We’re fortunate to have one of the most revered off-road trail sites on the east coast, right here in North Carolina. Uwharrie National Forest, just outside the small town of Troy, and a little shy of a two-hour drive west from Raleigh is home to a wide variety of rugged trails for 4×4 enthusiasts.
In episode 70 of the Zero to 60 Podcast, you can hear Dylan, an avid Jeep enthusiast and our guide for this excursion, talk about the unforgettable weekend he and his wife Robyn spent on the trails of Uwharrie in their Jeep Wrangler 4xe.
This wasn’t their first trip to Uwharrie but the 2022 Jeep Jamboree was the most immersive in terms of learning the capabilities of their hybrid Jeep. In fact, the images and videos they took while maneuvering their Tuscadero Pink Wrangler Unlimited 4xe on the trails, are what you see in this blog.
The ORV (Off-Road Vehicle) trails you’ll find at Uwharrie, give 4×4 owners of all skill levels, the opportunity to traverse a landscape of rocks, ruts, mud pits, and other natural obstacles, deep within a dense forest of Carolina Pine. During the Fall, some of the most noteworthy public trails, as well as a few on private land, become a part of The Jeep Jamboree at Uwharrie. The Jeep Jamboree is only open to registered Jeep owners who reserved a spot in the Jamboree.
The majority of the ORV trails in Uwharrie are rock-strewn corridors of varying width, with occasional inclines and declines thanks to numerous humps and hills that cross your path. You’ll also find a few good-sized boulders, depending on the severity of the trail, plus a few mud pits if you dare. A word of caution: always have a friend in another 4 x 4 to off-road with you, carry tow straps, and be prepared to get stuck. Is not a matter of if, but when.
Fortunately for Dylan and Robyn, the official Jeep Jamboree at Uwharrie includes experienced trail guides who are trained and employed by Jeep at each Jamboree across the nation. Not only do you have a lead and a chase Jeep on the trail, but the Jeep Trail Guides also stand outside of the line of Jeeps and guide each driver through the maze of obstacles. The guides also inspect each Jeep Jamboree participant’s Jeep to make sure that the required safety equipment is in place.
A few of the basic requirements every Jeep must have to participate in the Jamboree include tow points, a GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) radio, a full-size spare tire, seat belts for all occupants, and your Jeep must be street legal including a license plate and proof of insurance. It’s also worth mentioning, as Dylan does in the podcast, that a Jeep’s tire size can not exceed 40″ or you’ll be unable to participate.
One of the unique features of the official Jeep Jamboree at Uwharrie is your opportunity to drive on trails that cross private land. The folks at the Jeep Jamboree have contracted with these private landowners to allow the participants in the Jamboree access to their trails.
One such area on private property, only available to the Jeep Jamboree participants, is Grand Overland District which offers some great open sky views of the surrounding landscape while you descend a steep hill. Since most of the public trails through Uwharrie are deep within the forest of pine trees, the wide-open blue sky and sun offered in Grand Overland District is a welcome sight.
We’ll point out that for the purpose of this blog, we wanted to also give you a nighttime trail driving perspective too, which is included in the preceding video, however, this footage was recorded by Dylan and his wife on a second trip to Uwharrie and not during the Jeep Jamboree. The pair had stopped off at the Eldorado Outpost along State Road 109, on the border of the Uwharrie ORV Trails, to air-down the tires when they met up with a group of fellow Jeep owners who invited them on a nighttime trail ride.
Driving at night on the trails, especially the rock-covered routes through Uwharrie, is a totally different experience from daylight travel, which Dylan highly recommends. Saying that he actually preferred driving on the trails at night because the light from his and fellow Jeeps on the trails, seemed to give a better view and perspective of the obstacles that lay ahead.
If you were wondering about accommodations during the Jeep Jamboree, you have a couple of options. You can either bring your own camping gear and set up camp at the end of each day’s trail driving, or you can choose a more comfortable option like Dylan and his wife did. They found a nice, convenient AirBnB overlooking Badin Lake (within the confines of the forest), and stayed there for the weekend. The Jeep Jamboree also provides a list of recommended hotels nearby.
As you can see in the images Dylan and Robyn took during their Jeep Jamboree experience at Uwharrie, including the extra nighttime trail footage, their Jeep Wrangler 4xe performed as advertised, just like a regular gas-powered Wrangler would. But, they had the added benefit of saving some fuel in (electric only) mode while the Tuscadero Pink Jeep silently crawled along the trail obstacles. With only the slight crunch of the rocks beneath the tires to provide any sound or motion, trail driving in the 4xe really is a great way to get even closer to the great outdoors.
A final word of advice if you’re considering booking your own reservation for the 2023 Jeep Jamboree at Uwharrie…do it now. As Dylan mentions in the Zero to Sixty Podcast episode, they booked their trip in October 2021 and were put on a waiting list for the September 2022 Uwharrie Jamboree. It was only because a reservation holder dropped out, that they were able to grab a spot for themselves.
Do yourself a favor and get educated on this unique Jeep experience, officially sanctioned by the brand, by learning more at the Jeep Jamboree USA website.
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