Rubicon Meeting Tomorrow!!!
Posted: May 27, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: meeting, Placer, staging area Leave a commentLet me start by being pissed off about the extremely short notice of this meeting.
I only learned of this ten minutes ago. It appears to be posted to the Rubicon Trail Facebook page two hours ago. Even the Placer County page has it being posted today. The El Dorado County changed the page I referred to in a previous post.
Here is the added paragraph to the El Dorado website:
Planning consultant (NCE) will be hosting a public meeting for this project on May 28, 2025 from 5pm-7pm at the Granlibakken Lodge in Tahoe City to solicit community feedback on the proposed project and to answer any potential questions the public may have.
From the Placer County website:
Popular Rubicon Trailhead in North Lake Tahoe to undergo expansion; community meeting scheduled for May 28
Published May 27, 2025El Dorado County, Placer County and NCE, a local engineering firm, have scheduled a community meeting for Wednesday, May 28, to discuss improvements to the Rubicon Trail staging area in Tahoma.
The Rubicon Trail is a highly valued off-highway vehicle recreational trail that passes through both El Dorado and Placer counties. It is located on land managed by El Dorado National Forest, Tahoe National Forest, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, and includes private properties.
The Rubicon Trail has three major trailheads. El Dorado County maintains the Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs trailheads, while the Tahoma staging area is within Placer County.
“Currently, when the parking lot is full at the Tahoma staging area, parking will spill along the access road, which can lead to overcrowding and resource damage to the adjacent lands,” NCE Associate Scientist David Rios said. “Overflow parking further encroaches into nearby residential areas when the lot and road are full, so this project is designed to prevent those issues and help us create an experience we can all enjoy.”
The Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion project aims to improve safety, reduce neighborhood impacts and enhance access to this popular destination. The project is slated to include 32 – 34 additional trailer parking spaces at the Tahoma staging area on the Lake Tahoe Basin side of the trail by adding 35,140 square feet of new pavement. Following the expansion, shoulder parking would be prohibited to reduce the spillover.
“These trailhead improvements not only contribute to better recreational access, they help mitigate soil erosion and parking overflow as well,” Placer County’s Tahoe Engineering Manager Seth Warren said. “This trailhead is one of several being improved in the county over the next few years, including the Lower Sawtooth and Ward Creek trailheads.”
The project may also include a natural surface trail, parallel to the roadway, to provide alternative pedestrian access from the nearby Tahoma neighborhood, provided there is enough public interest.
Members of the public can provide their input on the project by:
- Attending the public meeting on May 28, 2025, at Granlibakken Resort (725 Granlibakken Road, Tahoe City). The meeting will take place from 5-7 p.m.
- Click here to take an online survey about the project
- Or call the El Dorado County Parks & Trails Division at (530) 621-5360 and leave your input with staff
The NCE project team will complete technical studies to evaluate the environmental effects of the proposed project and those studies will be made available for public review. A second public meeting will be held to solicit feedback on the project and potential environmental effects at a later date.
I’m going to try and make it, although I had other plans.
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Rubicon Ronin
Rubicon Trail Round Table Meeting
Posted: January 31, 2023 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: access, management, meeting Leave a commentA new effort is underway to hopefully find and implement solutions to the many issues facing the Rubicon Trail today.
The following information has just been released:
Come to a vision setting meeting to help craft a future Comprehensive Management Plan for the Rubicon Trail.
We would like to encourage enthusiasts, including nonprofits, landowners, business interests, clubs, local and statewide organizations, to come together and meet in partnership about how we can inject more input and opinions from stakeholders into the Rubicon management process.
The Rubicon Trail cuts across jurisdictional, geographical, and cultural boundaries and is the focus of several groups including dedicated and caring stakeholders. Considering the myriad of organizations and agencies who assist with planning, managing, and maintaining the Rubicon Trail, there is often confusion and lack of communication when it comes to actions taken on the trail.
The Rubicon is among the most famous OHV destination in the world. With opportunity come responsibilities. We must find ways to ensure the future of the trail in perpetuity and in an environmentally sound manner.
The meeting will be held at the Cal4 Wheel office, 8120 36th Ave Sacramento, Ca 95824. 5:00 PM February 13th, 2023. There will be Zoom available as well, but we encourage everyone to attend in person if possible. For Zoom info contact: granat.amy@gmail.com
I have high hopes for this new effort and will be attending.
I hope you can join the meeting
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Doug
Rubicon Trail Meeting Reno Nevada, March 26th
Posted: March 28, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: communications, El dorado, meeting, Placer, snow Leave a commentWe had about fifty people show up for the meeting Saturday morning. Sorry, no pictures.
The majority of the group were the regular players, El Dorado County, Rubicon Trail Foundation, Friends of the Rubicon, CA Off Road Vehicle Assoc., Nevada Four Wheel Drive Assoc., Forest Service and private property owners, but there were, of course, the users.
Vickie Sanders of El Dorado County lead the show. She reviewed the list of questions submitted to the governing groups and agencies prior to the meeting. Most of those groups and agencies were there to expanded and clarified on those answers. I am trying to get an electronic copy of the questions and answers to post up, stay tuned.
Placer County was a no show. They did provide written answers to the questions sent but did not provide a representative at the meeting.
Overview:
El Dorado County has obtained and spent 35 million dollars of OHV grant funding on the trail to date! Helicopters will fly this summer working from Arnold’s Rock to the Springs. RTF will fund heavy equipment to rework the rolling dips within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. RTF will manage opening the Tahoma staging area bathrooms earlier in the season and keeping them open later in the year.
Tahoe side adoptions are possible but not yet organized: sections of the Rubicon Trail, rolling dips within the LTBMU and campsites along the trail.
Parking at the staging area was discussed and will likely include no parking along the outside edge of the staging area to allow a permanent ‘through route’ for users and more specifically emergency equipment.
The hot topic was the always reappearing Snow Wall. Somehow, an excess of snow is appearing at the Rubicon Trail entrance. Placer County claims they are plowing linerally, only a blade pushing snow to the side. Yet they have and use a rotary blade in the area. Placer is standing by their current practices. Hopefully, a meeting will be scheduled that will include Placer County, OHV users’ groups and the local residents to finally come to a solution to this issue. Many solutions were documented and will be followed up on.
Another longer-term thought would be to make the Rubicon Trail a Sno-Park, similar to Blackwood Canyon, but allowing wheeled vehicles. Plow the road up to a parking lot where OHV users could bring in a trailered rig. Yes, there would be a parking fee associated with the Sno-Park. We anticipate that the local residents would strongly oppose this idea. This was only a thought; no action will be taken at this time.
Better communications were promised both between those involved in management and communications to the users.
El Dorado County, Placer County and CA State Parks LEOs have entered into their own MOU to ensure law enforcement across the entire Rubicon Trail.
The suggestion has been made that a similar meeting needs to take place every year, in order to continue the open communications. These meetings could rotate through different cities: Reno, South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Placerville, Auburn and Sacramento. Stay tuned.
Overall, it was a good meeting. We needed to get people in the same room and away from their keyboards. Nothing was solved and Placer was a no show, but we are moving in the right direction.
Hopefully, I’ll have those questions and answers to post soon.
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Doug
-aka, Rubicon Ronin
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)
.
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
Reno Off-Road and Motorsports Expo: March 23rd-27th, 2022
Posted: January 26, 2022 Filed under: Maintenance | Tags: answers, expo, maintenance, meeting Leave a commentIt’s on again. For the last two years, the Reno Off-Road and Motorsports Expo has been cancelled due to covid concerns. All signs point to the show actually happening this year at the Reno Convention Center!
https://www.lockettshows.com/off-road-and-motorsports-expo
The show is actually five shows in one: Off-Road, RV, Boat, Home and Pet shows. One ticket, five shows.
I will again have a booth with the Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s at the show to talk about everything Rubicon Trail. Here’s a shot from 2019:
I think this is from 2018:
Here’s the twist for 2022. The plan is to hold a meeting, Saturday morning starting at 9am, to talk about the Rubicon Trail. Entry to the Rubicon meeting will be free. I believe that a ticket to get you in to all five shows is only $10.
I first planned this meeting for 2020. But then covid. Since then, I’ve become burnt out on sitting on boards and organizing meetings. Now it’s 2022. El Dorado Couty has stepped up to take the lead on making this meeting happen. All of the governing agencies have been invited. User groups have also been invited. Local clubs should be represented. There has been a list of questions and topics for discussion presented to El Dorado County. Hopefully, all of our questions will be answered.
My assumption of how things will go at the meeting…
-Introductions of presenters
-Explanation of how and by who the trail is managed
-Explanation on how trail maintenance is funded
-Maintenance: who, what, when, where and how
-Possible projects
-Current issues
-Questions and Answer session
Hopefully, we will get all of our questions answered.
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 