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Some of the members of the Snake River Off Roaders went and
hit the Rubicon. Come and check out how it went.
Story and most pics by cajack
View all of the Rubicon Pictures
HERE
| 15Sept. – Jack, Brent, Lavell (and daughter), and Scott
met at Scotts house prepared to hit the road. Brent and Jack each had
their rigs on single trailers while Scott had borrowed a “long” trailer
from Chuck (Boise) for his Bronco and Lavell’s Sami. After the obligatory
hello’s we hit the road for Blackfoot to meet Mickey and Michelle. This is
where things get interesting. Somewhere along the road to Blackfoot the
idea was proposed that the “long” trailer was long enough for 3 rigs |
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So we met
Mickey in Blackfoot and then proceeded to unload in the Checkers parking lot and
rearrange to put the Bronco, Sami, and Cherokee on one trailer towed by Brent’s
pickup, leave Scott’s pickup at Mickey’s and then hit the road. Once this was
done the trip to CA was actually uneventful, occasioned by several stops along
the way with late arrival (1:30 am) at the campsite. Chuck was already at Lake
Tahoe waiting for the group after enjoying some time in Nevada. |
| 16Sept – Official trip to start on
Monday but those at the trail head decided to make a short run up the Barrett
Lake trail. On this run Scott’s Bronco began to bleed auto tranny fluid.
17Sept and 18Sept – Entire group meets at Barrett Lake trail head but Scott
decides to take his Bronco into Placerville for repairs so trail group
consists of Jack (TJ), Lavell (Sami), Chuck (CJ-7), Brent (Cherokee), and
Mickey (Toyota). |
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Barrett Lake is an in and
out trail that takes about 4 hours one way. It is a fairly challenging trail
that needs lift and lockers. Big rocks and great scenery. We went in on
Monday, camped, and out on Tuesday. Only breakdown I recall was replacement of
U joint retaining straps on the rear U joint of Chucks CJ-7 – quick fix. |
| 19Sept – Group meets at Loon Lake to take on the Rubicon.
Scott is back from Placerville with repairs completed and we also added a
friend from CA – Vic in a CJ-7, so we have 7 vehicles total. Start the trail
through Gatekeeper and Chuck breaks a shock mount which shorts out a power
line which goes to rear of vehicle. Line melted and electrics shorted. Some
splicing and Chuck is up and running. We then get on the granite slabs.
Going up one of the large stair steps Lavell breaks a rear axle. No
replacement so he continues in 3 wheel drive. |
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Also some where along the way Brent breaks the main spring
in his left rear spring pack but no real effect on performance. We had a
good time working our way through the trial, picking our lines, and enjoying
the scenery. That brings us to Little Sluice where Mickey and Brent test
their rigs. Both did an admirable job and their vehicles showed the time and
effort they have put in on them by performing flawlessly. |
| During this leg of the trip Scott’s Bronco is having
power steering problems and he getting a real workout on his arms. We
disconnect the pump and drain the oil to lessen the steering effort. We
continue to work our way down the trail until Vic bends his drag link. This
necessitates some sacrifice of a High lift jack handle and on we go. Lavells
Sami is also acting up and shears the left front hub bolts so he is now right
wheel drive only. This goes from bad to worse and Brent tows him most of the
way out. |
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Vic bends the tie rod and we donate another jack handle and across
the slabs to Buck Island lake we go where we “limp” into camp leaving Scott
about 200 yards from camp where his rag joint has torn out. While we set up
camp Scott, Lavell, and Adam form a new rag joint and get the Bronco into camp
a couple hours later. – Enough for day one on the trail? Camp is pleasant but
the weather is cool with a chance of rain or even snow. |
| 20Sept – We awaken to a light bit of
snow on the ground. Not enough to make things slick, but just enough to keep the
dust down. Our original plans to run the trail backwards are scrapped and we are
just looking forward to finishing the trail. We break camp (wet tents) and head
out under cloudy skies but no more snow. Down Big Sluice, to Rubicon Springs,
lunch just downstream from the springs, up Cadillac Hill. |
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Pictures at
observation point and out we go. Fix a tie rod end on Vics jeep. Then on the way
out finally break it which takes an extra 4 hours to go get a part and bring it
back. Wait at the Tahoe staging area for Brent to go around to Robbs Resort and
bring the trailer back. All in all a long, but good day. Plenty of carnage, good
trail, good friends. Good time. |
Others attending the run:
Kota – Chucks golden retriever
Adam – Jacks son – Rubicon Trail
Brandon and Hayden – Jacks son and
grandson – Barrett Lake trail
Michelle – Mickey's wife
Alex – Vics son
Planet 4x4
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