Every hobby has an origin story. Ours starts during a year most of us aren’t likely to forget…. 2020. Let’s set the stage because this isn’t your typical quarantine story.
Mid August. The days were long, but life around us was still curtailed. Enter one electric blue Losi Nightcrawler.
The pandemic shifted some of our daily routines, but life on the farmstead didn’t change much. Chores still needed to be done, the garden tended, and animals cared for. And when the weather was nice, we more than likely had the grill or smoker going. It was one of those nights when we really started looking at our rock retaining wall in a different light.
It had been built out of necessity – the rocks came from this hillside when we carved out a spot for the house. Our goats enjoyed climbing it when they grazed the area, but otherwise, we rarely thought much about it. This wasn’t the first property with a cedar glade we’ve lived on (more about that in an upcoming post), so we were used to the look of exposed rock. On this particular night though, with a new RC in hand, we realized the challenge was right here in front of us. We didn’t need to head to another park, we had a course in our backyard.
Finding the first line was the hardest part. Rocks can be deceptive and coming from full sized (1:1) rigs, we had a learning curve driving from a distance. We weren’t deterred. A few small tweaks to ease the initial approach angle and we had a short crawl that looped up from the ground, through a handful of seriously off-camber pitches, over the top of a few boulders, and back down a twisting descent.
Elation. You know the feeling – the one you got the first time you stuck a line you weren’t sure you could make. And that was it. That’s when we knew.
The Rock Wall Challenge was born.
Over the next few weeks, we move rocks and tripled the length. We kept adjusting until we had lines where we knew we could make the climb, even if it was only one out of every few tries. This was an area to hone our skills and learn our rig.
While we created a trail across the entire rock wall, we also incorporated multiple entry/exit points to add some variety. These shorter spurs include some gnarly hill climbs that really tested our ability to control our rigs.
Fast forward a few months and the idea of RC Field Days was born. We shifted more rocks to bring the total length to nearly 100 feet and got the rock hammer out to widen a few areas for rigs with full bodies. Spoiler alert: we have another expansion in the works that will add 15-20 more feet of obstacles!
Ready to challenge yourself? Come by and find your favorite line. Oh, and while you’re here, check out some of our other courses too.
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