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2017 Rubicon Trail Part Deux September 7-10

lutz

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lutz Community Regular

lutz

Posted
Posted

Well Dusy is closed time to hit up the world famous Rubicon Trail.This will be a joint trip with NCLR and SCLR .

 

 

Dates 

 

9-7 to 9-10

 

Interested (list will be updated)Limited to 8 trucks
 
Don -D1  NCLR
Conal p38 SCLR
 
 
​Agenda/Itinerary: Will make it out Sunday
Thursday :
Meet up at north shore campground Loon lake
 
Friday:
Pack up camp hit the trail.Camp at Buck island 
 
Saturday:
Pack up camp and head to Rubicon springs.There are about 50 truck already planed to camp at the spring so might go on ahead and camp at end off trail
 
Sunday:
 Head home.
 
 
Quick List of vehicle mod req (and given your vehicle is in mechanical tip-top shape):
1) Solid recovery points both front and back,
2) Enough lift to run 33s/aggressive tires,
3) Sliders and Diff Guards,
4) Rear locker, HD axles Front locker recommended
5) Upgrade rear trailer arms (D90s/D1/RRC) if applicable
6) HD bumpers recommended
7) Winch. optional be recommended
8)Ham operator a plus.
 
 
Trail info
 
Ham
 
146.460 NCLR
 
Rubicon repeaters
 
805ELD - (KA6GWY in Pollock Pines) 146.805, PL of 123, - offset
805TAH - (KA6GWY in Tahoe Basin) 145.605, PL of 123, + offset
RUBI - (Coverage wthin trail only) 444.9875, PL 156.7, + offset
RUBI+ - (Linked to 805's) 444.9875, PL 107.2, + offset
RUBISIM - (Simplex) 444.9875, No pl, No offset
 
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GraemeWare Newbie

GraemeWare

Posted
Posted

 

Well Dusy is closed time to hit up the world famous Rubicon Trail.This will be a joint trip with NCLR and SCLR .

 

 

Dates 

 

9-7 to 9-10

 

Interested (list will be updated)Limited to 5 trucks
 
Don -D1  NCLR
Conal p38 SCRL need to confrim
 
 
​Agenda/Itinerary: Will make it out Sunday
Thursday :
Meet up at northshor campground Loon lake
 
Friday:
Pack up camp hit the trail.Camp at Buck island 
 
Saturday:
Pack up camp and head to Rubicon springs.There are about 50 truck already planed to camp at the spring so might go on ahead and camp at end off trail
 
Sunday:
 Head home.
 
 
Quick List of vehicle mod req (and given your vehicle is in mechanical tip-top shape):
1) Solid recovery points both front and back,
2) Enough lift to run 33s/aggressive tires,
3) Sliders and Diff Guards,
4) Rear locker, HD axles Front locker recomended
5) Upgrade rear trailer arms (D90s/D1/RRC) if applicable
6) HD bumpers
7) Winch. optional be recommended
8)Ham operator a plus.
 
 
Trail info
 

 

 

We're out .... Katrina has no rear bumper ....

 

Graeme

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

Posted
Posted

Perfect!

 

Any idea what time you'll get to Loon?  I have to work Thursday morning in the bay but should finish up by noon, then head home, pack the truck, and roll out.  I should be able to get there by early evening.

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  • 2 weeks later...
DHappel Mentor

DHappel

Posted
Posted

Almost time!

 

Over the weekend I replaced the trans mounts and the rear A-frame ball joint.  Still not 100% sure what was causing my intermittent bucking/cutting out under acceleration last week but I did find the crank position sensor was only finger tight and will put a new one in tomorrow before heading out just in case.

 

Hopefully no mechanical issues on this trip!

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Jethro Rising Star

Jethro

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Posted

I'm hoping next year I can make it out there... might be winch/bumper less but will have lockers and who knows maybe something bigger than 33s.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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Posted

I'm hoping next year I can make it out there... might be winch/bumper less but will have lockers and who knows maybe something bigger than 33s.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Next year?  Bha.....I say you roll tomorrow!

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Jethro Rising Star

Jethro

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Posted

Next year? Bha.....I say you roll tomorrow!

First game this weekend and family trip next week... just too much going on this summer plus my Rover project moving slower than I'd like.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

Posted
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Another Rubicon trip in the books. 

 

Turn-out ended up being limited with only Lutz in his D2 (33s, locked front and rear), Connell from SCLR in a P38 (33s, locker rear), and myself in my D1 (35s, locker front and rear).  We also had a group of 2 D1s from San Diego but they ran separately a little behind us as they were on small tires (31 or 32?) and moving pretty slow.  

I met Lutz at Loon Lake Thursday night and despite a good size crowd it wasn’t very loud.  We did get maybe 15 minutes of sprinkles that night but nothing of any note.  The next morning Connell joined us and we were on the trail by 9:00.

 

This was Connell’s first trip on the Rubicon and he’d heard everything from ‘it’s a cake-walk; I could do it in my Prius’ to ‘you’ll never make it!’ so he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.  He’s got plenty of experience on SoCal trails though so he didn’t have any major problems.  He did give his sliders and rear bumper quite a work-out and didn’t escape without re-arranging a couple body panels but he did well considering he was in the least built rig of our three and loaded the heaviest to boot.  His take on the Rubicon vs most of the SoCal trails he was more familiar with like John Bull was that those may have a given obstacle that’s as tough as the Rubicon, but the Rubicon just keeps throwing them at you one after the other and you never really get much time to relax. 

 

We made pretty good time past the gate keeper, through the bowl, and on until just before the 2nd set of slabs just before Old Sluice.  We even got Connell through Little Sluice though we did need to pull cable at a couple points.  While working a tricky spot just before Old Sluice we heard the tell-tale ratcheting sound of a broken CV joint on the front of the P38.  We winched him out and up to a level/shady place and had lunch while he dug into his extensive spares inventory and swapped out the driver’s front axle assembly.  Much easier than on the swivel ball trucks!

 

While doing this we watched some pretty ominous clouds and rain on the horizon while hearing the occasional thunder.  Fortunately it didn’t rain on us until we had made camp at Buck Island Lake that afternoon.  It did eventually come down pretty good for a couple hours but let off shortly after dark and we didn’t see any more rain for the rest of the weekend.

 

Early on the first day we had heard some radio traffic on our usual 146.460 so we’d switched to 146.580.  We had tried to contact the San Diego guys a couple times on 460 but didn’t reach them.  While sitting in camp just after sunset an incoming Jeep stopped to chat mentioned there were a couple other Rovers about 100 yards up the trail broken down.  We quickly hiked up to find them trying to decide what to do with a broken front CV as well.  They were nearly down to the camp so with a little towing they got to a level area to set up and proceeded to replace the broken passenger side CV on Peter’s D1. 

 

Saturday morning we broke camp and got on the trail again at 9:00 heading for Rubicon Springs.  The San Diego guys checked in with us before we headed out but again wanted to run by themselves, though today we would be in radio contact with them much of the time.  We had no troubles and made good time to the top of Big Sluice where I was disappointed to see the obstacle that had given me such a fit with the LR3 last year now had an easy by-pass.  This would be the 90* left at the top of the sluice.  Out of sheer spite I took the D1 over the hard line that I’d had to drag the LR3 over last year…no problems at all.  Break-over angle is a good thing.  J

 

We had caught up to a group of JKs from SoCal at this point so we held at the top of the sluice while they worked their way around the well-known tree/boulder obstacle about mid-way down.  Once they were through we let another couple of JKs come up through that same spot (well built up rigs but one had broken both(!) his lockers and was being towed) then we came down.  Lutz and I both took the middle line; he just grazed his passenger door on the boulder while I got lucky and my slider was high enough to hold me off.  Connell first tried this line but was going to get some pretty good body work if he did so instead took the left line.  He did still just kiss the driver’s rear and broke the tail light but it wasn’t too bad.  

 

Again we caught up to the Jeeps as we got to the lower portion of the sluice – one of the most difficult sections of the trail.  We played tag with them a couple times in this portion as they winched a few times then they got one rig well and truly stuck when a boulder shifted under him.  By now a group of serious rigs on 40s were behind us.  When we told them we were waiting on some Jeeps the first thing their leader said (driving a nice Scout) was ‘let me guess – JKs?’  From then on the standing joke was ‘damn JKs, always in the way!’ 

(For anybody who hasn’t been to this trail, there is no doubt the JK Rubicon Wrangler is the single most popular vehicle up here.  They are everywhere.)

 

We eventually got our turn and made it down the lower portion of Big Sluice without any damage and in decent time.  We again caught up to the Jeep group just after the bridge as they were going through the squeeze so we took the optional line to the right to play a bit.  Then on to Rubicon Springs which we were surprised to see wasn’t as crowded as we’d expected.  It was only 1:00 and we debated on pushing on but decided we were in no rush and made camp.  We’d been in touch with the San Diego guys and knew there were still in the sluice, just getting to the tree in the middle and were wanting to push on out that night.  Later about 4:00 they made it to the Springs and debated about pushing on.  We recommended they stay as all it would take is one break-down or somebody else having a problem in front of them on Cadillac Hill and they’d be stuck on the trail well past dark.  Given how haggered they’d looked at Buck Island after the first day (one of them commented ‘I think we under-estimated this trail’) we figured they could use the rest.  They promptly inquired “is there a bar here?”  Sorry, strictly BYOB.  J

 

Day three we were up early and on the trail by 8:30.  At the start of Cadillac hill we caught a group of Jeeps (different group this time) who were fixing a leaking brake line on an XJ.  They moved on though we would bump into them a few more times before getting to the overlook.  Cadillac gave the P38 a few challenges as it now seemed the rear locker wasn’t locking and he was reduced to the stock traction control which combined with the VC transfer case wasn’t giving as much traction as Lutz and I had in the Discos with our lockers and LT230s.  But again he made it through without any major problems.  A short way after the hill Lutz stopped to pick up what he thought was a bag of trash only to find it had sleeping bags in it.  We would end up returning this to the Jeep guys ahead of us at the lookout.

 

Once at the lookout we waited our turn for the obligatory photos.  While there the San Diego guys caught up so we got a group shot.  Then we headed off on the final leg.  By this point you always feel like you’re done but in fact there are still a few obstacles left.  On one of them, a tight S turn with trees and boulders close-in, Connell bumped his right front grill guard and took out a fog light.  So close!  We’d been surprised to see his stock fog lights had survived this far!  We continued on, again catching the Jeep group but maintaining a steady pace out to the staging area where we aired up and checked out our rigs for any unexpected damage before jumping on the paved roads again.  Despite running slower than we would have on our own we still made the staging area around noon.

 

Aired up and with nothing scary under the trucks we said our goodbys to the San Diego guys and headed out through Truckee, making good speed down 80 and back into the heat.  We stopped for lunch in Auburn before breaking off and heading for home.  I arrived home around 3:30, Lutz made it back to his place about 8:00 with rain.  I believe Connell stopped for the night before making the final run down to LA.

 

So that’s another Rubicon run in the books.  Given the calendar, likely the last one for 2017 but we’ll be back for sure.  We have several members with builds in progress who will definitely want to get some time on the most famous trail in America, so if you missed out this time just keep your eyes on the forum and you’ll get your chance!

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