The Virginia Xterra Club’s (VAXC) Wheel Away Winter (WAW) event has become an always exciting annual trip. Each year we meet up to tackle the trails around Flagpole, Meadow, and Reddish Knobs in the George Washington National Forest and some of us choose to camp as well. Every year so far we have had snow and this year did not disappoint!
This year seemed to have a smaller group interested in camping. I guess enough years camping in weather in the teens will make anyone reconsider. Friday night the only person available to camp was actually Garth, the club President. On his way in he found a tree down blocking the path to Flagpole from US-33 so he backtracked and took the paved roads up to Reddish Knob instead. He ended up choosing to camp on top of Reddish Knob in an area already covered in ice!
He let AK (of Chaos fame) know about the downed trees and the need for a chainsaw. AK brought two chainsaws that we would put to work and met everyone else that was at the meeting point Saturday morning. Travis, Cherie and I caravanned down to the meeting spot (Sheetz in Harrisonburg) and joined the group Saturday morning.
Our caravan of 12, mostly Jeep friends from another group this year, headed west on US-33 until we turned onto Skidmore Fork Road (Forest Route 227). Before getting to any rough terrain we found a good campsite and stopped so Cherie and I could unload the Xterra and setup camp and then we were on our way. Based on my recommendation Garth and AK decided we should head down Forest Route 1197 and see where the path went. This was the same trail Travis and I explored last summer but eventually had to turn around when we got to a downed tree that was too big for us to handle.
Shortly after crossing Skidmore Fork, the stream, we came to our first downed tree! Out came the chainsaws. Little did we know that over the next two miles of trails we would find nearly 20 trees that would need to be cut apart and cleared from the trail! But clear them we did! This area was hit by a bad ice storm a few weeks ago and clearly this part of the forest took a toll. In addition to that this trail clearly doesn’t get much traffic, so no one else had cleared it. But with a group as large as ours we were able to spread the work and make quick work of each tree we found. About two miles later we came to the end of the trail. Success! We turned around and headed back, much faster this time, back to Skidmore Fork Road.
We slowly headed up the mountain at that point. We had to clear another few trees but overall this route was in much better shape. We also discovered a sinkhole forming in the road. We marked in on the GPS to report back to the rangers and continued on. As we got to the top of the ridgeline the atmosphere on the mountain totally changed. Freezing rain and mist had transformed this part of the mountain into an ice covered winter wonderland! All the trees were coated in a quarter inch of ice and it really was spectacular. Luckily the road conditions were great so we could really just enjoy the view without white knuckling through!
Because of our late start we didn’t get to Flagpole until about 2pm. After a short break for lunch and pictures we were on our way again. This time heading east on Forest Route 85A toward Meadow Knob. The route to Meadow Knob was uneventful and we continued down the mountain now on Union Springs Trail. Travis, Cherie and I decided to leave the group and turn back when we got to the area affectionately known as “The Mud Pits.” Since we were camping we headed back to camp, back up the snow covered ridgeline, and left the group which was continuing down the mountain toward town and a warm dinner.
Our trip back to camp was uneventful and we arrived back to camp just as the sun was setting. After a short break we broke out the dinner options and relaxed. Garth would return back to camp just after 9pm surprising us all! The temperature dropped Saturday night but actually leveled out around 35F which really wasn’t too bad. We burned all 8 bundles of wood we had brought with us as well as some downed wood we found in the area. Sunday morning we awoke to snow hitting the tent and a nearly white world around us!
Our trip out after breakfast in camp was surprisingly fine. We were expecting traction issues but found little snow on the actual road. It was too short of a trip for everyone but good to get out with the group. On the way home the Xterra crossed 100,000 miles. A noteworthy milestone for sure. I already can’t wait until next years trip back to camping in the snow for Wheel Away Winter 2020!
