DeJA Ride at RC 8/27-28

We had a small DeJA ride at Rauch Creek this past weekend, concurrently with BMJA's August Oink. In attendance were Brian (MOPARTECH) and Barbie, (I.N.M.) Tom & son, Steve (roeper) & wife, guest John & daughter, Jason (jwalk), Matt (matty427), and me.

We decided to head out on our own, not mixing up with BMJA's groups. We wanted to start on Trail 5, but there was a group already in there and bogged down, so we headed up to the exit of Trail 6. Everyone did well over the rocks, and we soon made it to the hill climbs at the end of that section. A few of us went down the center section, and some on the easier right side (viewing from the bottom). Brian decided to try to climb the left, very difficult climb, but got bogged down trying to get started. After everyone was down, Brina talked me into trying that side as well. In the past I had only made it 2/3 of the way, and had to winch the rest, so I got my winch controller out and ready. Then with Brian spotting, my clutch smoking, and a couple of tight turns and leaning a little into the tree at the top, I made it up and over. Not to be outdone, Brian hopped back in his jeep and, with a better starting line, he climbed right up as well.

We continued on down the next section of Trail 6. I played a while on that flat rock with the gap down the middle. I tried to do that maneuver in reverse, but couldn't get the back of the jeep around enough to get the rear tire out of the crevasse. So I back out of that, and tried to take the off camber route close to the tree. But after a few tries (spotter strap attached), it was clear I wasn't going to make it without taking out my windshield, so I backed out of the whole obstacle. Brian tried next, and this is one place where his wide wheelbase helped him - with the spotter strap attached, he made it through the off camber section. Jason agreed to try as well, but in the usual direction. Once we got him up the first big rock, he easily tip toed through the rest of the course.

Our next big obstacle was not rocks, but hornets. Just 50 yards down the trail from the big rock, I drover over a hornet's next. Brian, who was directly behind, got the brunt of the attack so he just gunned it through. I didn't see what was going on, so I jumped out of my jeep and walked back - big mistake, right through the angry hornets. I ended up with at least a dozen stings, and Brian probably got the same. I was still swatting them off me when I got to the other side. Jason and Matt stopped their jeeps in the swarm, and we waited for them to calm down. We managed to move the jeeps onto trail 3, which runs parallel at that point, and continued down to the trail end.

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After lunch we headed to the trail 5 entrance, and this time headed in. We managed to spot Matt onto a high centered position, and need to tug him backwards to get him unstuck. Then we all proceeded to the neat downhill but had to stop there. A group ahead of us was stopped on the trail, doing some repairs (a TJ had thrown a rear spring, and they were trying to get it back in). So we skipped out onto trail C, then ducked back in just past that section. That brought us to the hill climb area. We got an explanation of how Ian had flopped on the center route, and all decided to skip that one. I tried to head up the line that Jason had taked previously, to the rocks on the left but then straight up. I must of hit my rear wheel at some point, because I was losing air from the right tire, so I came back down to check it out. Meanwhile Brian gunned it up the steep climb on the right, and made it up. Tom also followed him up. Steve headed up the rocky left side and made it almost to the top when we heard a loud TING. He broke the rear output shaft of his transfer case, and had to be winched the rest of the way up by Tom. While they were attending to that, I tried the hill that Brian and Tom had climbed. In second gear, I pulled out, but got bogged down and stalled about 2/3 of the way up. Luckily my new rear disk brakes (thanks Aaron!) held and kept me from flipping more that a few feet down. I was able to start it back up in first, and crawled the rest of the way up. Then Barbie picked her was up the rocky left section like a pro. Tom headed down the bypass trail, and escorted Steve out of the park. Matt headed out as well, to go pick up some rocker guards from Zack at A to Z. So Brian, Barbie, Jason and I headed on out the rest of trail 5. With some time left, we decided to try a new trail 8, just off of trail C. It is a big circle with lots of rock, and a rock garden, rated black. As we made it in we saw that the other group was ahead of us in there. We stopped to watch while that group negotiated the rock garden. Their last guy through managed to rip off his lower control arm and mangle the top one. While they broke out their tools, we continued around the trail and then out. Calling it a day, we headed to the exit.

Jason headed on home. Brian and Barbie packed up our jeeps and unhooked the trailers. They headed out to find some dinner. I stayed with the rest to eat with BMJA. Roast pork, fresh corn, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, it was pretty good. But turn out was pretty light - about 95 people vs. the expected 150.

After dinner, after the night ride headed out, I headed down to the Confort Inn.

Day two started off wet. We stuffed everyone into the remaining four jeeps, and headed off to the west side. We decided to take it relatively easy for 1/2 day, so we started off on trail 13, which runs parallel to Rock Creek for a while and is mostly a stream when it rains. Everyone made it through that section well. We did pass through another hornet area where the trail turns away from Rock Creek, but we all made it without a sting. We meandered through the rest of the trail, then headed to check out new trail 19. It is a green trail with black and red rated sections that we wanted to check out. I had to stop to air up my rear tire which was down to about 6 pounds of pressure. We did the upper and lower scenic sections of that trail, which took us until about 10:45. I aired that tire up again, then we headed over to the east side and out of the park at about 11:30.

We then packed up, aired up, and headed home, soggy and wet, but happy.