Heavy Metal Work on Trail

Posted: August 22, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

I used the Rubicon as an excuse to get out of the Reno heat. I left temps in the 80s, headed to 94, for Tahoma with a high of 75.

The Rubicon Trail Foundation was finishing up the heavy equipment work on the rolling dips within the Lake Tahoe Basin management Unit. Most looked great, some were okay and they missed one.

The pictures do not do the work justice. And I’m not a professional photographer. Here’s a rolling dip that was built up and a drain that cleared out.

I didn’t realize that removing hazard trees was part of this project. I was told that more than 40 trees were dropped that were dead or dying and leaning towards the Rubicon Trail. This proactive work prevents trail blockage that would need to be removed later.

Get a firewood permit from the Forest Service and go collect some of that.

Again, the pictures don’t show the result of the heavy equipment reworking the rolling dips.

This was always a pond. The drain did not drop off much before and hand tools were ineffective. With heave equipment, the drain was extended to a point where the water should drain. The plan is to revisit the work in late October to prep for winter. In a perfect world, heavy equipment will be used every other year to maintain the rolling dips.

Sadly, there are still bypasses being created along the Rubicon Trail. This is at what I call Hummer bend as the Hummer Corporation came out and helped with trail maintenance back in the day. It seems that some of the longer rigs (read as 4-door JKs) did not like the sharp turn approaching the rock obstacle at the bottom of the photo.

By driving off trail, their approach was straight, making the trail easier. Why do people drive for hundreds of miles to get to one of the more difficult trails and then drive off trail to make the adventure easier? This required a good deal of work as you can see they moved the blockage of the previous water saturated route in the background. It will need to be fixed.

My log work at the S-turn was moved so people could cut the corner. Are they in a hurry?

The lower log was also moved. But most of my rock work remained. I spent 15-20 minutes throwing a few more rocks around.

Before leaving, I replaced the three logs that were meant to keep people on the trail.

Thinking I was done, I headed out, only to see yet another illegal bypass. This one for no real reason. I’ll work on it the next time I’m out. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of downed trees in the area to use and barriers.

Hopefully, FOTR reads this and puts something together to block the these bypasses to the point no one will move them.

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Rubicon Ronin