Camp Jeep is an experience unlike any other. Where else could you go four-wheeling with expert trail guides, learn to kayak with Olympic athletes, take in the finer points of photography with National Geographic, and round out lunch with a cooking demonstration from Food & Wine, all in the course of a day? There is simply so much to do at Camp Jeep that you need all three days of the event just to encompass it.
Returning once again to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Camp Jeep marked its sixth anniversary this year at the Oak Ridge Estate just outside Charlottesville. Dating back to the 1700s, the sprawling estate covers more than 4,800 acres and is home to several historic buildings that are currently under renovation. The estate kindly opened 200 acres to the more than 8,000 four-wheelers and outdoor enthusiasts who flocked to this fabulous countryside for what has become a uniquely Jeep experience.
To prevent their many guests from feeling bewildered by the immensity of the camp, Jeep divided each area into villages with similar activities grouped together. And to be certain that everyone had the opportunity to consider what they wanted to spend their three days doing, Jeep sent out an official guide that listed every activity that would be taking place each day, hour by hour.
If four-wheeling was your primary concern, there was plenty to go around. Trail guides from the Virginia Four Wheel Drive Association and the Middle Atlantic Four Wheel Drive Association volunteered their time to take drivers through 12 different trails, which ran the spectrum from easy to hard. For those who had no experience four-wheeling and wanted to get a taste under controlled conditions, there was Jeep 101. This short clinic gave people an introduction to what a Jeep is and how it works, then gave them the chance to get behind the wheel of a new Wrangler, Cherokee, or Grand Cherokee and try out the steep, bumpy, off-camber terrain.
For those in search of less traditional vehicles, Kawasaki had a driving course laid out for quads, complete with mud, logs, and other obstacles. And if exercise was more to your liking, you could get a Jeep bicycle for every member of the family, from the smallest to the biggest, and set out on miles of bike trails.
Adventure Village was one of the most popular areas at Camp Jeep. It offered rockclimbing walls, a tread wall simulator, a sky bridge with a cargo net climb, and best of all, a 150-foot zip line that sent thousands flying through the air over the course of the event.
Just as popular, although for different reasons, was the Camp Kids Village. Here, children were catered to with utter abandon. A short off-road course was set up for the kids to drive mini-Jeeps around, and it proved to be a huge hit. Beneath a big tent that had been set aside just for them, children participated in a variety of crafts, from painting with watercolors to putting on tattoos.