Rausch Creek November 19th-21st

[ollllllo]

 [color=009900]The funny thing about November wheeling is, you never know what to expect. Last year we were in t-shirts, the year before, thermal underwear and winter parka\'s. So for the early part of the week I anxiously watched the long term weather forecasts for Tremont, PA (Rausch Creek), hoping it wouldn\'t be raining and miserable. Much to my surprise it was looking like a sunny but brisk weekend was ahead.

Cora and I departed Victor @ about 6pm Thursday night. We were both very worn out from the past few weeks of work and school so we tried to leave for the weekend as early as possible. Stopping for some pre-packaged fire wood \"FIRE STIX\" on the way, proved to be a very smart decision. $5.99 for a bag of 6 pieces was a small investment in order to save me the task of collecting firewood in the dark. I bought 4 bags. The first night camping alone in the park was a bit Erie. Between the black cat wandering around the woods behind us, to the guys who stopped to work on  their broken vehicle on the side of the road outside the gate at 11:30pm.

Friday we woke to an amazing sunrise. Cora managed to get a few photos but as usual they never beat experiencing it first hand. We signed in at the office and headed out to explore the  New, North East property located across the road. We had only spent part of one other day over there on this past Memorial Day weekend so we were looking forward to checking out all the new trails that had been opened up since.

The property had been partially cleared and the early stages of the site work had begun for what was supposed to be one of the Greatest new Road Racing courses in North America, Rausch Creek Road Course, But after failing to meet EPA erosion requirements the project was abandoned. According to Rausch Creek Motorsports website \" Planning continues on a top-tier road racing facility intended to anchor a 2700 acre motorsports-themed commercial development zone.\"

The park has opened up a bunch of new trails since Memorial day 2010. Some Blue trails along with some pretty sick Reds were added. Although we discovered the difference between an \"Old Blue\" VS \"New Blue\" is quite drastic. Cora and I got schooled a few times on what were labeled as \"Blue\" (medium) trails. We were told later that night that alot has to do with the untouched soil. It is much more slick than what you can find in the more well used trails on the rest of the property. We ran almost every blue trail with the exception of one called \"Brake Check\". It began as a very steep down hill section which then got steeper as it seemed to drop 90 deg vertical into a gully, which then required you to make a 90 deg left turn within the steep banks that looked to be no more than 12 ft apart. We chose to skip that one.

We made our way over to a trail named Outer Limits. For lack of a better descriptive term, this is just BONKERS. Up a steep hillside covered with various sized sharp edged boulders that move when you walk on them, let alone drive a vehicle up them. I cant wait to return to this new section with my CJ buggy to give it a shot. On the way back to our Jeeps we noticed what looked like an old trail that was grown over. It lead out to a point with huge rock out croppings. From atop this one rock in particular you had a 360 deg view of the mountains around us .  We even found 2 copper markers anchored to the rock.  They were put there by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic  survey from 1960.  Today the trees cut down on some of the views, but I imagine 50 years ago it was quite the vantage point.

Just being the two of us, we covered an amazing amount of ground.  We decided to call it a day after a technical side hill section could have gone really bad, Quick! The driver side rear tire lost the inner bead, the outer is locked, while on a very steep hill side that the trail ran perpendicular across. To make it even worse, the trails is very new, completely covered in wet leaves, and had no ruts built up yet to help hold your line. Cora was already dog walking across the section when the bead blew it dropped the rear end even further down hill and off into a low spot. The old leaf sprung CJ7 was at it very limit. After she had regained her breath and realized some how the JEEP was still barely upright, Cora decided I would be the one to drive it out. I got it back to level ground,  re-seated the bead and  she let me go first it my CJ. After I made it through she was determined to conquer this section. Her second attempt was a flawless execution.

We gathered a ton of fire wood on the way back to camp. The forecast was calling for a crystal clear night with lows around 30.

First to arrive was Jeff. He is a close friend of Ryan and his wife. Followed by Wingman and his daughter. It was her first trip. K9keeper , son and Mrs. K9 were rolling in their pimp new Diesel van with the TJ in tow.
Smike and Chip made it just before Ryan and everyone huddled around the campfire for warmth.  Some introductions and great stories followed .

Saturday morning I barely opened my eyes before I noticed our tent was filled with camp fire smoke. Apparently the wind had shifted during the morning hours and my sinus’ were killing me. Jeff , Chip, and us were tenting while everyone else slept either in trailers or the van. Our newest member XJH3 (Harrison) and his friends decided to hotel it. Cora whipped up her signature breakfast. Frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls have eggs, sausage, cheese and potatoes. She dumps them into a pan and cooks it on the grill. Nothing is better on a cold morning. It was going to be a good day.

We headed out to some trails that most of us hadn’t run in a long time. Trail 1a Blue has a few challenging hills and tight tree lined turns but everyone made it through. 1a has a very cool Black rock garden section that was my first rock garden ever 5 years ago. We crossed Pole Line to pick up Trail 2. Along the way we got to see Frog Hole. It has drowned Jeeps in the past and they nailed a picture to a tree to prove it.  No one attempted on this trip. Next some of the crew hit Snake Bite Trail. This is always a group favorite and it offered the new guys their first glimpse of some bigger rocks. Next up was “O” Trail. A long winding Green trail with an awesome rock field that parallels it for the first half. Sharp flat ledges and crazy hill climbs are everywhere you look.

Lunch was enjoyed in the sun over at BigRocks on the West property. Wingman offered his winching services to a XJ that got his roof rack caught up on a tree. Then we took Trail 10 which winds its way up and down the hillside along Rock Creek. This trail is most fun when its wet because it mainly consists of deep ruts and the water flows down it like a creek. Harrison kicked butt in a Black Rock Garden just before we went across Pizza Rock backwards. Jeff then lead us down Trail 23 which is a fairly new trail on the outer property line of the West Property. It was a blast. Rocky, Muddy, and plenty of elevation changes was enough to keep everyone satisfied. At the end Jeff realized his alternator wasn’t charging anymore so He headed back to camp with Smike and Ryan. They planned to head north to try and find a new one before the parts store closed. The rest of us (Cora, myself, Wingman, Harrison, and K9 hit some of my old favorites. Trail 15 then Trail 12. Because everything was so wet, these trails were that much more fun. I think I have an addiction to Creek style trails.

We took the new guys over to check out Rock creek, Gathered up some more firewood and headed back to camp.

Saturday night was also someone’s birthday party. Eugene Rose, sort of a local celebrity was at Rausch with some pretty serious crawlers for a day of hardcore wheeling and partying. They said they spent the entire day on Upper Talsman Trail and still no one has made it. I definitely want to see what this is all about.

After Eugene’s  celebration treated to just about every musical genre imaginable,  we all decided to call it a night.

Cora and I decided to head home Sunday morning in hopes of picking up our dogs from the kennel, finishing up some last minute work in preparation for Monday, and relaxing a little before another very hectic week. So the rest of the group headed out and we said our goodbyes. We couldn’t have asked for better weather in November. Blue skies, sunshine  and low to mid 40’s was good enough for me to forget about life for a while…

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[xjh3]

Great report Erik. I was a little cautious at first but my Jeep never let me down, it honestly surprised me all weekend. I had a GREAT time and can\'t thank everyone enough for being so nice and showing me the ropes. I\'m hooked!!

[etk300ex]

First I\'ve heard of the road course, interesting.

Sounds awesome, glad everyone was having fun while I was studying thermo-fluids :banghead:

[Wingman]

I almost bailed on the whole weekend.  I had a sinus thing going since Monday night and Friday started pretty rough.  I’m so glad I went!

Thanks for taking the lead on Saturday, Erik and Cora.  Wished you could have stayed to wheel on Sunday as well.

It was even colder Sunday morning.  Puddles had a layer of ice and frost was on everything.  Brrr…  I enjoyed the sunrise from atop the highest comp course hill.  It provided a great vista of the mountains and mist-filled valleys to the east.  The sky was crystal clear and the view was amazing.  Awesome, God!

After breakfast and wishing Erik and Cora farewell, our group played for a bit on the comp course while people got signed in.  We headed out for CV, Trail 5, Yellow Jacket, then down to Camel Back, ran all of Snakebite, and finished with the Quarry.  Ryan made Shoot the Moon but Smike was denied after a valiant and smoky effort.

It is always enjoyable to watch a new crawler find himself.  Harrison’s courage grew as the days wore on and smiled all the way.  Yeah, he’s hooked!

About 2:30pm, everyone packed up for the trek home.

My memory is still a bit snot-filled so if I missed anything, chime in…

[smichaelR22]

i herd ryan had to winch out the second climb after the entrance of shoot the moon :)