REVISED-Keystone Cruisers Next Club Run is 12/10 -Rausch Creek
- Thread starter Crusha
- Start date
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Damn. Did you guys do the west side?
Yes. We did some exploring over there.
It was cold and snowy. duh.. We found a cool little blue/black trail right away. It turned out to be more off camber then it looked. Greg and I ran it. Vince and Aaron sat it out. We found some other neat looking trails. I saw alot of things I wish were trails but are not at this time. We also saw a lot of signs saying keep out. It seems as if the west property is a narrow strip along a ridgeline.
I was talking to a coworker that used to ride there. Im going to try and force him to come along and show us some good spots. Things have probably changed a good bit since he was there but it would be worth a try.
On the way home I had a moment of "oh this could be bad" the guy ahead of me towing a small utility trailer with a quad on it had the trailer try and pass him. It was sliding side to side by about 4' each way. I was just hoping that I would be able to stop intime. It made my heart skip a beat. I bet he s*** his pants. He didnt loose it but it happened 2 or three times.
I was talking to a coworker that used to ride there. Im going to try and force him to come along and show us some good spots. Things have probably changed a good bit since he was there but it would be worth a try.
On the way home I had a moment of "oh this could be bad" the guy ahead of me towing a small utility trailer with a quad on it had the trailer try and pass him. It was sliding side to side by about 4' each way. I was just hoping that I would be able to stop intime. It made my heart skip a beat. I bet he s*** his pants. He didnt loose it but it happened 2 or three times.
@Crusha @VBRoamer or @jamarquardt22 could one of you post up a pic of the map they handed you at the office, let's see if I can overlay some of the marked Google maps trails.
I agree, long skinny ridge property, I'm sure there is more to be found, but with the leaves gone and fresh snow on the trails, it was probably the best time to scout...
We headed west along the ridge, and dipped down one side or the other to various obstacles or challenging sections.
Lots of water and 1" thick ice on the way out...
Nice write-up Andy, thanks.
I'll process some video...
I agree, long skinny ridge property, I'm sure there is more to be found, but with the leaves gone and fresh snow on the trails, it was probably the best time to scout...
We headed west along the ridge, and dipped down one side or the other to various obstacles or challenging sections.
Lots of water and 1" thick ice on the way out...
Nice write-up Andy, thanks.
I'll process some video...
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@Pacer shoot me your e mail and I will send you a pic
If we get a nice weekend anytime soon I will try and run up there and do some scouting on my quad. I know there are pretty cool blue and blacks on that side, it's just going to be a matter of finding them.
Aaron - did you have to throw your wallet out the window to get unstuck after being high-centered? Once that big heavy billfold was out of the truck I imagine the suspension unloaded a bit and allowed you to get up and over the peak?!
Sorry to miss you guys, I had the truck ready to go and ended up working all day Saturday, and elected to spend Sunday hanging out with the family instead of hanging out with you loonies!
Sorry to miss you guys, I had the truck ready to go and ended up working all day Saturday, and elected to spend Sunday hanging out with the family instead of hanging out with you loonies!
- Thread starter
- #34
Light snow on the ground and flurries all day. It was cold and windy, I forgot to bring a hat so ended up buying one at the counter. I was glad I did, even if it was $20! @Pacer, @jamarquardt22, @VBRoamer, and myself met in the lot around 8:30ish, aired down and headed over to the West property.
This is all new territory, so we had no idea what to expect. It's a 17 mile loop with a lot of offshoots from the main trail. One of the first things you encounter when entering this side is a forest of young growth birch trees, almost forming a tunnel, really pleasing to the eye and to drive through, very serene. As Andy stated above, we found a nice blue/black trail not even ten minutes into the loop. It has some off camber sections (really off camber in one area), some tight spots, and big rocks to deal with. Andy hit it, and slithered right through with ease in his first gen 4Runner. I followed, but not as gracefully, nor as quickly. It was a bit tight for a full size wagon, and with all the rocks being coated in snow it made it a little more challenging to boot. Here's a few pics of Andy running this trail.
This is all new territory, so we had no idea what to expect. It's a 17 mile loop with a lot of offshoots from the main trail. One of the first things you encounter when entering this side is a forest of young growth birch trees, almost forming a tunnel, really pleasing to the eye and to drive through, very serene. As Andy stated above, we found a nice blue/black trail not even ten minutes into the loop. It has some off camber sections (really off camber in one area), some tight spots, and big rocks to deal with. Andy hit it, and slithered right through with ease in his first gen 4Runner. I followed, but not as gracefully, nor as quickly. It was a bit tight for a full size wagon, and with all the rocks being coated in snow it made it a little more challenging to boot. Here's a few pics of Andy running this trail.
- Thread starter
- #35
Got back on the loop and the signage stinks, and we confused ourselves multiple times. AOAA has not thoroughly mapped out this part of the park yet, and the Maplets app does not apply (hopefully soon?). However, Aaron realized that Googlemaps shows the main trails, and we navigated with that for the remainder of the day. We got stuck behind a looong parade of *eeps. I did not take any pics, well, because we all know what *eeps look like 
. It was some type of organized beginners trail ride, I forget the name of the company..it's unimportant anyway. We explored a few spurs to let them get ahead of us. We caught up to their group a little bit later. They were parked down below, near what looked like a nice hillclimb. From my vantage point on the ridge, it looked like a quad only type of thing. We made our way over there, and the *eeps were gone. This hill was STEEP, but wide enough for a truck. I had no interest in attempting it in the snow (sometimes I do make intelligent decisions 
). Aaron radioed that he was going to drive around to the back and take a look (did I mention we were actually using our CB's?). I drove around the opposite direction and this side was almost just as steep. What do I see? Fresh tire tracks half way up the hill! Aaron had already made an attempt. I, of course, encouraged him and said you need to go faster (what are friends for?) Attempt number two got him all the way to the peak and allllllmost over 
!
The following photo almost captures how steep this hill is...
He ended up high centered hard on the skid and left side slider. I think if the earth were not frozen, he would have made it. We spent a few minutes trying to get some traction with some Maxtrax, but it wasn't happening. We discussed a few options, and decided it was safest to unspool Aaron's winch and secure the cable to Vince's LX450, while I hooked up to his bumper with my winch line. Aaron pulled himself forward while I kept tension on his rear (there's a an opportunity for a crude joke here, but I'll take the high road...which is rare
). Once successfully off the hill, we kept on exploring. Here's a scan of the West property map.
We meandered around for some time, and as Andy mentioned earlier in the thread, there were multiple spots that showed potential to become good trails, and there were also areas that looked so damn enticing, but were restricted. I'm not sure why they were restricted. Some almost looked like there may be some mining going on...I'm really not sure. I'll have to ask the management next time we're there. I'm very curious.
I don't remember, but I don't think we made it into that last loop past marker 400. If you wheel this side of the park, they require you to be out of there by 2 p.m. this time of year. It's actually gated and is locked at two. At this juncture we were starting to face some time restrictions, and started our way back East. We crossed over a powerline trail that looked like fun, so decided to run it. It is not on the AOAA map, but looked like it ran parallel to the return trail when viewed on googlemaps. It turned out to be a good decision.
Here are a few pics of Aaron and Andy in front of me, and Vince following me down.
We found a spot with some gullies and had a little fun.
Aaron hates his tail lights! Broke both of them this day...
There is a LOT of water on this side, some of it relatively deep. I went through one frozen hole and almost thought I was in for another, um..."incident". Luckily, it wasn't meant to be.
Last photo for the day is Aaron slogging his 62 through one of the deeper holes. I did not get a pic of him in the deepest part, so just pretend...
That was about it for the day. I want to go back and explore the West side some more. I have a feeling it's like the rest of Anthracite, you have to find the good stuff. Even though we didn't really do too much "wheeling", we all had a great time.
All the photos I took are here: Keystone Cruisers 12/11/16 Anthracite West Property For some reason some of them uploaded out of sequence.
In case you're curious as to what an AOAA $20 hat looks like...
. It was some type of organized beginners trail ride, I forget the name of the company..it's unimportant anyway. We explored a few spurs to let them get ahead of us. We caught up to their group a little bit later. They were parked down below, near what looked like a nice hillclimb. From my vantage point on the ridge, it looked like a quad only type of thing. We made our way over there, and the *eeps were gone. This hill was STEEP, but wide enough for a truck. I had no interest in attempting it in the snow (sometimes I do make intelligent decisions ). Aaron radioed that he was going to drive around to the back and take a look (did I mention we were actually using our CB's?). I drove around the opposite direction and this side was almost just as steep. What do I see? Fresh tire tracks half way up the hill! Aaron had already made an attempt. I, of course, encouraged him and said you need to go faster (what are friends for?) Attempt number two got him all the way to the peak and allllllmost over !
The following photo almost captures how steep this hill is...
He ended up high centered hard on the skid and left side slider. I think if the earth were not frozen, he would have made it. We spent a few minutes trying to get some traction with some Maxtrax, but it wasn't happening. We discussed a few options, and decided it was safest to unspool Aaron's winch and secure the cable to Vince's LX450, while I hooked up to his bumper with my winch line. Aaron pulled himself forward while I kept tension on his rear (there's a an opportunity for a crude joke here, but I'll take the high road...which is rare
). Once successfully off the hill, we kept on exploring. Here's a scan of the West property map.
We meandered around for some time, and as Andy mentioned earlier in the thread, there were multiple spots that showed potential to become good trails, and there were also areas that looked so damn enticing, but were restricted. I'm not sure why they were restricted. Some almost looked like there may be some mining going on...I'm really not sure. I'll have to ask the management next time we're there. I'm very curious.
I don't remember, but I don't think we made it into that last loop past marker 400. If you wheel this side of the park, they require you to be out of there by 2 p.m. this time of year. It's actually gated and is locked at two. At this juncture we were starting to face some time restrictions, and started our way back East. We crossed over a powerline trail that looked like fun, so decided to run it. It is not on the AOAA map, but looked like it ran parallel to the return trail when viewed on googlemaps. It turned out to be a good decision.
Here are a few pics of Aaron and Andy in front of me, and Vince following me down.
We found a spot with some gullies and had a little fun.
Aaron hates his tail lights! Broke both of them this day...
There is a LOT of water on this side, some of it relatively deep. I went through one frozen hole and almost thought I was in for another, um..."incident". Luckily, it wasn't meant to be.
Last photo for the day is Aaron slogging his 62 through one of the deeper holes. I did not get a pic of him in the deepest part, so just pretend...
That was about it for the day. I want to go back and explore the West side some more. I have a feeling it's like the rest of Anthracite, you have to find the good stuff. Even though we didn't really do too much "wheeling", we all had a great time.
All the photos I took are here: Keystone Cruisers 12/11/16 Anthracite West Property For some reason some of them uploaded out of sequence.
In case you're curious as to what an AOAA $20 hat looks like...
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@Crusha bastard! you beat me to the map for @Pacer
Greg send me your email address and I will send you the pics I have of you.
Greg send me your email address and I will send you the pics I have of you.
Wow, exciting stuff! can't wait to see the new side of the park for myself. That is indeed a steep upnover! Thanks Greg for the pics and narrative, well done and much appreciated.
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All in all it was a great day, overlanding in search of obstacles. I especially liked two-tracking along the power line, at least for a short while. Yak-trak season has arrived!
Yup, that did the trick Ben...???
Here's a little video of the day that Google will not let me embed.
https://goo.gl/photos/mUmT5fVifASz3xE9A
And two unedited from the blue black.
Here's a little video of the day that Google will not let me embed.
https://goo.gl/photos/mUmT5fVifASz3xE9A
And two unedited from the blue black.