We don't have any snow on the ground yet at the Four Wheeler Midwest Bureau, but just to the east of us around the Great Lakes they've been getting hammered by lake effect storms.  As a matter of fact, this onslaught of snow has got in the way of a quick trip to Detroit to return the H2 we've been driving while Hummer had our Trailhugger H3 project in Vegas at SEMA.  Not that it's a bad thing, we're totally down with the H2 and it's cool features like remote start and the neat way it fires up the seat warmers and interior heating when the outside temp is cold, but more on that in a future blog.     

Anyway, snow is a fact of life here and it's the reason why many folks buy four-wheel-drive vehicles.  Interestingly, many folks can't seem to get enough winter driving, which leads me to my main topic; winter trail rides.  There are some and one of the most popular here in the Midwest is the SnoBlind winter trail ride in Michigan put on by the Mudchuggers Four Wheel Drive Club.  If you haven't heard of SnoBlind, it's a 3-day event held in and around West Branch in February.  This event has been an annual happening for the past 15 years and it has sold out every single year.  As a matter of fact, it has sold out its 120 available slots for the '09 event already, so if you want to hit SnoBlind the earliest you can do so is 2010.  This event utilizes snowed-over forest roads and it's a blast.  I was rummaging through some old transparencies of past trail rides and found these images from SnoBlind.  As you can see by the first image, SnoBlind draws a wide range of vehicles including fullsized rigs. 

SnoBlind is very family-oriented and it's a great way to break up the monotony of winter- and hone your winter driving skills.  This Grand Cherokee contained an entire family of five.  Not only did they arrive in the rig but they also 'wheeled it all weekend. 

For more info on SnoBlind visit www.mudchuggers.org.