Traffic, Gates, Camping, Parking, Fires…
Posted: June 9, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, gate, gates Leave a commentI left my house at 6:45 this morning. My laptop told me I had a one hour and eleven-minute drive to the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) offices in South Lake Tahoe. The plan was to walk in as they opened their doors at 8am.
I walked into the headquarters at 9:45. At one point, the entire road was red with traffic on my phone. Yes, I had to drive through that entire traffic jam.
There was more than a one and a half hour delay due to construction, once into the Tahoe basin.
The LTBMU is in disarray. People have left; retired or moved to other forests. Some positions have been filled but they do not have the experience, at the position or on the LTBMU. Misinformation is being communicated within the LTBMU. The phones have been out for five weeks. But, I finally found someone who could help.
Progress was made as the latest employee responsible for opening seasonal gates guaranteed me the gate on 15N38 would be open by the end of the week. She even said she would drive up the west side of the lake today and open the gate. Cautiously waiting on her email.
My plan is to be out tomorrow morning to make sure the Middle Fork Trail is safe and clear. It sounds like some clearing has been done already by one of the Fire Prevention people.
The camping at Kaspian at the lake on Forest Road 03 and the Blackwood campground are now being managed by Vista Recreation. Part of the agreement includes charging for parking for “day use” at the SnoPark lot during the summer. I’m hoping we can stop and use the restrooms without being charged.
There have been numerous lightning strikes over the last few days but the only fires in the basin was a single tree above the Kings Beach area.
We’re close. We’re very, very close to getting our OHV trails open. Please be patient, stay on the trails. “Turn Around, Don’t Turn Around”.
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Rubicon Ronin
Good News, Bad News
Posted: June 4, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: gates, opening day, snow Leave a commentThe good news is that the gate on Forest Road 03 has been opened. That’s the first gate off Highway 89 going up Blackwood Canyon. The gate was supposed to be opened on the 1st but was not. I’m not sure when it opened.
The bad news is that the gate on our OHV trail 15N38, the Middle Fork Trail, is still closed. This gate should have been opened for use of the trail on June 1st.
So, change of plans, I headed out to the Rubicon in search of another side trail. I headed up the Buck Lake Trail, 14N40. It’s not an overly difficult trail except for one short, but steep, section.
I wasn’t the first, but I was the first since a significant snow melt.
There was one tree across the Trail. Now you see it…
Now you don’t…
I did drop into the Buck Lake campground area. There are a few trees down blocking the campground. Sorry, but I didn’t take the time to clear them.
Here’s the difficult section. There is a winch post installed above this section because it is that difficult.
Have I mentioned the great views from this trail?
Here’s where my travels ended today. I tried it slow. I tried it fast. But I kept getting pushed off to the right. I could have winched through it but I figured someone was trying to tell me to turn around. I imagine there are more snow drifts along the Ellis trails.
With that snow drift shortening my day, I decided to drive home through South Lake Tahoe and stop at the Forest Service office and ask why the Middle Fork Trail is closed.
Maybe another day.
I did send an email on Monday asking about the gates still closed after their opening dates. I will send out another tonight.
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Rubicon Ronin
Side Trail Conditions…
Posted: June 2, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, snow Leave a commentI was asked about side trails: Buck Lake, Richardson Lake (Sourdough Hill), Ellis, etc. I have not personally been out on those yet.
The people I referred to in the last post about locals getting out in the side-by-sides and clearing trees said they had been on and had “cleared” all of the side trails. Sourdough will have one or two sections with nasty side hills. They said Buck does have a very side hill section before the rocky climb just above the lake. Ellis always has snow later in the season.
Some of the “clearing” they had done was before the last big snow melt. That melt exposed tress we cleared out yesterday. Who knows what’s out there. This time of year you should carry a saw , of some kind, and be prepared to winch trees out of the way.
“Turn Around, Don’t Go Around!”
They were in a well-built set of side-by-sides. I would expect that a street legal rig would have a much more difficult time traversing the snow, especially a side hill snow drift.
The snow will melt very fast. Two weeks will make a HUGE difference.
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Rubicon Ronin
There’s Still Snow!
Posted: June 1, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, gates, snow, trees Leave a commentThe plan was to go in through Blackwood Canyon and up the Middle Fork Trail (15N38) and clear trees to the summit. If we had time, we were going to head down the Red Cabin Trail (upper hobbit/Barker Meadow OHV Trail, 16E79) and then down the actual Hobbit Trail (16E76).
Well, the gate at the bottom of Forest Service Road 03 was still locked. Long story for later. So, we headed over to the Rubicon to go around the back way.
When we got to the intersection of the Rubicon and Forest Road 03-04, we took 03-04 toward Barker Pass. It wasn’t too long before we found trees that needed attention. This is actually the third tree we removed. The first was on the Rubicon and people had stacked rocks to get over it!
Some were so rotten, we just pulled them to the side. So many times I forgot to get out the camera.
This one took some rigging for the winch to be able to pull it to the side.
As we got around the north side of Ellis Peak, the snow became deeper. The snow wheeling was actually pretty fun. The snow kept traction as long as you were going stupid slow.
We made it past Bear Lake but the northern aspect protected the snow and it was becoming quite a side hill.
Here is the guy in front of me dropping down the last hill we went down.
We finally came to a downhill section we decided we didn’t want to crawl back up. We turned around and headed home. The side hill was pretty steep right here but it doesn’t show.
We never made it over to any of the three trails we were trying to get to. I will be looking into the situation with the locked gates.
On the way out, We stopped at the Rubicon intersection and met two side-by-sides going out 03-04. They were locals who had been clearing trees on a bunch of side trails for the last three weeks! Awesome.
I need to thank Stan and John for hanging out today. Always safer with others. Maybe we’ll get out next week and clear more trails.
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Rubicon Ronin
Meeting thoughts
Posted: May 28, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: parking, staging Leave a commentSo, the public meeting about the possible expansion of the Tahoma staging area at the Rubicon Trail took place this afternoon. The turn out was moderate to low. But considering the extremely short notice, I think the turnout was pretty good.
This project is in its infancy. They need to finalize the details, do the environmental studies, get everything back before the public, again. Plan by the end of this year? Studies during 2026? Grant application? Construction in 2027?
Here’s an aerial picture they had of the proposed area for the expanded parking area. Current parking on the left, proposed parking on the right. The new area is towards the bridge.
Not the best picture but it appears that the new area are specifically designed for rigs with trailers to pull in, circle around and then pull straight out on to the road back to Tahoe.
Any ideas on how to improve the parking area, parking in general, how to minimize the effects of the traffic are all welcome.
The closing of the old ATV dirt parking area is also a possibility. I kept saying, if you give it up, you’ll never get it back. The new manager of Adventure Mountain Lake Tahoe (the old ATV rental guys) says they’re starting up again. Not sure where they will be parking and operating from.
I found it funny and flattering that the pictures of how not to park were taken from my website. That’s my Jeep in the lower right picture. (parked legally)
We will all need to stay on top of this project.
Stay tuned.
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 