Weekend Trip: Big Levels and Shoe Creek

While the long trips far from home I get to do a couple times a year are always awesome, a huge portion of this lifestyle (obsession?) for me is getting out for quick one-nighter weekend trips close to home.  This past July I headed out on National Forest Land in Virginia with a couple local DC-Area friends for a quick overnight wheeling/camping trip.  We considered this a light warm-up for the Vermont Overland Trophy we all were entering in August, and for me it was a final shakedown run before heading West to Moab and Colorado.

Airing Up by the Blue Ridge Parkway after Camping Saturday Night

We drove Big Levels Trail on Saturday, camped near the end of the trail that night and drove Shoe Creek Trail Sunday morning.  Both trails are located in the Blue Ridge mountains South/Southwest of Charlottesville and are located in sections of George Washington National Forest that are very close to Skyline Drive and National Park Service Land.

View from The Blue Ridge Parkway

Will and Jason drive matching Jeep Rubicons, but not just regular Rubicons.  Their Jeeps have been upfitted from the factory by American Expedition Vehicles (“AEV”) and are equipped with almost every off-road/expedition piece of kit you’d want (almost – because there’s always something new and indispensable coming out).

Their Jeeps look great, have awesome functional features (like water storage in the rear bumpers), and do extremely well on the trail with 35″ mud terrains, solid axles, and lockers. If you’re looking at diving headfirst into off-roading and “expedition-style” travel and want to buy a vehicle off the showroom floor ready to conquer virtually anything North America, an AEV Jeep is probably the best option out there. As you’d expect, they aren’t cheap, but neither is modifying a less expensive vehicle to this level.

The AEV Jeeps

On to the trip itself. We left Northern VA mid-afternoon Saturday and drove straight down to the beginning of Big Levels near Staunton/Stuart’s draft. The trail was very narrow in sections, moderately rocky, and had some pretty deep water crossings. With the summer underbrush we all were bushwhacking a fair bit and have the pinstripes (scratches) in our paint to prove it. In exchange we were treated to some great ridge-top views and didn’t pass a single other vehicle on the entire trail. Near the end of the trail we came across a large clearing and made camp. Thankfully the thunderstorms we were halfway expecting never materialized and we enjoyed a cooler, breezy night with temps dropping to the low 60’s.  Perfect for a campfire and a couple of Will’s homebrewed beers.

Camping at the End of Big Levels

On Sunday we broke camp, exited the trail onto Skyline drive, and headed straight to Shoe Creek just ~30 minutes away. Shoe Creek is normally pretty easy, but early in our run it became apparent that the area must have received a gully washer of a storm. The trail generally follows the creek and was pretty washed out and the rock obstacles were harder than any of us remembered. Overall this made it a whole lot more fun for us but it would not have been safely doable for stock 4x4s (in my opinion).

Shots from Shoe Creek

For those of us with busy work and life schedules, these little weekend slip-aways, even for only a night, can be just the thing to clear the mind and recharge.