Rubicon Trip 05/17 & 05/18

[fredr1980]

Hitting the Rubicon on Friday 05/17 for a day trip and then again on Saturday for another day trip and was wondering if anyone would like to join. Trail seems to be flooded at Rubicon Springs according to the latest posts on pirate4x so will probably run to Little Sluice and back or Buck Island and back if time allows. If conditions change at rubicon springs in the next 2 weeks we'll go all the way through to Tahoe. So far It'll be my ZJ and the brother in law with his built suzuki... trying to get the wife's rig wrapped up for the trip after sitting in the garage untouched for 2+ years after a 1-ton axle swap but it's 50/50 if I'll be able to finish it on time as I'm also swapping out the tranny on the ZJ with a cracked bellhousing, stripped doubler mid-shaft and stripped input on the D300 from a wheeling trip this past fall. Post up if you're interested in going.

Fred R.

[fredr1980]

Trip still on, brother in law backed out as he had some work commitments he couldn't get out of. As of now it'll be the ZJ and maybe the wife's CJ if we can get it to pass smog... failed miserably, high HC at idle & 2500RPM, CA gross polluter now .... been sitting at the smog shop since Friday seeing if they can get it to pass, coming down to the wire. Lol

Fred R.

[fredr1980]

Good trip, trail was completely void of snow to buck island and it was a perfect 55-60 degrees all day. Ran to Little Sluice the first day and to Buck Island the second. Only saw 1 rig heading in all day Friday, got a late start at around 1pm and caught up to a rig at Ellis and then passed them on Walker after riding their rear bumper for what seemed a LONG time. Saturday there were WAY more people on the trail, many of which we passed on our way out after we loaded up on the trailer around 6pm. Friday night on the Rubicon seems to be the "in" thing I guess... lol. Walker Hill was pretty much paved and Little Sluice after being blown up and filled was EASIER than the by-pass one used to take to get around it back in the day. Ran most of the trail in 2wd pretty much, put it in double-low 2wd for some of the harder sections and 2-3 times in 4wd without the use of the front locker. I'll post some pictures from my wifes iphone later. Will probably be going again in about 2-3 weeks to run all the way through tahoe, will be my rig and my wife's CJ-7 on 1-tons.

Fred R.

[BlackDiamondBound]

nice, sounds like a good time. it was really great weather up there this weekend. Thanks for the trail update, hopefully ill have my rig running next month and will see you up there. pollock pines? do you play on MET in the winter?

[fredr1980]

nice, sounds like a good time. it was really great weather up there this weekend. Thanks for the trail update, hopefully ill have my rig running next month and will see you up there. pollock pines? do you play on MET in the winter?

Yeah it was very good weather, some sections of the trail are still a bit wet/sloppy but not bad at all. No mosquitos on our trip so I guess we lucked out but it was also pretty windy in some of the open areas of the trail so that probably helped to.
We have a place in P.P. that we go to on the weekends. Wife's rig is stored there as I only have a 20ft trailer so I just tow my ZJ from the bay area whenever we go up. MET is nice in the winter, usually just go up with the tow vehicle to go shooting or let the kids play in the snow as my wifes rig is has no top, no doors and no heater and she doesn't like wheeling in the cold to much... lol. I don't take my ZJ as Forest Service Officer Marcus that was notorious for harrassing 4wheelers and handing out bogus tickets on the Rubicon was reassigned to MET and has continued his trend of messing with 4wheelers out there and handing out bogus tickets... there's posts all over pirate about the guy messing with folks on MET now. I've seen him a few times but never interacted with him as I have a fairly stock looking tow rig and don't do anything to draw attention to myself.
We should definately hook up out on the Rubicon... going up again in about 2-3 weeks with me and the wife and probably again the week AFTER July 4th with our rigs and the Brother-in-law and his rig.

Fred R.

[BlackDiamondBound]

Yea all that talk on Pirate kept me away from MET a good amount this year. My girlfriend and I go up in that area and the other side of 50 once a week or at least every other week and I have yet to run into Marcus thank goodness. I'm sure its just a matter of time. Of course when I did go up MET in the winter it was go in at dusk, get up far enough not to be bothered, camp and leave the next day at dark. that method seemed pretty good for avoiding him.

I keep having a reoccurring problem with my claytons control arm mounts cracking. A shop has been working on that for about 3 weeks now, but once I get it back I need to rebuild the transfer case, do take care of some odds an ends and I'll be good to go. shooting to get it all done in a month so i'll let you know, so we can meet up on the trail! Until then how about some pics!

[fredr1980]

shooting to get it all done in a month so i'll let you know, so we can meet up on the trail! Until then how about some pics!

Cool, yeah let me know when you want to go up and I'll bring up my rig, we are usually up there every week or two. Not to many pics but here are a few that my wife snapped of my rig on her phone, she has some videos but don't know how to get them off her phone.

Fred R.

At the beginning of the trail on the granite slabs

Follow the yellow markers glued to the slabs... lol

Little wet passing Soup Bowl & Kitchen...

Taking what's now considered a "hard" line going down Walker Hill on the way back out

Somewhere near Ellis on the way out

Believe it or not didn't actually hit this rock on the way to the Granite bowl on the way out...

[BlackDiamondBound]

wow that last picture is pretty awesome, looks like its right into your fender. thanks for sharing!