Big Levels and Pads Creek Weekend! | Capital Off Road Enthusiasts, Inc.

Big Levels is one of the trails that the club tries to hit once a year. This year Ben took the reins to lead the trip. Since Pads Creek isn’t far from Big Levels, both trails were combined into an epic weekend of fun! For this trip, the club tried primitive camping along Coal Road so Ben and Jendra left Baltimore super early to secure a campsite before hitting the trails. After setting up camp they headed out to the Pads Creek part of the adventure.

Pads Creek Attendees:

Ben D. – Toyota 4Runner
Jendra – Jeep JK
Jeff K. – Land Rover Defender

After meeting in Lexington, VA, we drove to the southern end of Pads Creek to start with the big crossing of the Cowpasture River. A quick check of the Cowpasture River Near Clifton Forge, VA – 02016000 gauge showed the water at 2 feet which was deeper than previous times the club had done the trail, but still a safe depth for the vehicles in our convoy. As we crossed the river we passed an impressive wall of flood debris as tall as our vehicles!

As we traversed the trail we were greeted with pinstriping, mud puddles, stream crossings, and some rocky areas as we roughly paralleled the train tracks.

When we reached the graded gravel forest service road we decided to hang a u-turn and do the trail in the direction that we had just come and exit at the river. It didn’t make a huge difference in driving time and it certainly was a lot more fun!

Friday night we packed a few more people into our campsite who wanted to join for Big Levels on Saturday.

After a rainy night sleep a few more people joined us for the Big Levels portion of the trail ride.

Big Levels Attendees:

Ben D. – Toyota 4Runner
Jendra – Jeep JK
Steve S. – Nissan Frontier
James B. – Land Rover LR3
Jeff K. – Land Rover Defender
Chase – Rivian R1S

After our driver’s meeting we lined up and hit the trail!

The day started off quite foggy which gave the trail ride a unique feel. The first half of Big Levels is rocky and mostly dry. There is a signature rock ledge which has options ranging from mild to wild. Ben was first up and took a medium line right up the middle which most of the other vehicles followed. Jendra, as the only Jeep in the convoy, felt obligated to take a slightly harder line which left the Jeep leaning precariously so he backed down and took an easier line. Jeff decided to test all of the recent mods to his Land Rover Defender and took a harder off-camber line that required a bit of momentum which left everyone scrambling to get out of the way! James, not to be out done by the newer Land Rover, opted for a similar line; however, his lack of lockers required A LOT of momentum which left his truck bouncing on a very off camber section of the ledges. Between running to get out of the way and calculating the tipping point of a LR3 we didn’t get a lot of video of his spirited drive, but the picture below summarizes it well!

Once our heart rates and blood pressure returned to normal we continued on to a clearing just before the mid-point of the trail where we stopped for lunch. The second half of Big Levels has a lot more puddles which had a lot of water from recent rains and tighter sections of trail which definitely leave an impression on your paint job! There is one set of optional rocks that allows everyone to pose their trucks before taking the plunge off the backside. The longer wheelbase of the two Land Rovers left them turtled and needing a winch to pull themselves off. Steve in his Frontier, learning from their mis-adventures, opted for the picture then backed off and went around. After a long, fun day on the trail we arrived at the Blue Ridge Parkway where we aired up and said our goodbyes. Some headed home while others opted for another wet night of camping!