Over 100 Jeeps, along with dozens of other four-wheel-drive vehicles and several hundred people converged on Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area this past weekend for the second annual Wheelers Overland Adventure - an event rooted in the ever-expanding overlanding concept with training, four wheeling and plenty of camaraderie added to the mix.
Overlanding is a extremely popular form of 'off road' travel these days that essentially describes self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations. It is not straight-up rock crawling or surviving difficult obstacles, but it may involve dealing with those things to get where you need to go. Typically, it is more off-the grid camping and travelling in a purpose-built vehicle where the entire experience is less about the destination and more on the journey.
The Wheelers Overland Adventure featured morning classes each day covering overlanding topics like 101- and 201-level travel planning, navigation, practice driving with a trailer and overlanding with a four-legged companion. Winching and hi-lift jack basics, along with the different types of recovery gear to bring, were also popular classes. It is the kind of educational experience not many wheeling weekends offer which definitely sets the Wheelers Overland Adventure apart.
In true overlanding style, evenings were strictly a camping set up with plenty of roof-top tents and 'basecamp' structures erected for get togethers and a sharing of off-road experiences.
Each morning, and throughout the day, local food vendor Kelsea's Kitchen offered a variety of items, while Quadratec brought along doughnuts, coffee and orange juice Saturday morning. Saturday even offered a park-wide scavenger hunt requiring participants to head out and discover/find numerous locations and people in order to receive points.
AOAA is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's eastern coal region and offers an extensive off-road trail system covering 6,500 acres, so Wheelers Overland Adventure attendees had their choice of trails from green to red during their stay. Longer, scenic, overland routes were also offered for those who wanted to check out other park attractions, such as Whaleback, as well as spectacular views of the beautiful Coal Township area.
