We have been there before but we had to go back, wheeling in Texas isn’t what one would expect it to be, the plains are the first thing that come to mind when you think of Texas, wheeling isn’t the second. Outside of San Antonio sits the sleepy little town of Llano, not far away is the infamous Enchanted Rock, an extremely large granite rock formation close to the size of Llano itself and is a local landmark.
Scattered throughout the area are several other rock formations and outcroppings that provide some of the area’s most challenging and entertaining wheeling to be found for hundreds of miles around. The Inks Ranch is one of the few ranches in the area that can boast still having the size of range and acreage that the Texas ranches used to be known for. The Ranch holds ownership of many smaller formations that are scattered around and are utilized for the well known and popular Jeep Jamboree event where Jeep enthusiasts from all around the country come to play for one weekend a year for a private function.
This trip was to kick off the 2011 season for Jeep Jamboree USA where more than 100 vehicles and close to 300 participants were registered and ready to get the weekend rolling and the wheeling started. Registration began Thursday evening and the excitement filled the air, the conversations covered one end of the spectrum to the other, people relived moments and told stories of trips from previous years while others were visibly excited to share the trips and adventures they had planned for the upcoming season. One thing for sure is that the cabin fever had settled in and people were ready to get outside, enjoy the sun and get to the trails.
The group seemed barely able to contain their excitement as they eagerly awaited the morning activities of breakfast and trail briefings. The crowd mulled around and got their gear and Jeeps prepared and ready for the trail. Digging out their coolers to airing down the tires, disconnecting the sway bars just for something to do while they counted the minutes for the final trail meeting. After the morning meetings the groups began to gather in their respective groups before each would head to the Inks Ranch via take their designated routes. All of the trails are creatively named like “Roy’s Revenge”, Little Moab, Watch Mountain, Balancing Rock and several others that made up the mixture of steep granite climbs, dried up river beds to winding trails in and out and through the trees, each with a story behind the name.
The weekend ended up being a huge success and turned out to be as fun and exciting as the crowd had hoped it would be. The temps were in the 80’s and 90’s and the wheeling turned out to be what the crowd had anticipated, there were a few instances of breakage from an axle shaft or two, a couple flat tires and torn off valve stems but the carnage was minimal. It was a perfect start to the season and we will be looking forward to going back to Texas for more wheeling in the future.
