New trail at Rausch..

Well the Rock Raiders broke in a new trail yesterday at Rausch.. Chris and I were looking for Chris Taylor and Pattey when we found out they were finished for the day due to a locker issue and we ran into Tommy the trail guide at the park. Tommy asked us if we wanted to run a new trail he had just cut and of course we said yes..

He had mentioned it was a blue trail but I think his mind changed real quick once he watched us tackle it as he walked the trail and left his jeep behind..

The first obstacle of the trail was a nice off camber turn into a gulley which gave us the first pucker feeling of the day. Chris and Joe, his RcRocs spotter where in his jeep and Tom and Tommy the FallstonYJ crew were with me.

The very next obstacle was a hard right over a 3 foot rock into between two trees and some nicely placed stumps that would not allow you to get to a approachable angle. After a few attempts we both made it and during my attempt my riding crew got the first thought of roll over in the new TJ. Once I got my drivers tire up onto the rock I thought I was gonna have to back out of it to stop from rolling and I hollered out if I should back down and got a surprising laugh from my spotters that I was actually hit the peak of the rock and had conquered the task. I can tell you that my crew thought we were about to take a roll back down the hill.

After building some confidence we made the next few hill climbs and rock obstacles just building our confidence. I stepped out of the jeep and let Tom drive for awhile and he seemed to enjoy the moments.

After reaching about 1/3 of the way up the trail we encountered what I would like to call the Gate Keeper of the trail. it was a climb over a 3 1/2 foot rock which was wide enough to teeter a jeep and then immediately after that was another rock alittle taller and off to the right just alittle. The trail was cut between two trees that forced you to put your passenger tire onto that rock as you came off the other rock without hittin either tree.

Chris made the first attempt and after some true hardcore attempts he ended up teeter totting with his entire suspension hanging. He didnt want to give up but I talked him out of it so as not to tear up a universal. We ended up winching him off that rock and he continued.

Next was my attempt and honestly I tried to get around the obstacle but was unsuccessful. I started over the first rock and took a bad angle and immediately got hung up. After a few tries with my copilot spotting me I asked Chris to get me out one way or the other.

Thats were the problems started.. Not realizing my skid plate did not cover my entire transmission pan, i ended up crushing the pan and putting a hole in it. We winched me off there and began the task of winching me out the entire trail.

My team of Joe, Chris, Tom, Tom Jr and Tommy saved my day by winching and pulling and winch blocking me the entire way for over two hours. My winch was so hot they could not even touch the winch. The brand new rope was starting to fray and at the top of the trail the winch locked up twice. Grateful Red pulled me to a side entrance while Tommy took Tom to the parking lot to get my truck and trailer..

All in all it was a fantastic day and even after losing my pan and possible other problems i had a great time..

Thanks again for all the help guys.. Soon as my full skid is done we can tackle it again..


Here is a link to the pics on Rausch.. The pics really do not do this trail justice..


http://www.rc4x4.org/rcforum/index.php/topic,4752.0.html

HOLY COW!!! Sounds like we missed an eventful afternoon! I don't think they'll be calling it a blue anymore!

Hope your damage was minimal. You waited so long to get out there!!!

I havent checked it yet.. waiting for the new pan from the dealer..

It was a great time even with the damage.. The jeep performed very well and was worth the wait.. The group took away the anger when they were so helpful.. It really shows what kind of friends are made thru this club.. I couldnt of done it without them.. Honestly they did all the work.. I was in the jeep just driving and pushing the winch button. They bust their butts..


The bad part was not getting to wheel and spend time with you and Chris.. One of these days..

Hey, get out there and clean up that mess on the trailer!!

I was just sitting here thinking that I really need to get out there and clean that mess up then I started thinking it was your fault because you sent that email about the cooler for the steering so I went back to Summit where I already was ordering my harness's and then I had to go to Pirate to see what everyone said about the cooler you picked out and ended up checking out Zach's post on Rock Run and saw Dan's comment on Zach's Trepadors which got me thinking about Lloyd's comment on MTR's on Sunday so I thought about selling my Sx's and buying the Trepadors so I could say HA to Lloyd about the MTR's and then I thought about Tina bitching more so I said screw it the Orange Crush was rocking until I steered away from my original spotter and went with Lloyd who intern cost me a tranny pan and everything came together at that point with the final conclusion of...............

Its always Lloyd's fault no matter what the situation is!!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah....your just lucky no one has video of Grateful Red pulling that orange monster up the trails out of the woods.... .....

Grateful Red wrote:

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah....your just lucky no one has video of Grateful Red pulling that orange monster up the trails out of the woods.... .....

I never blamed it on Grateful Red..


I was thinking about the camera Paul's son sells that I was supposed to get when I was sitting there watching all you guys work as I rode up the mountain in style.. That would of been some good footage..

Damn man, I am missing all the fun here. You guys had a greta day inspite of the damages. My rig should be ready by Friday this week. Eneded up having the transmission overhauled as well as the transfer case. Man they were well over due. The last time I was out there was January 14th I think. Major offroad withdraw syndrome!

I bought one of those cameras from Pauls son in law. Haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. But looking forward to it soon. I think I will fall back a little from the hard core rock climbing, getting to expensive. More nature trails and make the Jeep last longer on the road...hahahahaha

As long as you get on the trails is the important thing.

Chris and I didnt plan to run that hard but it was a good time. We tend to wheel what ever the group is for that day. It just so happened to be him and I and Tommy caught up with us..

I love being out there and seeing what everyone is doing no matter the skill or jeep level..

that is a trail that chris would take me on and say it is no proublem.The last time he took me on one and said it would be no proublem ended up on a black and found the one tree that was on the trail.

don't worry about it matt we have the pic's of you pulling out chris.how soon they forget

Yeah but his rig made it back to the trailer on its own power.. LOL...

I have respect for Grateful Red... its just the owner that always gets me in trouble.. but I guess thats why we are such good friends..


Tom will learn soon enough!!!!! But he's coming prepared..

We need to pick on Lloyd for the rest of the weekend.. That sucker is in Vegas partying it up right now..

new pictures uploaded of trail ride.

http://www.rc4x4.org/rcforum/index.php/topic,4752.20.html