Recently you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of time down in North Carolina, and it’s not just because we’re big fans of sweet tea, fried chicken, and Carolina barbecue.
I made the drive down late Friday night to Uwharrie National Forest to attend the 2015 Uwharrie OHV Jamboree hosted by Scott Fields at the Uwharrie Off-Road Training Center (UORTC). This annual event is in its 4th year and focuses on “Bringing all Uwharrie off-highway vehicle (OHV) users together to aid in recruiting volunteers and to raise awareness to ‘TREAD Lightly!’ so that the Uwharrie National Forest OHV Trail System can develop and be maintained.”
One of the reasons we’re such big fans of this event is because Scott welcomes all OHV operators from 4WD vehicles to dirt bikes and ATV’s (even Land Rovers). There is also a strong focus on the local community and Scott partners with local 4WD clubs such as the Triad Jeep Club who spend hundreds of man (and women) hours each year maintaining trails throughout Uwharrie.
Something you might be surprised to hear is the fact that this event is 100% free to attend and it hosts a wide variety of vendors and sponsors including industry leaders such as Jeep, ARB, and Superwinch. Local businesses to the region are also abundant; they range from shops such as Two Guys Metal Fabrication to Southeast Overland.
Now in case you don’t like checking out awesome trucks like the AEV Brute, there are also helicopter rides. Yes, you heard me correctly, I said helicopter rides. When was the last time you went to an off-road event that had helicopter rides? Probably never, not even the fancy Overlanding events have them.
In all seriousness though, the goal of this event is to bring together everyone from the OHV community. The reality is, more trails are being shut down each year at an alarming rate and Uwharrie is the only public land of its kind on the East Coast. If we don’t come together and take care of what we have, we don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves if they lock the gates for good.
The Uwharrie OHV Jamboree really is a 5-star event, and we’re confident that it will continue to grow. Events like these are the ones that truly make a difference in the community and because of that it’s earned a permanent spot in our calendar for years to come.
Excellent article Alex! Like Benjie said, we are glad you got to hang out this weekend, it was a blast.
Cody, thanks for letting me tag along and for the dustiest ride of my life.
Thank you for a great ride up, we really enjoyed having you around this weekend.
Thanks Benjie, we’re definitely going to have to make our way down there again for another one of your club’s trail rides.