There was green everywhere. Stands of trees populated the forest and the trails wound their way amongst them, and over deposits of surface boulders. Challenges included mucky holes of water and settled bottom mud. We found good ’wheeling and good company in the upper right corner of this great country of ours.
We had headed to Pennsylvania for a weekend of trail running and camaraderie. The occasion was the 10th annual East Coast 4Runner Jamboree, and the place was Rausch Creek Off Road Park. Located in central Pennsylvania, Rausch Creek is home to more than 1,700 acres, which offer an array of 4WD trails to suit a wide variety of vehicles and skill level.
This event, held each summer, draws participants from up and down the East Coast states who come to tackle some challenging trails or to simply relax and explore some of the milder routes this area has to offer. Most of the participants camped on-site at the park where primitive camping is free to park customers.
Yellow Jacket Ridge is typical...
Yellow Jacket Ridge is typical of the trails you’ll find at Rausch Creek. The terrain is largely comprised of rocky trails that meander through luscious green trees. John Smith of Silver Spring, Maryland, has owned this ’79 Cruiser for a number of years and makes it a habit to explore eastern U.S. trails near his home.
The terrain of the eastern portion of the Allegheny Region of central Pennsylvania consists of hilly slopes and forested land. The soil here is loose and quickly turns soupy with moisture, but the trails are often jutted with exposed rocks and an occasional fallen tree.
Much of the ’wheeling starts on Friday morning and drivers check in and gather at the park. Groups form based on trail rating, and ’wheelers are soon off into the Pennsylvania forest. We’ve been there years when the weather was pretty dry and water remains in only the lowest of spots. Other times we’ve seen pouring rains that quickly make the trails a soupy ride and stir up some good mud holes.
Gary Schmuck lives within...
Gary Schmuck lives within about an hour of Rausch Creek, so he loves spending time crawling the trails in his vintage FJ55. On this trip, he came out in a recently acquired FJ40 and headed into Bill’s Revenge (Trail 1C).
Take a look here and you’ll get an idea of the fun that can be had at Rausch Creek. Plus, you can check out some of the cool Toy rigs that attend the Jamboree. The 2011 EC4RJ will be held June 24 to 26 at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park.
While it’s called a 4Runner jamboree, the event is also attended by Toyota trucks and Land Cruisers of vintages spanning over 30 years. For information on next year’s event, look for the information thread in the forums at www.midatlantictoyotacrawlers.com.
Bill Kane’s bright green ’84...
Bill Kane’s bright green ’84 truggy sports a pair of Dana 60 axles to provide plenty of beef to turn big Interco Iroks. He makes easy work of running up the rocky slopes of Yellow Jacket Ridge.
Second-generation 4Runners...
Second-generation 4Runners make for fine trail rigs save for their larger expanses of glass and sheet metal. Allen Dickenson is one of the Jamboree organizers and has made it to all 10 of the past events. His ’95 4Runner is setup for serious trails. It sports a set of OME rear lift springs combined with All Pro lift components and the front has been enhanced with the addition of a solid axle on leaf springs. Marlin Crawler gearing and ARB lockers supplement the drivetrain to get the job done.
Broderick Pfetzing lives just...
Broderick Pfetzing lives just a few hours south of Rausch Creek in Baltimore, Maryland. He’s set up his 4Runner to tackle these trails and others across the Northeast. The 36-inch Swampers, low T-case gears, and ARB lockers help him negotiate trails with ease.
Trail 13 presented us with...
Trail 13 presented us with a rocky creek bed, and Trail 20 was a black (hard level) trail that was more technical. Here some of the drivers attempted climbing Pitman Rock, a huge boulder with a tall, undercut approach. There’s the easy way around and the more challenging ride over the top. Frank Torbert gives the route a try crawling up the undercut boulder face.
Rock Creek is a strange swath...
Rock Creek is a strange swath of boulders strewn into the forest. Stay on top of the 100-foot-wide swath of rocks and you can successfully negotiate the 1/3-mile without issue. However, dropping a tire into one of the deep holes will high center you in an instant and may require some bit of work to drive back out. This area is a glacial formation and looks as if some giant hand tossed out a stretch of rocky goodness for a 4WD playground.
Jason and Jenn Durand are...
Jason and Jenn Durand are usual attendees at this event in their ’88 “beater” Toyota. Jason swapped in a solid axle a few years back and now the truck sits on 36-inch Swampers. The tubular flatbed relieves the concerns of bashing bed metal on the trees. This Warrenton, Virginia, couple idled their way through all the tougher trails and completed them without incident.
This offshoot trail leads...
This offshoot trail leads through a small creek area and some soaked boulders. Make a wrong turn and one of them will high-center you quickly.
Trail 2 is fairly easy but...
Trail 2 is fairly easy but serves up the optional “Frog Hole,” a deep mud pit. On this day it would come to mire Tom Sharp’s ’85 4Runner. This is one of the deeper water crossings in the park and proved to be a bit much for this New York-based Toyota. The water and muck bogged down the truck until it was fully stuck and stalled. A winch line soon extracted the rig.
There’s also the occasional...
There’s also the occasional FJ Cruiser in the mix of vehicles at the Jamboree. Most are built up to tackle some of the tougher trails and lifted for clearance over the rocks. The wide bodies and full sheet metal sides can make tight tree spots a little interesting.
Many of the trails wind through...
Many of the trails wind through dense forest and in tighter spots the trees can touch sheet metal if you fail to pay close attention or slide sideways and kiss metal to bark.
The FJ40 emerging here from...
The FJ40 emerging here from the soupy mix belongs to Tomasz Jurgilewicz. He drove the open-top Cruiser to the event from his home in Shelton, Connecticut, where he’s lived for about 13 years after coming to the U.S. from Poland. He’s built up his ’79 FJ40 for trail running using an Australian-sourced H41 tranny and a three-speed transfer case. Those are 38.5-inch Baja Claws spinning their way back to the mucky surface.
We thought this was an interesting...
We thought this was an interesting Toy truck. The frame had been shortened and boxed and the bed bobbed to match. The owner closed the chopped bed ends with small tubing structures and used generic taillights in place of the stock wrap-around variety. A homebrew tailgate completes the bed mods. This setup should survive life ’wheeling in tight trees much better than the stock bed and lighting setup.
Ben Doerr from Chesapeake,...
Ben Doerr from Chesapeake, Virginia, ran a simple, but effective rig and got through many of the fairly tough trails. He had an IFS truck with a small lift and some fender trimming. The 36-inch Swampers running low air pressure on wide wheels squished around the rocks when needed and pulled the light truck up and over obstacles. He’s not really asleep here; we just caught him mid-blink, motoring up the trail.
Depending on the recent weather,...
Depending on the recent weather, you may manage to find plenty of standing goo in the usual deep-water routes. We found the brown soup hid deep ruts and dirt ledges that sometimes required good momentum or tall tires to get us back to dry ground.
Once off the trails, there’s...
Once off the trails, there’s time to play on some of the comp course boulders near the park entrance. Rausch Creek is the occasional site of rock-crawling competitions and is currently expanding its man-made terrain. You can do a fair bit of ’crawling without ever leaving the parking lot.