Since most of the wheeling we do is in the Midwest or towards the west coast and even the south eastern part of the country it is always entertaining and enjoyable when we get the opportunity to head to the eastern side of the states and even more so, the northeast. Simply; it allows us to see how the folks in this area wheel, what kind of terrain they are used to wheeling, the equipment they run and the aftermarket products they need to be outfitted with to conquer the area they have as their “back yard”. 

This July we went wheeling in Vermont, the Jeep jamboree in Vermont is hosted by and held at the Killington ski resort. Any of you that are skiers may remember this area and mountain from some of the old Warren miller ski films. Nestled close to the Vermont/ New York borders, not far from the famous Lake Champlain (home of Champ, the US’s Lock Ness monster) Killington is a skiers paradise in the winter and the mountain is covered with mountain bike trails and one weekend out of the year there are special trails opened up for the event held by Jeep Jamboree USA. This year there were around 225 participants representing 14 states and 2 countries to give an idea of the distance people will drive to wheel in that part of the US. 

This year the temps were just right, cool enough to start the day out with a long sleeve shirt and warming up enough by mid day to be comfortable in just a t-shirt the conditions couldn’t have been better for the first days trail rides. The trails system here is winding with some off-camber situations and various obstacles from tree roots to rocks, when a few Jeeps have gone over and the loose dirt begins to get on them as well as the leaves and other vegetation that clings to the tires the difficulty can increase on each obstacle very easily and quickly.  

The majority of the day was spent winding through the hills and past the various challenges with only a couple small issues, one TJ wound up with a bent tie-rod that was able to be replaced instead of having to be bent back or sleeved with a Hi-Lift handle because another participant happened to come prepared and had a replacement on hand. A short amount of time spent and the group was up and rolling again and able to finish out the day without any carnage or other issue that kept things from progressing along. 

The second day was considerably different and only went to show how much a night of rain can change everything! The trails climbed in difficulty due to the fact that many of hills became so greasy and the obstacles so slick that the only way to get over them was to pull cable and winch either up the hills or over the obstacles just to keep movement on the trail progressing. There were several areas on the trails that multiple winches had to be used just to keep the Jeeps upright and on the trail while others were utilized to keep them from sliding off the trails and into trees.  

Killington is another great jamboree that if it is in the part of the country that you live in or if you want to see what wheeling in the northeast is like you should definitely consider putting Killington towards the top of your list of places to check out. The wheeling is great, the location is incredibly scenic and well worth adding to list of places one must wheel!