Fed and FS Still Shut Down

Posted: November 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

With the federal government shut down, the US Forest Service is shut down. But our OHV trails are NOT shut down. Get out there and enjoy while the weather is awesome and the changing tree colors are beautiful.

Although the shutdown should end somewhat soon, the effects of the shutdown might linger. Three Rubicon Trail projects/issues come to mind.

I’m going to apologize up front. After rereading this post, it is full of rumor, opinion and things I have not been able to confirm. So, take it with a grain of salt.

The first project has been discussed for years and was scheduled to start in 2025. This would be the reroute around the Miller Creek shelf road section of the Rubicon Trail. Yes, the government shutdown has currently stopped the project, but I’m hearing that there are other factors stalling the project. I cannot confirm a lawsuit regarding the reroute, but the rumor is out there. There is also talk of repairs to the shelf road rather than the reroute, with one donor offering a lot of money to see the current route repaired rather than do the reroute. For the record, the UDFS has already made the decision not to do a repair but to go forward with a reroute. There is talk of forest service gates being put on the new reroute as it is not part of the county’s recognized ‘right-of-way’, although I have a document that promises not gates on the new section of 16E75, the Rubicon Trail. That will be a fight as decades ago gates were also threatened, fought against and we won. Again, with the FS shutdown, I cannot confirm this.

One of the lesser talked about aspects of the “reroute” project is the decommissioning of several user created routes along Cadillac Hill. I am very much opposed to closing any of these as they allow safe passage of rigs going up and coming down Cadillac Hill. Closure of these short, parallel trails will force users to drive off trail to get around each other.

The second project is the expansion of the Tahoma staging area parking lot. Along with the shutdown of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, the LTBMU is very short on personnel due to transfers and retirements and cannot complete the work they agreed to do regarding planning and permitting. No idea when the LTBMU can hire and fill positions, bring those individuals up to speed and get their work on the expansion completed.

The third is my effort to talk about the opening of OHV gates. This didn’t even get off the ground as our first group meeting was cancelled due to the shutdown. The good news is we really have until May to get together and produce a plan to get the FS gates open on time. I’m confidant this will get done and our OHV trails will be accessible on time.

Get out there and use our OHV trails. Please remember that in the Sierra, this time of year, any weather is possible. Go prepared to spend the night. Be safe, Think smart.

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Rubicon Ronin

Meeting thoughts

Posted: May 28, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment

So, 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 (staging area) Paved, Reopens

Posted: June 26, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

This morning (June 26th), 8am, the Tahoma Staging Area reopened after being closed for a week for the paving of the staging area and repairs to the access road.

The paved area will not be striped at this time. If the users continue to be able to figure out efficient parking, it will never be paved. The current plan is to post “No Parking” signs along the outside edge of the parking/staging area. This would provide a permanent drive through turn around area for those with trailers and emergency vehicles.

The access road along side the staging area was also paved. And yes, that ever present dip at the end of the pavement was filled in! This is the first entrance to the staging area:

Here is the second entrance and where that dip used to be:

And the last entrance:

The paving went all the way to the first rolling dip and even was placed up to the leading edge of the new kiosk concrete base:

And up to the toilets:

While they were there, the paving company was contracted to do many, many repairs to the access road:

And…

There was always that right turn, coming from the lake, that had a pretty big drop. (looking back towards the lake)

That turn also got fill material to widen the turn and more corrugated pipe to lengthen the drain:

There were many more repairs to the access road.

Thanks go out to El Dorado County, Placer County, the USFS (Basin) and the contractor that did the work. Everyone worked together to fund it (CA State Parks, OHV Division grant), plan it and make it happen. The efforts to educate the public were mostly successful. There were many rigs with trailers parked in Blackwood Canyon, in many places.

There was only on instance of a Jeep driving around the road closed sign and in to the trail to the staging area, thinking he could get through. He was from Minnesota.

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Rubicon Ronin

Rubicon Trail CLOSED for PAVING!

Posted: June 3, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Access, Maintenance, Travel | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Okay, I did that on purpose. They are only paving the Tahoma staging area and extending the access road.

June 21st through June 25th, the Rubicon Trail will be closed, at the Tahoe entrance. There will be reroutes available through Blackwood Canyon. See map below. Please plan accordingly.

Please do not try and sneak in the morning of the 21st or the evening of the 25th, wait until Saturday morning.

Coming out of the Rubicon, the easy reroute is Forest Road 03-04 over to Barker Pass and then down the paved Forest Road 03 to the lake. The more fun reroute is the Hobbit Trail (16E76) to Red Cabin (16E79) to Barker Pass and then down the Middle Fork Trail (15N38) to the lake.

This has been planned for many years now and is actually going to happen. The reasoning is to eliminate erosion and thus improve water quality (Keep Tahoe Blue) and to reduce dust in the basin. The reason for the solid closure is for the safety of the crew working and to speed up the process by not having to deal with outside vehicles.

Grant funding for this was obtained probably six years ago but by the time the actual plan to do it was in place the cost of paving was above the amount of the original grant and the project got put on hold.

It is my understanding that El Dorado County, namely Vickie Sanders, stepped in to help out with covering the extra cost through other grants. Thank you, Vickie. Here is a link to the El Dorado County press release:

https://edcgov.us/Government/Parks

The road in will be extended to the first rolling dip, about equal to furthest western edge of the staging area. That will eliminate that annoying dip right at the edge of the pavement. Hopefully, they will harden the first few feet of the dirt trail to prevent a similar development. That should be right about to the point I stood to take this picture. I do sometimes miss my old XJ, pictured.

The trees were removed last year and were available for firewood at the ATV rental parking area. I grabbed quite a few rounds. It will sort of be sad to burn them. There were still logs to be cut at the old ATV parking turn out. Bring a LONG saw as they are thick.

The new kiosk was built last year, the old one was removed and will be reused at another OHV trailhead. The paving should run right up to the concrete base of the kiosk.

There is a new 4’x8′ map posted on the kiosk. It’s a rough draft to check size and material. See below:

To start with, there will be no parking lines painted on the asphalt. The idea is to, one, save money by not painting, and two, allow the users to figure out how to property an efficiently park in the space allowed.

Some of the pot holes and the hard edges of the paved road in from the residential area will be also be addressed.

Here is a copy of the front page of the five page outline for the project. My chicken scratch notes as well.

Please be patient with this temporary closure. It will bring a much better staging area experience for both those going onto the trail and those coming off the trail.

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Rubicon Ronin

Tahoma Kiosk Installed

Posted: October 20, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Today I drove up to the staging area just to see the progress on the new kiosk. And it’s almost done!

It is not what I expected but it’s a HUGE improvement over the old kiosk.

The asphalt coming next summer will run right up to the concrete base.

The new kiosk is much bigger than the old one, which I’m trying to move to the Middle Fork trailhead in Blackwood Canyon. Not only does it have twice the space for posting information, it has the same amount of space on the backside…

The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has also developed a new map which will be posted 4’x8′. No need to get out the glasses to figure out where you’d like to go.

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Rubicon Ronin

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