Two feet of fresh snow and it’s still snowing…
Posted: February 27, 2023 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: plowing, snow Leave a comment2-27-23 Narrow streets. The plow guys are working their asses off and can barely keep up. The roads were well plowed considering the amount of snow that the Basin has received this winter, specifically, this latest storm. the Rubicon trailhead is straight ahead. That’s a private plow operator, up on the right, clearing berms and driveways.
It doesn’t look like any vehicle has tried recently. Two more feet of snow expected over today & tomorrow. At least the notch is holding up so we know where to make access, once the snow allows.
It might be redundant, but I’ll post up after the storm passes.
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Rubicon Ronin
Quick update…
Posted: February 23, 2023 Filed under: Access, Travel Leave a commentFeb 23rd, sort of the middle of the storm. Six feet tall at the notch, eight feet tall either side.
It does appear that someone recently tried to drive up the trail, before the recent snow fall.
But the tracks only appear on top of the berm. I think the driver had second thoughts and backed out.
The Tahoma area is expecting more than four feet of snow over the next week. My suggestion is to let the storm pass and the snow settle and come out and play in two or three weeks.
Travel safe; travel prepared.
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trailhead Conditions, Tahoma 2/17/23
Posted: February 17, 2023 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: snow, snowwall, winter Leave a commentI did a quick drive by of the Tahoma trailhead today.
No evidence that a wheeled vehicle has been up the trail for some time. But maybe a few snowmobiles.
Surprisingly, the trailhead does not have the typical dip, so the wall is about the same height all the way across.
Once on the trail, there may have been wheeled vehicles on the trail.
The trail is as wide as a vehicle. The surface seems hard from melting and refreezing but I’m not sure it will support a 4000 pound rig.
The trail did look inviting but I was in my truck after skiing.
Right now, the roads are clear and the walls are steep.
Don’t go alone. And there are a few storms coming in next week.
Enjoy.
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trail Collaborative Council (RTCC)
Posted: February 15, 2023 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: closure, maintenance, management, users Leave a commentOn Monday, February 13th, a public meeting was held at the Cal4 office in Sacramento. There were probably 20 people in the room and just as many on Zoom. The topic was a new way to get more user input regarding the management and maintenance of the Rubicon Trail.
Amy Granat (CORVA & Tread Lightly) and Roger Salazar (OHMVR Commissioner & CORVA/Cal4 life member) presented a new idea for managing the Rubicon Trail: the Rubicon Trail Collaborative Council.
The idea is to build off the example of the Rubicon Oversight Committee (formerly held by El Dorado County). This new group would bring together the users and get the users a seat at the big table along-side of the governing agencies that currently manage the Rubicon Trail.
The establishment of this new group goes along with the establishment of a new Rubicon Trail management process. The idea is to manage the Rubicon Trail as one trail from Wentworth Springs to Lake Tahoe. This could (and should) include the Ellis Creek Intertie. One of the bigger changes is the Forest Service (FS) will be represented by Region-5; that’s the FS headquarters in Vallejo, CA. The individual forests (El Dorado National Forest ENF, Tahoe National Forest TNF & Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit LTBMU) will not each have a seat at the new table.
The new ‘table’ will have El Dorado County, Placer County, US Forest Service, Ca State Parks OHMVR and the new Rubicon Trail Collaborative Council (RTCC).
The current MOUs between ENF, TNF, LTBMU, ElDo Co, Placer Co, CA St Parks and various law enforcement agencies will be amended to include RTCC and to establish a consistency in management and maintenance across the trail.
The make-up of the Rubicon Trail Coordinating Council will include five types of stakeholders: landowners, businesses, state OHV organizations, trail management ‘non-government organizations’ (NGOs) and OHV clubs. Each category will have two seats. It will be up to each category to determine their representatives. (That will be fun.)
The Rubicon Trail Collaborative Council will be housed as a non-profit under the CA Outdoor Recreation Foundation, which will also act as facilitators and representatives for RTCC. Amy & Roger will be those facilitators and representatives for the RTCC board.
If you are wondering if this will ever actually happen, I believe that it will. Amy stated that the larger agencies have already agreed to the idea, verbally, not yet in writing. The hard part is amending the current MOUs to get everyone to agree to the new wording. Again, those large government agencies have already agreed on the idea.
Similar agreements are already in place for other types of recreation and trails. In our world, The Dusy-Ersham Trail has a multi-MOU agreement and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) has a very similar agreement with all of the forests and counties that it crosses. Nothing on the PCT gets done without user input and approval.
This new management agreement will lift the decisions above any one agency, group or individual.
Moving forward, there is a plan to hold an organizational meeting of the RTCC this month. This meeting will probably include the first set of discussions about who will represent each of the five groups within RTCC.
Helpful links:
Roger Salazar – https://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22606#salazar
Amy Granat – https://corva.org/board_of_directors; https://treadlightly.org/meet-the-team/board-of-directors/
California Outdoor Recreation Foundation – https://outdoorrecreationfoundation.org/
If you didn’t catch it, Amy & Roger will be the two user representatives at the new ‘big table’. The RTCC will provide them with guidance to follow as they talk with the ‘agencies’.
This new management arrangement should prevent illegal or unnecessary closures of the Rubicon Trail due to wildfires 20 miles away, because of possible snow fall heading toward the trail or any other arbitrary situation that may arise.
I’m extremely hopeful.
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Rubicon Ronin
RTF Rubicon Zoom Meeting, from last week
Posted: February 13, 2023 Filed under: Access Leave a commentThe Rubicon Trail Foundation held a Zoom meeting last week to clear-up up what happened regarding the Rubicon closure. Below is the link to the Zoom call. There is some very good information in the presentation. It’s only one hour long.
If it asks for a password/passcode, try: 3X!2xG&A
For me, the bottom line is that El Dorado County illegally closed the trail in December. And El Dorado County passed a resolution to not only cover the illegal closure but to allow them to close the trail in the same way, legally, in the future. Did we really win?
One point in the Zoom recording is, let me say, incomplete. John Arenz claimed that Placer County was not the reason for the snow wall at the Tahoma entrance. There is a single individual who has been identified as dumping snow at the entrance from other locations, for his personal benefit by blocking vehicles from the trail. In addition to that, the way Placer County plows Evergreen Way (the street crossing the entrance) piles excessive snow that blocks vehicle use. Placer County is not innocent.
There are two meetings today about the Rubicon. The first is with El Dorado County. I’m not sure of the agenda. I will not be attending as I’m trying to focus on the Tahoma side. The second is at the Cal4 office tonight and I will be attending that one.
I will get to the Tahoma trailhead this week and will post an update about snow levels, access and if anyone has been out.
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 