Rausch Creek ORP: Proving Grounds for an FJ Cruiser
I’m currently working on another update to the electrical system and hope to have the article up soon. In the mean time, I thought you all might enjoy a few videos from various excursions over the last few years. These are not professionally shot by any means, but a few friends were kind enough to hang back and take some shots while we played, so I’m more than happy with the results. Over the last couple of years, I’ve discovered that one of the biggest challenges to writing articles is capturing events as they transpire. Whether the format is audio, video or still photograph, and extra pair of hands is usually required to ensure the time line of events is properly tracked.
In the case of installation, it becomes rather a nuisance to have to stop at every step in order to detail progress after the fact. So much of the time, my photographs only tell part of the story. When I have the privilege of participating in off-road events, event capturing will oftentimes translate to standing in the bushes, hanging from tree limbs, or sinking knee-deep in the mud if necessary, in order to do the shots justice. It also means hanging back from the group while everyone else gets to play. For those of you who are willing to go this extra mile, I extend my whole-hearted thanks. Without folks like you, I’d be left with only memories of events past.
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4th Annual Northeast Run at Rausch Creek
It’s that time of year again folks! The countdown has officially begun and as of this writing, we’re less than 90 days away from one of my favorite runs of the year. The FJ Northeasters run is hosted by FJNortheasters.org and our friends at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park in Tremont, Pennsylvania. The park features miles upon miles of trails with ratings ranging from mild green to hard-core red. There something for everyone at Rausch Creek so I highly encourage anyone even remotely interested in this event to attend. This year’s (2011) run is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, the 22nd and 23rd of April. Like previous years, the FJ Northeaster is officially slated as a two day event, however, attendees are more than welcome to stick around on Sunday as well for an informal day of trails.
Currently, event organizers behind the scenes are busily working to get registration forms online, arrange for sponsors, etc. I am told they hope to have the registration web site ready in a week or two. But like most events of this size, it takes a lot of hard work and coordination to make it all come together. So please be patient and in the mean time, hit up the FJ Cruiser or FJ Northeaster forums for more details. I’ll update this post with a registration link once the forms are up and ready to go. I look forward to seeing those of you who regularly attend and hope to see a fresh batch of new faces as well. See you on the trails!
Update:
The registration form is now live and ready for sign-up! Once again, I’d like to remind everyone that even though this event is FJ-centric, registration is completely open to anyone who wants to join in the fun. There are no limits based on vehicle brand or manufacturer. If you’re looking for a great gathering of folks and enjoy wheeling, rock crawling, or off-roading in general, the FJ Northeasters run is a great event to attend.
Coal Mine Cruiser Classic: FJ Cruiser on Yellow Jacket
The 11th Annual Coal Mine Cruiser Classic (CMCC) run was another great event with more than 80 registered vehicles and close to twice as many participants. The weather this year was a bit less cooperative on the first day of the three-day event, but after a good solid rain Thursday night, the temps and humidity levels evened out a bit. Like the previous year’s Coal Mine run, event participants were a bit more leisurely in their pace. So after registering, inspections and general trail preparations, I decided to roam around and meet some of the early arrivals. Having attended quite a few sponsored events, I recognized many of the faces, however I’m a bit ashamed to say that names almost always escape me. There were also quite a few new faces among the gathering crowd. I introduced myself to members both old and new and we proceeded to chat about a variety of event-related topics while waiting for the late-comers to arrive.
Last year’s Coal Mine run was a bit disorganized but thankfully there were quite a few folks who stepped up to help out. Jeff and Aida, long-time Land Cruiser owners and enthusiasts, were among the group of volunteers, offering to serve as trail guides for event participants. As I roamed about Thursday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to meet up with Jeff and Aida again as they arrived and prepped their FJ-40 for the day’s activities. When I discovered they would once again be leading, I quickly jumped aboard, adding my FJ to their group. After a few last-minute vehicle checks and CB channel assignments we were heading out of the staging area towards the trails.
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Virginia 4×4 Spring Event: Black and Blue All Over
While searching for local off-roading groups in the mid-Atlantic area, I happened across VA4x4.com, a web site that centers around off-roading events in the Virginia, Maryland and D.C. area. Unlike many other web sites which are dedicated to a single brand or model of vehicle, VA4x4 promotes the idea of “open-brand” off-roading, and with a growing member base and a wide range of vehicle types, it’s a concept that’s proven highly successful thus far. Curious to learn more, I signed up as a new member back in April (2010). It wasn’t long after I joined that I learned of a June 5th meet-n-greet at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park (RCORP). I responded excitedly, indicating that I would be in attendance as any trip to Rausch is generally a lot of fun. As it turned out, this event was no exception.
Some of the members arrived the night before and camped out in tents but since I’m a little closer than most, I decided to just drive up the same day. I arrived at the RCORP staging area around 8am where I was introduced to several members of the VA4x4 crew. There was apparently a large event for Xterras scheduled for that same day as well, so the park was busy that morning. After paying the park fees, airing down and seeing to other general trail preparations, we organized into a small group of five vehicles and headed out of the park in search of mud and rocks. Our vehicle line-up consisted of two Toyota truggies, one from an ’88 pickup and one from a former 4Runner, one well-equipped XTerra, an equally-outffitted 80-series Land Cruiser, and myself in an FJ Cruiser.
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Trails and Tribulations: A Rudimentary Rausch Creek Invitational
Although I have a fair amount of experience driving in off-road conditions, I didn’t really get into off-roading for recreational and sporting purposes until a few years ago. Since that time I’ve come to truly enjoy my time on the trail. It’s no longer about the destination. It really is about the trip along the way. For those of us in the mid-Atlantic region, Rausch Creek Off-Road Park (RCORP) is one of the more favorable locations for off-road enthusiasts. Rausch offers nearly 3000 acres of trails ranging from light-duty fire roads and green-rated river beds, to the more hard-core, black- and red-rated rock crawling obstacles. As my number of recreational trail hours increases, so does my appreciation for the experience as a whole. Surrounded by trees, rocks, water, dirt and mud… it’s a great way to get away from the day-to-day work schedule and even better when you get to spend it with friends.
Up until recently, my trips to Rausch have been based on larger, sponsored events. These types of events are a lot of fun, with a large number of participants and even prizes and a dinner at the end. But there are some downsides to this type of arrangement. The sheer number of participants means that each group will contain an average of six to eight vehicles. Overall, this means a lot more vehicles on the trails which increases the likelihood of having to wait for one or more groups to complete a particular trail section. Because Rausch Creek is fairly large in scale, this is not typically a problem. But it does happen on occasion. A second down side to sponsored events is that they are often vehicle-specific in nature. While most of the events I’ve attended in the past are completely open to other vehicle brands, it is not well advertised and many folks are still unwilling to attend because they would feel out of place. It is for these reasons, primarily, that I decided to organize the Rudimentary Rausch Creek Invitational.
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A Series of Tubes: Upgrading FJ Cruiser Control Arms
Based on Toyota’s advertising campaign, one would assume that the FJ Cruiser not only commutes well, but that it also performs quite well in light to medium off-road environments. But let’s face it, ads are designed to sell a product. Because of this, it can be difficult at times to separate fact from fiction. From my own experience, I can attest to the FJ’s on-road capabilities. As my primary mode of transport to and from work, I find it’s road performance to be quite mannerly, combining the functionality I require with all of the creature comforts I’ve come to expect from a Toyota vehicle.
As of early 2009, with the exception of the occasional snow storm or foray into the field behind the house, my FJ had not yet seen any real dedicated off-road use. But that all changed in April, 2009, at the FJ Northeasters Run at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park in Tremont, Pennsylvania. As both a driver and casual observer (watching all the other FJs on the trail), I witnessed the FJ’s off-road handling first hand and can now attest to the truth behind Toyota’s ads. In my case, I stuck with green- or blue-rated trails and despite a few more challenging obstacles, the FJ handled beautifully with absolutely no issues. Upon returning to the trail head, however, we discovered that others had not been so lucky. A few of the more courageous folks had ventured into some of the black- and purple-rated areas, in near-stock configuration, only to discover that large boulders when combined with a stock FJ is almost always a recipe for carnage.
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3rd Annual Northeast Run at Rausch Creek
As much as I’d prefer to keep this blog in sync, I also believe that certain events are worthy of mention, even though they disrupt the chronological order of the posts. It’s been almost ten months since the last Northeast Run at Rausch Creek which means only a couple more months before they do it all over again. That’s right folks, the FJ Northeasters are at it again, playing host to an event chalk-full of excitement, friends and fun! Round three of this annual FJ Cruiser event is scheduled to take place during Easter weekend, specifically the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of April, 2010.
Registration forms are not yet online but should be up shortly for anyone interested. Accommodations for the area can be scarce if you wait until the last minute so I highly suggest researching your options now. The folks at Rausch Creek have made it pretty easy by providing a nice compilation of nearby campgrounds and hotels. So don’t wait. Make those reservations now!
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Rausch Creek Runnings with the FJ Northeasters
Just to avoid any possible confusion, the following post details events that occurred during the 2nd Annual FJ Northeast Run, in April of 2009. Event details for the 3rd Annual FJ Northeast Run can be found here.
Despite my mad-dash efforts to complete all mods prior to our first trip to Rausch Creek, I was not able to complete everything I had planned. With some advanced planning, however, I did make remarkable progress towards the end goal, acquiring and installing a host of different options that would make the FJ a bit more capable and the passengers a bit safer. In preparation for a winch and other accessories, I upgraded the electrical system using the Dirty Parts Dual Battery Kit. Having the new Icon suspension now in place, meant ride quality was dramatically improved. The new Nitto Terra grapplers would not only give me additional ground clearance beyond that of the Icon lift, but better traction in the mud and rocky areas too. To increase traction further, I planned to air down the tires prior to hitting the trails. Pressure restoration would be completed with my newly installed Powertank setup. Interior cargo items were now more easily secured using the Springtail Solutions MPAC rack systems and the Gobi ladder and roof rack were also available for any additional cargo that wouldn’t easily fit into the rear of the FJ. And last, but most certainly not least, the BudBuilt skids were now affixed in rock-solid position, awaiting the inevitable clashing of rocks, stumps and whatever else happened to obstruct our path.
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Invitation to a Rausch Creek Rumpus
I’m almost ashamed to admit that it took me well over a year of FJ ownership before I reached a stage where I was comfortable with the thought of trail damage. As a sport, rock crawling is a new thing for me. I’m used to driving off the beaten path through mud, snow, etc. But the concept of intentionally putting a brand new vehicle in harm’s way completely escaped me. I’ve always been taught to take care of the things I own in order to make them last as long as possible. So for the first year or so, I enjoyed the FJ in relatively stock form (minus a few previously mentioned upgrades). That was, at least, until a forum post caught my eye in January of 2009.
The post indicated that one of the better known FJ Cruiser organizations on the Atlantic, the FJ Northeasters, was gathering sponsors and participants for their 2nd annual run at Rausch Creek in Pennsylvania. The key difference between to this event and previous gatherings, was that this particular event focused on folks who were new to rock crawling and trail runs. This became even more obvious as they gathered confirmations for trail types, where the majority of folks who responded to the invitation were signing up for the green-rated trails. For those unfamiliar with color-based trail ratings, the green trails are generally considered the easiest to navigate and are the least likely to result in unwanted damage to your vehicle.
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Getting Tired with Nitto Terra Grapplers
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As a dedicated BFGoodrich tire guy for almost ten years, I was surprised to see such a loyal following in the FJ forums for Nitto brand tires, specifically their all-terrain series tire known as the Terra Grappler. The positive feedback for this tire and rating for its performance under the FJ was so overwhelming that I decided to take a chance and branch away from BFG. With the new rear suspension on the way, I decided nothing would complement it better than a new set of shoes. Plus, with the suspension raised three inches higher than stock, the original tire size was going to look somewhat dwarfish. So I decided to upgrade the tire size in the process. After calling around to various tire shops, I finally got a smokin’ deal on five brand new Nitto Terra Grapplers in a size of 295/70R17 and an appointment to get them installed. For those who may have missed my previous post, I had recently ordered the remaining pieces of a Stage One suspension from Icon Vehicle Dynamics. So two new springs and shocks, five new tires and one alignment later, I was driving home in a lifted, but very smooth-riding FJ Cruiser.