Would you pay $900 to enter an event held on the remote back roads of Vermont where vehicle damage is a certainty and the main prize is a largely unknown trophy?Maybe not -- but that didn’t stop 37 people from filling the 2015 Vermont Overland Trophy lineup to capacity in just three days. The VOT combined off-road driving and recovery skills with overland, vehicle-based adventure travel in the spirit of the Camel Trophy, which charted wildernesses worldwide between 1980 and 2000 -- all on the Class 4 public roads that crisscross rural Vermont. Despite the name, 2015 marked the first year where an actual trophy winner was decided. The two previous events had finishers and non-finishers, but no overall champ. Though the trophy winner this year was decided by a “Challenge Trail Competition,” the real winner, as in the original Camel Trophy, was probably the team that took home the Team Spirit Award. Another hotly contested honor (and the one that hints at the spirit of the event) is the Camel Trophy-era Mustache Award, which takes some serious dedication, preparation and commitment to claim. All trophies aside, there are a variety of reasons off-road and overland enthusiasts race to enter this unique event. Many find it a great way to explore little-known, off-pavement routes across rural Vermont, which can be a big challenge without guidance—it’s quite easy to end up on private property if you haven’t done your research, and/or the GPS accuracy is off by only a few feet. Unique local flavor and Vermont hospitality is woven into the event by organizers, staff, camping-area hosts and local businesses along the trail; rural Vermont is a truly unique and special place to explore, both for its natural beauty and local culture.

The 2015 Vermont Overland Trophy puts truck and their drivers to the test on the rugged back roads of the Green Mountain state. During its third year, the event saw more serious rigs -- and serious competition -- than ever before. Bryan Dorr

The VOT is also a challenge for both man and machine. There are long days of driving in adverse conditions, serious obstacles to overcome on the trail and the added “hardship” of setting up and breaking down camp each day, no matter the conditions that Mother Nature throws your way.

All of those things are just icing on the cake, though—the camaraderie the VOT fosters between like-minded off-road adventure travelers is the real reason that the entrant list fills so quickly.

With such a broad range of reasons to participate comes an even broader range of off-road-ready adventure vehicles. At the 2015 VOT there were: 27 Jeeps (three JKs, 15 JKUs, two XJs, three TJs, one WJ, one LJ, one CJ7 and one CJ8), six Land Rovers (one LR3, two Discoveries, three Defender 90s), two Toyotas (one 80 Series Land Cruiser, one Lexus LX), one Hummer H3 and one Isuzu Trooper. Out of these 37 vehicles, only three did not finish (the lowest attrition rate for the event). This is not to say there wasn’t plenty of carnage on the trail—it’s just that the rest of the vehicles were able to continue with the damage and/or make repairs and still finish each day’s route.

Nearly all the adventure vehicles brought to compete in the VOT are daily drivers, many of which were driven quite a distance to the event. These vehicles have been built up over years of trial and error, with owners figuring out which off-road and camping systems work best for that particular vehicle and its passengers. Common off-road modifications included a winch, basic recovery gear, skid plates, heavy-duty bumpers, a lift, and AT or MT tires (in a bigger size than stock). Some vehicles went even further with snorkels, rock sliders, sway-bar disconnects, differential lockers and even engine modifications like superchargers.

The 2015 Vermont Overland Trophy puts truck and their drivers to the test on the rugged back roads of the Green Mountain state. During its third year, the event saw more serious rigs -- and serious competition -- than ever before. Bryan Dorr

During the event, it quickly became evident that off-road driving skills and experience -- as well as creating a plan of action before entering each challenge section -- yielded the best results. Showing little concern for cosmetic vehicle damage also helped, as many times a heavy right foot and some tight lines yielded the best results in the competition (but not necessarily the best results for the sheetmetal).

Although vehicles ranged from late-1970s vintage to nearly new, any age-related advantages/disadvantages seemed to even out. While a modern Land Rover LR3 is extremely comfortable to ride in, boasting an amazingly smart traction-control system and adjustable ride-height suspension, it also has complicated electronics that are known to fail -- and it’s incredibly heavy. An older vehicle, like a Jeep CJ7 from the early 1980s, offers up solid axles and a manual transmission and is generally easier to fix on the side of the trail with only a few tools—but it also presents an extremely harsh ride and no real creature comforts like air conditioning.

In the end, short-wheelbase vehicles, regardless of age, filled out the top of the leader board. They were simply more maneuverable in the tight Vermont woods thanks to their better break-over angles, which allowed the rigs to get over steep obstacles without getting hung up.

While the trophy-chasing aspect of the VOT was new this year, it brought out the competitive spirit of the event and spurred people to prepare differently in a variety of ways. Vehicles were generally better prepared with more off-road-capability upgrades, such as undercarriage armor and differential lockers, than in years past.

The 2015 Vermont Overland Trophy puts truck and their drivers to the test on the rugged back roads of the Green Mountain state. During its third year, the event saw more serious rigs -- and serious competition -- than ever before. Bryan Dorr

None of the teams were really roughing it at camp each night, but there was a bit less “glamping” than prior events, as the bigger and heavier your camping setup, the less capable and more failure-prone your vehicle is off-road. Sleeping accommodations at camp this year ranged from a cot under a tarp to a memory-foam mattress inside a high-quality rooftop tent. Dinners included uncooked SpaghettiOs straight from the can, Dom and Wagyu steak and everything in between. Finding that balance between off-road capability, passenger comfort and camping comfort was all part of the VOT challenge—and a balancing act that all overland travelers tackle based on their specific needs, wants and means.

This year’s Trophy winner, Joe Safford in his Jeep TJ, took home a custom-engraved and CNC-milled off-road recovery snatch block, created by Research and Recovery, which also made custom-engraved metal wallets for each finisher of the 2015 VOT. The Team Spirit Award winners, Al DeOrleans and Francisco Hernandez, got to take home a number of fun outdoor- and off-road-related products, while the coveted Mustache Award went to Greg McKenzie, who took home a very unique (but not very functional) trophy.

Though the spirit of the Camel Trophy was reanimated on the back roads of Vermont over the past three years, organizers, sadly, have decided that 2015 was the last year for the VOT. They cite a refocus on cycling events, which are a “much more sustainable use of our back roads.” It seems only a matter of time and place, however, before that overlanding spirit resurfaces.

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