“An overlanding odyssey challenging man and machine while showcasing the best the Green Mountain State has to offer” is how Vermont Overland’s leader Peter Vollers described the “VOT”. I can’t one-up Mr. Vollers in summarizing the event, although I’d probably add in something about mud, flat tires, and maple creemees (look it up…).
The inaugural year of the event pitted 25 2-truck teams in a grueling 4-day off-road stage point-to-point “race”. Except it wasn’t a race, and there was not a winner. Winning was finishing.
“Finishing” was completing 4 days of point-to-point travel in which both trucks had to successfully complete all of the trails and most “challenge sections”. In addition, teams had to fulfill a “localvore” requirement (I think Mr. Vollers made that term up-but it is catchy!); spending at least $10 each day on local Vermont fare (which is easy to do, almost every store is local and on of a kind…).
Alex and I both partook in the Summer 2013 Vermont Overland Trophy (“VOT”), but as members of two different teams. My team was “Team Daily Driver” and this is our story:
Daily Drivers decals!
An unlikely duo: My intrepid team consisted of yours truly in the 2010 4Runner accompanied by local Northern Virginia legend “Roudy”, in nothing less than his 2005 Ford Excursion 6.0 Powerstroke, which makes the Landcruiser LC200 look downright petite. We called ourselves “Team Daily Driver” because we brought the trucks we commute in every day to run the event! We even had decals created to show our team pride (and because it is fun to pretend your truck is a sponsored race vehicle …)
Team Daily Driver at base camp (Day 0)
Before the event, I hemmed and hawed about whether to partake in the VOT because I had already planned a 2-week Moab/Colorado trip that would happen 2 weeks before VOT. But, when it came down to it, I decided that I couldn’t not do this event. I searched around for a partner and when I asked Roudy, he immediately responded “I’m in”. So it was done, we were doing it.
Leading up to the event there was no shortage of chatter about it on Expedition Portal, and we were pumped for the Trophy, but also a little nervous. How tough would it really be? Would we really be winching? What about body damage?
An impressive variety of vehicles entered the trophy
Day 1
Our team faced challenges, even at the start. The 4Runner’s Goodyear Duratracs were nearly used up with about 60K miles on them and the Excursion was…an Excursion. Thankfully, Roudy is deft at maneuvering the “bus” between rocks and trees, and the limited-slip rear and true-trac front differentials kept it pretty well hooked up. Even still, Roudy did suffer some body damage on the very first day of the trophy. If he was concerned, he didn’t really show it!
Early on Day 1
Day 1 Campsite (we might as well have been “Team OzTent”)
Day 2
On our second day we started to run into some problems. The first issue was a tiny sidewall leak on Roudy’s front-passenger, which we plugged easily — no big deal. Later, we crawled up a very rocky, flash-flooding creek-trail in a downpour (sorry — no pictures; it was literally dumping buckets on us). In the day 2 finale, we clawed and winched our way up the side of a very muddy mountain (which we called “Mt. Vollers”) to our not-so-appealing marshy campsite.
Pictures from Day 2
Shot from the Flash-Flood Creek (Courtesy of Jason Grogg)
Land Rover Rollover Recovery on “Mt. Vollers”
Towards the top, in a freak streak of bad luck, Roudy cut holes in 2 more sidewalls while driving through the very deep mud. With only 1 spare, we had to try to patch the tires (including patching one from the inside) and hope for the best. If you’re counting, yes, that’s 3 flats in one day. Still, we reveled that evening with several beers and celebrated our now highly polished tire repair skills.
Futile tire repair efforts (breaking the bead with a Hi-Lift)
Day 3-4
Unfortunately, when descending the still-muddy (and very rutted) mountain in the AM, one of the front-tire patches immediately blew and we had to limp the beast down with a completely flat front tire. We were unable to find replacement 35” tires on a Saturday in Vermont to fit the Excursion, so, staring down 2 more tough days of trails and a 500 mile drive back to Virginia, we decided to park the Excursion and relegate it to pavement duty only, now on its 4th patch job.
We ran the day’s course solo in the 4Runner, tagging along with other teams so we wouldn’t risk getting stranded alone. This was fun, but still a little bitter sweet…we were so far in this and it sucked that we wouldn’t “finish”. We made the most of it and tried to hang with Jeeps on 35’s and 37’s.
On Day 4 we ran the final “challenge course” at Lillie Brook Farm in the 4Runner, doing yet more winching and threading the needle between trees. I was getting pretty good at it at this point. After that, the VOT was officially a wrap. Out of the 25 teams that entered, I think about 13-15 finished.
The now infamous “Mt. Vollers”
Our marshy “Mt. Vollers” campsite for 2 Days
Takeaways from the VOT
First off, this event just felt special. Everyone who participated was so excited to be there, and there was a real sense of camaraderie among the teams.
Second off, this event was no walk in the park, but experiences will vary. Overall we found the terrain to be medium-to-difficult, but very doable for our trucks as long as we were OK swallowing our pride and winching in spots (the guys with locked jeeps on 35s and 37s probably didn’t find the terrain as difficult). Had the Excursion not blown the tires, I think we would have finished (but the Excursion probably would have accrued more damage). The 4Runner didn’t get any body damage per-se, but there are several new large, prominent scratches that have zero chance of buffing out, and I’m OK with that.
What did I learn? I learned that for this type of terrain, mud tires rule the roost. Second, the VOT gave me a chance to get even more comfortable with using all of my recovery gear, especially the winch! Third, I learned that I really like this kind of challenge and the people that it attracts.
Will I do VOT again? I certainly hope to, but probably not in 2014. There are just so many more new experiences out there to explore, see, and try, even within a day’s drive. Either way, the 2014 VOT is already at capacity, although there are a few sponsor spots open last time I checked…
Great write up Ben! I too agree, I loved the event and the people who attended. Great challenge, great event, great time and a great partner!
This event keeps moving up on my bucket list every time I read about it! Good job.
Great write up! I agree with you that it was an amazing event and I would love to do it again but not just yet. I’m excited to see similar events popping up in other areas around the States! Cheers Amanda hopefully we’ll cross paths again sometime.