Tahoma Parking Issues
Posted: June 30, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, illegal, parking, ticket Leave a commentRubithon was held last weekend. I happened to visit the staging area that Friday for another OHV project I’m working on, and I witnessed some very improper parking. Let’s call it what it was, ILLEGAL!
Parking off pavement may or may not be legal, depending on how it is done. I believe you can pull over enough to get off the pavement as long as you are not on any vegetation. We’re talking pulling off the trail one vehicle width; only enough to get off the trail. Don’t quote me on this as I’m not a law enforcement officer.
The parking in these pictures (and I could have taken more pictures) are all illegal. It is either a straightforward illegal parking ticket or a much more expensive resource damage ticket. Again, not a LEO.
We as OHV users need to do better. Images like this will be used by the anti-OHV crowd to put us in a bad light and get our trails and staging areas shut down. Yes, they might pull these images off and use them against us. For the record, I am not giving anyone permission to use these images, for any reason.
There was/is an effort underway to enlarge the parking at the Tahoma Rubicon staging area. That project is on hold as the Lake Taheo Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) has had people retire and others move to other forests. There is a lack of personnel and thus some projects have slowed to a stop.
A small parking lot is no reason to park illegally. If you can’t find room at the staging area, drive back out to the residential area and park along the street.
There has been a trend over the last 20+ years to trailer rigs to the trail. Back in the day, everyone drove to the trail. And then drove home! I get not wanting to drive a trail rig a couple of hundred miles, but those living closer should drive. There has been a trend of bringing non-street legal rigs to the trail. And I’m not talking just side-by-sides, but they are growing in number as well.
Everyone comes to the Rubicon Trail for a challenge. Why not take on the challenge of building a rig that can be driven 100+ miles, do the trail without breaking, and then be driven home? Where’s the challenge of building a buggy with an LS, one-ton axles and 42″ tires?
The parking area was paved a number of years ago. At the time, the FS agreed not to stripe the parking area and to allow the users to park as they wished. For the most part, it has worked. Occasionally, someone parks weird and messes up the flow for everyone else.
I believe that the outer ring of the staging area should be a no parking zone. It should be left open as a guaranteed through route for those looking to park and for emergency vehicles. The area directly in front of the kiosk could be a staging area for rigs coming off or entering the trail. Drivers must remain with their vehicles, if parked there.
We can do better. We must do better. Don’t be that guy. Don’t let your buddy be that guy.
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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
Rubicon Survey About Planned Parking Expansion
Posted: May 15, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, edc, parking Leave a commentI just got an email from El Dorado County (EDC) about a planned parking area expansion on the Tahoe side. Going to their website, you can get the same info. From the EDC website:
Take this Rubicon Trail Survey to let us know what you think about the proposed Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion Project at the Tahoma staging area in the Tahoe Basin. The deadline for the survey is Friday, June 13, 2025, and will take less than 5 minutes to complete. Click here to learn more about the Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion Project.(PDF, 173KB)
Here is the project description from NCE from the “learn more” link. NCE is an engineering firm with seven offices including Reno and Lake Tahoe.
Title: Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion Project
Preliminary Project Description:
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. El Dorado County has easements from the El Dorado National Forest and private property owners; however, no easements exist for the portion of the project in Placer County.
The Rubicon Trail has three major trailheads or access points. El Dorado County maintains the Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs trailheads. The Tahoma staging area, or access point, is within Placer County. Currently, when the parking lot is full at the Tahoma staging area, vehicle parking will occur along the road shoulder, which can lead to overcrowding and resource damage to the adjacent lands. Overflow parking further encroaches into nearby residential areas when the lot and road are full.
To address this issue, the Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion Project would provide expanded parking at the Tahoma staging area on the Tahoe basin side of the trail. Disturbance would occur on approximately 0.91 acres and include 35,140 square feet of new paving. This will provide an additional 32-34 trailer parking spaces. There is also a desire to decommission and restore the existing small staging area along Rubicon Trail (1.25 miles northeast of the parking lot expansion area). Shoulder areas would be closed to parking. Additionally, the project team would like public input on the community’s interest in and/or concerns about a natural surface trail, parallel to the roadway, to provide alternative pedestrian access from the neighborhood to the Tahoma staging area.
The project team will complete technical studies to evaluate the environmental effects of the proposed project. The technical studies will be made available for public review, and a public meeting will be held to solicit feedback on the project and potential environmental effects prior to completion of required environmental documentation.
I’m assuming that the expansion would be behind the current kiosk, further up the trail. But again, I am only guessing as no map has been distributed yet.
The other portion of this proposal is to eliminate the lower dirt parking area once used by the ATV rental company. At the moment, I am opposed to eliminating this area. Once gone, it will never come back. A much further and deeper conversation needs to take place before I let that area go. Those visitors wanting to walk dogs or skate the paved section use this section without having to drive all the way to the staging area. It would also allow an option to parking in the residential area.
The last item is the construction of a natural surface trail parallel to the current paved section of McKinney Rubicon Springs Road. This is something I have suggested before. It would (should) eliminate any conflict between motorized and non-motorized users of the area. Think of it like a sidewalk on any road in the country. Hopefully, it would be designed, constructed and maintained for year-round use.
Here is a copy of the actual survey:
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 or access points. El Dorado County maintains the Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs trailheads. The Tahoma staging, or access point, is within Placer County. Currently when the parking lot is full at the Tahoma staging area, vehicle parking will occur along the access road shoulder, which can lead to overcrowding and resource damage to the adjacent lands. Overflow parking further encroaches into nearby residential areas when the lot and road are full. To address this issue, the Rubicon Trail Parking Lot Expansion Project would provide expanded parking at the Tahoma staging area on the Tahoe Basin side of the trail.
Please answer the following survey questions to help us understand what thoughts you may have, if any, about this proposed project:
Which option below best describes your living status:
Full-time Tahoe Basin resident, Part-time Tahoe Basin resident, Visitor, Other
Do you live within 3 miles of the Tahoe staging area?
Yes, No
How frequently do you visit the Rubicon Trail?
Weekly, Monthly, A few times per summer, Annually, Other
What season do you visit the Rubicon Trail?
Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring
What means of travel have you used to access the Rubicon Trail?
Off-highway-vehicle, Walking, running, or hiking, Biking, Other
Is a natural surface trail, parallel to the roadway, to provide alternative pedestrian access from the neighborhood to the parking area, an improvement you would like to include in the project?
Yes, No
Do you have any concerns about the project? Please select the option that best fits:
Emergency Access/Response, Private Property Concerns, Environmental, Other
Please provide any additional comments to expand on the previous question
(1000 words or less)
The survey takes no time at all. I’m questioning the local aspect. Does it matter where you live or for how long you’re there?
I took the survey and here’s why, if you don’t voice your opinion when it matters, you should complain later if it doesn’t go your way.
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Rubicon Ronin
LTBMU brings in boulders to prevent illegal trailer parking (while the trail was closed)
Posted: September 29, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: parking, staging area, trailers Leave a commentIn a previous post, I documented that trailer parking was getting out of hand at and near the Tahoma staging area. I had also informed the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) about the issue. While the Rubicon Trail was unnecessarily closed due to the Mosquito Fire, the LTBMU went to work.
Tuesday afternoon, right after the trail was reopened, I drove up to the Staging Area to check out that all signs of closure were actually gone. What I found was a lot of new granite:
The area on the north side was left open for overflow use. Sorry, no picture.
A few logs were thrown in to make it look natural.
Some of the rocks are a little on the small side but the users will get the idea.
They even worked the edges of the staging area itself.
We’ll see if it works.
If you trailer your rig to Tahoe, you might want to get there early as there are far fewer parking spots for trailers.
No users were informed that this work would be happening. No input was given other than the work needed to be done. No signage was added to support the rocks. So much for a partnership with the Forest Service.
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Rubicon Ronin
Parking Issues at our trailheads
Posted: July 20, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, parking, safety Leave a commentOver the last half century, the use of the Rubicon Trail has changed many times. Back in the day, almost everyone would drive the trail from Georgetown (not Loon Lake) to Lake Tahoe, like it was a one-way road. Twenty years ago, the majority of the use would access the Rubicon Trail on the Ellis Creek Intertie/Trail and head to the Little Sluice, wheel, party, shit and go home.
The current use seems to be to trailer your rig to the trailhead, street legal or green sticker, and go access the Rubicon Trail. This is happening at all of the access points. I’m more familiar with the Tahoe end of the trail.
This report focuses on the Tahoma trailhead but the side-by-sides have found Barker Pass and are parking trailers on forest road 03-04, just south of 03. For now, there seems to be plenty of open space to park there.
On July 9th, 2022, I drove to the Tahoma staging area to meet some fellow wheelers to do some trail maintenance. The scene along the paved road into the staging area is pictured below.
For the record, I counted probably 30 rigs and trailers parked along the paved road. Three quarters of those rigs were parked illegally.
The ticket that could be written is resource damage. Although many look like they are parked on dirt, it is not legal to park ninety degrees to the road.
Some of these areas have been used for parking for years. That doesn’t make it legal.
In the photo below, work was being done on the paved road and the contractors moved the large boulders in the picture in order to park their equipment during the process. When they were done, the boulders were not put back in place to prevent illegal parking.
This is the guy who really needs a ticket. The first photo doesn’t really show the issues due to the poor photography on my part.
But the follow-up photo clearly shows this idiot parking his trailer on a bush. That is clearly resource damage.
The following Monday, I sent an email, with these pictures, to the Forest Service and to the Rubicon Trail Foundation. As off this writing, I have received absolutely no response regarding this subject.
7-11-2022
Good Monday morning everyone,
This past weekend, I drove through the Tahoma staging area for the Rubicon Trail. The Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s were on our way to do trail maintenance on the Long Lake Trail and Forest Road 03-06.
Attached are several photos of the current parking situation, (taken Saturday July 9th, 2022) not only at the staging area but all along the paved road in to the staging area.
For years now there have been discussions about how to better manage the parking situation for the Rubicon Trail. Several ideas were even agreed upon but I have seen nothing done to prevent the illegal parking that is currently taking place for the Rubicon Trail.
Without doing anything to educate, enforce or engineer a better system, we can only assume it will get worse. And this was not even a holiday weekend. I counted 30 rigs with trailers parked before the staging area and another 20 parked in the staging area.
Safety must be the priority. This area needs to be managed in such a way that an emergency vehicle (police, fire, medic) going in to the staging area can get there even with a tow rig and trailer coming out.
Possible managing ideas that have been discussed, even agreed upon:
-no parking signs along the outer edge of the paved staging area
-no parking along the north side of the paved road
-physically harden both sides of the paved road to protect the forest
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Ideas I don’t think have been floated before:
-expand the parking area, near current staging area or elsewhere along paved road
(I assume this is a no starter for the FS.)
-encouraging wheelers to drop trailers somewhere else, if bringing street legal rigs
-educate/encourage parking off Forest Road 03-04, side-x-sides already doing this
(This is at the top of Blackwood Canyon)
-public campaign to discourage trailer use for street legal vehicles
-parking at Homewood, drive to Rubicon via Noonchester Mine Road, $$$$$
(This could drastically change the character of the Noonchester Mine Road.)
-promote the parking of towing trucks ON their trailers while on the trail
–
This is an issue that needs immediate management. Although it is the responsibility of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, I think the better route to a solution is by getting as many minds as possible together to work out a solution. As soon as possible.
Doug Barr
-just a user-
CC: Jacob Quinn, Mike Gabor, Bob Sweeney, John Arenz, Randy Burleson
My fear, if this continues, is that the anti-OHV crowd will use this as a reason to close or restrict use of our OHV trails, specifically, the Rubicon Trail. I would not put it past the Forest Service to cite this illegal activity as a reason to go after legal OHV access and activities.
Don’t get me wrong. I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy out OHV trails, green sticker or street legal, but we need to learn to do it in a way that is not going to be held against us.
I will also encourage everyone to step up with ideas to solve the problem this problem before it hurts us. Contact the Forest Service, contact RTF, talk at your next club meeting. Maybe we need volunteers to go out and harden the edges of the paved road if the Forest Service refuses to do anything. FOTR?
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Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 