Rausch Creek Reviews

For those of you who have been to Rausch Creek Offroad Park...

Tell me your thoughts on this park, overall, ratings of trails, logistics of getting there, loading and unloading, hotels, camping, park hours, etc. Does it stack up against say a Windrock Park, Harlan Ky, Gulches, Sparta Tn (Golden Mtn Offroad Park), Tellico, etc. Is it congested during holidays, does it have extreme rock crawling, would you take young kids etc...

I know there are several guys here that visit this park quite often. Ive been to most of the parks listed above. Id love to hear some of your thoughts and experiences and your style of wheeling. Our group is looking to make a trip here, but I wanted some feedback first hand.

Thanks for your time!

Jerms said:

ratings of trails,

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Green - Stock Friendly
Blue - Stock Challenging
Black - might want a locker and/or winch and be lifted some
Red - you REALLY want at least one locker and a winch. 35s for 2-door and 37s for 4-door very doable with a good line in most spots.
*There are some Reds that are more challenging than others. Otters is pretty serious.

These are just my thoughts and opionions though...

logistics of getting there, loading and unloading,

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The part is more expensive than any other place we've wheeled at, but we keep going. It is an 8hr drive for us. (Much of this has to do with the WAL guys we wheel with there) The parking and loading/unloading is easy and space is plentiful

hotels, camping,

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The Hampton in Pine Grove is nice but is overpriced. The Comfort Inn is much cheaper and a decent place. I don't camp when I'm there. I don't mind getting dirty but I want a hot shower and a clean bed when I'm done.

park hours,

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Decent in the summer, short in my OP in the winter. The keep it to daylight hours. I would love a night run there.

Does it stack up against say a Windrock Park, Harlan Ky, Gulches, Sparta Tn (Golden Mtn Offroad Park), Tellico, etc. Is it congested during holidays, does it have extreme rock crawling, would you take young kids etc...

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Harlin Yes IMO RC is better, I haven't been anywhere else yet... RC is pretty big and handles even busy weekends pretty darn well. "Extreme" is relative, but there is some pretty challenging stuff to be found.

jnabird333 said:

Green - Stock Friendly
Blue - Stock Challenging
Black - might want a locker and/or winch and be lifted some
Red - you REALLY want at least one locker and a winch. 35s for 2-door and 37s for 4-door very doable with a good line in most spots.
*There are some Reds that are more challenging than others. Otters is pretty serious.

These are just my thoughts and opionions though...



The part is more expensive than any other place we've wheeled at, but we keep going. It is an 8hr drive for us. (Much of this has to do with the WAL guys we wheel with there) The parking and loading/unloading is easy and space is plentiful



The Hampton in Pine Grove is nice but is overpriced. The Comfort Inn is much cheaper and a decent place. I don't camp when I'm there. I don't mind getting dirty but I want a hot shower and a clean bed when I'm done.



Decent in the summer, short in my OP in the winter. The keep it to daylight hours. I would love a night run there.



Harlin Yes IMO RC is better, I haven't been anywhere else yet... RC is pretty big and handles even busy weekends pretty darn well. "Extreme" is relative, but there is some pretty challenging stuff to be found.

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Agree on trail ratings for sure

Price wise its all I know so it's decent.

Yea the comfort inn is nice because they have a RC rate. It's $69 a night I believe

cozdude said:

Agree on trail ratings for sure

Price wise its all I know so it's decent.

Yea the comfort inn is nice because they have a RC rate. It's $69 a night I believe

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Would have to agree with Steve on this.

I cant comment on any other places since I have only been there so far. Logistics of getting there for me isn't bad but I live about 45-hour away. Camping is nice down the road (expensive I think tho) but you can camp at the park free but you deal with the people there.

Rausch is awesome. Went twice completely stock, had loads of fun, went back with a lift and bigger tires and still just as fun! Plenty of different stuff to do and if there's stuff you want to avoid (I personally don't like the little water crossings) it's pretty easy to pick trails accordingly. The people who work there are great too. It can get a bit crowded on weekends and holidays, but it is also a pretty big place so the trails don't really get clogged up.
Overall just a great place to wheel in my opinion

Only went once and it was with a bunch of guys from here. Absolutely the best people possible so that made for a great time. The park seems big enough and there were plenty of varied trails to challenge my limited experience and mall rated TJ. it helped that I had two of the best spotters- EVER!

I liked the office staff and the RC guys we saw or spoke with out on the trail. All seemed helpful and friendly. It was not cheap in my opinion but there is not much I can compare it to as I have not been to any other off road parks

There does seem to be a creek water subculture as some tension and or attitude could be picked up from "other" groups that may have not been fans of WAL or Eddie himself. I don't really know because I'm a nubie. I do see where the advice "don't drink the water" may have come from. I take a direct approach to things. There were a few times It seemed like I was getting hard looks from non-group members. I just got out walked up to them and said Hi, awesome jeep(truck, Toyota or whatever). Works for me. This may be all in my imagination due to my small stature and personal insecurity. Who knows for sure?

Bottom line. I had a blast and can't wait to get there again preferably with a WAL crew.

Just my 2c.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Keep em coming if you have any experiences. For all of you who haven't gone anywhere else, you guys need to make your way south to some of the places I mentioned above, especially Sparta and Harlan. Literally, Sparta is basically get out of the parking lot and hold on for dear life. You better have atleast 37s, locked front and rear and lots of skid plates

Jerms said:

Thanks for the replies so far.

Keep em coming if you have any experiences. For all of you who haven't gone anywhere else, you guys need to make your way south to some of the places I mentioned above, especially Sparta and Harlan. Literally, Sparta is basically get out of the parking lot and hold on for dear life. You better have atleast 37s, locked front and rear and lots of skid plates

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I'm game! We wheeled in MI, MI-UP, TN, KY, IN, OH, & PA last year. I've been meaning to swing more south but haven't gotten to it. 15' will be rough as we will be using a bunch of our vacation to do the Rubicon

15' will be rough as we will be using a bunch of our vacation to do the Rubicon [/QUOTE]

yeah, we are going to rubicon and moab next year :clap2:

I've been to Rausch Creek twice. I absolutely love the place.

I travel from upstate NY, and plan to go bi monthly in the warmer months. The drive is worth it. I typically stay at Days Inn as they offer a great rate for rausch guests. It's not fancy, but it's clean and the service is outstanding. Plus the parking lot is typically filled with Jeepers and it's fun to make new friends after the day is through.

The parking lot at Rausch is spacious. Plenty of room for a tow rig and trailer of your jeep is a trailer queen lol. They also have am air station, a welder and grinder available for use and a small parts shop on site. On my first trip there I lost a rear shock bolt on the drive down. Shock was hanging by the upper mount. The lady in the office took me to a back room filled with spares and gave me a bolt for a donation. (whatever you feel is comfortable for a donation works for them.)

The trails are extremely well marked. Their maps are accurate. I'm not an expert and had no issues leading the run on my last trip down there.

Greens are very easy, a stock jeep can do these without incident.
Blues can vary from being extremely easy to somewhat difficult. A lift and bigger tires helps on some of them but isn't always needed. Also, some of the trails are "purple" which is a difficulty level between blue and black. These are a little tougher. IMHO you need a lift and 31-33" tires for these.

Blacks, Ive never seen a stock jeep on one but I ran a lot of the blacks open/open with 35"s and a 3" lift. Had no problems except on yellow jacket (which is a blue if I remember correctly) good line choices go a long way.

Reds, I've walked up shoot the moon. I won't take my jk on it lmao. That's the only red I've seen up close.

As for the people who wheel there: I usually go with my local jeep club, cnyjeep or with NOVA for their trailfest run. Both times we had nice sized groups and if anyone was giving me dirty looks for a wayalife sticker I didn't notice and I likely wouldn't have cared anyway. If someone's gonna judge me over a sticker I don't want to know them anyway.

Tldr : go check out rausch. I'm hoping to get in on a wayalife run there this spring myself. It's a great place. Something for every level. Can't wait to go back.

Here's a few pics from my last trip.

My buddy has some videos of some guys on shoot the moon last time there. Let me see if I can find them it was cold and wet frost was coming out of the ground.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using WAYALIFE mobile app

Cool. Would love to see them

kgw350 said:

My buddy has some videos of some guys on shoot the moon last time there. Let me see if I can find them it was cold and wet frost was coming out of the ground.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using WAYALIFE mobile app

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I'd love to see that Kyle!

He is emailing them to me soon

Sent from my SCH-I545 using WAYALIFE mobile app

Thanks all for the great information. I'm new to off-roading and am heading up to RC on the 28th for the 101 course.

I currently don't have friends that off road so I'm looking forward to meeting WAL jeepers in the future to run some trails and learn.

My 2012 JK is stock and my first "minor" mod is going to be putting my WAL sticker on the windshield this weekend!

El Toro said:

Thanks all for the great information. I'm new to off-roading and am heading up to RC on the 28th for the 101 course.

I currently don't have friends that off road so I'm looking forward to meeting WAL jeepers in the future to run some trails and learn.

My 2012 JK is stock and my first "minor" mod is going to be putting my WAL sticker on the windshield this weekend!

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Enjoy the class, deff one of the best things you can do being new to offroading :thumb:

El Toro said:

Thanks all for the great information. I'm new to off-roading and am heading up to RC on the 28th for the 101 course.

I currently don't have friends that off road so I'm looking forward to meeting WAL jeepers in the future to run some trails and learn.
I will keep a look out for you

My 2012 JK is stock and my first "minor" mod is going to be putting my WAL sticker on the windshield this weekend!

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We have a group of about 30 jeeps heading there on the 28th.
Everything from stock to buggies
I will be bringing my TJ on 32s since my JK is under construction

Sent from my SCH-I545 using WAYALIFE mobile app

Cant wait for the 28th! Kyle, it seems that a big part of the group that runs my place is going, the hotel is gonna be almost as good as the trails.

I want to take the 101 course bad. Maybe this summer. Can you run the greens on stock tires? I heard it is pretty rocky.

I've been to RC over 20 times love it there ... I have to slightly disagree with trail ratings
Greens - stock friendly but still challenging depending on what direction you approach certain trails
Blues - stock doable but armor is def recommended ( sliders and skids ) or damage is likely
Blacks - lift, 33s, armor
Reds ... Never been on one I love my jeep lol