Rubicon Trail Meeting in Reno – update
Posted: February 26, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: expo, maintenance, meeting, planning Leave a commentThe Reno Off-Road and Motorsports Expo is happing March 23-27 at the convention center. On Saturday the 26th, there will be a meeting at 9am about everything Rubicon. Attending the meeting is free. El Dorado County is heading up the meeting. Below is a list of all of the groups and agencies that have been invited to the meeting. I do not know who has accepted the invitation or who has declined.
Questions to be asked: What maintenance is planned for the trail in 2022? Will there be an Adopt-a-Trail program for the Tahoe side? When will the staging area bathrooms open/close? Where are we with the small mud hole bypass? Where are we with the suggested larger shelf road bypass? How are parking issues at the staging area going to be solved? Can we stop or prevent future trail closures for fires well away from the trail? How do we volunteer to do trail maintenance on the Tahoe side?
That’s not my entire list of questions. If you have a specific question to ask and can’t make the meeting, let me know and I’ll add it to my list.
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El Dorado County Parks & Trails
Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
Eldorado National Forest
Placer County (ask for Peter Kraatz)
CA State Parks OHMVR Division
Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF)
Friends of the Rubicon (FOTR)
CA Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA)
CA Four Wheel Drive Association (Cal-4)
NV Four Wheel Drive Association (NV-4)
Local clubs:
- Hills Angels (Reno/Sparks)
- Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s (Tahoe)
- Tahoe Donner 4-Wheelers (Truckee)
- Sierra Stompers (Minden/Gardnerville)
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I’ll be hanging out at my booth at the Expo all week. Stop by and let me know what’s on your mind.
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Rubicon Ronin
Holiday Travelers on Rubicon
Posted: January 17, 2022 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: snow, stuck, winter Leave a commentAfter being stuck at home for more than a week, I finally ventured out to the Tahoma trailhead. Although I had no intension of driving out on to the trail, I brought the Jeep just because. The rig stuck on the trail with four guys in it were happy I did.
The neighborhood looks much better:
The berm is very doable and only a few feet tall:
But these guys needed help:
They had barely started up the first incline and got off of the compacted snow of the ruts and stopped.
A few gentle tugs backwards and they were free. I unhooked to get more distance between us and they almost drove out. They needed another tug or two to finally make the pavement.
The trail looks well-travelled but make sure you go prepared. As long as I was in the ruts, I felt very secure. When I got out of my rig, the snow off to the sides was obviously not firm enough to drive on.
The Sno-Park at Blackwood Canyon has been plowed out but remember, this is closed to wheeled vehicles until June 15th.
Be safe, be smart, don’t go alone, be prepared to spend the night.
Enjoy!
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Rubicon Ronin
Tahoma Trailhead Conditions 12-30-21
Posted: December 31, 2021 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: snow, Tahoma, trailhead, winter Leave a commentOnce the highways opened up, after a record-breaking December snow fall, I ventured up to the Rubicon Trail trailhead in Tahoma to see what it looked like.
Before I could even get there, I had to drive through the neighborhood. Single track! The county plow had been through but only one time and right down the middle. It will take two more plow passes to clear the road and then the rotary blower will come through to clean up the edges.
From a distance, the trailhead looks unbreeched by wheeled vehicles.
Sure enough, only one lone snowmobile track over the berm and up the trail. I did not have the time, nor the place to park, in order to snowshoe up the trail. But many snowshoe tracks already there.
There is a new trailhead sign. I don’t know who put it up but it has Forest Service colors.
My suggested signage for the trailhead was much more in your face:
(Yes, I realize there’s a misspelling in there)
Looking back from the trail, you can barely see the roof of my TJ with a 5″ lift on 35″ tires.
The berm is probably six feet tall, but once over the berm the snow is probably four feet deep.
So, I had to try it, but I knew if I made it over the berm I’d be stuck. Single vehicle; no way to winch myself backwards; but I did have a shovel with me. What the heck.
It’s a bad picture but it shows I didn’t get far.
Snow plow work is so far behind, understandably, that the entrance to the Sno-Park (Kaspian Campground) at Blackwood Canyon has not been plowed at all. FYI, no wheeled vehicle access from here, only snowmobiles.
The Rubicon Trail is open year-round. Only go if you and your rig are overly prepared!
Once the rotary plow comes through, there could be a five-foot face to the trailhead. Knock it down, make a ramp, go have fun. Stay on the trail. But beware as you exit, if there wasn’t a sheer face as you went in, there might be a sheer face on your way out. Walk it first.
Enjoy our public lands but be safe.
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Rubicon Ronin
Out of towner caught in surprise snowfall
Posted: November 24, 2021 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Placer, rescue, snow, stuck Leave a commentI just heard a funny story. It’s only funny because no one got hurt. The story could have had a very different outcome.
So, a guy and his wife are traveling across country in their modified Sprinter van. The wife has something to do all day and will be staying with a friend that night. So, the husband decides to camp at Tahoe for the night.
He drives up Blackwood Canyon, a paved road, and sets up camp only a half mile from the summit. It’s cloudy, it’s raining a bit but he’s in his Sprinter van that he and his wife have been living out of for weeks on the road.
It starts to rain.
He goes to sleep.
He wakes up with three feet of snow all around his van.
He’s wearing shorts and sandals.
He thinks he’s screwed.
He has one bar of cell coverage on his phone. He calls his wife. She calls the Sheriff. Placer County Search & Rescue rolls out their snow cat and goes up to rescue him. He asks about getting his Sprinter van out. They tell him it might be there until spring. They take him down the hill without his van.
He calls around and gets Nick of the Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s. Nick has a rescue service when he’s not engineering something or racing the Baja 100, literally. Nick was instrumental in recovering “Glacier Girl” which was buried under eight feet of snow some years ago.
The guy thought he was prepared. He had the traction block, tracks, boards things. The problem was that they were mounted UNDER the rig. Hard to get to with three feet of snow all around.
Nick was the hero again. It took some work. The Sprinter is only 4wd if the rear axle starts to slip. Nick had to literally pull the van DOWN the hill the snow was so thick even after it was packed down by the snow cat.
This should be a lesson to everyone. Check the weather before you travel.
Be safe, don’t be this guy.
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Rubicon Ronin
LTBMU reads my blog, opens the Rubicon!
Posted: October 17, 2021 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: caldor, fire, LTBMU Leave a commentOkay, I really don’t know if anyone at the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit reads my blog, but they did reopen the Rubicon just two days after my latest post.
Forest Service lifts Lake Tahoe backcountry closure early
Release Date: Oct 15, 2021
Contact(s): Public Affairs, Lisa Herron 530-721-3898
![[Image]: United States Forest Service Shield.](https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fsm9_045805.gif)
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif., Oct. 15, 2021 – The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) Backcountry Closure Order (19-21-07), which temporarily closed Desolation Wilderness, Meiss Country and focused access corridors along the West Shore during the Caldor Fire, is lifted effective today, Oct. 15, 2021.
The Caldor Fire Emergency Closure Order (19-21-06) remains in effect through Dec. 31, 2021, for National Forest lands within and surrounding the fire perimeter. The closure order and map can be viewed on the LTBMU home page at www.fs.usda.gov/ltbmu. The public is advised that significant hazards remain within the Caldor Fire area including ongoing restoration activities, use of fire vehicles and heavy equipment, crew and aircraft activity, fire weakened trees and smoldering pockets of fuel. Please use the closure order description and map to stay out of the fire closure area. View the closure order and map at https://go.usa.gov/xM9Jy.
The following Desolation Wilderness trailheads that access south side areas within the Caldor Fire closure are still closed to public use for both overnight and day use access. Those trailheads are Rockbound, Twin Lakes, Lyons, Pyramid Creek/Horsetail Falls, Ralston, and Echo Lakes.
As a reminder, enhanced fire restrictions remain in effect for all National Forest lands in the Lake Tahoe Basin through Nov. 30, 2021. The Fire Restriction Forest Order can be viewed on the Forest Order webpage at go.usa.gov/xMXYK. Propane appliances with an on/off switch are permitted with a valid CA Campfire Permit.
In addition, closures on the Eldorado National Forest have been reduced, but many areas remain closed due to the Caldor Fire. For more information about the Eldorado National Forest, visit their website at www.fs.usda.gov/eldorado
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My apologies for not realizing this sooner. It took the latest Caldor Fire Update, not including the LTBMU Back County closure, for me to get the information.
Here’ the twist. With the announcement that the LTBMU was extending the closure, the McKinney Rubicon Road was prominently mentioned in the brief heading for the closure. In the reopening press release, the McKinney Rubicon Trail is not mentioned in the preview paragraph or the main body of the order. I truly believe that the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is anti-OHV and specifically anti-Rubicon.
The Eldorado National Forest sends of emails with OHV important information. I received an email when the Caldor closed the Eldorado and our other national forests. The LTBMU does not send out such emails. This should change. Our National Forest partners (?) should make an effort to keep the users and the general public informed. How hard would it be to notify RTF, Cl4, Blue Ribbon, local clubs? They already are part of an email group that discusses nothing but Rubicon issues. And yet they didn’t get the information out.
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 