“FLASH” Rubicon Trail Maintenance
Posted: March 10, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: Placer, snow Leave a comment“Get out your green shovel! Put on your FORT shirts. FOTR is back!”
This is the entrance to the Rubicon Trail as of 9am this morning. Not accessible!
Okay, this is not an official FOTR project, but it should be. I have reached out to FOTR but honestly, I didn’t give them enough time to respond before I posted.
.
Calling all Rubicon users. I am putting together a “flash” Rubicon Trail maintenance effort for this Saturday, March 12th, 9am.
We will be removing the 8-foot snow wall currently blocking wheeled access to the Rubicon Trail. This effort has Placer County approval!
9am Arrive at trailhead, please do not arrive early.
Stop your vehicle in the street as if you’re waiting to drive up the Rubicon.
Do not “park” along the side of the road, parking is illegal this time of year.
9:15 Safety and Operational Briefing
9:30 Start snow removal
The goal is to reduce the wall to a ramp
All snow will remain on McKinney Rubicon Road
No snow will be moved on to Evergreen Street
If the wall does not give in easily, we will try using chainsaws to get through the ice.
Please bring: Shovels, Pick Axes, Digging Bars, Food & Drink for yourself, Gloves, Waterproof Pants, Sunglasses, etc.
Snowblowers are not allowed at this time.
I just got the word that no mechanized equipment may be used to remove snow from the entrance of the Rubicon. So, chainsaws are out.
Here’s the challenge. Who’s got a bigger saw than I do? Mine’s got a 36″ cutting edge!
I will supply doughnuts and some drinks for hydration.
No idea how many people will show up.
.
Rubicon Ronin
Holiday Travelers on Rubicon
Posted: January 17, 2022 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: snow, stuck, winter Leave a commentAfter being stuck at home for more than a week, I finally ventured out to the Tahoma trailhead. Although I had no intension of driving out on to the trail, I brought the Jeep just because. The rig stuck on the trail with four guys in it were happy I did.
The neighborhood looks much better:
The berm is very doable and only a few feet tall:
But these guys needed help:
They had barely started up the first incline and got off of the compacted snow of the ruts and stopped.
A few gentle tugs backwards and they were free. I unhooked to get more distance between us and they almost drove out. They needed another tug or two to finally make the pavement.
The trail looks well-travelled but make sure you go prepared. As long as I was in the ruts, I felt very secure. When I got out of my rig, the snow off to the sides was obviously not firm enough to drive on.
The Sno-Park at Blackwood Canyon has been plowed out but remember, this is closed to wheeled vehicles until June 15th.
Be safe, be smart, don’t go alone, be prepared to spend the night.
Enjoy!
.
Rubicon Ronin
Tahoma Trailhead Conditions 12-30-21
Posted: December 31, 2021 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: snow, Tahoma, trailhead, winter Leave a commentOnce the highways opened up, after a record-breaking December snow fall, I ventured up to the Rubicon Trail trailhead in Tahoma to see what it looked like.
Before I could even get there, I had to drive through the neighborhood. Single track! The county plow had been through but only one time and right down the middle. It will take two more plow passes to clear the road and then the rotary blower will come through to clean up the edges.
From a distance, the trailhead looks unbreeched by wheeled vehicles.
Sure enough, only one lone snowmobile track over the berm and up the trail. I did not have the time, nor the place to park, in order to snowshoe up the trail. But many snowshoe tracks already there.
There is a new trailhead sign. I don’t know who put it up but it has Forest Service colors.
My suggested signage for the trailhead was much more in your face:
(Yes, I realize there’s a misspelling in there)
Looking back from the trail, you can barely see the roof of my TJ with a 5″ lift on 35″ tires.
The berm is probably six feet tall, but once over the berm the snow is probably four feet deep.
So, I had to try it, but I knew if I made it over the berm I’d be stuck. Single vehicle; no way to winch myself backwards; but I did have a shovel with me. What the heck.
It’s a bad picture but it shows I didn’t get far.
Snow plow work is so far behind, understandably, that the entrance to the Sno-Park (Kaspian Campground) at Blackwood Canyon has not been plowed at all. FYI, no wheeled vehicle access from here, only snowmobiles.
The Rubicon Trail is open year-round. Only go if you and your rig are overly prepared!
Once the rotary plow comes through, there could be a five-foot face to the trailhead. Knock it down, make a ramp, go have fun. Stay on the trail. But beware as you exit, if there wasn’t a sheer face as you went in, there might be a sheer face on your way out. Walk it first.
Enjoy our public lands but be safe.
.
Rubicon Ronin
Out of towner caught in surprise snowfall
Posted: November 24, 2021 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Placer, rescue, snow, stuck Leave a commentI just heard a funny story. It’s only funny because no one got hurt. The story could have had a very different outcome.
So, a guy and his wife are traveling across country in their modified Sprinter van. The wife has something to do all day and will be staying with a friend that night. So, the husband decides to camp at Tahoe for the night.
He drives up Blackwood Canyon, a paved road, and sets up camp only a half mile from the summit. It’s cloudy, it’s raining a bit but he’s in his Sprinter van that he and his wife have been living out of for weeks on the road.
It starts to rain.
He goes to sleep.
He wakes up with three feet of snow all around his van.
He’s wearing shorts and sandals.
He thinks he’s screwed.
He has one bar of cell coverage on his phone. He calls his wife. She calls the Sheriff. Placer County Search & Rescue rolls out their snow cat and goes up to rescue him. He asks about getting his Sprinter van out. They tell him it might be there until spring. They take him down the hill without his van.
He calls around and gets Nick of the Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s. Nick has a rescue service when he’s not engineering something or racing the Baja 100, literally. Nick was instrumental in recovering “Glacier Girl” which was buried under eight feet of snow some years ago.
The guy thought he was prepared. He had the traction block, tracks, boards things. The problem was that they were mounted UNDER the rig. Hard to get to with three feet of snow all around.
Nick was the hero again. It took some work. The Sprinter is only 4wd if the rear axle starts to slip. Nick had to literally pull the van DOWN the hill the snow was so thick even after it was packed down by the snow cat.
This should be a lesson to everyone. Check the weather before you travel.
Be safe, don’t be this guy.
.
Rubicon Ronin
The Rubicon is WET!
Posted: May 18, 2021 Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: melt, snow, water Leave a commentA small group of Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s and a few others, ventured out on to the Rubicon last weekend (5/15-16) and it was still very wet. Our objective was make sure the Long Lake Trail, at the base of Cadillac Hill, was clear of dead fall and was safe to travel. It’s now clear. Please remember the trail ends at the 0.91 mile mark from the Rubicon and that camp ground is NOT a drive through loop.
So, yes, we are at the height of the snow melt. But with the amount of water on the trail, we need to Tread Lightly!
The word from those who are supposed to be maintaining the trail is that no work will be done on the Tahoe National Forest this year (2021) to prevent future water holes on the trial. The 2021 focus will be paving the staging area and rebuilding the rolling dips within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
On the way out, we documented the current trail conditions.
There were a few spots that we had to drive over snow. One spot was a large berm in a pool of water. A couple of people with a few shovels and it could be knocked down rather quickly.
Again, please Tread Lightly!
Stay on the trail.
Drive slowly through all water.
Be safe.
.
Rubicon Ronin
The 'Other' Rubicon 