Rubicon Snow Run Trip Report and Photos thread.

[lilcrawler]

I'm creating this thread so everyone doesn't have to scroll through 18 pages of thread to get to the pictures. If people can send me their video clips, I can try and edit them into a cool video.

 

 

Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures, but here is what I've got.

 

http://i.imgur.com/LOcKN96.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/PpwXiIi.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/eikV0DL.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/QGDl3XX.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/WDEWGWK.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/2Iu9OO5.jpg

[lutz]

looks like fun .How far did u get?

[ndamico]

Maybe a mile

[Volkov]

How do I upload photos to the forum?

[DHappel]

I'll upload my pics in a bit.  I started a trip report in the other thread - let me move that over here.

 

(goes away to do some cut and paste)

[DHappel]

Now that I’m back home and the truck is unloaded time for a recap.

 

We got a bit of a late start but Drew, (LR3), Nick (RRC), and me (LR3) met up with Tyler and Chuck (DII) in Georgetown.  From there we all headed out Wentworth Springs rd following Tyler.  The road was clear for a few miles then we started to see some snow, though there were tire tracks already cut.  As we pushed on the snow got deeper, perhaps 6-8” on the road.  Deep enough that if you drifted out of the tracks it wanted to suck you over toward the ditch.  Which is what Tyler did on an uphill section.  The rest of us kept moving around him and stopped at the top of the hill rather than stop mid-hill and decided this might be a good time to go ahead and air down while Tyler worked himself free and joined us in a few minutes.  This put me in the lead, and shortly after the existing tire tracks ended so I got to cut fresh trail, granted it was on a paved road.  All was easy going until we got to the junction with Ice Hose and I found about a 4’ berm pushed across the road by the plows coming up Ice House.  We sized it up and decided what the heck, I’d just plow it.  It actually went quite easily since the snow was fresh and soft.  Though I may have caused an issue I wouldn’t detect until later.

 

On again with Tyler leading and we decided to take the shorter but more interesting trail up to Wentworth Springs.  By now it’s nearly dark and a light snow begins to fall.  We make good time, though we’re still cutting trail in 6-12” of soft snow, and there’s LOTS of running water.  We have a few small stucks but nothing requiring recovery, just an extra attempt or two, then get to what should be an easy climb but in the snow Tyler doesn’t quite make it, and after a few tries with MaxTraxs pulls cable and gets up.  We decide maybe we should put Nick in the lead at this point as he’s got taller and narrower tires that are great for cutting through stuff like this but of course he’s at the back of the group.  So we position Tyler up the trail a bit then send Drew up who simply hits his front locker and crawls it with no drama.  I figure ‘hey, if he can do I can do it!’ but not so fast…I did get up, but needed a few attempts.  Lastly Nick comes up with ease and gets around us to take the lead. 

 

It’s worth mentioning that finding a trail in snow, whether on foot or truck, can be difficult.  What would normally be so obvious as to not even notice can be entirely unrecognizable when everything is covered over.  Compound that by adding in darkness and just staying on the trail can be a challenge.  But Nick found the way and plowed forward cutting trail for Tyler, Drew, and me to follow.  Along the way we had a few more minor stucks until once more the soft snow on the inside of a corner grabbed Tyler and pulled him off into some brush.  Drew was next in line so he set up to do a snatch but instead of pulling Tyler out he instead slipped sideways and also ended up off-camber enough he couldn’t move without slipping into the trees.  So I then set up to winch him sideways off a snatch-block and back onto the trail only to find out (after unspooling all my line) that my winch is totally non-responsive.  Not a click.  Apparently the solenoids are not working, either from general corrosion or possibly from when I plowed through the big snow berm as I did pack the bumper up with snow so I could have accidentally pulled some wires free.  Unfortunately with my ARB bumper everything is hidden out of reach so the bumper will have to come off to sort this out.

 

With several off-angle winch pulls both Tyler and Nick manage to pull themselves free without making friends with any trees and we’re off again.  We’re now finding lots of running water, to the point where Nick is really studying his maps to be sure he’s on the trail and not accidentally following a stream instead.  To keep forward momentum he’s running his truck hard, holding it at 5000 rpm for quite a while and plowing forward though the water, snow, and ice.  Then he comes on the radio and tells us he’s getting an oil pressure light on the dash – uh-oh.

 

Via the Rubicon repeater we’re able to talk with Graeme as well as Jason and some of the other guys and we decided A-since it’s not making any bad sounds it’s probably not really down on oil pressure and B-we’re not that far from camp so we’ll press on.  Only to then run into a pretty big tree across the trail.  We don’t have a chainsaw with us, but I use my axe to knock all the smaller limbs off then Nick is able to use a snatch block to drag it sideways enough for us to get past.  Only a few hundred yards later we roll into camp.  It's about 8-8:30 by now.

 

The camp is covered in about a foot of snow, with some drifted areas 2 feet deep.  We each set up our spots; Nick in his roof-top tent, me in the Oztent, and Chuck and Tyler in an insta-tent which is super fast to set up (it literally sets itself up) but really more of a summer tent, not exactly a 4-season piece.  We dig out our spots, dig out a picnic table, and dig out a fire ring and get a fire going and make dinner then sit around doing what you always do at camp-BSing into the night.  Nick and I finally go to sleep about 12:15, then perhaps at 12:30 a couple truck roll right into our camp, shout out a few times, then turn around and head back after a few minutes of talking among themselves.  I believe they thought we were somebody they knew, which is why they drove right into the middle of us when the rest of the camp was empty, but other than some annoyance there was nothing to report.  I’m not sure of the low that night, but when I went to bed my thermometer said 20 degrees.  Assuming the usual pattern, I would assume the low probably got down to around 17 that night.

 

And that was day one.

 

To Be Continued…..

[Volkov]

Nice report, although it was me who almost hit the tree trying to free Tyler

 

Drew

[ColinB]

Other than being very cold it was a great trip. Now the cleanup there is so much water in all my gear. Oh well. Thanks everyone for coming out aND making it a great weekend.

[ndamico]

so here's some of the pics i took. i have some video but have to find time to upload it.  thanks for the great write-up Don. i had a great time and the engine is still running great so i guess no oil pressure problems.  Colin was right!  Thanks Colin for giving my starter a jolt too.  

[DHappel]

Nice report, although it was me who almost hit the tree trying to free Tyler

 

Drew

Fixed it.  I knew it was you, but for some reason I keep writing 'Nick'.  I did that at least twice in that story.

[DHappel]

Pictures

 

Meeting in Georgetown

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_142227_zpsvngzyo7o.jpg

 

easy start

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_150247_zpsqqxcxbrz.jpg

 

beginning to see some snow

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_152626_zpsgq35fwl1.jpg

 

time to air down

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_155442_zpsoznz1khs.jpg

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_155454_zpscuejc6oa.jpg

 

fresh trail on Wentworth Springs Rd.

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_161307_zpsajjwmm4a.jpg

 

thank you Mr. Plow

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_161324_zpsddps2jkn.jpg

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_161921_zpsburq7och.jpg

[DHappel]

on real trail finally

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_170238_zpsjh7pk3wk.jpg

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_185932_zpsonirmyil.jpg

 

Tyler, you're supposed to drive ON the trail!

In this pic you can see the snatch strap running back to Drew's truck, one stuck is about to become two with a third learning his winch is kaput.  

And if you look at the snow at his rear tire you can see it's quite deep just a little way off the edge of the trail, so as soon as he got a wheel out of the tracks Nick had just cut it sucked him off with no hope of driving back onto the trail, only going further sideways.

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_190129_zps0zz9mzyq.jpg

 

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15/20151211_190135_zpszy2sotms.jpg

 

I don't seem to have taken any pics of Saturday at all.  I have pics of breaking camp Sunday and heading down to Uncle Tom's but I'll wait to post them.  Here's my gallery:

http://s816.photobucket.com/user/zelatore/library/07%20Land%20Rover%20LR3/Rubicon%2012-15

[Teds]

Fun trip! My first snow run and thankfully stayed warm and dry in my rtt. Didn't need my mr. Heater buddy but cheap insurance. The trail definitely kept us busy all day eventhough we went less than a mile! 4 winches but got up the tough section. Just no traction with snow and granite everywhere. Got home yesterday, opened up the tent to air everything out for a few hours. Checked radar before I left for some errands and it looked clear. Well, then it promptly dumped more rain. Will be opening it up today to hopefully air it out. Nothing compared to Colin and his windowless rolled over truck bearing the brunt of a winter storm soaked through and cold. Props to him for coming to play in the snow.

[Teds]

Pics

[Teds]

Weird posting, sorry

[TomOwen]

Hey folks, If interested....

 

Gallery:  https://norcalrovers...-Snow-Run-2015/

 

Upload:  https://NorCalRovers...RubiconSnow2015

[TomOwen]

How do I upload photos to the forum?

Here is an option...

 

Gallery:  https://norcalrovers...-Snow-Run-2015/

 

Upload:  https://NorCalRovers...RubiconSnow2015

[JFuller]

I took no pictures but thanks to those who did (especially Nick who posted the only picture of me and it just happened to be the only time I had to winch myself).  I wanted to pass on the thanks from Greg who had a good time and was asking about how much rovers cost by the end of the trip.  Hope to see yall on the trail soon.

[Volkov]

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

 

That basically defines our attempt at the rubicon. But I am ok with that. We took on one of the most extreme off road trails under the worst conditions possible. Man and machine against the wild, and we failed...but there were no injuries, and only a CV joint casualty. And that is a success

[AdvRovr]

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

 

That basically defines our attempt at the rubicon. But I am ok with that. We took on one of the most extreme off road trails under the worst conditions possible. Man and machine against the wild, and we failed...but there were no injuries, and only a CV joint casualty. And that is a success

The most important thing to any endeavor is knowing your objectives and criteria for success. I don't recall anyone saying they thought they would actually make it through the trail, and it was just to go out and see how far you could get. You found how far you could get, and got back without much trouble at all. To me, it sounds like you succeeded! 

[Desertcrawler]

https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/14/afaaa52823d90f1d9f64f356b1a7f860.jpghttps://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/14/2a212daa6fa933947435bf456e5c781a.jpghttps://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/14/b4312f8f2b74f978a6542e35e0a943bd.jpghttps://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/14/099d92b5e92bed822d8d72e53666c000.jpghttps://vimeo.com/148958178https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/14/22e984ace63fcfdb5142522aa69b86af.jpg

 

I took only a few but the video is cool!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AlysonH]

I'm creating this thread so everyone doesn't have to scroll through 18 pages of thread to get to the pictures.

There's actually a forum section entitled "trip reports" perhaps Justin or Jared can move this thread to that section.

 

Looks like a very cool trip!! Nice pictures everyone.

[lilcrawler]

There's actually a forum section entitled "trip reports" perhaps Justin or Jared can move this thread to that section.

Looks like a very cool trip!! Nice pictures everyone.

Whoops. My bad. I created it on an iPhone and didn't see that one.

 

 

I'd like to thank everyone for a great trip, and hopefully we can do it again next year (hopefully Colin will have windows by then). I'll see about uploading my videos of Colin and posting them.

[DHappel]

Day 2 – the fun continues

 

After a chilly but not-to-bad Friday night most of us were up around 7 AM with the first light.  I had a bit of a time getting a fire going since the wood was wet and my lighter wouldn’t light but I was able to find enough of a coal in the fire ring to get it going eventually.  Everybody made their breakfasts while radio contact was made with the incoming 4 trucks.  (Ted-P38, Colin-RRC, Jason-DI, Jason’s friend who’s name I can’t remember-early Bronco)  They had anticipated arriving at 9 AM but were running a bit late.  They eventually arrive approximately 10:00 if I recall correctly and we prepared to set out on the trail.  Nick was still worried about the oil pressure light he’d gotten on his truck the night before and with the arrival of Colin they decided to take a quick look.  Only to find the truck now wouldn’t start at all.  This turned out to be a simple fix – the solenoid wasn’t engaging – and Colin manually jumpered it with a couple screwdrivers.  Thereafter the truck stared just fine.  The speculation was all the water running from the night before had perhaps frozen it up just enough that it wouldn’t engage on its own.  As a bonus, the oil light decided to go away and stay away, furthering our previous theory that it was simply a bad connection and not really low oil pressure.  With that sorted, it was time to get rolling.  We set out  on the trail around 11 – somebody correct me if I’m wrong on this as I didn’t check my watch.

 

Tyler started out leading the way and it didn’t take long to find a rocky up-hill climb.  Winching was the order of the day to get past a particular obstacle as traction just wasn’t there.  As Ted got to the winch point he found his winch completely non-operative.  However a little troubleshooting and we found it was just a ground wire that had been accidentally left of during a new battery install.  Easily fixed and back to work.

 

I was next and without a winch seriously wondering how I would get over that particular obstacle.  There wasn’t really room to use a snatch or tow strap since it was half way up the hill and traction for the towing rig would be extremely limited plus you need a more gentle control for such a job.  About that time a guy and his wife in an 80-series Land Cruiser arrived on scene and asked why we didn’t take the bypass.  Bypass?  Oh, er…didn’t see that!  So I followed Jason up the bypass instead.  Easy going up a winding hill until he hit a squeeze point between two rocks just a bit too narrow to fit a full size Rover through.  The correct line was high and to the left, climbing a good size rock with the driver’s side tires, but in the snow you couldn’t help but slide right off of it and wedge yourself between the two rocks on your sliders.  And again the snow meant not enough traction to drag the truck on the sliders.  Jason took several bouncing shots at it and eventually got though, though it was much tougher than it should have been.  I approached it and made a couple of attempts but did the same thing – sliding off the left side rock and getting wedged.  The solution was for Jason to run his winch line to a snatch block off a tree high and to his left and back 180* to me.  A gentle pull of only a couple feet was all it took to get me past the pinch point and we were back underway.

 

For a little while.

 

Jason continued plowing onward over small steep hills and around a couple tight bends.  I was following and as I came over one hill I found him backing up toward me(!).  He hadn’t carried quite enough momentum and needed a second run at that climb.  This caused me to stop short and in a slightly off-camber situation to make sure he had room but then I found I couldn’t get going again on the side-slope and just kept sliding further off trail when I tried to go either forward or back. 

 

A couple of the guys had come up behind me by this time and Jason’s Bronco driving friend tried to pull me backward and onto the trail but I still ended up going more sideways than anything and even further off, now with a tree starting to get uncomfortably close.  So Jason started to back down the trail to pull me forward only to get slightly out of line and get himself stuck against a large rock.  Again, this wouldn’t have even needed a second thought but the snow meant such little traction that any little thing could stop you in your tracks.  At this time an older flat fender CJ on 37s (maybe 40s…big tires anyway) came down the hill, looked at the situation, and backed up over a berm and said ‘here, I’ll act as your anchor point’ giving Jason an easy pull off the rock he was on.  Jason then powered on around a corner and parked while the Jeep came down the hill and with a couple of pulls winched me back up on the trail.  I was quite surprised that he could get enough purchase for his much lighter Jeep to pull my portly LR3 up the hill, but apparently Super Swampers work in the snow.  Who knew?

 

With both of us rolling again Jason powered up a rocky hill and I followed.  This was a pretty good climb with a couple of tight spots and turns as well as plenty of rocks and I did some tricycling in the LR3 before eventually digging in and coming to a stop.  I was working back and forth trying to get past that point when I heard some ominous popping and squealing sounds from the right front of the truck.  Although I haven’t yet taken it apart to diagnose it, I’m pretty sure the new ‘bargain’ CV axle I had installed just days before leaving had just bit the dust.  Word of advice:  when Autozone has a part for $100 that’s 6-7 times that much for a Land Rover part, there may be a reason it’s so cheap.  More to come on that next weekend when I can actually tear into it and figure out specifics.

 

Meanwhile the others in our group had been having their own fun.  Listening over the radio I could hear that at some point Tyler had gotten stuck and Colin had tried to winch him free only to have his entire truck shut down when he hit the winch button.  He quickly found out that a fusible link had popped cutting power to almost every system aboard.  However a quick repair via a crimped on ring connector and he was back in business.  I’m sure other fun occurred here, I just wasn’t in that group so some of the others will have to fill in the details.

 

Back to the now leading group of Jason and me.

 

With me half way up a climb and now a very unhappy front corner I decided I was done for the day and just needed to get back to camp in one piece.  Since it was getting a little later in the afternoon (3:00?) everybody agreed this was the point to turn around and head for camp.  Jason went on ahead to find a spot to turn around so he could pull me up to a wide spot so I could turn around as well.  But while some of us stood there by my rig waiting for him we got a call on the radio saying ‘uh, I might be stuck’.  We hiked over the top of the hill and sure enough we found Jason’s DI half off the trail and only able to move sideways like so many of us before had found.  However if he kept slipping he’d be risking a rollover in another foot or three.  So the winch came out and a couple of pulls later he was back on the not-so-straight but certainly narrow trail and was able to set up to pull me up to a wide spot.

 

With the two of us now turned around and pointed back down-hill, the Toyota driver, Bronco driver, and Nick in the RRC were now the next in line and they decided that instead of turning around they would take another section of tougher trail down.  This led to a fairly scary incident – the Toyota driver’s wife was forward and downhill of him taking pictures when his truck took a bump/slip/slide and basically ran into her.  She had enough time to put her hands up and catch the grill but from our vantage behind him all we saw was her go down in front of the truck.  She popped back up quickly enough and didn’t respond to several people shouting if she was OK but instead gave her husband a very dirty look and took off down the hill.  I suspect he might have found the snow on the trail much warmer than his bed at home that night, but at least she wasn’t hurt more than perhaps a bruise or two.  Lesson learned – be careful when you’re down-hill of a truck even if you trust the driver!

 

With that drama over the Toyota and Bronco made it down and rejoined the rest of the group now getting re-organized at the intersection at the bottom of the shoot.  Although I didn’t see Nick’s run down the hill, from the sound of it he might have taken a bit of a hit to the rear bumper on a drop-off but hey…that’s what all that steel is there for anyway right?  It certainly didn’t slow him down at any rate. 

 

Our return down the hill and back to camp was uneventful and easy going.  I found my front end was much happier going down than up and didn’t make too many scary noises when not under load.  We got back around 4:00 and since we still had some light left decided to bring out a selection of 2^nd amendment toys to play with until dark set in.  Most of us had brought along something and a handful of beer cans and paper targets were sacrificed to everything from .22s to an AR15.

 

After that it was a typical camping scene of sitting around the fire and trying to one-up each other with stories or discussions about which gadget we had to have next or what car/truck/etc you wanted to pick up…standard campfire BSing in other words.  We had plenty of firewood to keep things warm, though it did start to sleet on and off during the evening.

 

 

Day three coming up next....

[DHappel]

 

Day 3- returning home

 

Saturday night wasn’t quite as cold as Friday had been, but the sleet/rain continued intermittently until about 6:00 AM Sunday when the winds came up.  At this point several of us got up to check things out and a couple of people discovered not all the wet was on the outside of their tents.  Colin had bravely (I’m not really sure if that’s the correct term here) decided to sleep in his RRC.  Yes, the RRC that he’d rolled earlier this year and which now lacked certain amenities like windows or a water-tight roof.  He reported a less than excellent night’s sleep.

 

With the rain/sleet, the firewood and even the cardboard boxes the wood came in were too damp to take a flame even when a propane torch was applied.  Without a fire to sit around, we pretty much had a quick breakfast and broke camp to get on the road.  Somehow I ended up at the back of the pack but despite my worries about the axle I found it wasn’t too bad when I wasn’t working it hard.  The trail out was much easier than 2 days earlier coming in as it had been well traveled by now so we didn’t have to cut our own path, plus simply running during daylight made it much easier.  We wound our way back down to Wentworth Springs road where Drew was having a very hard time keeping his truck on the road.  Steering?  What steering?  While the rest of the group went on to Uncle Toms for a hot beverage (particularly Colin who was taking a beating driving in the wet and cold in his well-ventilated RRC) Drew, Ted, and I stopped and had a look at what was going on.  Drew quickly realized his front ARB locker wasn’t disengaging so he manually released the air and found the going MUCH easier.  We met the rest of the group at Uncle Toms and had a quick drink in the warmth of the cabin then stepped out into an increasing snowfall to air up before the final run down to Georgetown.  Somewhere during this operation Colin convinced Tyler to trade trucks with him for the roughly 20 miles into town, so Tyler now got the fun of ‘real winter travel’.

 

At Georgetown the group broke up; Jason and his Bronco driving friend headed for home while the rest of us made a stop for pizza before returning to the real world.  I found I was pretty much on edge the whole way home down I80 as the CV was vibrating like mad under even a light load – it felt almost like running on a rumble strip at the edge of a road.  I spent about an hour imagining what would happen if it sized and broke, possibly sending half the shaft flailing around to tear up all sorts of stuff.  On the radio Colin who was right behind me at least reassured me he’d not seen one come apart like that but still it was a white-knuckle ride even though it was just a simple highway drive.

 

And that, as they say, is that.  I’m sure I’ve left out quite a bit but I’ll have to rely on the others to fill in the details and correct me where my memory has failed.