Yesterday my oldest son and I wheeled at Rausch Creek in PA. It was our first time trailering to the trails. Despite pulling a trailer it was so much easier than driving the Jeep 1:40. I was able to drink my coffee and have a conversation. The ride back was even better after a hard day on the trail.
The day was destined to be messy. As is typical for the Mid Atlantic area on Memoria Day weekend, it rained. Despite being dry and warm for weeks leading into this weekend it started pouring Thursday and still hasn't stopped. Due to the rain we had a bunch of drop outs so we had a perfectly sized group of 6 Jeeps. The consisted of a YJ, 2 TJs, a 2 door JK, and 2 JKUs. All had some type of lift with larger tires and appeared trail ready.
There was a street legal crawling competition so we started our day on the Northeast portion of the park. We started off pretty easy with greens and blues. I find the greens more annoying than anything. They tend to be connector roads with scattered rocks. In a TJ it just means bouncing unnecessarily. With all of the rain the low spots were filled with water. Some of the spots looked to be hiding really deep holes.
At one point we came upon a nice climb. If dry it would have been a challenge but with the mud it turned out to be a formidable obstacle. Our leader went first in her well built TJ and got all the way up. The next up was a driver without lots of experience in a JKU. He took the easier line to the left. The next JKU just about walked up the obstacle with the advantage of the stretched wheel base. Next up was a nicely built YJ. It's driver went full send. As my son narrated: She's on 3 wheels...Ok, she's doing good...Jeez, she's on 2 wheels. Her approach proved the right approach as she made it to the top with just a few adjustments. Next up was a JK without lockers but a good driver. He persisted but it wasn't meant to be. Before he diverted to the left side I joked that he turned the blue into a black for me. I was right. My turn up and I was a little worried about the off camber bump. I was nearly over the first hump when I got hung up. The tires just couldn't get enough traction. Ended up rubbing on a tree and crushing my CJ style mirror. After a number of attempts I took the left line up and out. It was frustrating but I have to remind myself that I am still learning how to do this.
Later on we hit a short but hard black trail. Just like most Northeast trails, it was tight, rocky, and slippery. I was able to navigate through but did end up hitting my passenger side fender. Pulled it back into place and it's ok until future upgrades are ready.
Our last trail was to hit a Jeep Badge of Honor trail called Crawler Ridge. We did great on it. I found it interesting that a badge trail wouldn't be more difficult. I guess it's to include all walks of Jeeps.
At the end of the day I ended up breaking both mirrors and denting my fender but I learned a lot and had a great time with the group.
The day was destined to be messy. As is typical for the Mid Atlantic area on Memoria Day weekend, it rained. Despite being dry and warm for weeks leading into this weekend it started pouring Thursday and still hasn't stopped. Due to the rain we had a bunch of drop outs so we had a perfectly sized group of 6 Jeeps. The consisted of a YJ, 2 TJs, a 2 door JK, and 2 JKUs. All had some type of lift with larger tires and appeared trail ready.
There was a street legal crawling competition so we started our day on the Northeast portion of the park. We started off pretty easy with greens and blues. I find the greens more annoying than anything. They tend to be connector roads with scattered rocks. In a TJ it just means bouncing unnecessarily. With all of the rain the low spots were filled with water. Some of the spots looked to be hiding really deep holes.
At one point we came upon a nice climb. If dry it would have been a challenge but with the mud it turned out to be a formidable obstacle. Our leader went first in her well built TJ and got all the way up. The next up was a driver without lots of experience in a JKU. He took the easier line to the left. The next JKU just about walked up the obstacle with the advantage of the stretched wheel base. Next up was a nicely built YJ. It's driver went full send. As my son narrated: She's on 3 wheels...Ok, she's doing good...Jeez, she's on 2 wheels. Her approach proved the right approach as she made it to the top with just a few adjustments. Next up was a JK without lockers but a good driver. He persisted but it wasn't meant to be. Before he diverted to the left side I joked that he turned the blue into a black for me. I was right. My turn up and I was a little worried about the off camber bump. I was nearly over the first hump when I got hung up. The tires just couldn't get enough traction. Ended up rubbing on a tree and crushing my CJ style mirror. After a number of attempts I took the left line up and out. It was frustrating but I have to remind myself that I am still learning how to do this.
Later on we hit a short but hard black trail. Just like most Northeast trails, it was tight, rocky, and slippery. I was able to navigate through but did end up hitting my passenger side fender. Pulled it back into place and it's ok until future upgrades are ready.
Our last trail was to hit a Jeep Badge of Honor trail called Crawler Ridge. We did great on it. I found it interesting that a badge trail wouldn't be more difficult. I guess it's to include all walks of Jeeps.
At the end of the day I ended up breaking both mirrors and denting my fender but I learned a lot and had a great time with the group.
