Rubicon

ED4 Trip Report Rubicon Trail Carol and I would like to thank everyone for the great time this weekend. We really enjoyed our first trip to the ‘Con.

Since we both had to work on Friday, we decided not to leave the valley until later in the evening after the traffic died down. Unfortunately, this put our arrival time at the campsite to late thirty – Sorry folks!

After a great evening under the stars, I found that the Icehouse campground offered a Starbucks delivery service al a Mike & Renosa – Thanks guys! Charged up on Mocha we took our place in the line of rigs and headed towards the Loon Lake entrance of the Rubicon trail.

Right before reaching the trail head I had an emergency come up that threatened to cancel the trip for us. Fortunately, I was able to resolve everything by the time we got back to the campsite so we decided to turn around and try our luck at catching up with the group.

We eventually arrived at the staging area and found out right away that this trail would be interesting. The first challenge was trying to find the beginning of the trail. Hint – It’s on the other side of the makeshift Heli – Port.

After finding the trail entrance and working our way through the large boulders strewn about in the beginning of the trail, we found ourselves in a large open granite area that had relatively few rocks. Right as I was starting to think great, a chance to relax a little, I popped the bead on my front passenger tire while coming off a ledge, Doh! Fortunately I was with ED4 on a previous trip when Jim H had blown the bead on his tire so I was able to use the lesson learned from that trip to reseat my bead using my CO2 tank. In fact it was that experience with Jim’s tire that inspired me to purchase the tank.

Fortunately, we didn’t run into any other vehicle issues as we continued our quest to catch up with the group. We eventually caught up to everyone where they stopped for lunch at the base of the Little Sluice. After exploring the area, the group turned around and headed back the way we came in.

For me the trip out was much more difficult then the trip in. There were a few spots where I got hung up and needed some spotting – Thanks Darrel & David.

I also want to thank John for putting this run together as I’ve wanted to run this trail for a while now. Now that I have a taste for it, I can’t wait to head back and run it all the way through.

The staging area

Near the exit

The End

IceHouse reservoir – Camp Site

Rubicon

Name: CJ ArnesenDate: 9/5 - 9/7/08 Location: Ice House Campground and Rubicon Trail Trail Boss: John Ruiz Attended by: Dave and sons (friend of John), Dave G, Darell, Mike and Renosa, Rick and Carol, John, and CJ.

What a great run. It all started at Darell’s house. We loaded up my jeep on his trailer and got everything strapped down. Darell was awesome enough to respond to my empty co-pilot seat with not only his presence but also a trailer and A/C.

We were on the road before 9am. Proof below

We had a great drive up to Tahoe. We met up with John at a Brake Check and caravaned the rest of the way. WE made it to Ice House Rd. where we turned left and climbed the steep grade to the campsite. I set up my tent seen below. My tent probably hasn’t been set up in 12+ years, and its of the era where they didn’t use eleastic on the tent poles, so each tent pole is seperate and likes to disconnect as you try to set the tent up. (maybe I should buy a new tent)

Next we headed into South Shore. Below is a view from the drive in. We had some dinner and some gambling. Dave G. Is good luck just so you all know. I’ll let him tell you the details of his craps playing skills. We got back around 9:20pm and promptly went to sleep.

Morning came around 6am, and it was time to hit the Rubicon. Below the whole group is waiting at the enterance to the campground.

Then we get word over the CB that John (our trail boss) needs a wrench. Darell and I drove back round to give a hand (wrench). Turns out John had forgotten to remove his tow bar.

We drove to the trail head, but not before stopping to get a beautiful view of Loon Lake and a photo op with the Jeep.

Next we aired down. Darell informed me that this was only his third time riding in a Jeep. He seemed to handle it well, and even lend a hand in disconnecting my swaybar.

We hit the trail. (A little side: I did a horrible job taking photos this trip, only took 60 or so. I was too busy having fun driving. So I stole a few pics from Renosa’s shutterfly account to help better document the trip)

A shot of my CJ crawling over part of Gate Keeper.

The trail had lots of climbs.

And a ton of drop offs. The entire backside of my gastank is dented in from the drops.

We had a wonderful time heading in and finally stopped at Little Sluice. We ate lunch and then hiked up Little Sluice in the hopes of seeing Spider Lake. Below a Pic of Spider Lake in the distance.

We turned around and started heading back out. Below four of us make our way through one of the many rock gardens.

As we crawled out Mike broke the stud mount on his driver side front shock. Not much long after, the airbag went out as well. Below, his Jeep comes down one of the steeper descents near a large granite bowl.

Dave G also came down, attempting to not completely drag the tail end of his CJ-8.

After heading back through the gate keeper we made our way back over the granite to the trail head.

And finally a group photo at the dam overlooking Loon Lake

I had an absolute blast. Everyone was so helpful and had such great attitudes. A big thank you to John for making this trip happen, and a big thanks to Darell for making this trip MUCH easier for myself and my Jeep. It was a real joy having a co-pilot and good conversation for the long drives and on the trail.

Looking forward to the next adventure, CJ