From the curb outside the terminal of the airport in Baltimore, we could easily spot Allen Dickenson's 4Runner coming down the airport access road. The lift, winch, and body armor made it stand out high above all the other traffic. Soccer moms steer clear. We made the several-hour trip north to Rausch Creek Off-Road Park, near the small town of Joliett, Pennsylvania, for the East Coast 4Runner Jamboree.
Broderick Pfetzing enters Rock Creek. The 36-inch Swampers spun with 5.29s and ARBs helped this '84 4Runner walk the rocks on this piece of trail. Unfortunately, a rock would take a nip at his rear driveshaft, necessitating a parts swap for the highway drive back home. | 
Jason Durand of Broad Run, Virginia, wheels an '88 truck with Inchworm transfer-case gearing and a spooled rear axle. Despite the IFS up front and no front locker, Jason piloted his rig over many of the harder trails. He made up for lack of hardware with his excellent driving abilities. Nevertheless, he's got a solid-axle swap in the works. |
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The East Coast 4Runner Jamboree started six years ago as a way for like-minded East Coast Toyota owners to meet and wheel together. The event has remained a mostly informal gathering but continues annually for those interested.
Friday dawned a beautiful day, albeit just a tad unseasonably cool. This central Pennsylvania location sat us right down in the heart of the state's coal region in an area that is densely wooded. Our group spent the day exploring the east side of the park, covering most of the hard (black-rated) trails. We warmed up on Trail 6, which is a rocky ridge with some interesting hillclimbs and then crawled across the tighter Trail 1 course.
This year's 4Runner Jamboree is scheduled to take place June 23-26 at Paragon Adventure Park in nearby Hazleton, Pennsylvania. No other info was available at press time; call 570/384-0551 or check out www.paragonap.com for more details.
The rocks at Rausch Creek are varied and mixed in with patches of dirt, mud, and trees. The park proved to be a great location for the Jamboree. Allen Dickenson and his 4Runner have made the trek to all five events to date. | 
This '94 Toy truck belongs to Michael Jamison. He's been tweaking his ride for rockcrawling for years. The front fender area has been narrowed and a tubular flatbed added. The mods allowed him to easily traverse the boulders in Rock Creek. |
One particularly difficult climb is an uphill run near Keystone Krawl. Large outcroppings combined with loose dirt approaches make it tough to move upward. Big tires and skillful throttle work seemed the ticket to coming out at the top. | |
Crawler Ridge is an area with extreme obstacles, due to some large rock outcroppings. Few in our group had the rigs built for the toughest climbs here. One participant gave the ascent a valiant effort, but his throttle foot sat a bit too long on the skinny pedal and he was denied completion. Cost here: A snapped front inner axle and fractured Detroit Locker side gear.
Later in the day we ran across a rock-strewn area someone named Yellow Jacket Ridge and onto Upper Trail 3, an off-camber route with nearby access to an extreme obstacle site. Somewhere in the mix, there were two broken CV shafts, a shattered Birfield joint, and a number of small sheetmetal incidents with the neighboring trees. A short afternoon shower was upon us as we arrived back at camp, but soon passed and the sky cleared again. The day wound down with some campground repairs and casual campfire conversation.
The Friday runs saw their share of trail carnage. That afternoon found a number of the participants back in camp with tools and spare parts in hand. Rigs were repaired and readied for the Saturday trails. | 
This '85 4Runner is owned by Ben, aka "Toaster." Wheelin' hardware includes 35-inch Goodyear MTRs, 5.29 gears, Detroits, and an Advance Adapters 5:1 transfer-case setup. |
Showing that Tacos can crawl rocks too, Shawn Turner of Centreville, Virginia, wheels his '99 Tacoma. Those are 34-inch Swampers on locked axles. Marlin Crawler transfer-case components yield a 173:1 final drive ratio for the bumpy stuff. Shawn suffered a broken CV joint on Friday, but a replacement had him running trails again the next day. | |
The plan for Saturday had been to split the vehicles into several groups based on abilities, but all the rigs stayed together for the most part, with vehicles splitting off to run bypasses as needed and rejoining the main group down the trail. A trip to the west side of the park found us sliding around on some fresh mud, compliments of the rain shower the night before. The better-equipped Toys dropped into Rock Creek. This third-of-a-mile stretch of boulders let those with bigger tires pick their way across this challenging treeless span cut in the forest.
Part of our group traversed most all the more difficult areas on the west property along with the Keystone Krawl trail. We stopped at a gnarly uphill loop near here to watch our two rock buggies and heavily modified truck take aim at a hillside trail comprised of ledges and loose dirt. The buggies made the trip up and down, but not without significant effort. With our share of 'wheeling done for the day, we hit camp again in late afternoon. A few of the drivers had repairs to make for the trip home. We spun tales around the campfire and the participants seem to agree that the park had been a good choice for this year's Toyota trip.
Rausch Creek Off-Road Park is a privately owned facility that's open to the public. It consists of more than 1,000 acres of 4x4 playground. On-site camping is available, and 'wheeling access is subject to a daily fee. The park offers a fairly large trail system with obstacles suitable for all abilities. You can find more information online at www.rauschcreekoffroadpark.com.