Trip Report

Trail: Peters Mill Run

Trail Location: George Washington National Forrest. Off route 675, approximately 9 miles Northeast of Luray VA.

Who was there: Audrey (my wife), Nancy (my mother-in-law), Kayla (my oldest daughter 11 yr. old), Ashlee (my youngest Daughter, 9 yr. old), Rocky (my Dog), Tasha (my daughters Dog), and me.

The Vehicles: The wife's stock 96 sport with Upcountry and the 5 speed. My stock 90 Laredo with the Automatic.

We camped at a Jelly Stone campground just east of Luray. I thought about primitive camping, but with 4 girls, I figured we could use the running water and toilets.

THE TRAIL (the photos don't do it justice)

I wasn't expecting much from this trail because we hadn't heard anything about it. I had called the ranger station and was informed that it was a good 9-mile trail that might take some time to complete because it was rocky. Little did I know that it was more than alittle rocky.

The trail is alittle hard to find because neither end is well marked. We passed it once then on our way back by I noticed some dirt bikers at the start of a couple of trails and stop to ask, only to find out we were there. ATV's and dirt bikes mainly use the trail. As we first pulled on to the trail a dirt biker stopped and informed me that he didn't think we would make it and that it was pretty rutted. Well this just made me want it even more.

Pretty rutted was right. The first section of the trail was steep off chamber hills with large ruts from the dirt bikes and ATV's. It appeared that the ATV's and bikes like to use the trail when it was wet. This was the first real test for Red (my 90 Cherokee) and the wife's 96 Cherokee. Both Cherokees performed better than I expected. The Jeeps climbed over the hills and ruts with out hardly a wheel spin. At one particular obstacle that had steep dirt walls on each side (no going around it) I got on the CB and said "watch this". It was a steep climb with an 11/2 to 2-foot rut running up the middle, I put Red into 4lo and walked right up. Then looking back, I watched Audrey walk up it also with no problem. I got back on the CB and said " did you think that would be so easy, mom (my mother-in-law, she likes me)", she said, " I would have turned around". I'd say about the first third of the trails is like that, steep hills/berms badly rutted and some large rocks scattered here and there for good measure. It continually climbed in elevation.

Just before the half way point we came to a large clearing (one of very few), here we parked, let the dogs run, took a picture or two, and talked about what we had done so far. The mother-in-law was very impressed/surprised by what our Jeeps could do. Audrey was proud of her ability to drive this section and I was proud of her. This was her first experience driving in four wheel drive. After the short break we loaded back up and headed down the trail. The trail took a slight down hill angle and became increasingly rocky and narrow. It got to the point that we had to be very careful in choosing the right rock to put a tire on and the right ones to straddle. Soon we came to "The Obstacle" this is where it got hairy and wife's XJ picked up some custom bodywork. It was a steep hill that turns to the left. On the right side of the trail it is rocky and on the left it is loose dirt. To the right of the trail is a dirt and rock wall, and to the left is the quickest way to the bottom of the mountain. On my first approach I went wide to the right hoping to avoid the rocky area on the left. I got about half way up and the tires began to spin. I gave it more gas and the tires spun more and forward progress stopped. I reversed back down and took another approach closer to the left and with more speed. Again the tires spun but I had enough momentum to carry me over the top. Next it was Audrey's turn. She hit the hill in about the same line I did when I made it (I had told her to watch were I went and follow my tracks), but her tires began to spin. When her forward momentum stopped, she pushed in the clutch and back the Jeep went, half rolling and half sliding. With the steering wheel turned slightly to the left, the rear of the Cherokee went to the left and met the dirt/rock wall. A second attempt had the same results. Now I was being called back to help. A quick look showed a busted taillight, bent in Bumper end cap and a slight ding in the sheet metal. Audrey decided she had enough and told me to get it over the obstacle. It took three tries and a lot of speed to finally make it over. It was definitely harder to make it with her 96 than with my 90. I contribute this to the tires; I had BFG ATs with less than 5,000 miles while she was riding on the Original Goodyear Wranglers with around 25,000 miles on them. She did have an LS in the rear and my 90 has open diffs. Needless to say this put a slight damper on her enjoyment of the rest of the trip. After that point the trial once more began to increase in elevation and became so narrow that new custom pin striping was unavoidable. There were two more challenging sections that consisted of steep up hill climbs covered with rock ranging from football sized to the size of king sized pillows. One of these Audrey opted to have me pilot her XJ up, better safe that sorry. We made these obstacles with no damage.

About two thirds of the way through we came across a boy with a handle held CB, he seemed abit surprised to see us there. He told me that he was looking for his hound dog. I told him we'd give him a call on the CB if we saw it. A little further down the trail we came across an old 4x4 Toyota pickup (luckily it was at one of the few points on the trail where there was enough room to pass another vehicle. They were about to change a flat (did I mention that there were a lot of Sharp Rocks?). The mother-in-law decided to talk to them while we made a stop to see the new large pin-striping job on Audrey's Jeep. Well the Toyota people told mom that they were looking for their dog that had been chasing a large bear and that there were a lot of bears in the area. Needless to say Audrey and mom decided right there and then that we would not be stopping on the trail for lunch. The last couple of miles were uneventful a lot of slow 4 lo over tons of rocks.

Summary: Peters Mill run is a good 4x4 trail. It would be better if the last two miles or so of just rocks wasn't there. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to test out their rig, but if your really worried about your paint job, then this might not be for you. We should never wheel alone and that goes double for this trail. If you do go make sure you have good tires. And if you driving a manual tranny'ed rig, I recommend that you be very familiar with it's characteristics.

So if your ever planning a trip to Peters Mill Run and need someone to ride the trail with, drop me an email and maybe we can hook up.