Story to come later,
Here are my Pics!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v619/connordanny/Rausch%20Creek%205-12-07/

Pics... And I so wanted to see what I missed.

Danny Thanks for the loan on the breaker bar and socket. I gave them to jimmy hoping he would catch you at the Goose. If he did not I will get them from him and get it to you ASAP.

Chris,
I did see those guys at the goose and I got the socket and bar from Tim. Thanks.

Sorry Bobbi.....I was in the middle of posting the pics and must have had another systematic shutdown

By the way people the first few pictures are actually on the coal pile. The have clearcut a very larger area.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2092232684
Just a few pictures before my battery died.

Others will have to fill in because I know the story will not be complete with all details. We split into 2 groups due to the good turnout. there were 6 going "easy" trails and 6 doing the harder stuff. I led the harder group with Greg, Kat, Danny, Joe and Brad(first timer to Rausch). we headed up the small hill climb behind the office and Kat who was second in line had a breakage at the top. The little tab on the rear differential yoke that keeps the U joint centered broke causing her to loose the caps and then the driveshaft separated. I had a spare ubolt for a 9" that was close enough to fit, the office had a nut for it since we were short one and Joe used the office welder to tack a new tab on the yoke. Kat, Joe and Danny had it together in no time and met back up with the group at trail 5.

We were going to do trail 2 with frog hole but there was a less capable group only a few hundred yards in already having difficulty so we backed out. We went into trail 5 Black and had fun going through those bowls and then took shortcut to 4 to hit the other bowls and quench our mud thirst. Next we headed for the south property but got a call from Crazy Jimmy. They had a breakage on Crawler Ridge and were having difficulty with repairs. We headed over and found the jeep broke off a strap retaining bolt in the front yoke. they were drilling it out and we had nothing that would help. we had lunch there and then a few of us challenged the ridge in redemption. after a strap and retry all was well. Greg was going to try the hard line down the middle of the ridge but after placing a tire on each side and realizing there was no room opted out. We like the pose so we all parked around him and made it into a photo session.

Next after eating lunch on crawler ridge we split up again and headed to the south property. We first went to camelback since most of us hadn't done the trail before. After walking the trail we decided to give it a try. Joe was having overheating issues and decided not to go in. I went through first and found the trail very enjoyable. really just 2 challenging spots and the rest was simply up and down and a lot of fun. we all made it through without too much trouble. I made the last turn and slide too far to the right , had to step on it to keep it upright and leaned it against the passenger roll cage, took out my passenger mirror and bent the windshield frame. I drove it out and then carried my mirror around to make sure noone else made the same mistake.

Next was Snake Bite which was moslty a blue rocky trail that didn't provide much challenge to us running bigger than 33" tires. then into the black section where there were a few prominent rocks that hung us up a few minutes but everyone made it through. Then we decided to head over to Lake Cristy.

Lake Cristy has changed some. we took the entrance to the south end of the lake. there is a trail to drop in on the immediate left which I did not take. I remember Von trying to come up the trail which is quite steep at the top and he required a winch. There is quite a drop off there and I didn't want to take the risk. so I took the second left which was the easy side to take if you just want to drive down to the lake. I turned left and realized that it had washed out some so I placed the tires accordingly to straddle the washout. I edged forward and then heard a LOUD SCREAM! It was Kat, she took the first left that I decided against and when she dropped in brought the rear tires off the ground and though she was going over. About 5 seconds after her scream my front end dropped into the washout and threw my jeep up onto its nose. Aaron screamed at the top of his lungs. The front drivers side of the bumper hit the ground and dug in causing us to spin a little and with a little gas the rear dropped to the right some. While still positioned quite precariously on the front end Aaron asked "can I get out now" and without hesitation I said Yes. He bailed and then I edged the front wheels forward very slowly to straighen the vehicle and then drove down the hill. I took a few moments near the lake to gather my composure and give myself time to stop shaking and then got out to check out the hill. That was the first time I ever KNEW the jeep was going over. Somehow the jeep gods did a favor for me. After we assessed the hills we just came down everyone else opted for the other entrance(the one that Nester got sideways on in the snow during his descent). We played around on some of the hill climbs and let the dogs run around and then decided to head out.

We had no more incidents on the way out to the coal pile. We stopped there for some more pictures. In one of Dannys pictures you will see the very poor timing of Brad's son. We all went back to photograph the jeeps after posing them in front of the coal pile and started taking pictures only to realize he was ... relieving his water next to his dads jeep. oh well. we had no more incidents on the way out.

We hadn't heard from Crazy Jimmy's group, couldn't raise them on the CB and our cell numbers were outdated so we waited for them. eventually Greg was able to obtain a working number and we found that they were doing well but just moving slow. We left to go eat at the gooseberry and waited there for Crazy Jimmy to show up. Timmy's Grand Wagoneer was trashed when he pulled up, covered in mud from the 5 foot mud pit, large tree shaped dent in the drivers side door, front axle positioned toward the rear about 5 inches, front springs folded in the rear of them and the shackles foulded under the frame, u joints trashed. They decided to leave it there and pick it up with the trailer on sunday. The trip was very enjoyable for us, we were in good company and overall had a great weekend for the trip. PLease add to the story if I missed something and thanks for the great wheeling trip everyone.

By the way while waiting for Crazy Jimmy I spoke to a guy that was having his lightly modified TJ towed away on a flatbed. He said he went into frog hole and was grinding it forward and back and forward and back and then it just quit working. Turns out he was pressing the clutch quite a bit while in the frog hole and sucked all kinds of crud up into the clutch pack causing it to fail. He had to have it towed back up to philidelphia. lesson: don't press the clutch in the muddy goop

Tim and Jim are supposed to write the story for the easy group, but i thought that i would add that a stock jeep sounds bad a** with the muffler and cat off the downpipe. lol

I also had a great time in spite of breaking a bolt in the yoke on the front drive shaft. Thanks everyone who tried to help with tools and advise. After getting to the office Lynn let us use some power and break a couple of drill bits with no luck so I hopped in Mikes Toyota and my passenger Corey got in with Crazy Jimmy and we headed out to catch up with the rest of the group. All I have to say is for the "easy" group we sure had alot of damage in the end.

Me broken bolt in yoke
Mike (Toyota) broken frame
Tim many dents and spring damage
Son of Sam Muffler
Ed (Red YJ) Nothing
Jim Carb and stalling issues.

but we had a blast. Once I got off 83 onto 439 toward BelAir the ball joint death wobble got worse and I had to complete the trip home at speeds under 30 mph to control.

I don't think my co-worker Corey will be joining us again, he thinks we are all crazy for doing this.

Again thanks to all, and I will see you next outing.

got one question - how do you keep the dogs in the jeep? Mine bails regardless if hes on leash or not. He found out the hard way.