Whether Cro-Magnon Man or four-wheeling fiend
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00:00 Hi, I'm Rick Pehway, content director of 4-Wheeler Network.
00:29 I'm Rick Pehway, and I'm the chief of 4-Wheeler Network and trip leader for The Ultimate Adventure.
00:36 Every year, Peterson 4-Wheel and Off-Road invites 4x4 enthusiasts from all over the
00:40 country.
00:41 They converge on an undisclosed location for a week of adventure, searching out the best
00:45 off-road trails across America.
00:49 The Ultimate Adventure is a week-long trip that tests drivers and vehicles in a variety
00:53 of off-road terrain, as well as long road days.
01:00 4-Wheeler and Off-Road editor-in-chief Fred Williams is wheeling this year's project truck.
01:04 It's a '46 Jeep CJ2A, dubbed the Ultimate Summer Camp Jeep.
01:11 The Jeep build is made possible due to the sponsors and suppliers, some of who will even
01:16 join us on the trip.
01:29 This year's adventure is themed the Ultimate Summer Camp.
01:32 It includes 22 rigs equipped with canoes, camping gear, tools, spare parts, whatever
01:37 supplies are needed to endure the elements and survive the week.
01:42 Covering more than 1,200 miles in 8 days, traversing highways, back roads, water crossings
01:48 in 7 states, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia,
02:04 all exploring extreme off-road trails.
02:07 But we might not go in that order.
02:09 Nobody but me knows where we're going, or what to expect.
02:13 That's what makes it an adventure.
02:15 Seven lucky readers were recruited and their wheeling skills and rigs were put to the test.
02:20 Jeff Corwin and Chris Breidenbach from Colorado in a '98 Range Rover.
02:25 A '46 Chevy truck of Bill Costa with Derek Williams from Vermont.
02:30 Jack Sloan and Jared Cummins from West Virginia in a '93 Ford Explorer.
02:35 A '69 Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Phil Pasiak with co-driver Chris Larson from Nevada.
02:43 Driver Justin Cardwell and Joe Poizel in a '94 Suzuki Sidekick from Oregon.
02:49 From Florida, Robert Keller and Jerry McNeil wheeling a full-size '89 TMC V3500.
02:56 And returning reader Brennan Metcalf in his '42 Willys MB along with Nat Bocan from Colorado.
03:02 The first day consists of finally making it to the start, which is often hundreds of miles
03:07 from each rig's starting point.
03:08 Here we do the check-in and the tech inspection.
03:10 Now this year the torrential rain really slowed us down, but it sure didn't dampen our spirits
03:15 any.
03:17 The meet and greet in the parking lot gives everyone a chance to check out each other's
03:20 rigs.
03:21 They also compare notes on what the trip will be like and why in the world we brought canoes.
03:26 Old and new participants also get to sticker up their rigs.
03:29 2500 miles in two and a half days.
03:47 Every Ultimate Adventure starts the same way.
03:50 Alright, drivers meeting!
03:52 Everybody get ready!
03:54 Okay everybody, we are at the Ultimate Adventure 2015.
04:00 We're in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
04:02 Fred's still working on this with Vern.
04:04 Fred, Vern, hey!
04:07 This is our Ultimate Adventure vehicle.
04:09 Did everybody bring their canoes?
04:12 Who doesn't have a canoe?
04:14 Okay fine, I don't have my own Jeep this year, but I did get a stand-in.
04:19 Kenny over here brought that and he offered this year to use his CJ10 for me to drive.
04:25 And I said, well why not?
04:26 I don't have a vehicle, let's do it.
04:27 So let's hear it for him.
04:29 Thank you!
04:30 Who has not been tech inspected?
04:33 Awesome, extreme high lift.
04:35 Perfect.
04:36 Next on our list is the cage.
04:37 Cage, cage, cage.
04:38 Rick, this is my cage.
04:41 Holy cow, it's an external cage.
04:43 What about some rear tow hooks?
04:45 I have the recovery hooks here.
04:48 Well it is a first aid kit.
04:50 Alright we do all of this so in case we are stopped, we know that we're okay.
04:55 Fire extinguisher.
04:56 Last thing I need on the vehicle is your spill and pet kit.
05:01 Last things I need are your driver's license.
05:04 Still good?
05:05 Yep.
05:06 Ultimate Adventure is not just a road trip or an off-road trip, it's a combination of
05:09 the two.
05:10 And even to get here, we have guys from Florida, Maine, all the way down in California, up
05:16 to Washington.
05:17 We all came here to Ohio to do some of the toughest trails around.
05:21 We make it like an adventure.
05:23 None of these guys know where we're going.
05:25 Just me.
05:26 They follow, we do the trails.
05:28 That's 50 people, 25 rigs, wheeling the best trails we can find and still making it all
05:34 together as a group.
05:35 It's not a competition, it's not a race, it's a matter of getting to the end.
05:39 That's why one of our mottos is "wheel for the week, not for the day."
05:43 You break the first day, you're out because there are no trailers on this trip.
05:47 You fix it and you catch up.
05:49 You don't trailer it, we don't go to fancy hotels, we actually sleep out in the open
05:54 like camping is supposed to be.
05:56 This Jeep is completely stock.
05:58 There's nothing, this is just the way.
06:01 It's factory.
06:02 It's factory, 1947 Jeep top, Jeep hood.
06:06 With our rigs all buttoned up, we settled in for our last good night of dry sleep.
06:10 Tomorrow will be the first trail day, in the rain.
06:12 Drivers meeting!
06:13 Good morning everybody.
06:14 Everybody ready to go?
06:15 Yeah!
06:16 Alright, 8 o'clock we roll out of here.
06:17 Line up behind my vehicle.
06:18 CB channel 10, you won't be back until tonight.
06:19 Call your wives and girlfriends, tell them goodbye.
06:20 It'll be a long trip.
06:21 Hi mom!
06:22 Okay guys, here's what's happening.
06:23 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:24 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:25 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:26 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:27 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:28 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:29 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:30 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:31 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:32 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:33 We're going to be doing a trail day.
06:58 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:05 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:14 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:20 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:27 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:28 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:29 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:30 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:31 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:32 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:33 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:34 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:35 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:36 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:37 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:38 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:39 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:40 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:41 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:42 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:43 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:44 We're going to be doing a trail day.
07:57 Powerline Park is located just outside of St. Clairsville, Ohio.
08:01 It has about 1,000 acres to play on with miles of trails.
08:05 The park features hill climbs, mud bogs, water crossings, tight tree trails, and more.
08:11 All the rain from the past week will make today even more fun and muddy.
08:34 So close.
08:35 That one little tree on the right grabbed the bumper of the tire.
08:37 I couldn't tell which.
08:39 I almost had it.
08:40 The traction is going back and forth.
08:41 So darn close.
08:42 Now I want to see who's going to make it up behind me.
08:44 That was a great hill.
08:49 Andrew Hoyt from Falcon Tire tries it next in his '09 Rubicon.
08:59 We're at a ravine here at Powerline Park.
09:17 Troy's going to tell us what's going on.
09:20 Yeah, we got our trail that we had here.
09:23 Well, I cut it up to the left a little bit.
09:25 I switched it up, and it made it a little difficult for a couple people like Rick right here.
09:30 We got a bunch of us that have made it so far, and we got the rest of our group here going to try it.
09:34 And we're going to see how it goes here.
09:36 Yeah, let's let them go.
09:37 Ready?
09:38 Let's go.
09:39 You kind of missed the trail, but you made the hill.
09:46 So what was that all about?
09:48 That was the turn the steering wheel, and it didn't turn the truck.
10:01 All right, that's great.
10:02 On each of our obstacles, we only try it three times.
10:05 That's not because you can't make it.
10:07 It's because there's enough people behind you, and we want to get through here by the end of the day.
10:13 You need more horsepower.
10:18 That was awesome.
10:20 The worst part was I got a branch right in my eyeball.
10:22 That's why I brought a spare.
10:31 Old crony Trent McGee tries out his beat-down Blazer on a hill.
10:43 Sometimes we even suspend the three-try rule if it's entertaining.
10:48 Well, it was factory fresh up until today.
10:51 I've done some custom modifying here.
10:54 You know, you can only do these modifications in the woods.
10:57 No trained body shop could handle beauty of this nature.
11:16 Old crony Sam Gillis plays tail gutter for the trip in his green two-buggy, and he easily makes it up the hill.
11:26 Reader Jack Sloan blew a hub on the hill and quickly swapped it out in the rain.
11:31 Well, the hub started popping, and it broke, and it's raining, and it's a good time.
11:37 I'm having fun.
11:38 I got this little pushed-in spot right here.
11:40 I'm just going to push that back out.
11:43 Yeah, off-road design does only the finest body work.
12:05 Yeah, we just come through some mud holes here, what we call the circle track here at Fireline Park.
12:10 We're going to get back into the tight technical spots down in here.
12:14 We're going to go through a place what we call Dead Deer Hollow.
12:26 We've got a little ravine here in Dead Deer Hollow.
12:31 It's a little bit slippery here.
12:37 Having some difficulty. It's definitely muddy here.
12:43 We're here with Rick Peway at the bottom of Very Big Hill in the muddy rain.
12:47 Rick Peway, what can you tell us about this Very Big Hill in the muddy rain?
12:50 It's a very big hill, and it's a lot of muddy rain.
12:53 That's it from Rick Peway in a Very Big Hill in the muddy rain.
13:21 All right, remember, we're wheeling for the week, not for the day.
13:25 I might have been able to make it. It's not worth it.
13:28 We're going to go down. We'll get more hills like this. It's not a problem.
13:31 We'll go down here and have some more fun.
13:40 We've got Rick stuck here in a little bit of our mud.
13:43 We're about to winch him out here.
13:46 We're going to see what we can do here by getting the rest of them through it.
13:49 See if it's just him.
13:51 So we found some deep mud at the power line part.
13:54 The deeper stuff is on the left.
13:56 Obviously, I already got stuck here, and it's not the tire's fault or the Jeep's fault.
13:59 It's just deep.
14:01 So what we have is our Warren winch hooked up to a tree, safety strap.
14:05 We'll get out of here. It'll be about five minutes.
14:08 I think that some of these vehicles are going to make it through.
14:11 If not, we're just going to have a winch fest all day long.
14:27 Now that was how it's done.
14:29 Skidding pedal down. That was awesome.
14:47 [Engine revving]
15:14 Old crony Tim Hardy rarely spins his tires, even in the mud.
15:28 The old cronies kept busy using the voodoo rope to pull out all the stuck rigs.
15:39 There you go.
15:41 There he is.
15:43 [Engine revving]
16:08 [Music]
16:14 So you having fun?
16:15 Absolutely.
16:17 Best day of our lives.
16:20 [Engine revving]
16:48 [Music]
17:01 After clearing the mud out of our tires in the field, we aired up and loaded the canoes for the short drive back.
17:11 Day one was pretty big in my book because we're still here without any brakes.
17:15 It was amazing, man. We had a great time.
17:18 My war jeep did great. The rest of the team did great.
17:20 It was slick, rainy.
17:22 Used the voodoo rope to get out a couple times.
17:24 Bulk of tires did great.
17:26 Got a good mix of mud and hail climes and some water.
17:29 Didn't break anything that we know of yet.
17:31 We're going to get this thing cleaned up and see what's in store for us tomorrow.
17:35 After today, nope, I still don't like mud.
17:38 Today went well. Today was more of a mud day.
17:43 But for the first day, it went great.
17:45 All the guys seemed to loosen up.
17:47 It's a good warm up for the week ahead.
17:49 Alright, thanks again.
17:50 You guys are welcome back any time.
17:52 We will come back.
17:53 Okay, man.
17:54 See you, man.
17:55 See you.
17:56 [Music]
18:06 After some deep cleaning of the rigs, we started fixing the day's carnage and then prepped for the long road trip in the morning.
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21:33 (applause)