TRIP REPORT: OCC Rausch Creek Jan 12, 2013

Fog and Icebergs!

Introduction.

The Annual OCC New Year's Run didn't happen this year. There didn't seem to be enough interest to make it a "real" run anyway. (don't ask me what constitutes a "real" run….I can't find the rules anywhere). Then global warming started to show up in the form of a 50deg+ weekend (keep your political comments to yourself, I happen to be a big fan of global warming and will vote for it when it's on the ballot). So I had the great idea to go to Rausch Creek last weekend (Jan 12-13). Apparently, great minds do think alike because Doug Masnick, Scott Corliss, Russ and Mike Wallace went too.

The Drive.

There we were, two enthusiastic off-roaders blindly making our way from Leesburg VA to Rausch Creek. Blind because of the dense fog, enthusiastic for reasons unique to each. Scott having served overseas for a while (thanks for your service Scott!) did not have much opportunity to take his red 2000 XJ off pavement. I was enthusiastic just because.

The other guys planned to meet at RC. Doug driving from Charlestown, WV arrived at 0855 claiming he was just in time for the 9am driver's meeting. Russ and his son Mike drove up Friday night and stayed in a hotel.

The Run.

At 9:20 Doug was ready for the meeting, sort of. When everyone gathered, we made introductions, checked-in, air'd-down, and got ready to hit the trails. Since this was Russ and Mike's first ever off-road experience, Scott's first trip in years, I had my new Jeep, and Doug was with us, we decided to start out on blue trails. We took B to 1a making a left into the "green" spur with myself leading and Doug as tail gunner. Then we went over a small hill back towards 1a. This short little portion allowed me to gage the collective skills of the group. I decided to lead the group around the little blue loop with 2 small hills on the east side of 1a. Having the longest wheelbase and stock suspension, I dragged my belly over the first hill and decided to bypass the next hill (I really wanted to avoid the embarrassment on getting high-centered so early in the day ;)). From there we continued on 1a giving Mike some pointers along the way until we got to the Pole Line. We crossed Pole Line on to 1b. Noticing our group's abilities I led them on to 2 (blue). We started on 2 just before the hill climb and Frog Hole. We stopped at Frog Hole to talk about the legendary pit, read the sign, and take pictures. Doug fondly recalled his first (and last) attempt to cross Frog Hole.

The Conditions.

This is a good place to describe the ground conditions. Although these are green and blue trails the few inches snow on the ground hid the true size of rocks, stumps and logs, the ice made traction sometimes elusive, and the warm temps made for deeper puddles (really mud holes, right Doug?). By the way, the ice was 2-3 inches thick and acted like rock on the dirt or like floating rocks in the water. So the usual drive-in-the-park green and blue trails, required more of the driver's attention.

Back to the trail.

The group enjoyed the 2 trail all the way back to the Pole Line where we avoided the mud pit and other really big puddles. There was some CB chatter at this point about attempting a mud hole but nobody lived up to the challenge, yet. We stayed on 2 crossing D working our way towards Crawler Ridge. Just before Crawler Ridge the trail gets a bit more challenging with a rocky uphill section. I didn't think the group was ready for this section so I made the executive decision to jump on D and have lunch at the base of Crawler Ridge.

Within minutes the food was flowing and Russ and Mike produced a plate of shrimp complete with cocktail sauce. Pretty good first impression, can't wait to see them make dinner at camp.

After a 30 min lunch break, Doug begged to go checkout the Power Line trail. We headed to the Power Line and started downhill. This was nothing challenging or scenic so I decided to take a little detour in one the play areas off the left of Power Line. There was a small hill climb followed by an off-camber section, then an off-camber decent back to Power Line. In the snow, ice and mud the off-camber decent was very interesting. I slide about 2 feet sideways before giving it a little gas to regain controlled movement. Doug chose not to play as Russ, now driving his son's Jeep, tool the same route I did. Coming down the off-camber section his Jeep began the same slide as mine. But for some reason he turned his wheel uphill away from the slide causing his Jeep to get more sideways and slide further. You can hear me on the video first saying "driver, driver, driver" on the CB then screaming "DRIVER" out my window. I thought for sure I we were witnessing a rollover.

Feeling a little uneasy, Scott requested a spot as he descended the same hill. But really there was nothing a spotter could do but fake it as the vehicle was going to slide no matter what.

Recall what I said about snow, ice and wet conditions?

From there Doug led us further down Power Line, not quite to the end of it, then we turned around and headed back to the top. Now on to the South Property.

We headed down E straight for the south side. My intentions were to stay on green trails, hit the beach at Lake Christy, take a gander at the Quarry and call it a day. But the group had other plans. We were enjoying the easy stuff until Doug mentioned a small hill climb that "Charles did before". In other words, "why don't you do it, Rich?" So I went around to the bottom of the hill and made 2 attempts but my long wheelbase prevent me from cresting the top. So I backed down and surveyed the blue section of Roxy's Way while the other climb the hill. I walked about 100 yards when I came to the backside or west side of Lake Christy. Along that 100 yard stretch there were 2 mud holes and one small hill. Using a stick I determined the depth and the line most likely to be successful. After sharing the plan with the group to go to the lake shore this way and receiving all nods, I started down the snow-covered, icy, muddy trail. Coming to the deep mud hole I entered slowly staying as far to the right, hugging the shore. When the rutted bottom pulled me to the left into deeper mud/water I had to give it more skinny pedal to make it thru. The water depth was over my fenders just below the hood-level and the climb out the back side was a little challenging with ice and wet tires but I made it. Parking beyond the hill leaving room for the group, I walked back to the hill to guide the next person. Scott, having 33 inch tires and 6 inches of lift really didn't have any problems. But it looked pretty cool. Russ was next in the stock 2-door JK Rubicon. After watching Scott and I, he knew exactly what to do and had no issue. Then it was Doug's turn. Doug started out great, kept his momentum up… but wait. Where is he going? WTF? For some reason instead of hugging the shore as the water got deeper Doug acted like an icebreaker and drove straight into the frozen mud hole only to come to a dead stop. Although he ended up in shallower water than we drove thru he was still in water above his door sills and worse not moving forward or backward. Something under the water stopped him, either a big rock or a tree stump (my guess is stump). Doug reported he could not shift out of PARK so we knew we had to extract him. This didn't seem like a big deal as there some good trees and he had a winch that "he just checked".

So as lead I:
1. checked the time….330 ok plenty of daylight if we don't run into more trouble
2. decided to use the "sure thing" winch instead of a pull from another vehicle (tow strap).
3. Make this a good training opportunity…..
4. Most important of all I WAS NOT GETTING WET!!

The Extraction.

After talking to Doug about options, equipment availability and other such details, he climb to the back of his vehicle to get the winch control while I walked on water to his winch. Okay truth be told I was able to barely step from the shore to his door sill and his rocker rail was in ½ inch of water, not visible but there so it looked like you were walking on water (well maybe not). I climbed on Doug's hood to his front bumper to operate the winch while he stayed in the driver seat. I started to let the cable out with the control and had a difficult time. The spool/drum sounded like it was turning normally but the cable was not moving much and was getting caught on the control box. Doug said I was letting the cable get lose but letting the cable out. We worked about 12 feet out and asked the guys on shore to pull it but it was not easy and it kept getting stuck. Doug swears he just wound the cable neatly and I swear it was a mess. After struggling with the cable for a little while, Scott came up with a plan to use a long ratchet strap to pull the cable. We tied the strap to a tree and successfully pulled the cable free. Great we were all set now, so we thought. We got Russ' Jeep into position to be an anchor so Doug could self-extract with his winch. But as I worked the winch from Doug's bumper, again the spool would turn but not the cable. That's when I noticed the end of the cable which is supposed to be attached to the spool/drum was hanging loose. Oh DAMN!

So we took the cable completely off and rearranged vehicles to I was now on the hill at the end of the mud hole facing Doug and ready to winch him out. After setting things up, it was only a matter of minutes and Doug was out and moving under his own power. Whatever prevented him from shifting his transmission earlier was now cleared.

This stuck took about 45 min to solve and we were pretty far from camp with the sun going down. Since it was still very foggy/cloudy it was dark a gloomy most of the day and it made night fall come that much quicker.

Finally.

Having extracted Doug I wanted to make it to Lake Christy….we were just too close. Turns out that Scott and Russ went there and back as they were rearranging vehicles to put me in position to extract Doug. So I drove the 100 or so feet got out to look at the back side of the half frozen lake with icebergs then turn around to head out the way we came in back across the big mud hole.

We all made it look easy this time and we did the earlier hill climb to get back up to S trail. From there we drove around to the usual Lake Christy entrance where we went down the beach, parked half-way on the frozen lake, and posed for pics. With conditions the way they were it was a fun climb out.
By now the sunlight was gone and we were about to drive in the dark with 20-30 feet visibility due to fog. So off we go heading north up S to E as it got darker and the fog thicker. We reached B and I cautioned the group not to relax too much as the water was the deepest I have seen at RC and more challenging with the ice/icebergs. So we took it at a slow pace and made it back without problems.

At camp Doug and I prepared for a cold night of camping and we all decided to go eat at the Red Lion Inn. As usual dinner was great and there is no better way to end a day of wheeling than a meal at the Red Lion. After dinner we said our goodbyes and Doug and I headed back in very dense fog to RC.

Conclusion.

Doug you're a great sport. Even after all the ribbing, he offered me a cigar and a beer around the campfire. Thanks!!!!

To the rest of OCC.

"If you weren't there, you missed it." – Yogi Berra (I think, but too lazy to look it up)

P.S. – Some of the friendly rules of engagement….
1. You don't get to give yourself a nickname (got that Doug?)
2. If you ask for a spot and don't take the line he/she suggest getting royally stuck, you are forever subject to ridicule and will likely become the object of future tales of despair.

Those who were there!
- Doug "Ice Breaker" Masnick in his green 93 Forerunner, with unreliable winch, boat docks on the rocker panels (or were those outriggers?) and opening in the roof for the periscope. Tailgunner the great!
- Scott "Doc" Corliss who owns a really nice red 2000 XJ.
- Russ "Dad" Wallace and his son Mike aka "Thanks Dad"; driving Mike's new to him shiny red 2-door JK Rubicon. Both did great on their first outing.
- Rich Martinez black 2011 Unlimited JK Rubicon with working winch.

Hope to see you guys on the trail again!!!

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