CLCC at Rock Run ORP (1 Viewer)

[76FJ40]

I can feel the love; it makes me warm inside.

Who's bringing Bourbon to the EC4RJ?

 

[jmaiella]

TRAIL REPORT:

4 rigs went on Sunday - two were CLCC and Bruisers members, and the other two were just Bruisers (one from PA and one from western MD). Here are our thoughts on the trip.

Rick said:

Well, there was only four of us - (three times that number bailed on this excursion!) - BUT, it was a talented group, we have all wheeled together before and we kept up very nicely with some heavily modified jeeps on Green and Blue trails all day. The thing about this place is that it clearly was designed and laid out by off-roaders. One obstacle moves smoothly to the next; terrain changes were sprinkled all over the place; 'surprise' boulders and stumps were left for you to negotiate; the trails seemed pristine since traffic is limited to guided runs, (there are clear trails, but the double track still has grass growing in the ruts and you often feel like you are trail busting!), and the pace is slow but intense. The obstacles were interesting and my A-Trac came on maybe 20 times throughout the day. I used the lockers only once, but really needed it then! You really have to DRIVE these trails - you can't let up for a second; I found myself working up a sweat at times despite 60 degree temps and lots of shade. Once on these trails, there is no going back - you travel through dense forest with lots of smaller trees, (the place is a re-claimed strip mine and the trees MIGHT be 20 years old), and you find a few places with clearings, but spend most of your time negotiating tight turns in between small trees and paying a lot of attention to the line - lots of precision and thinking involved. No body damage, (save one small dent on Eric's ROOF!!!(WTF?)), but we snaked thru some 'gates' that gave you every bit of 2 inches clearance on either side of the truck. As in the past, the guides were great spotters too, and anxious to show us a good time - VERY friendly guys.

We were talking on the way home about the technical nature of the trails - our first two hours allowed for 350 feet of travel on the GPS and our only winching of the day occurred maybe 60 feet into the trail! It is a skills course, and you get your money's worth. The number of trails has doubled since we were there last August, they were better marked, a lot of too-tight turns were made better by removing some small trees. There was still about 30 times where a three point turn (or a 4, 6 or 8 point turn!) was necessary, but if you really paid attention to your line and your corners, a LOT of them can be passed through the first time. This place is fast becoming one of my favorite spots to wheel (East Coast) and I am planning a trip back next month on our ATVs.

It was a four hour drive for Eric and Joe, and I know that is about the limit for a day trip, but I can't encourage enough of you to make the effort and try this place. If you are serious about honing your driving skills and want to be a better off roader, this is the place to do it. We have many members that live relatively close - Hagerstown, Cumberland, West Va., west Philly, western Pa. are all under 4 hours and cheap primitive camping is on-site. I really think this place deserves more Bruiser use, and three or four years from now, you'll find you need reservations to get a spot on a trail. Check out their web page and go join an 'open' day group - you'll love it. Rock Run Recreation Area, The Premier ATV Recreation Park East of the Mississippi

Erik said:

This place has some of the best off road trails I've ever seen. Everything under the sun and the facility provided trail guides know where they are going and what to do. Excellent spotting the entire day. They have all kinds of trails and if you spent 3 or 4 days up there you couldn't run them all.

The facility is second to none. It is easy to travel to, easy to find, plenty of great parking. Just a very well organized place. If the Bruisers don't hold several events up there it would be a great disservice to the membership.

Geographically, Rock Run sits at the highest point in that part of Pennsylvania. 360 degree views. I think you can see New York State, and West Virginia. Perhaps Ohio if you look really close. For most Bruisers, it is 1.5 hours further than Green Ridge State Park.

We were not bothered by another soul through out the day. Very large (very very large) property reminds me of remote places in Canada or Montana.

Once everyone was lined up and ready to go we started about 10 am and never stopped rolling until 3. They would have run us longer but all of us needed to get back and air up and get home.

They now offer primitive camping for a reasonable fee. Hotels are within a reasonable drive. Also lots of really great Pennsylvania to see in the area. Horseshoe Curve, lots of state parks, etc..

This is one of the best places for driving skill building I have seen on the east coast. You can really learn to drive here. I was talking to a guy with an FJ 40 crawler and he helped design many of the trails at the now defunct Paragon. All of that knowledge and more was obviously used here. And unlike most reclaimed strip mines, this one had very limited mud. It doesn't even look like a coal mine. It is absolutely beautiful.


Rick- Thanks for putting this together and getting this place back on our radar. It was my pleasure wheeling with all of you, Rick, Joe, Erik. Dana is great too. Make sure she gets to drive the big hill we did at lunchtime next trip. She took everything we threw at her and threw it right back. Pretty awesome.

I know I will be back at this facility. This is an ideal location for any future Bruiser event.
Especially with the available camping.

I'll see what I can do about getting what few photos I took posted up shortly.

Eric said:

Rock Run was an absolute treat. Tight, technical, and virtually no mud. This is certainly the place to go to practice your off-road skills. Back-to-School or a training event would be perfect in this spot. Despite the tight trails, no new pinstripes were added. The volunteers that tend the trails have done a fantastic job making everything just barely wide enough to pass, while still keeping the tree canopy intact for shade and a sense that you're driving through secluded woods. Rock Run is not a 90 MPH race- it's a game of chess where you had to plan a few steps ahead in order to maneuver through the trail.

The obstacles were well placed, so we managed to maintain a good pace, which kept the day interesting. I brought a friend for her first-time offroading, and she had a blast. Eric, Rick, and Joe are excellent company. Dana will surely be back. Watch for left-foot braking as soon as the broken bone is healed!

Thanks Rick and Joe for getting this organized. I can't wait for the next one.

And I say it was some of the best off-roading I've ever done! This place was a real blast, and totally worth it if you camp and make a weekend of it (3.5-4 hours from DC is a bit far for a day trip). The trails were awesome, and the trail guides extremely helpful AND friendly. I urge everyone to check this place out - better than Rausch, I'd say!

~Joe