Rausch Creek Badge of Honor Ride - June 11

Added to Calendar: 06-11-22

Packing the rig tonight heading north about 0900 tomorrow
 
Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning! @BldyFrog and I plan to meet up at the Leesburg Costco at 5:10am tomorrow morning to convoy if anyone else is interested. We will be traveling at the XJ's comfortable top speed of 65mph and making a last fuel stop before rolling into Rausch.

The weather is supposed to be nice and cool...but a chance of rain. Prepare accordingly!

Quick reminders (all in the top post on this thread as well):
  • Goal is to meet up by 8:00AM and move out by 8:30 AM.
  • Remember zip ties for your sway bar if needed (but I'll have a few as well).
  • Remember your GMRS if you have it (I'll have two additional handhelds I can loan).
  • Remember your food/drinks, especially water!
 
We had an excellent trail ride yesterday - thanks to everyone who joined and made it a really fun ride. Several badges of honor were well-earned and everyone got a bit of civil engineering experience! Shout-outs for the whole crew:
  • @STP72 drove a Grand Cherokee on street tires up Crawl Daddy...enough said! He had excellent awareness of his wheel placement and really improved throughout the day on throttle control.
  • @blink9cd had an awesome attitude and was willing to try and learn anything. He learned about two-footing and put it to great practice driving his stock Willys JL up Crawl Daddy.
  • @mopar31898 was a master of the manual transmission and worked several good lines to put his new lockers to the test.
  • @BldyFrog got some great practice with his new lift kit and 35s, which look awesome on the Jeep.
  • @RattleTrap55 gave a very tough line up Crawler Ridge a try, which ended up requiring two winch lines as a safety measure "just in case." He also served as the "Jeep ambulance" when Red Jeep needed a trail repair.
  • @R3 gave a repeat performance as spotter extraordinaire and wasn't fazed by a freak, sheared-off drag-link end on Red Jeep, managing to somehow find a replacement in a pile of junk at Rausch.
  • Finally, @WNDR-XJ, piloted by @Galactica, made easy work of the creek line on Trail #20 following an attack by a dead tree.
I managed to take a few photos, which are posted here. If anyone else snapped any (including Dorian with the GoPro footage), please add them!
 
What an awesome trip!

Special thank you to @WNDR-XJ , @Galactica and @R3 for all the guidance and spotting on the trail. And thanks to everyone for your hard work paving Crawldaddy. Rome wasn't built in a day but the Crawldaddy expressway was :)

Also thank you to @R3, @RattleTrap55 , and @mopar31898 for being so welcoming and hospitable to a newcomer in camp.

Excellent trip! I am certainly looking forward to the next opportunity to hit the trails with the club.

-Steve
 
We had an excellent trail ride yesterday - thanks to everyone who joined and made it a really fun ride. Several badges of honor were well-earned and everyone got a bit of civil engineering experience! Shout-outs for the whole crew:
  • @STP72 drove a Grand Cherokee on street tires up Crawl Daddy...enough said! He had excellent awareness of his wheel placement and really improved throughout the day on throttle control.
  • @blink9cd had an awesome attitude and was willing to try and learn anything. He learned about two-footing and put it to great practice driving his stock Willys JL up Crawl Daddy.
  • @mopar31898 was a master of the manual transmission and worked several good lines to put his new lockers to the test.
  • @BldyFrog got some great practice with his new lift kit and 35s, which look awesome on the Jeep.
  • @RattleTrap55 gave a very tough line up Crawler Ridge a try, which ended up requiring two winch lines as a safety measure "just in case." He also served as the "Jeep ambulance" when Red Jeep needed a trail repair.
  • @R3 gave a repeat performance as spotter extraordinaire and wasn't fazed by a freak, sheared-off drag-link end on Red Jeep, managing to somehow find a replacement in a pile of junk at Rausch.
  • Finally, @WNDR-XJ, piloted by @Galactica, made easy work of the creek line on Trail #20 following an attack by a dead tree.
I managed to take a few photos, which are posted here. If anyone else snapped any (including Dorian with the GoPro footage), please add them!

Sounds like an awesome time. Great recap Sarah!
 
All,
This trip is one for the books. It warms my heart to see folks stepping outside their comfort zone and going for it. Bravo to all.
A Grand Cherokee on street tires and a two inch lift ....that rig was an animal! Driver and vehicle combination just ain worked. It also confirmed my saying if you want to go get it. Putting rock rails on at camp and in the ACE hardware store for the run that day...leaves me speechless.

Team work and a good group. I don't think there was a cross word all day (save for me breaking the drag link end.)

Brand new JLU with a new driver and he drove the Red Badge of honor trail! Thank you for the trust allowing me to guide you up.

The CJ....from humble beginnings of green trail to serious rock crawling with a tether (2) to keep from flipping.

Last bit not least. A big Thank you to all who helped put the Red Jeep back together. Breaking stuff is part of this sport unfortunately. But where the rubber meets the road is how the team deals with it. Great tight knit group and very capable.

Sarah and Kevin, thank you for putting this all together. Maybe later in the season we can pull together an advanced trail run.

Cheers all

Rob.
 
Last edited:
PS. Hope the crawler ridge video can be shared.
 
Last edited:
Just added two videos to the dump listed above. Will be adding a few more this evening. Working on Trail 20 right now then will get the time lapse done.

you can also find the videos here on youtube.
 
Well...there is not much I can say that hasn't already been said.

I haven't been to Rausch many times, but this was easily my favorite trip. From camping in perfect weather the night before to airing up in the lot at the end of the day, it was awesome. We had such a great group of people with smiles on their faces the whole time.

Shout out to everyone who had patience for everyone else to work on their skills. I think everyone is better after this trip.

Oh, and don't forget the delicious food.

I can't wait for the next one.

PS

@R3, do you have a recipe for those sliders, they were amazing.

For those that asked, here is the recipe for the corn and avocado salad: https://belleofthekitchen.com/corn-avocado-salsa/

Last, for those that asked, the mapping app for Rausch is Maprika which should be available on both apple and Android. You want to download maps: 2022 RC Main and 2022 RC NE
 
Sounds like an awesome time was had. Makes me want to get out there as soon as I can.
 
I am sorry I missed it and that I have been absent of late. I have been fighting significant health issues over the last 8 months, but hope to be on the trail again soon.

Joe
 
Definitely an awesome trip! We'll see once I find a car wash and get under there, but I believe I've come out mostly unscathed. My new rock sliders certainly got a welcome introduction!

Overall I learned a lot, and thanks should be spread out for everyone being welcome, spotting, sharing food, and helping each other out. More than upgrades or other mods (which I know will slowly sneak in no matter what), I'm most excited to just get out and drive more!

I'll be certain to bring food to share on following trips, but hopefully next time I can either camp (never really done that before...learning one that at a time) or hang out for longer after. I'll check to see what pictures I have...was probably sweating too much on a couple parts to be able to hold the phone and take more 😂 I'm hoping my dash cam has some good footage though.
 
S
Well...there is not much I can say that hasn't already been said.

I haven't been to Rausch many times, but this was easily my favorite trip. From camping in perfect weather the night before to airing up in the lot at the end of the day, it was awesome. We had such a great group of people with smiles on their faces the whole time.

Shout out to everyone who had patience for everyone else to work on their skills. I think everyone is better after this trip.

Oh, and don't forget the delicious food.

I can't wait for the next one.

PS

@R3, do you have a recipe for those sliders, they were amazing.

For those that asked, here is the recipe for the corn and avocado salad: https://belleofthekitchen.com/corn-avocado-salsa/

Last, for those that asked, the mapping app for Rausch is Maprika which should be available on both apple and Android. You want to download maps: 2022 RC Main and 2022 RC NE
Slider recipe???? I don't use a recipe 🤣. They are a bit different each time I make them. This go round included:
Ground beef
Sage sausage
Seasoning
BBQ sauce
Soy sauce.
Cheddar cheese.
And an egg
 
They're so quick! Now with 4 total I can consider the idea of actually putting them somewhere:

IMG_3528.jpg
 
Back
Top