Freeze Fest 2026 - The last six years we have gone wheeling in middle or east TN on MLK weekend and the last six years it has been cold and we have gotten snow. It is awesome!
This year we went to the North Cumberland WMA (wildlife management area) OHV trails on the north side of Windrock and we also did some trails in windrock. Test 2 of the rear stretch and the new PSC steering box and pump.
Rear stretch passed the test, still not happy with the PSC pump, I had no issues with the hoses or reservoir this time, it was just a pump whine and it wasn't consistent, it would do it whenever and not always hot, sometimes when it was cold, sometimes turning left, sometimes turning right, blah, blah, blah....
Anyway, Freeze Fest recap.
I drove over on Thursday afternoon and hit snow on the I-40 climb on the east side of Cookeville, it just started snowing and it was coming down pretty good and sticking right away which is not normal for TN.
But the closer I got to East TN the snow slowed and eventually stopped. I was the first to arrive and I got the jeep unloaded and the van leveled.
I knew the other Thurs arrivals would not be there until late, so now it was time to go explore some of the OHV trails solo.
Within 1/4 mile from camp there was a trail that started so I headed that way, it was already dark when I started. I rode around on trails for about 2.5 hours before heading back, had to self recover once due to a mud hole, but other than that I had no issues. I did find an old bricked up cave or mine shaft that the cave deteriorated around the brick wall.
I was going to go in and explore a little, but the ground surrounding the cave was solid sheet of ice and I couldn't get up there to stick my head in to see what was behind the wall.
Friday morning we headed out to hit the Sand Mine Trails near Caryville TN. It was me in my TJ and 3 Suzuki Samurai, 1 Sami on 40s (stickies), 1 stretched sami on 37s, and 1 Sami on 35s. All of them had toyota axles. We picked up trails right away and did about 15 miles of trail and gravel road before getting to the Sand Mine area. Once we started into the Sand Mine we made a right to do Pea gravel hill. It was wet, muddy, and slick. The sami on 40s was able to make it to the top without winching, I had to winch one big step, the other two sami's struggled but with some winching they got to the top. The sami on 35's actually did a little flop onto it's side right as it crossed the last rock and landed on the flat area above the obstacle, we were all like "how did you flop after the obstacle!". Anyway we got him flipped back onto it's wheels and then used the forum favorite hilift jack to get him back to wheeling. After that we hit the widow maker and then went up to the actual old sand mine, it was pretty cool to see all the sand on the top of the mountain.
The view from the top:
We wanted to head over to the Dragon's back obstacle however the trail was closed due to last year's forest fires. We drove to the first set of trail closed signs and questioned it because the polaris map showed it open so I hiked down the trail and at the next set of signs they actually felled some trees blocking the trail, so I guess the map was wrong and it was closed. So we turned around and headed back down widow maker. The off camber towards the drop off side of the trail is a little bit of a mind freak, but overall the widow maker was not that bad going up or down.
From there we decided to head to the Caryville Flats in windrock so I used ONX to map out a route of all OHV trails to get there, it was dark when we got to the flats and the wind was howling, so we didn't stick around to get any pictures. From Caryville Flats we took some windrock trails out to some pavement to start heading back towards camp, on the way I noticed there was some OHV trails that cut our route in half, I knew it would be slower than taking the road but we were here to wheel, not drive pavement so i elected to take the "short cut".
4 hours later after burning up one winch, and running two vehicles out of fuel we made it back to camp, it was a 14 hour day of trails, great day!
I did learn that with my fuel tank in the bed that I have easy access to my fuel line and I also knew where the fuel pump relay was located so that I could jump the pins and run the fuel pump to transfer fuel into a container. So that worked out great, but where I failed was that i forget to relieve the fuel pressure in the system before releasing the fuel line so I had fuel all over me and the cab of the jeep, lesson learned. Also, the winch issue was that after a long hard pull dragging both the front and rear diff through the mud when he released the switch the solenoid stuck and the motor kept pulling but it couldn't pull anymore. I was standing about five feet away and actually kind of froze and didn't know what to do but my buddy Drew ran over and popped the hood and got the battery cable removed in a pretty timely manner, but by time he did the winch motor was smoking!!
Here is a video which contains some footage of the Sami's wheeling the Sand Mine Trails,
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Friday evening more friends arrived so when we got back to camp at midnight the party started. I am the odd man out with this group in the fact that I am about 18 years older than them, they all went to college together and this is a good weekend reunion for them, that is where the van comes in and I am able to escape to the van and sleep in silence while they party in the cabin.
Saturday morning the plan was to do the whole Windrock Trail 57 from the cabin, none of us have never done trail 57 before and it is the longest trail at the park at 18 miles. The trail just recently (within the last few years) opened up to full size rigs, prior to that it was limited to ATV and SxS only.
It was a mixed group, we had;
My TJ on 38s
A TJ on 37s
Sami on 37s
Sami on 35s
Sami on 40s
Toyota Buggy on 39s
RZR on 37 stickies
Polaris Expedition on 35 stickies
We took about 11 miles of pavement and gravel to get to where we started Trail 57.
We didn't know it but we started 57 at the hardest section, where it climbs, it was steep and muddy with slick rocks, etc... it took us a few hours to get just a few miles. During those first few miles, we had one flop, one brake line fail, one drive shaft ujoint break, and a rear locker quit working. We were able to fix everything except for the one rear locker, but he still had front locker and a working winch so we were good to go.
The flop was the same sami as the day before, so now he flopped on the right and the left side.
Once we got to the top, it was mostly flat, tight, and twisty between trees with big frozen mud holes. But it did start snowing, which was a nice touch.
During that next 11-12 miles of trail, I think we went through all four seasons, it just depended on where the mountain was shadowing the sun, it was warm and sunny, around a turn it was snowing, around a turn there was a green field, another turn and there was 3" of snow already on the ground, but ultimately it just turned to all snow which was nice. We had to take some other blue and green trails within windrock to get back to the start of 57 to complete the loop but it was really not that great of trail for me, I like wheeling rocks, not trail riding through mud holes, so after that first 2 miles I was pretty bored. It was a one and done trail for me. Still a great day and I had a blast.
Back at camp, I again escaped out to my van to get some sleep while the younger generation stayed up way past my bedtime watching youtube videos and doing shots of fireball (which I heard stories about the next morning).
Sunday morning most of the group packed up and headed home. Me and my buddy Drew packed up and headed to the other side of Windrock to do some more wheeling. We trailered over to the General Store and unloaded there, it took us an hour drive to get there, but it was going to save us 30 minutes on the drive home, so it was only a 30 min additional drive overall and WAY, WAY, WAY worth it.
Sunday was fun day because I was able to play in some rocks.
We headed to the end of trail 39 which is called Cadillac hill. We went down Cadillac Hill and then turned around and went up Cadillac hill, it was super fun.
The above youtube also contains some of the sami coming up Cadillac hill and the subsequent repair.
At the top of the hill we again had to use the loved Hi Lift Jack and my welder to make some repairs to the sami, it was taking a beating but kept on given!
From there we headed over to Trail 3 and took the easy line down to Trail 40a and then down to Trail 40 which is rail trail. Rail Trail is one of my favorites but there is one section that I have never been able to make and still have not seen anyone make it in person, it is nothing special, it just has spines of rocks sticking up that catch diff, link, rocker, etc.... and for me it is just best to get lined up and winch up it. Which I did with no issue. However, the sami with the leaf springs hanging down the front along with the diff, etc... we could not get him lined up to get a good pull so we again had to use the hi lift, this time as a ramp to get his tire up and over.
Rest of rail trail is just picking lines through rock and it was a blast, on this day between the rocks was also filled with ice in lieu of water which made it interesting but there was no mud, the mud was all freeze dried and you could actually get traction on the mud if it wasn't a sheet of ice, made for a great day! Being the last day and we still had to drive 6 hours home we elected to head back to the trucks, but I first wanted to play on Trail 3 just to get in a few more rocks before heading home, so we did the lower section (LH line going up) and once we got to the big wall we turned right and took the bypass lines to get to the top, it was the cherry on the top, perfect day, Sunday was a fun day.
I worked on a lot of vehicles and helped fix a lot of stuff over the weekend, but my Jeep worked good and as far as I know I had no issues. The PS pump is still whining but they are going to send me a new one, they are on back order so it will be a month or so. Rear stretch seemed to work, I don't think it really helped me make an obstacle, but I never really scared myself and I think that was due to the stretch.
If I get anymore pictures from anyone, I will edit and add them in the future.
This week I ask you all to pray for snow in Park City. I am heading there next weekend for a week and I need more snow. So pray, dance, drink a beer, do whatever you do to make it snow!!
Enjoy the ride.
