Event registration and social hour kicked off the weekend Friday night, began at 5pm and ran until 9pm allowing participants to arrive at their leisure. Social hour drinks and snacks were provided by 4ByFours LLC out of Fruitport, Michigan. Some families with kids arrived and headed straight for the hotel pool/waterpark after registration, while others grabbed a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant. Our more adventurous participants headed out into the dark night to compete in the GPS Scavenger Hunt. 8 teams participated (approximately 20 vehicles) and only 5 of them completed the hunt! There were 14 GPS checkpoints scattered throughout the town of Houghton Lake and on the trail at Camp Grayling. Teams were required to take photos with all teammates at each checkpoint in order to receive credit for that particular checkpoint. First place was secured by team BAJA, who completed the hunt in 2 hours and 28 minutes. Second place went to team TACO BAR, who came in ONE MINUTE later than the first place team.
Saturday’s trail ride started with an 8:45am driver’s meeting with trail rides departing at 9:15 and 9:45am. We had groups for all skill levels with approximately 65 vehicles participate. Everyone gathered together in a central location at 12:30-1:00pm for lunch. All groups were back to the hotel between 5:00 and 5:30pm allowing everyone time to freshen up before the dinner banquet, awards, and raffle. The banquet food was catered by the hotel restaurant and it was DELICIOUS! Our wonderful awards for the evening were donated by event sponsor, Jeeperz Creeperz. We had over $7000 in donations for our raffle and included items from Spicer Parts, Rancho, Jeeperz Creeperz, Unlimited Offroad, Toledo Jeep Fest, Detroit 4Fest, 4byFours, Crawler Offroad Recovery, Bulletpoint Mounting Solutions, Bundy Hill Offroad Park and Teraflex.
Sunday’s trail ride starts an hour later than Saturday’s to give everyone the chance to get packed up and checked out of their room before we hit the trails. With 30 vehicles participating, we broke up into two groups and again met at a central location for lunch and a photo. Around 2pm we started to make our way to the road, and the event wrapped up just before 3pm.
We had such a fun time with friends new and old! Who’s ready for next year?
2 thoughts on “Snow Way Success!”
What a fun weekend. This was our first organized event and it did not disappoint. We will be booking more events with you as our schedules allow. I have been talking about the food at the banquet since we got home. They did a great job. Thank you for welcoming us into your Discover 4×4 community.
Thank you so much for joining us! We hope to see you out on the trails soon!