RUBICON! 6/21-23

[abendx]

Okay.... not much to report.

Trail conditions were interesting. There was not much snow this year, so things like the Soup Bowl and Ellis Creek were bone dry and the water level through the Springs and the Meadows on the way out the Tahoe side were all way down. This could have been really bad, but some rain through out the trip helped keep the dust down.

Friday, running the trail, we found very little traffic and we were the hold up most of the time. When we got to the box, I took a look and was sad the tree was down, cut up. I had to see it, even though I hadn't planned on running the box til the way out (just in case). We then proceeded to Buck, making sure to hit the Old Sluice.

Camped at Buck.... bad weather! When we rolled into Buck around 2pm, it was nice. The morning started cold and remained so for longer than usual (maybe 10am is when I peeled my jacket off and wasn't down to trunks til around noon (usually, out there, I am pretty much naked by eight or nine)). AT buck there was this nagging wind that we had all day... not much, but enough to keep the air brisk if you weren't in direct sunlight. Within an hour... the clouds rolled in... big, dark, thick, high clouds.... RAIN clouds!?!? The weather report on Weds, before we left, said nothing of this!! By five someone in the next camp said it was 48 and the wind was easily gusting to 30+ MPH by then.... this really didn't stop much all night. It even rained lightly a few times, but it never really took hold.

I decided to go collecting wood.... since we were somewhat there before the crowd, I was able to collect a shit ton and was able to maintain a raging bon fire through the entire night. But why? Why did I need fire all night?? My fucking sleeping bag got wet due to a leaking water container. My shit is down and that has zero insulation ability when it is wet. Oh no! SO I spent the night between drinking a half bottle of jack and feeding a fire to keep warm while I was nodding off. My guess is that with the wind chill, the temps were easily in the 30s.... which I also wasn't really prepared for since the report stated low 50s, upper 40s over night. I would have been fine, without the wind or without a wet bag. Note to self, no matter what the weather calls for, seal everything!!! I was able to keep the bon fire going until nine, which is when I rolled out (after fixing a vacuum leak I found). When I hot the springs, it rained good and hard for about 30 minutes.... then I took a wrong turn... about 20 minutes later I realized this was all unfamiliar and I headed back.... to blow a tire. Nice two plus inch sidewall gash.... Kevlar my ass!! Swapped for the spare as I didn't feel like fucking with plugging a sidewall if I didn't have to. Came back to the trail to finish it early on Saturday.

Why Saturday you ask.... ? Well, too many issues to describe, but the worse offender was the wet bag. I think I incurred a very, very slight hint of hypothermia. It took me several hours in a very hot truck, plus a long hot shower to start to reverse the chill. To get you on t he same page, when I went to load my rig on the trailer, it was 78 outside. I was wearing a jacket, long johns, two beanies.... (you get the idea) and stripped the jacket off right before lashing down the last corner. I was that cold! Luckily, my friend that let me store the trailer at gave me all the codes to his place and I was able to sneak in a hot shower. That really helped, but like I said, I was probably rolling through Bako when I started to regulate myself correctly.

Ugh.... I need to do this again soon, without so much DRAMA!! .... Come on August!


Here are a couple of pics:

Best spot on the Con!!
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mn6-4MLwr74/T-3f1DC-jlI/AAAAAAAATLI/FZ5UZ61VrzE/s941/DSC_7124.jpg[/img]

Granite Bowl:
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6qgmYfl3-6A/T-3ftGDbvNI/AAAAAAAATJc/ZSk6RFBXi9o/s1417/DSC_7059.JPG[/img]

Playing with a big stick:
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b5K3SUiV468/T-3fvKtfM6I/AAAAAAAATKA/vckj7vgAhSU/s1417/DSC_7092.JPG[/img]

Required photo!
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qfrV9iGaoys/T-3fw_l-8LI/AAAAAAAATKY/XuRgPyliujk/s1255/IMG_20120622_093934.jpg[/img]

No soup for you! An empty Soup Bowl:
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kihlHGiSBTg/T-3f0Z-2nhI/AAAAAAAATK8/0fNhA_llN5c/s1417/DSC_7119.JPG[/img]

Sadness:
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_LDowKpfTiw/T-3f2WXbm-I/AAAAAAAATLc/NCydtCeGamE/s1543/DSC_7131.JPG[/img]

The gay.... the only bypass I made during the trip:
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kciRCjAKf4M/T-3f4iqIJNI/AAAAAAAATMA/Heg_RZylHwA/s1417/DSC_7160.JPG[/img]

Top of Walker:
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xj_m0HcVXeY/T-3f51Y7ceI/AAAAAAAATMQ/tut_t3wq2mM/s941/DSC_7175.jpg[/img]

Old/True Sluice:
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J2zUeHPXVYA/T-3f-cIg-lI/AAAAAAAATNM/FboULnPeAGA/s1255/IMG_20120622_130203.jpg[/img]

[Desert Dog]

Had that happen to my sleeping bag/clothes on a boy scout hiking trip when I was 10 years old, and I had to pull a miserable all-nighter around the fire. Since then, I ALWAYS keep my sleeping bag and cloths in a waterproof bag. The waterproof bag also keeps the dust out of those items on the trail.

Sounds like you did have a little hypothermia. The half a bottle of Jack likely compounded it, as alcohol makes hypothermia worse or can cause hypothermia if you are on the verge.

[abendx]

PICS added!

And you are right and I know better than that.... got lazy!

[Zak.Taylor]

Isn't the rubicon supposed to be runnable by all of the stock jeeps with the "trail rated" badge? I don't see a liberty, grand cherokee or even a stock TJ rubicon making it through that. Was there a bypass?

[abendx]

The Box and the True Sluice have big time bypasses. These are the two roughest parts of the trail. That being said, I could see no Liberty/etc making the Big Sluice, Caddy Hill, or a bunch of other spots. I think that only apply during the Jambo and even then, I'd be surprised if they made the trail that easy.

The spot I am "bypassing" is the Box (Little Sluice). There are two other bypasses... one is going up Toyota Rock (somewhat steep and off camber) and the other is going further around the other side (never did that route, but I assume it is the easiest of the four).

[Desert Dog]

I see you going down thousand dollar hill instead of through the Box, what up wit dat??????????????

That isn't the soup bowl in your pic. Soup bowl is just a huge rock with a crater in it near the top (that sometimes holds stagnant water after rains). There are a few big boulders at the base that crush your sheet metal if you don't make it and have to back out. But I have never seen that swampy area in your pic dry before, they must have had a very bad snowpack this year.

Randy's rig looks too damn clean to have run that trail! My Jeep is a mess/scratched to hell by the time I get out of there.

[abendx]

Thanks on the clarification. I thought that was the SB. Never had a good tour guide to point out the hot spots.

Its dry... very dry.

Shit got fuckered up... I'll do it in August. Will you ???

[chuckanut105]

Drama sounds like a typical Brad and Randy run. I read about the sluice tree in crawl they said that it was 1200 years old, if that was the case it started growing in 812AD.

[abendx]

[quote="chuckanut105"]Drama sounds like a typical Brad and Randy run. I read about the sluice tree in crawl they said that it was 1200 years old, if that was the case it started growing in 812AD.[/quote]

Something I saw on PBB said 15000 years old. Hmm ? 1200 sounds better.

[chuckanut105]

Ya I dont think thats right. Since we have the guy who planted it on the site. Chris how long ago did you plant that tree?