Joe remained on the other side. With little trail and a good bit of daylight left, we decided to clear the tree off of the trail. Bob pulled out his chainsaw and went to work. When the tree finally snapped it trapped the chainsaw. Using 2 hi-lift jacks, we managed to lift the tree high enough to relieve the pressure on the saw and get it out. A few more cuts and we were ready to winch it. Joe and Mike rigged up a snatch block on another nearby tree and Joe used his winch to pull the tree off the trail. After putting everything up, we headed on out. After one more nice streambed rock-crawling opportunity, we hit the end of the trail. We then decided to stop by the country store and pick up some ice while a few of us aired back up. Before we left we saw a black Toyota Xtracab go by that seemed a bit shorter than normal. It was Andy! He turned around and stopped in to meet us before heading back into town to pick up some supplies.
After saying goodbye to Patrick and Joe, we headed back to the campground
and started the fire back up. After everyone had eaten dinner we
all gathered around the fire to swap stories, roast marshmallows, discuss
tech stuff (truck and computer) and enjoy some brews. Slowly but
surely the group broke up and headed to bed, tired from a long day of wheelin’
and anxious to crawl into a warm sleeping bag to hide from the cold night
air.
Sunday, Oct. 11
It was another chilly morning, so crawling out of the warmth of the
4Runner wasn’t easy. Gradually everyone woke up and cooked breakfast.
When it became obvious that it would be a while before the group was ready
to head back out to the trails, Mike and his crew decided that they should
begin their long trek home. We decided to try and find a trail marked
on our topo maps named Dictum Ridge. A few of us had heard that the
trail offered some pretty difficult wheeling over some sizable rocks.
We thought we’d give it a shot and headed out back over the mountain into
Virginia.
First though, it was picture time. We drove to a beautiful mountain
lake (Switzer Lake, I think) and took a group shot of the trucks parked
on a small dam next to the lake. We watched Andy play in the mud
a bit, grabbing some air at times and then headed towards the trails.
After making a wrong turn down a small trail to the left, we came to a dead end by a part of Dry River that actually contained somewhat deep running water. We decided to stop for lunch and watch Andy play in the river a bit. After nearly dumping his truck on its side into a rather deep part of the river, he decided to back up and come back onto dry land. We finished up lunch and resumed our search for Dictum Ridge.
Back on the road, we found what ended up being the correct trail. Bill bravely volunteered to head up and check it out to make sure the trail was open. Once he had called back several times how “scary steep” the trail was, we couldn’t resist and followed him up. The trail was indeed very steep and looked to give us a good challenge. I caught up with Bill about a half mile up the trail when we found a section of rather large rocks blocking the trail. After determining that Andy’s was the only remaining rig set up to handle the obstacle blocking the trail, we turned around and thought it best to just hit the front side of Second Mountain again.
Again we arrived at the first real obstacle on Second Mountain, the double-berm with mud on either sides. After finishing the obstacle, I pulled forward and ran back to see the others cross it. Andy had already passed it before I could get back. Ryan suffered the only damage on the day coming over the second berm when he ripped off a rear rock light when the bumper came down on it (guess he should just bob it, eh Andy? :-) ). Bill decided he was ready to tackle the berms and actually did very well, dragging his rear hitch and only whimpering once or twice. :-)
We again came to the hill climbs. Ryan, followed the trail on
up to the left to take an observatory position. The first hill was
again no problem for anyone. The second hill gave me a few more problems
this time, but I eventually made it up. I parked my truck and again
ran back just in time to see Andy cresting the hill. The Cruiser
again had only slight problems, but crawled right up the hill. Bill,
John and Dale took the bypass up the left side. After some truck
posing on a large rock on top of the hill, the group continued on.
We stopped for a group photo on some rocks with a fantastic mountain
range backdrop, before continuing on to the “articulation ramp”.
Andy backed his truck up and maxed the ramp backward in a very nice display
of articulation. After a few more pictures, we moved on.
We decided that it was time to call it a weekend, so we headed down Long Run Rd. (a name well earned as Ryan pointed out) and back to the Shell station in town where we said our good-byes and parted ways. It was a great weekend with some good 4-wheeling and a terrific group of folks. I, for one, had a LOT of fun and I’m really looking forward to the next trip on the weekend of Oct. 30 – Nov. 1.
If anyone has any questions about the trails, feel free to contact me
at fort.knox@verizon.net.
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