Rausch Creek 101 Course

Bought our first JK in July 2014. Spent many months driving around with the top off and just enjoying it. I knew I was going to build it up when I bought it but wanted to take my time and read as much as possible...see what others have and such.

The best advice I read was from seasoned off-roaders telling us noobs to first learn how to drive your vehicle and see what it's capable of. A big thank you to those that offer such advice!

Taking that advice, I signed up for the off-roading 101 course at Rausch Creek in Tremont, PA on 3/28/15. I put all mods on hold so that I could begin to learn how to drive my stock Jeep. My wife and I packed up and headed north for the 4 hour trip from VA.

This was our first experience off-roading (besides being on the sand many times) and we were a tinge anxious not knowing what to expect. We registered and then met our instructor for the day...Kyle Buchter. After everyone registered, we headed out for the day, now a bit nervous because every other Jeep seemed to have a lift and bigger tires, mods galore everywhere.

Kyle was awesome to say the least. He instilled confidence and reassurance backed with 15 years of teaching experience. In 6 short hours, he took us from total noobs to ascending and descending steep hills, water fording, climbing a steep rock face (like crazy steep), and then multiple off camber situations where our wheels were 2 feet off the ground while climbing, just so we could learn to use our traction control (no lockers for us yet). It was exhilarating! We had the best time and learned more than we expected! We did things with our stock Jeep that I wasn't sure were possible not to mention we still had the stock tires with 38k miles on them. (Ok, not completely stock. I did purchase and install some Weathertech mats the week before our class. Awesome mats)!

For our return trio home, we made a few stops along the way. Took a tour in Gettysburg, stopped at an awesome 200 year old college and a few quick stops using the Roadside America app!

Well, we have caught the bug! We quickly signed up for the 201 course in April and can hardly wait to get back on the trail.

In the future, I am certain I will look back and know that I have spent wisely, invested in ourselves, learned a ton without damaging my daily driver, and had an absolute blast in the process.

Thanks Kyle and Rausch Creek for laying a great foundation that we can build upon.

Thank you for sharing!

Glad you had a great time feeling out your Jeep under what sounds like superb instruction.

Welcome to this new "way of life!"

I'm glad you liked it. I'm always impressed what a stock JK can do. And not to mention its so much fun because of the lower likelihood of breaks.

Great strategy. Lots of people rush out and get mods without a plan or idea of how they work. My fabricator/mechanic who does a lot of the work (I have 0 skills so far) has always preached patience and understanding. Very important to understand how the Jeep drives with each mod before moving onto the next. I would love to go to Rausch Creek this summer, trying to find others from Ontario Canada who are going, or the best time to go. Enjoy your Jeep now that you have the bug.

Sounds like you had a great time out there, any pics of your trip?

DA RUNT said:

Sounds like you had a great time out there, any pics of your trip?

Click to expand...

^^^ditto, would love to see pics if you have them

I haven't wheeled seriously in years. And I'm thinking I may do the same thing at Rausch Creek, even if it's teaching me stuff I learned on my own. For years I was a fairly decent welder, I thought. Then I had an opportunity to get in a welding booth to be taught a $h*t ton more tricks and knowledge, and found out that I'm not really all that (though far more competent than the average guy... It's all relative when you weld with guys who are superstars). It probably wouldn't hurt for me to go this route when my new rig is bought next month. In fact, just coming to this forum to read up on so much. Knowledge from others is helping to shape my decisions that should work for me.

I'm glad you and the Mrs. had a great time.

Can anyone guide me on posting pics from my phone...I'm a noob to this too

Edit: I figured it out! Phew...

Here are a couple of snap shots...

Welcome! You are well on your way to fun times.

I took the 101 class about 2 years ago with my stocker. Loved it, Kyle knows his stuff. Been thinking about signing up for the 201 class for a while now. Let me know how you like it.
Don't be in a hurry to mod that jeep. I waited over two years to lift and put 35's on. I feel that I am WAY better off having offroaded stock all that time. Learned alot aboit my jeep and what I am capable of doing.

Excellent advice lulu. Two of the biggest things I learned was how to use my traction control and throttle control. I planned on getting my 35's next month but decided to spend the money on non-sexy stuff like recovery gear, radio, tire repair kit, deflators, and other cool things.
I want to learn how to pick good lines and get lots of experience before I get bigger tires and lockers. Of course, my tread life is almost done but I may make it several months now before I need to replace them.