Infectious Off-Road.com

Looking over on PBB, I saw [url=http://goo.gl/Hd498]this thread[/url]. I looked and didn't see it here (please correct me if I missed it)... I feel it is important to all of us as well. While many of us aren't yet to the point to wreck our rigs in the BOX, we do need to be on top of trail issues like this and band together to help the cause. This is probably the most iconic trail in the world and every little thing they take away chips away at our access in the future.

I am not sure you or I can do much (please pipe up and let us know if there are things), but being educated is part of the battle and educating others goes a long way to insuring our future.

link to thread?

go over "this thread" he linked that to it

tricky tricky lol

Unfortunately, that issue has been on the table for a long time. The press release referenced in that POR thread is dated from 2010. They don't want to close Little Sluice, they want to change it to not be so difficult, thus relieving the big crowds on weekends that come and hang out and get drunk and leave shit and trash around the area.

This is a tough call. No one wants the trail messed with, and it's already been messed with way to much. On the other hand, the drunk crowds that hang out on weekends around Little Sluice are a negative factor in the efforts to leave the trail alone and open. Friends of the Rubicon has been dealing with this issue for the last few years.

The more I read on the subject, the sicker I get.

The Nazis aren't the only enemy. Some in our own ranks, apparently, have interesting agendas.

Although I want the box to stay extreme, I see both sides.

When I first ran the Rubicon with my father in my YJ, little sluice was part of the trail and anyone on 33s could make it through. In the late 90s, a large number of boulders were rolled in during a weekend. As rumor has it, around 05-06 Pirates of the Rubicon started dumping the HUGE boulders in the box. There were large rocks on the ridge overlooking the box that mysteriously "rolled" in there one night. People were still doing the "box" on 33s in 2004. Big sluice has also been highly modified by people over the years, particularly in 2010 when it "mysteriously" developed huge obstacles over the weekend; boulders were dislodged and rolled down the hillside onto the trail, and some were winched in. That was a fun year to run the trail.

Years ago when I first ran the con during the jambo with my dad, gatekeeper was the hardest obstacle (now it doesn't exist). So the little sluice was a moderate part of the trail, that once modified by people years ago, became party central for the "dude-bro" crowd and caused a major bypass to be formed which in turn led to more environmental damage. Some may have a valid point when they argue that the LS crowd ruined the con. Now they want to pretty much pave the road to little sluice. I am a firm believer that people should leave 4x4 trails in the forest alone and let nature take its course. If you want to make trails, do it in a barren wasteland like JV.

Little Sluice 1998:
[attachment=3]little sluice 1998.jpg[/attachment]


Little Sluice 2002:
[attachment=2]little sluice 2002.jpg[/attachment]


Little sluice 2005:
[attachment=1]little sluice 2005.JPG[/attachment]


Little sluice 2008:
[attachment=0]little sluice 2008.jpg[/attachment]

Read the PBB thread.. As it turns out, the BOX issue is a small item of a larger agenda. Its hard to tell, but looks like the big enemy here is a group of fellow wheelers.

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Just read that thread. Seems to have all the typical Pirate conspiracy theories, baseless accusations, bitching, whining, complaining, then kissing and making up when the OGs come in and put the kids to bed. At least everyone seems to agree that the box should be left alone.

The groups with the money actually WANT to make the trail easier, so it gets more use and people spend more money in El Dorado County, at the Jambos, and donate to the use groups. They want more soccer moms in new 4-door Rubis on the trail and less "dude-bros" with busted up Toyotas, coolers full of cheap beer, who don't donate to use groups, don't spend money in the area, and who leave a trail of garbage in their wake for others to clean up.

I actually like the trail less today than when I first ran it years ago. It is just too damn crowded for me, and taking the challenge out of it makes it even less attractive. If I want to camp next to assholes from LA or meander through a maze of broke-down shit-boxes, I can just drive to big-bear instead. Add to that the county cops and FS roaming the trail trying to generate revenue through citations. We have access to trails half that distance away without the crowds or BS.

I'm not for closing anything or modifying any 4x4 trail to make it easier. I hope the Rubicon survives.

[img]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn252/connor0770/Jeepin/P9290202.jpg[/img]


[img]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn252/connor0770/Jeepin/P9290201.jpg[/img]

Looks like they just filled it in?

Cold cracking and/or blasting is next.... or that is how I am reading into it.

[b]Guys on PBB are saying that the BOX is still the hardest spot on the trail[/b]..... and are getting through it EASY on 35s. If you look at the pictures, I see lines that a stock Jeep could likely make.

Pics.....

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700307d1349648027-little-sluice-ls1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700308d1349648027-little-sluice-ls2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700309d1349648027-little-sluice-ls3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700310d1349648027-little-sluice-ls4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700514d1349674255-little-sluice-dsc01375.jpg[/img]





And the Big Sluice..... entrance paved! (assume that if it is true the BOX is still the hardest spot, the rest of the trail must look similar to this)

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700515d1349674639-little-sluice-dsc01414.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/rubicon-trail/700516d1349674639-little-sluice-dsc01413.jpg[/img]


Fucking sad!! We're watching them turn the (arguably) most famous trail in the world into a fire road.

Damn, in 2010, the easiest rock garden was harder than that! Id say Swamp Lake is definately a better trail now. The whole situation sucks.

Yeah.... 2010 seems to have been one of the hardest years ever, from what I read on the interwebz. It was my first year on the trail, so I don't have a lot to judge that by, but I do recall the trail being tough and I think I said that 35s could do it, but 37s were much better. This last year.... 31s were all one would need to take all but the hardest lines.... now, 31s might even be able to traverse the Box.