Rubicon Targeted for Closure!
Posted: September 19, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: closure, fire Leave a commentMy previous post outlined a few closures due to the Mosquito Fire. The Eldorado National Forest and the Tahoe National Forest have enacted Forest Orders to close a portion of their forests for safety. The Eldorado oddly carved out the Rubicon Trail for closure even though it was far away from the active fire. The Tahoe National Forest closed a portion of their forest but not the Rubicon Trail.
Today, I learned that the Rubicon Trail has been specifically separated out for closure by both the Tahoe National Forest and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
Now the trails up Blackwood Canyon have not been closed. Forest Road 03-04 to the Rubicon, Hobbit and other trails have not been closed. But the Rubicon Trail has been closed. This is not a closure done for safety.
This is not the first time the Rubicon Trail was closed due to a fire a dozen or more miles away.
I’ve reached out to the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) regarding the closure but they only say they are aware and working on it.
This is not an attack by the USFS on OHV. This is an attack on the Rubicon Trail by our local forest leaders. RTF seems unable to prevent or quickly reverse such unnecessary closes. Maybe it’s time we found a new group to fight to keep the Rubicon Trail open.
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Rubicon Ronin
California’s largest private landowner closes forest access to the public
Posted: June 25, 2022 Filed under: Access | Tags: closure, SPI Leave a commentThis does not directly affect the Rubicon Trail or side trails on the Tahoe side but I think it might affect a few on the Loon Lake side:
CALIFORNIA, Due to the risk of wildfires Sierra Pacific Industries, which owns nearly 2 million acres of forestland in California, has closed public access into its wildlands starting July 1.
Sierra Pacific said that they normally provide public access to their wildlands for hiking, fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities.
“Despite some of the late spring rains, California is experiencing the driest conditions it has had in 1200 years,” said Andrea Howell, SPI spokesman. “To help protect our forest resources and public safety, Sierra Pacific is closing our California lands to public access and recreation.”
Sierra Pacific is citing the following reasons as to why they have closed their lands to the public:
As a fire prevention measure.
To provide for the recovery and restoration of areas impacted by wildfire.
To protect public safety, especially in active harvest areas.
To help prevent erosion of roads.
To deter illegal woodcutting.
To prevent damage to young, regenerated forest stands.
To deter illegal garbage dumping.
To prevent Christmas tree theft.
To protect sensitive research project areas and equipment. Monitoring equipment has been placed in areas where research is under way. Please do not disturb it.
Sierra Pacific said that they will continue monitoring their forests, weather conditions and other scenarios to determine when it will be safe to reopen their forests to the public.
The U.S. Forest Service has also been known to close sections of their forests to also mitigate the risk of wildfire and also allow crews to provided fuel load reduction.
So far this year the forest service has not announced any planned forest closures.
Closure dates changed, not communicated
Posted: May 11, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: closed, closure, El Dorado County, helicopter Leave a commentDue to the weather over the Sierra these past few days, El Dorado County has pushed back plans to use a helicopter to fly in material to be used to maintain the Rubicon Trail. The new closure dates are May 11th through May 15th. That includes the upcoming weekend of the 14th and 15th.
A photo from a previous helicopter delivery to the Rubicon Trail:
From the El Dorado County “Parks” page:
https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Parks
Rubicon update: Due to the upcoming weather on Sunday and Monday the maintenance project has been pushed to May 11th. Unfortunately we will need to close the Rubicon Trail through the weekend. The trail will be closed May 11th -May 15th. We are sorry for the inconvenience, and are working diligently to get this project done before Memorial Day Weekend. Thank you for your cooperation.
Here’s my problem with this change, it was not properly communicated down to the actual users that need to know this information.
El Dorado County has a Rubicon Trail page on their website. At the time of this writing, that page has absolutely no information on the change of the closure dates. In order for the users to find the closure information, users must go to the ‘Parks’ page of El Dorado County, as quoted above.
https://www.edcgov.us/Rubicon/
For the record, it is also not posted on the website of the one Rubicon Trail specific advocacy group, the Rubicon Trail Foundation.
https://www.rubicontrailfoundation.org
Users should not have to search to learn about the current conditions of the Rubicon Trail. Major changes, such as temporary closures, and even minor pieces of information, should be sent out by the agency closing the trail, not just posted. OHV advocacy groups should latch on to those press releases and forward them to local clubs and post the information on OHV forums, let alone post them on their own website.
Every year, tens of thousands of dollars are donated to OHV advocacy groups. If those groups and agencies fail to inform you of critical information about your local trail, specifically the world-famous Rubicon Trail, are you getting your money’s worth?
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Rubicon Ronin
Closed for Maintenance
Posted: April 18, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: closure, helicopter Leave a commentThe Rubicon Trail will be closed from Monday May 9th through Friday May 13th in order to safely fly helicopters in order to deliver materials needed for trail maintenance. This closure will only affect the El Dorado County portion of the trail. Tahoe side access will still be available to the users.
From El Dorado County…
The Rubicon Trail will be closed from 5/9-5/13/22 due to the work done during the Helicopter Project to improve the trail. Please continue to check the parks website for updates as weather may change the dates for the project. Thank you.
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trail Q&As, WWDD?
Posted: April 9, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: closure, communications, maintenance Leave a commentThere is currently a severe lack of communication among those groups, agencies and individuals with an interest in the Rubicon Trail.
I provided an extensive list of questions to El Dorado County, after Vickie Sanders offered to put together the meeting. She reached out to all of the groups and agencies involved and asked those questions but did not get responses from everyone she asked.
Below are the actual questions and answers provided by El Dorado County at the Rubicon Trail meeting two weeks ago documenting the answers to those questions, by each group/agency.
The questions are in black, the answers from the respective agency are in blue. Note that RTF and FOTR did not respond. I have learned that RTF has answers to the questions but didn’t get them to El Dorado before the meeting. They did share those answers verbally at the meeting. I have since asked for those answers to be given to El Dorado County to be able to publish all of the answers together. El Dorado has not received anything from RTF. Although FOTR does still exist, we are told, FOTR and El Dorado County are not getting along, not talking, not planning any maintenance efforts together.
Everyone involved in the Rubicon Trail, regardless of their capacity, needs to get over any and all personal differences with others and do what is best for the trail. There are multiple individuals telling me that will no longer communicate with ‘that person’ or ‘that agency’. To me, that is unprofessional and is not in the best interest of the trail.
It might step on a few toes, but I will ask the question: “What would Dennis (Mayer) Do?” We all wore the yellow wrist bands, “WWDD?”, some for years after his passing. Some of us still have a yellow band in our rigs. Dennis kept it calm and down the center, regardless of how he felt personally. We need to channel Dennis and get back to working together.
An eight-page list of things to do was recently provided to those involved with the management of the Rubicon Trail. Someone needs to take the lead and get started on working on those issues. Let’s get FOTR back to where it was when that group literally stopped the trail from getting closed in 2000. RTF needs to work with Placer and/or the Tahoe NF and the Basin to get an adopt-a-trail/rolling dip/campsite going. The TNF needs to involve users in their maintenance decisions and efforts.
Maybe we turn this around to where the users demand to adopt spots along the trail. Maybe OHV clubs need to demand a list of maintenance items for the season. Maybe the users demand that the decision-making process not only be made public, but that every decision includes the public.
Do we need a threat of closure to bring back cooperation and user involvement? If so, it’s closer than you think.
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 