Long Lake Trailhead Sign
Posted: June 29, 2020 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: Hi-Lo's, long lake, map, signage, TNF Leave a commentSeveral years ago, the Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s installed a trailhead sign at the entrance to the Long Lake Trail (16E12). It’s the left turn just before the graves on the Rubicon Trail.
Well, over those years the sign was a little neglected. That changed this past weekend at the Hi-Lo’s returned and installed new posts for the sign and updated the information on the sign.
It was truly a team effort. I provided the signage, Michael brought a power auger, Gary brought hand and power tools (and the trailer to haul all this stuff), Scot provided the cement, Carlos was do everything man of the day. Kade served as the finisher making sure everything was squared away at the end.
Hopefully, fewer people will take a wrong turn there as they head to Cadillac Hill and Lake Tahoe as probably six rigs did while we were there! I do want to add a small “Dead End” sign.
The post and sign are not going anywhere with the concrete, pipe and brackets used!
It needs paint and a piece of plexiglass but it looks great.
I personally want to thank everyone that had a hand in this project. It was really a team effort and with so many people stepping up, it didn’t take a whole lot of effort. The hard part was getting our act together before hitting the trail to make sure we had everything.
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Rubicon Ronin
Tahoma Bathrooms to OPEN!
Posted: June 11, 2020 Filed under: Access | Tags: El Dorado County, LTBMU, toilets Leave a commentOkay, after the downer news of the lack of paperwork between agencies in my last post, I’m now happy to report some great news.
The bathrooms at the Tahoma staging area have not yet opened. I put it to all of the agencies and organizations who have anything to do with the Rubicon to come up with a solution. I offered several solutions.
The line from the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) was that they had not yet hired their seasonal staff who normally perform bathroom duties. My counter was that the users except the toilets as the bathrooms on the other side are open and the toilets ON the trail are open, both El Dorado County controlled. If the users can’t use the toilets, they will do their thing in the woods.
On Friday the 12th, the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will contract with an outside company to service and open the two pit toilets at the Tahoma staging area. The contractor will continue to service the toilets every Friday unit such time that the LTBMU seasonal staff is in place to take over the duties.
Thank you to the LTBMU for getting this done!
Hopefully, we can work with the LTBMU in the future to utilize either this contractor or volunteers or a combination of both, in order to open the toilets as soon as users can get to the staging area towing their trail rig.
I know you guys like photos so here are some Rubicon toilet photos:
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Rubicon Ronin
First to the summit…
Posted: June 2, 2020 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: buck, ellis, snow Leave a commentThe Tahoe Donner 4-Wheelers were out yesterday on the Rubicon to replace weather worn signage on the Miller Lake sign board.
It didn’t take too long to staple some laminations to a piece of plywood.
So we decided to check out the Richardson Lake Trail that runs up to Sourdough Hill. The first sizable snow drift looked formattable.
John made it but I slide a little sideways and had to pull a winch line like the others behind me.
There were some longer sections where we had to dig a notch for the upper wheels to prevent sliding off the trail.
There was one tree across the trail that was easily removed as we were prepared for such issues.
Most of the snow section we tried to drive as they were. It got a little tippy at times. Of course the photo doesn’t share the feeling!
After summiting Sourdough, we run up the Buck Lake Trail. Very wet and snow still at the top. We didn’t make it too far up the Ellis Peak/Lake Trail. This is a shot on the way down.
Of course we’re out there for the beauty as well as the challenge.
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trail Conditions
Posted: May 26, 2020 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: mud, rolling dips, snow, wet Leave a commentI was out on the Tahoe side on Sunday and the trail is wet. If you don’t have to be on the Rubicon, I’d like to ask you to find a dryer place to go wheeling.
Most wet sections are rock covered and don’t pose any issues:
There is still snow and ice in the shaded sections of the Tahoe National Forest:
Where the snow has melted, there is some standing water and a few muddy sections.
That hole in front of my Jeep was some thick mud. We made it through going west but on the return trip, four of the five rigs in our group had to winch out. I’ve reached out to El Dorado, RTF and FOTR to get a crew out to work the few sections that were causing issues.
Some of the rolling dips placed last November were working, some better than others. All needed rock to harden them to prevent them from being worn down.
Again, please avoid the trail if you can. Let it dry out and visit in July.
“Turn Around, Don’t Go Around”, stay on the trail!
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trail to Close, May 15th – 17th!
Posted: April 29, 2020 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: Cadillac Hill, closed, helicopter, maintenance Leave a commentCLARIFICATION: Only the El Dorado portion of the trail will be closed although there will be work going on from Observation and to the west, specifically Cadillac Hill. Please avoid the area that weekend.
El Dorado County will being maintenance efforts in May. They will be flying in rock to Cadillac Hill for the hardening of water bars and to build up the lower edge of the trail along Cadillac Hill among other projects.
The trail will need to be closed for safety reasons while flying the helicopter. I do not know exactly where the trail will be closed but let’s just keep our distance for that weekend.
A few more details and the official announcement on the “Rubicon Gazette” page on Facebook.
Thank you,
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 