Rausch Creek, June 22-23, 2013

[jaysenodell]

A bit long. Sorry.

Participants: Wingman, k9keeper ,  AWL4928, xjh3, Chris

Saturday: Comp course, U3, 101, "O" green and black, Yellow Jacket, 4, 2, Crawler Ridge, Quarry, Shoot the Moon, Topless

Sunday: J1, J2, 15, 11, 10A, 10B, Rock Creek, 12, 12B

Wingman and Jaysen left Phelps at approximately 4PM Friday. After an uneventful drive, we arrived to find Chris already set up with a roaring fire. Chris is a friend of xjh3 and drives a ’76 Bronco. k9keeper and xjh3 showed up at some point that evening, but yours truly and son were too busy trying to figure out what was going on that I didn’t catch the time. Let it suffice when I say that the noobs (Jaysen and son Joshua) were very welcomed by the seasoned veterans while they attempted to settle in. AWL4928 showed up in the wee hours of the morning while most folks were asleep. You’d need to ask wingman for the exact time. He can check his phone log (we’ll let AWL4928 explain that).

The next morning while most folks calmly preparing for the trip, the noobs were scrambling to prep their vehicle. Said scrambling included securing all the loose objects including the fire extinguisher. If anyone ever asks, “is the roll bar behind the driver’s seat a good location to secure my fire extinguisher?” the default answer should be “yes” followed by putting on a dust filter. The noobs answered the age old questions of “what is in a fire extinguisher?” and “how much of there is it?” while opting to lower their soft top (the answers are “a white chemical powder” and “enough to cover the driver’s side of TJ and most of the passenger side”). After much very patient instruction of the noobs it was time to hit the … well I seemed to hit about everything!

We started with some basics on the comp course. I would like to point out a flaw in wingman’s instructions, which were, “You just put your tires the same place that k9keeper puts his”. Wingman, within 30 seconds, k9keeper VANISHED behind the obstacle and then I couldn’t see through my jeep to follow him once I was on top! While Wingman and k9keeper showed the noobs the basics on how to climb rocks, stumps, drag a TJ frame across rocks, what whacking each differential sounds like, and how to drive while scared poop-less (there may be kids reading), everyone else took some time to loosen up. By the end of the comp course the noobs were alternating between “how the heck can we escape?” and “when do we get to do more!?” The answer to the last one was simple, “Get back in and drive”.

I’m not sure the real order of events, but I think the Saturday list is in order. I was too busy trying to drive to keep track, and the son was too busy maintaining a death grip on the “oh crap” bar to look at the map (this trend continued throughout the day). I believe it was “O” where we got the first real look at “you got to be crazy to drive up that”. Then everyone drove up it. The noobs took the bypass and chatted about sanity and the obvious loose hold some of us have on it. 

Lunch break at “Yellow jacket” where xjh3’s companion produced a bag of amazing cookies. Lunch was followed by two significant events. The least significant was the noobs taking Yellow backwards. According to the son, that was the point where we started to “trust” the Jeep. Once we trusted it we didn’t seem to be as scared and were able to enjoy everything more. More importantly was Chris’ Bronco suffering an axel failure while showing us just how well the old tech worked. A classic Bronco being used, or abused depending on perspective, as intended drew quite a crowd. Unfortunately an untimely collision with a hard, immovable object (A.K.A a rock) defeated the old truck. A tug from xjh3 got him moving but his driving was over for the weekend. The Bronco made it back to camp under its own power and we hope to see it again.

After a bunch of attempts by wingman to loosen the dental work of everyone, we found ourselves at “Crawler Ridge” (I think wingman said it was “annex” first). After watching wingman, AWL4928 and xjh3 take a more aggressive line, a quick conference in the noob TJ resulted in a decision to see what we could do. Some coaching and spotting had us on the top in no time. The decent of Crawler provide the first spine compressing fender dent for the noobs. Folks took some time to play on the Ridge working on a face that proved unclimbable, this time. The noobs took a much less intimidating path and opted to watch the antics from the sidelines. 

A drive through the woods and over a few now inconsequential bumps (which would have previously been considered monumental hurdles by the noobs) found us at “The Quarry”. What I believe to the most significant events of the entire trip occurred as wingman successfully climbed “Shoot the Moon”. After a few attempts, xjh3 also vanished over the top of the obstacle. During xjh3’s attempts a call came in from wingman asking for help to recover from a flop. AWL4928 went to the rescue. k9keeper started a run for the Moon, but found himself hung on a rock that wedged behind the bumper. Another 4x4 group joined the efforts to free the stuck jeep as wingman, AWL4928 and xjh3 returned. Once freed a bone rattling backwards run through “Topless for Tatas” ended the day. The best line of the day was uttered just at the end of Topless with the son grabbed the radio and aired “wingman, my dad needs help”. I will never live that one down.

Once back at camp wingman set to work on the damage to the Rubicon’s soft top frame, dinners were prepared, fires were made, vehicles discussed, and a general good time was had. A very bright full moon illuminated the Rausch camping area adding to the atmosphere of the day.

Sunday began with a series of seemingly easier trails. Chris was riding passenger with AWL4928 and was quick to lend a hand spotting whenever anyone needed it. The noobs were definitely getting the hang of things and started to really enjoy the trip. I have no idea when one trail went into another, but there were some definite “holy cow! We just did that without a spotter!” moments that the noobs experienced on the way to “Rock Creek”. Keep in mind we had already decided that everyone else was … crazy … so when AWL4928 and xjh3 started up the creek we weren’t surprised.

Lunch at “Rock Creek” was followed by an interesting obstacle, a large tree across the path. This forced everyone onto a bypass. AWL4928 took the lead but apparently decided to test the strength of his frame and a rock by seeing which would give up first. That question remains unanswered as he was able to muscle off the rock and back to the desired trail. The noobs learned the lesson, “LISTEN TO THE SPOTTER”, as the driver (not the son) started a line that was … let’s just call it bad. A bit of creative work by everyone and the noobs escaped with nothing more than new scratch on the soft top. k9keeper got hung up with a rock wedged between the axel and oil pain. A high lift to the rescue and everyone was back on the trail.

A bit further and another tree was across the path. The noobs were advised to bypass the log, advice which they took based on the previous lesson. Some uphill, followed by even more uphill presented a few challenges to the inexperienced. I am proud to say that we managed to not get hung up and our little TJ got us over some things that, quite honestly, we thought were beyond our ability.

Once back at camp the general packing began. The most eventful part of departure was AWL4928 turning around due to something being loose (and not the screws in his head!). I want to say it was a stabilizer, but it wasn’t. He did have to unbolt the stabilizer to get to the thing that was loose. Once that was set and wingman helped the noobs get their sway bar reconnected, an uneventful ride home ended the day.

I’ll follow up with some “thoughts of the noobs” separately as this is long enough. The one thought the noobs would like to close with is: it isn’t often that someone can just show up and be helped and welcomed to something as unique as a Rausch Creek, but wingman, k9keeper, AWL4928, xjh3 and Chris did it wonderfully without once making us feel out of place.

Thank you all for giving us the great weekend. We are looking forward to wheeling with you all again soon.

[Wingman]

It was an excellent trip!

I can only add that I cannot explain how I got up "Shoot the Moon".  I've never even been close before.  I've seen buggies denied.  The ole' Rubicon just found it's way this time.  BTW, it is a gate-keeper for even more interesting stuff.  There is another rock formation that looked formidable and a loose dirt climb with a turn at the top.  Had to choose, no other options.  I thought I picked the easier path to the exit.  I paid the price for not walking it first...   

My pics (courtesy of my daughter) are uploaded to the gallery.

[jaysenodell]

I have over 100 photos (almost 200). We tried to snap all the "you've got to be kidding me" moments. We missed some of the best ones, but we have the Bronco on Yellow, you on the Moon and quite a bit of trail. I don't think my user credentials have the needed permission for uploads. Let me know if you want them and I can find a way to get them too you.

[xjh3]

Great trip report, Jaysen.

It's always fun to help the 'noobs' realize the potential of their vehicle and themselves.

Definitely hope to see you guys out there again!

[jaysenodell]

... as threatened.

In no order of “good vs bad” here were the things the son and I talked about. Just our opinions and observations. Keep in mind that my only previous off road experience was the ’13 101. My son’s previous experience has been in our front yard. The closest either of us had been to rock crawling was the curb out front. Keep that in mind if you read through this, we are super new to this whole thing.

1.   â€œDang that was fun!” and “Dang that was scary!” seemed to be directly related. I will tell you we did not expect the scary quite as fast as it happened. Worth every moment though.
2.   A bit of a warm up as a passenger would be great for true noobs. The single scariest thing was the idea that this “BANG” and that “SCRRRAAAPPEE” would result in a long walk home. Maybe being a passenger in a more experienced driver’s vehicle would have reduced that fear. The comp course we followed provided plenty of bangs and scrapes to have sufficed.
3.   Wingman started our day with a very good piece of advice, “put your wheels the same place k9keeper does”. The problem we had was that nothing really stopped to let us catch up. We would lose track of our lead and wind up unsure of where it was safe to go.
4.   Everyone was very very patient which made it much easier to have fun. Joshua and I were actually concerned we were holding folks back and offered to leave early Sunday. Everyone told us to stay, we did, and that proved to be the best part of the trip for us.
5.   A list of “what to bring with you on your first Rausch trip” would have been nice. Kind of like the safety list, but with hints like “engine meals”. We thought we would be going back to the camp for lunch which resulted in us not having the best meal plans.
6.   In vehicle driver assistance. Spotters are great (when you listen to them). Joshua and I eventually worked out a communication method where he was my rookie resident-spotter for getting the passenger tire where I wanted it. Having someone do that for a trip around the comp course or at a daunting bit of trail (our exit from comp anyone?) with the new driver behind the wheel would have really boosted my confidence.
7.   The section of O where the black and green paralleled… that was awesome. So was Shoot the Moon. Yellow Jacket was amazing from the sidelines (terrifying behind the steering wheel). Watching you guys from the sidelines really let us see how you lined up, negotiated tights, and let us see how our TJ might behave in similar conditions. Very reassuring and educational.
8.   The way everyone was willing to chip in, including strangers, was a bit of a surprise. I guess it’s something that is less seen in the environments we frequent. Seeing strangers help when k9keeper and Chris (Bronco) got hung up set our mind at ease should we wind up crippled.
9.   Funny story. The only people I had met before Rausch were Wingman and k9keeper. The second we get to Rausch, Chris greets us. Within minutes of getting to Rausch, xjh3 is shaking our hands. Saturday AM, AWL4928 just sets up on our picnic table introduces himself and start a conversation. In my son’s words “uh… dad, these people are nice, are you sure we belong here?” It was nice to feel right at home from the first minute.
10.   Joshua commented on the group effort to look out for us. When discussing “where should we go?” someone would always make sure we would survive. Questioning things like “stock tie rod” and “open diffs” as well as at least one statement of “too much too soon” really made it easy to trust the group. Having it right out there kept it from feeling like we were a burden. Very reliving on both accounts.
11.   Rausch is an amazing place. I don’t think we really understood just how diverse the vehicles, terrain, and trails were. It seems like the perfect place to get noobs hooked. Wait. I see what you did…
12.   Pictures… We only took photos to show the wife and daughter. Once we started looking through them we realized that we had lots of photos of everything but us going over an obstacle. Joshua did chose to sit out a bit of Crawler Ridge and got a couple of shots of me playing around, but mom wanted some of him in the passenger seat. A definite noob request though…
13.   It was interesting to see the difference styles between drivers and machines. Wingman seems to take a very technical approach while AWL4928 seems a bit more power focused. Then you have the TJ/JK vs. xjh3’s Cherokee difference. Toss in Chris’s classic Bronco, the various buggies at the Moon, and we witnessed a large array of approaches to obstacles. Gave us lots to talk about and helped us understand why we would want to take one line over another. Very cool.
14.   NO MUD!!! That was nice. Granted I swapped mud for fire extinguisher juice…
15.   You guys may not realize how unusual it is to get counted as “part of the club” at an event like this before you’ve actually become part of the club. Never would have considered doing Rausch without the support of the club members.
16.   GET HANNAH’S COOKIE RECIPE!!!! Seriously. Get it. Then make them. Then eat them all. Those cookies alone make a visit to Rausch worth doing.
17.   I learned more about cars in the first 15 minutes of Saturday AM trail prep than I have my entire life. The education continued. I don’t remember half the names of the parts, but feel more confident about how all my vehicles work now.
18.   The diversity of backgrounds/occupations was really nice. As an IT guy it was nice to have other IT guys there.
19.   I did appreciate that lack of party atmosphere at Rausch (the whole place). It was not too stiff, but not Oktoberfest either. Good balance. I think our group may have been the loudest.

That’s pretty much it. We are already working on plans to make another trip. Hopefully sooner than later.

xjh3, hopefully we can get more of those cookies...

[jACeL86]

With regards to #5: as long as you're not eating chef boyardee or something similar cold, out of the can, or pudding using the lid as a spoon you should get along fine. :-D
Sounds exactly like my first trip there with only a few rounds of whispering pines under my belt. Right down to the intro at the comp course with a lot of :-O moments.

[s0l0ithz]

Chef don't judge

[jaysenodell]

Well, we had lots of ingredients but our fuel, cooking methods, and available cooking areas were a bit incompatible. Thankfully everyone offered stove tops and we were able to make the best of it.

Now that your mention it, speghetti o's cold would have been an odd "better but worse" scenario. I say we call it the initiation right of the noob.