I had been watching the weather report for the last week prior to the XE4 with some trepidation. Rain and cool weather was predicted for the mountains around Harrisonburg, Virginia. While this would make for nice, muddy conditions on the fourwheel drive trails in the George Washington National Forest, it also had the possibility of putting a damper on outdoor activities such as hiking, picnicking, etc. As it turned out, the weather provided an interesting mix but failed to dampen the enthusiasm of everyone participating in the XE4.

Friday night and Saturday morning saw Harrisonburg invaded by a record setting 30 Ford Expeditions including 3, 2003 Expeditions entered by Ford Motor Company from Dearborn, Michigan. We had a crowd of about 90 participants hit the road and trails around Harrisonburg.

On Friday night we had set everything up in the Sheraton 4-Point lobby. We had a table display with all of our raffle/door prizes on display (Most donated by Ted Britt Ford of Fairfax, Virginia, plus some donated by various participants. Thanks to all.) and our XE4 commemorative ball caps (also donated by Ted Britt Ford). Mike Wolfe had set up an A/V display showing scenes from last years Xpedition Expedition as well as from our pre-run of the trails and Skyline Drive. This gave everyone a chance to see what they were going to be getting in to over the next two days. Tom Cody provided mini-posters and brochures explaining the next two days activities for everyone to take home. We hung around the lobby having a party until 10:30 PM when most everyone headed off to sleep or one of the local night spots.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy, damp, and quite chilly with a stiff breeze blowing. At least it had stopped raining during the night! After checking in a few late arrivals, we held our drivers meeting at 9:00 AM in the hotel parking lot. There we went over the trails/roads we were going to run as well as the "rules of the road." By 9:15 AM we started lining up the trucks and people by groups: Group A (12 trucks) and B (12 trucks) ran the fourwheel drive trails in the George Washington National Forest while Group C (6 trucks) ran the Skyline Drive pavement Cruze. Each group included a 2003 Expedition and their Ford driver/co-driver. By 9:45 AM, everyone was off and headed to the hills.

Mike Wolfe led Group A, Tom Cody led Group B, and I led Group C on the Skyline Drive Cruze. I'll let Tom and Mike tell their stories about their trips themselves. But judging by the amount of mud plastered all over each truck when they returned Saturday night, I'd say that everyone had a great time!

Group C on Skyline Drive had a great time too. But we also had it tough. We faced high winds all along the Drive, heavy, patchy fog which limited the visibility on the road quite a lot, and temperatures of about 38 degrees F. We also had to deal with on coming traffic and the constant danger of bears or deer leaping out in front of us. In fact, it was so cold and windy on the Drive, we decided to eat lunch at the Skyland restaurant instead of in our cars like the fourwheelers did. I tell you, it was rough. Stopping at overlooks to take pictures or walk the Pups was quite a challenge with the wind and cold. I'm surprised we didn't have snow! OK. I know the fourwheelers had to face similar conditions, plus mud and rocks, but we had it rough, too. Honest. Really. The sun finally did come out after a while, though.

We also had the opportunity to drive the 2003 Expedition in our group. Deb and I were very impressed with how well it rode and handled the twisties of Skyline Drive. It was also very quiet and comfortable. The audio system sounded really good and the onboard navigation system looked cool, but we didn't want to mess with it and screw up any trip plans the Ford folks had programmed into it. We chuckled to ourselves as we drove it because the Ford folks were forced to drive our TRUCK with the Pups in the back seat. Well, it seemed like a fair trade at the time.

We finally arrived back at the hotel around 5:00 PM. Group A had already returned and Group B arrived shortly thereafter. This gave everyone about 2 hours to get cleaned up and relaxed before dinner started at 7:30.

Sunday morning everyone woke up to a bright, sunny, and slightly warmer day. Perfect driving weather on road or off. For Sunday, I led Group A on the fourwheeling trails while Mike Wolfe led Group C, and Tom continued with Group B. Group A (with 1, 2003) went to the Dry River trails and Kephart Run, Group B ran Old Long Run Road, and Group C (with the other 2, 2003s) went to the top of Reddish **** (great 360 degree view) and Seneca Rocks in West Virginia.

The Dry River crossing was a blast with water up to the running boards. The Dry River trails were muddy as expected. These trails are very tight and narrow with a number of low hanging branches. One quickly learns just how narrow (or wide) a space you can squeeze an Expedition through before ripping off the mirrors! Jack Lawson (Ford) had an absolute blast running through the mud holes in the 2003. There are also several deep little gullies with off-camber spots to catch you up if you are not paying attention. Needless to say, there was a lot of bumper and trailer hitch dragging on this trail.

It was also on the Dry River trails that we succeeded in high centering one of the 2003s. We had crossed the Dry River for the second and last time, when Jack Lawson decided to take the difficult exit from the river. Just before he got to the river bank, the truck rolled over a large boulder which lifted the wheels off the ground. It was nearly impossible to gain traction with all of the rocks rolling around under the truck in the river. Also, the large boulder kept rolling back and forth under the truck, finally wedging itself under the spare tire. At that point, we decided to strap the 2003 up the bank rather than risk damage to it (somehow the boulder managed to dent the fuel tank rendering the gas tank float and fuel gauge inoperative). We hooked the ****** straps to the front tow hooks of the 2003 and one of the "older" Expeditions pulled it free and up the bank to the cheers and applause of the other participants. We had managed to get one of the new Expeditions royally stuck! Jack was a great sport about it and took all of our ribbing in stride.

From there, Group A headed over to Kephart Run. Kephart has several very rocky stream crossings culminating in a rock waterfall climb at the end of the trail. It also runs along the edge of Kephart Run for quite a ways with a very steep drop off to the stream along side the narrow trail. It can be a little unnerving at some of the tighter spots. Several spots along the trail require the aid of a good spotter. Kevin Yost from Virginia handled those duties with finesse.

At the last stream crossing before the Waterfall, Jason McWhirter decided to take the bypass instead of the main route. As it turns out for an Expedition, the bypass is the harder of the two routes. It puts you seriously off camber, leaning the right side of the truck precariously close to a good size tree as the tires try to grab traction on the rutted, rocky trail. After several tries, we finally managed to get him around the bypass without mangling the side of the truck on the tree. Everyone else wisely decided to take the main route, even though it required crawling over several large boulders.

This finally brought us to the Waterfall. The Waterfall is a large slab of rock that climbs out of the stream at about a 35 degree angle and continues the trail to higher ground and a dead end turn around. The rock has several drop off that if the tires aren't placed just right, would result in the truck falling off the rock and probably mangling the underside of the truck. You then have to squeeze between a very large boulder and tree at the top of the rock. In an Expedition, you only have about 2 inches to spare on either side before you must make a hard right to avoid another boulder. The rock Waterfall had deteriorated to such a point that we had to stack rocks in several places to keep the tires from falling into deep holes between rocks. Some people may say that stacking rocks is cheating, but believe me, it did not make the climb much easier, just a little safer if you took a miss step with a tire. In the end, only myself (with Deb and the Pups in the truck) and Jason McWhirter made it to the top of the Waterfall. Everyone else took a pass.

After this, it was time to crawl back out Kephart Run and head back to the hotel. There we met some of the remaining folks from Groups B and C. After chatting with everyone for a while, we said our good-byes and headed home. The McWhirters, Yosts and us stopped in New Market for dinner. We finally got home around 10:00 PM Sunday night, exhausted but happy. The Pups slept the entire way home in the back seat of our truck.

In summary, the XE4 was a huge success thanks to all who helped out and participated. The presence of the 3, 2003s from Ford made for a special treat as we got to experience the new trucks on and off road. Many thanks to Ford for coming down to the XE4. Special thanks also go to Mike Wolfe and Tom Cody for the effort they put into helping run the event. Finally thanks and congratulations to all of the participants who braved unsettling weather to make the trek to the XE4. From our raffle and hat sales we collected over $400 that will be donated to the Blue Ribbon Coalition to help in keeping open public access to our public lands.

Remember to keep the shiny side up whether on pavement or off road. Hope to see a lot of you and some new faces again.

Bill Haegele
Founder, The Xpedition Expedition
http://www.xpeditionexpedition.org

 

Trip report courtesy of Mike Wolfe, XE4 trail leader.

Well, it's been almost a week since the end of the Fourth Annual Xpedition Expedition. Since last weekend, we've received nearly 1,000 pictures from about 10 different people.

All the pictures (minus the really fuzzy ones) have been put into albums by trail, and are now available on the XE4 web site:

http://www.xpeditionexpedition.org/4axe

If you haven't gotten around to it yet, it's not too late to have your pictures put on the site. If you're not sure how to get them to us, send an e-mail to:

pictures@xpeditionexpedition.org

I can say that this was the best year yet for the Xpedition Expedition... even though the weather was a little damp and chilly.

Leading Group A on Saturday was tons of fun. I was a little nervous when the day started with Ryan breaking his suspension on the big hill at the beginning of Stone Camp Road. But, as it turned out, the rest of morning's ride up to Meadow **** was trouble-free. Kudos to everyone for making it to the top with nearly zero spotting required!!

The first big hill going up Stone Camp is getting a little worse every year. But, everybody made it to the top without a scratch! Ok, well the 2003 caught its transmission crossmember on a rock, but that doesn't count (you can't see it). It didn't seem as though the independent rear suspension was as much of a detriment as was the significantly lower ride-height.

On up the trail, right near the actual Stone Camp, was where a few of us really had some fun. There's little side trail that loops off of, then back onto the main trail, but not before dumping down a 2-foot high, stepped rock ledge. As we approached the side trail, a group of Scout owners were just finishing-up playing on the rock ledge. We watched until they were done. Only having crawled the Expedition down this rock ledge one time before, I was a little hesitant to do it on this trip (much less let anybody else try it).

It didn't take much coaxing by the group before I was headed down the side trail. The Scout owners thought we were nuts, and offered that we could radio them if we needed winched-out.

As you'll see in the photo album, a few of us had our fun, didn't get stuck, and didn't break anything in the process. There are a few truly impressive pictures showing how an Expedition really CAN lift one paw WAY up in the air!!! Who needs a Hummer!!!??!!

We proceeded onward and upward toward Meadow ****. Group B managed to reach us by radio to tell us that Flagpole **** was totally socked-in with fog, and that we should meet at Meadow **** instead.

So, we reached Meadow **** about 10 minutes before Group B. When they arrived, it was an impressive site to see so many Expeditions lined up all together. Those of us who hadn't yet eaten, did so. Everyone was telling stories and checking out everybody else's trucks. We were especially excited to see that Group B got really MUDDY!! It became a mission to get the shiny new 2003 Expy as muddy as possible and/or stuck before the end of the day!

We were off!! To the mud! Since Group B reported Flagpole **** being a waste of time (not to mention cold, wet, and windy), we opted to skip that 45-minute part of the trail. We headed down the wider and easier Dunkle Hollow Road. Stopping a couple times for pictures and potty breaks along the way, we finally reached "the mud bog". Normally dry, the rain had turned this clearing into one huge mud-wrestling pit for Expeditions! After "testing" the area to make sure it wasn't going to swallow anybody whole, the fun began. Mud slinging everywhere. I don't think there was one truck that didn't have big globs of mud on its roof.

Oh... and poor Jack... and that poor 2003 Expedition. We didn't break it, but it sure did get abused. I think just about everybody who wanted to got a chance to play in the mud with it! Try talking your Ford dealer into a test drive like THAT!! It did pretty well. Only *almost* got stuck one time. Again, too low to the ground. The OEM tires didn't help either.

After everybody had it out of their systems, we headed back down the trail, and shortly reached pavement after a little creek crossing.

It was back to the hotel for a little relaxation before dinner, door and raffle prizes, and a few drinks to finish off a great day.

On Sunday, I led Group C on a pavement tour to Reddish **** and Seneca Rocks.

Reddish ****, about the same elevation as Flagpole **** is a 10-car parking lot on top of the world. It was a brisk, clear morning (30-degrees up there), and you could see for what seemed like hundreds of miles in all directions. Quite breathtaking, I must say!

The one lane road spiraling up the side of the mountain was an adventure in and of itself. In fact, we had a little debacle leaving the **** when a few other vehicles were on their way up. Good thing they were little cars coming up!! There's no way two Expeditions would have fit side by side. It's truly a ONE lane road. One side of the road is the mountainside going up... and the other side is a cliff going down. The cheezy wooden guard rails certainly wouldn't have held an Expedition on the road!

From there we headed back to Rte 33 and stopped in Rawley Springs for fuel, snacks, and bathroom break before heading to Seneca Rocks. Three trucks decided against the four-hour journey, and headed back to town to head home. We said our goodbyes and continued west.

Route 33, into West Virginia, is a really fun road! Twisty, windy, up, and down... all the way to Seneca, where we checked out "the rock". Seneca Rocks is a huge, sheer rock outcropping. As evidenced by the two ant-size people on the face of the cliff, it's a popular rock climbing location. After watching the rockclimbers for a while, we toured the visitor's center, ate some lunch, and chatted some more about our trucks and the weekend.

The remaining 2003 crew continued west toward Michigan as the rest of us headed back east to Harrisonburg. After a brief stop at Dry Run River and Kephart Run in attempts to catch up with Group A, we headed back into town.

We were the first group back, but not before long, Group A, then Group B arrived back at the hotel for more stories and goodbyes.

A fantastic time was had by all. Thanks to everybody who helped make it happen, and especially to everyone who came!! I hope to see all of you again.

Mike