7^th Annual Northwoods Jeep Jamboree

Crandon, Wisconsin
September 20-22

by
Scott DePauw 

Traveling north on Rt. 43 through Wisconsin this time of year is always a great time. It’s a wide open road with little traffic all the way through Greenbay and a few side roads from there put you into Crandon. Upon arrival in the early evening, we checked into our favorite lodging place, the Four Seasons Motel. We went to the community center in town which is the base of the jamboree's activities that weekend. We went through the tech check-in and rekindled old friendships with all that we met. This was our fifth jamboree here. They check-in people placed American flags on everybody's CR radio antennae's. We had twelve Jeeps there representing our club.

The next morning we met again there, for the supplied breakfast and the required drivers meeting. At the conclusion of the drivers meeting, member Steve Kite raised his hand and asked if everyone in attendance would rise and join the Firewalker Four Wheel Drive Club in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

200 people immediately arose at attention without saying a word and joined us in the pledge of allegiance.

It was a great day to be an American and a Firewalker. That set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

That day all ten Jeeps were on the same trail, the Northwoods Hub Trail. The trail leaders were quite impressed with our turnout, and with the impression we had left the year before, carried over to this year.

We had run this trail last year in the rain and it was almost impassable in parts. This year was dry but left plenty of challenges. Upon returning to the motel, we regrouped and headed to the community center for dinner. The best prime rib, chicken and fish anywhere was served each night. And I know my food.

Each night we opened up the Firewalker Pub downstairs in the motel to anybody else that cared to join us.

The next day we ran the Atkins Lake Trail. Seven members ran this trail and the other five ran the Cannonball Run Trail. Atkins Trail was supposed to be a pretty easy trail. We never made it past the first obstacle 9/10 of a mile into the trail. All twenty two jeeps on the trail got stuck except for Gary. Each one got strapped out of the river of mud with the bottomless hole except for one, the tail gunner from the hosting club. It just so happened that he was behind me. As I tried to strap him out, all four of my tires would leave the ground. He wasn't budging! I got turned around and tried to winch him out, but he wasn't budging! I got chained to a tree to stop me from being pulled forward, but he wasn't budging! I ended up pulling my rear bumper/tire carrier off my rear end! I was out of there after that, and it was somebody else's turn. Gary Miller and Dave Glader tried to double strap him out with their two Jeeps and ended up breaking Dave's rear axle on his TJ. After we all got to dry ground and secured our vehicles, Gary and I drove back down the river of mud with the bottomless hole, in his jeep, and we let the tail gunner know that our club wouldn't leave him behind.

By the now the other fifteen jeeps in front of us had taken off, being led by the trail leaders wife. The plan was to get them off the trail and she would make the fifteen mile round trip to get behind him on the trail. Our plan was to winch him out from behind, running the winch cable by him and securing it to a tree behind him on a pulley and back to his jeep. Since this was in the middle of a peat bog, there weren't a lot of sturdy trees around to anchor off of. We had to use a few tow straps to make everything reach. It didn't help that the tail gunner had broken his steering shaft so the front wheels were going every which way. He also flooded his engine so it wouldn't run and broke his rear axle, just to make things interesting. The pull was slow and tedious as we had to straighten his wheels by hand every few feet while standing in knee high water. We eventually got him out and they towed him back the other way to town.

Getting Dave Glader ( later to be nicknamed Shaft ) off the trail was very innovative. To keep his tire from falling off since he had a broken axle, we rigged up a Flintstones looking device. We used a ten foot sapling that had fallen down and wedged it into his front spring area and ran it back to the outside of the rear tire. We used a come-a-long to hold tension on it and it held the tire in place, but yet aloud it to still rotate. Another branch and a couple of cinch straps made the whole thing hold together. He had lost his brakes due to the brake line breaking in the axle snapping process, so we put tow straps front and rear on him to Gary and Debby's Jeeps to control him while going up and down the hills. We got him to the trail head where Hank & Jim had positioned a trailer for him.

That night at the dinner and awards ceremony, the trail leaders talked about their trails. Our Clubs name and individuals were singled out for their enthusiasm and sportsman like attitudes. The tail gunner had our club standup and we received an ovation from everyone in attendance after he explained what we had done for him. He stated that the Firewalker Four Wheel Drive Club understood what it is to be a Jeeper, and that he and the other members of his club the Legendary Civilian Jeepers wouldn't forget it either. As we stood there, they presented a gift to us, four cases of beer as a token of their appreciation.

That night at the Firewalker Pub, we entertained 65 people, our club, their club and few walk-ins. After a executive committee meeting, we announced that all the bar tips and trail fines would go to the family of one of their members who had recently passed away and left no insurance. We were able to donate $175 dollars to his widow and children. Their club was very grateful. We got to bed late and got up too early and headed home the next day.