So it all started a back at the Erie Camping Expo, strolling through checking out campground booths i see something that catches my eye. There on a table sits a RC Jeep. I go over to check it out and notice a binder with pictures of Jeeps. Campers Paradise is the name, turns out they have a Jeep Camp every year. So i grab a brochure and we continued to walk around. I come home and get online and check out the site. Seems like a cool place. Maybe we should go check it out for a few days and just get outta town.
I do some searching on the net, everyone says the same thing, theres no fun to be had.
We book a cabin and decide to head down anyway, whats it gonna hurt.
I mapquest out some directions and grab my maps, decide why take the interstate? I drive a Jeep.
Packed up Saturday night, and on the Road at 7:00am Sunday. Our route takes us on Rt 6 into Corry then Warren, then directly into the Alleghany National Forest.
First stop is Kinzua Park area as its only 8 miles off the planned path.
And the mandatory Jeep Pose
As we continue our path from Route 6 to Route 666 we come across a neat little store, "Tall Oaks" Inside are tons of cool pictures and whatnot, i picked up a neat sign that says "Detour" with an arrow pointing both directions.
We get into Sigel, PA, where Campers Paradise is located, WAY to early. Our check-in isnt until 4:00pm, we have 3 hours to kill. I decide we will go check out Clear Creek State Park. I had heard of some scenic un-paved roads, better yet, they had no winter maintenance.
The first road was a nice drive, it wound up the mountain to a place i had heard about call "Bear Town Rocks"
We got out and walked around, tons of cool rocks to climb on, if only it was legal to take the Jeep in. Still had a bit of time before check-in so we just kept exploring some of the legal un-maintained roads in the area. We find a cool place to stop and flex the jeep all the way out and grab some pics as well.
Finally 4:00 gets here and we get into our cabin and un-pack the Jeep.
As we are sitting back relaxing a lifted JK Unlimited comes hauling past and slams on the brakes. It sits there then takes off down the road only to turn around and come back into the driveway of our cabin. Turns out its the owners son, riding in a Rubi Unlimited JK on 35" Mud-grapplers, he asks if i go wheeling and i said just look at what im in? He asks if i wanna go now, its 9:00 at night, i ask if its legal and he says sure is. Off we go back into the woods, we go through a very nice tight technical trail with quite a few creek crossings and rocks and tree stumps, super cool little loop. He comes back to the cabin and we BS for a few more hours and have a few beers. He asks if we'd be up for wheeling tommorrow and i say without a doubt.
Noon rolls around Monday and we load up to hit the same loop trail, this time running it backwards.
We didnt get many pics because we were just having too much fun. We finished up that trail and head to another loop trail that he knew of. Just as fun and very technical, needless to say i came home with some new pinstriping and a fresh coat of mud on the jeep.
We still had some daylight to burn and still hadnt gotten around the campground, so while we were checking it out came across a little rock to play on.
Woke up this morning, Tuesday and had to check out by noon, so breakfast was cooked and shoveled down and onto the road we got. I made a decision to try a different way home to take us through Cooks Forest and see what it had to offer. We came across a rather fun unmaintained road, Breezemont Drive. Up we climbed, and found a nice spot for some pictures.
We continued on our way which took us back onto Route 666, which turned out to be a BIG mistake, the road was horrible, it was rougher than the unmaintained dirt roads in the forest. Luckyily i see a branch and we hook a left up a what i thought was dirt road, turned out to get VERY snowy, icy and muddy, but one of the best roads so far. If anyone has the chance its called Cherry Grove Road, and runs from Route 6 to Route 666. Very scenic, and in the winter months rather challenging if your running it northbound.
So enough of my rambling, i hope everyone enjoys my boring little trip-report in which i went into WAY too much detail!
-Nick
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Originally Posted by 92YJCBG
It would bring his dad some business too.
