At the invitation to Jeeps R Us members by Marc, I went on the wheeling expidition on the private land near Ringtown yesterday and had a blast. Before I describe the day let me say that they are thinking about a Saturday ride in June. This area is about 10 miles from Robbie's house.

I met Marc south of Lebanon yesterday and we convoyed up to the land. As a reference point let me tell you that it is 80 minutes from Harrisburg as driven by a four cylinder YJ. When we got to the land in Columbia County we met Matt and Kevin. Kevin's dad owns the land which is dvided into two parcels approximately 1/2 mile apart totaling 500 acres. All four of us are active Christians.

Marc was driving an '81 CJ with a 4 cylinder, 4 Litre diesel, locked/locked. Kevin was in a Rubicon with 37's, locked/locked. Matt was driving a Rubicon with 35's, open/open. I had my YJ from which I just recently had the electric front locker removed, but am still locked in the rear.

Comparing the land to Rausch Creek: The most notable difference is that there is NO mud and NO bowls. The first section of property is on the side of a mountain and consists mainly of old logging trails. Because the land is not driven on regularly, the grass was about 3 or 4 feet tall everywhere and it was difficult for me to see the trails. However, I was vehicle number two and followed Marc as he blazed what appeared to be familiar trails to him. It was sort of like watching those safari movies with the Land Rovers driving through the Pampas grass. On the first trail in the other three all spotted a black bear, but I missed him. There were a few very narrow stream crossings with banks on both sides, but not challenging. This section of the property I would have to rate as all greens (or easier) except for "Airdown Hill" which I'd rate blue/black for the bottom third and black for the upper two thirds. This trail is approximately 400 feet long and is all rocks at about a 20 to 25 degree climb. The rocks are not "clustered" as tightly as the rocks on "Snake Bite" at RC, so there is not a lot of stepping from one rock to another but more or less a lot of ups and downs with climbs needed for most rocks. Marc and Kevin (both locked front and rear) tried this trail first and each took about 15 minutes to get to the end with a lot of wheel spinning and hunting for the right "line." Marc took a divot out of his rocker panel. Then Matt tried the lower third and cracked his fender flare on a tree. He crossed over to the far side of the trail and took a blue/black by pass. He had a lot of spinning tires. Then I followed Matt's path, and in my typical Kamikaze style, and took it a little faster so that I didn't get stuck in the ruts between rocks. Marc told me I set a new speed record. This is the type of trail that Chris would love.

We then ate lunch and went to the second parcel which is on top of the mountain and is mainly the right of way for a major PP&L line with the large metal towers. Once again the trails were all green or black with NO blues and No mud. There were some very short, black, rocky paths, or by-passes, that I tried; and I managed to get my rear axle hung up on one rock and needed a slight tug to get free. Marc, Kevin, and I then did "Pinacle Trail" which is pure balck. There were at least four rattlesnake sightings in this area while we were there. So I wouldn't recommend it for youngin's. I managed to get hung up on my belly skd and needed another tug.

We then aired back up around 1:30 or 2:00 and headed home.

I have no experience at trail cutting, but I'd like to see or hear what looks "promising" on this property to those of you have have cutting experience. It's aobut 30 minutes off exit 116 of I-81, but it's definitely worth everyone's effort to try it once. It's basically a relaxing day, but I really needed that yesterday.

There were lots of pics and vids shot yesterday, but I don't think anyone has a site where they can be viewed. I'll try to work on them if I can contact them through Marc. I'm going to try to get all three of the others to hook up to this site and maybe join our club and invte us as a group to this property.

That's a fantastic sounding trip, Ed!!! I know some of these guys would LOVE that! We are continuously welcoming new members and would love to meet your wheeling partners from the weekend. It sounds like an interesting place. Were there by-passes at the black portions? We always have such a diverse crew, I was wondering if the layout would be good for us.

I'd like to know more and look forward to your pictures!!!

I forgot to mention there's room for tow rigs and trailers.

Also, the weather must really be unpredictable up there in the mountains. I checked the weather channel for the Harrisburg area and it listed 0% POP from around noon Saturday till noon Monday. About one o'clock yesterday (Sunday) the skies got really dark, but only about five drops of rain came down. On the way home, going through a small town about ten miles south of the wheeling area, it looked like they had been hit with a downpour.

A couple other things: I don't remember seeing any gas stations or eating places withn 10 or 15 miles on the way up. Which conversely means no bathroom facilities, and no Jiffy John's. I'm just guessing there's no towing service readily available either.

Sounds great Ed. I know if they needed help we could get a trail cutting crew up there. Please invite them to post on here or we have a you tube page also.

Marc Denlinger's link to his pictures from Sunday:

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb130/BigTorquer/May%2031/

and a link to viedos from previous trips

http://www.youtube.com/user/ManheimDiesel

Ed, that looks like a great spot! Let me know if you want to go up there again. I like RC, but it's nice to go somewhere new every once in a while.