Time to Snow Wheel

Yesterday, I stopped by the Rubicon trailhead in Tahoma. Although the snow has melted a lot, there is still a tremendous amount of snow on the trail.

Note that residential parking is now allowed if you bring your rig on a trailer.

The first snow bump is a little off camber but with the ruts in the snow, I didn’t slip to the side. The sign would have stopped me if I had.

Just a little further in, there is evidence of some unprepared wheelers who got stuck and needed to bring in pieces of wood to place under the tires to get unstuck. At some point they were successful as there were no rigs still on the trail.

I only went in a couple of hundred yards. I was alone, it was late afternoon, the snow was slippery from the sun. Just to get that far, I went back and forth a dozen times, slowly creeping forward. Even at this time of day, the snow in the shade provided more grip than the snow in the sun. And I didn’t want to get stuck in the snow, on the Rubicon, on the way to my 4wd club meeting…again. Yea, it happened two years ago and I self-rescued and made the meeting on time.

Although I didn’t get very far, I am assuming that there will be a great amount of water on and along the trail. Please Tread Lightly! if you venture out.

All the same things apply: be prepared, stay on the trail, use a tree saver when winching, don’t go alone.

This is Memorial Weekend coming up. The trail will be busy. There will be those that are not ready for this type of wheeling. Be polite, help them out, go on your way.

“Turn Around, Don’t Go Around”

Be safe.

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Rubicon Ronin