2006 Rubicon Round-Up

June 12 - 13, 2006

Written By Keane

 

The 2006 Gold Hills Posse’s Rubicon Round-Up was held on June 12th and 13th 2006. The trip got off to a bit of a bumpy start when several regulars were forced to skip the trip due to work commitments, illness, or a broken rig. Larry, Cole, Lee, Dave (Lee’s brother-in-law), and Keane all camped at Loon Lake on the 11th, but somehow managed to miss each other and camped in different campgrounds.

On the morning of the 12th the campers finally met up and waited for the group near the Loon Lake Dam. After several minutes of “poser shots,” Dave noticed a significant leak from Keane’s 4Runner. Either poor maintenance or bad luck had resulted in the cap to the clutch fluid disappearing. A few paper towels, a zip lock bag and a zip tie later the problem was solved.

Chuck was the first of the non-campers to arrive at the dam. He didn’t manage to find anyone at the Starbucks and by the time 8:00 rolled around he figured he’d picked the wrong location and headed up the hill to catch up. Brendan arrived shortly after Chuck and they must have missed each other at Starbucks by minutes. The group was aired down and about to leave when Earl came across the dam. After he aired down everyone set off.

The group made great time through the obstacle formerly known as gatekeeper and the Slab/Walker Hill proved to be no problem. Lee tested the strength of Brendan’s rack when his transmission didn’t shift into park properly, but the damage was minimal and Brendan’s Jeep proved to be an excellent emergency brake.

Shortly before lunch we met a small group headed the other way that included some sort of 4-door Jeep looking rig with rear steer and what appeared to be tires in the 50 inch range, an extremely clean flat fender with rear steer, a Rubicon with an LS6 engine and air suspension, and one other vehicle. I honestly can’t remember what the last rig was. My mind must have been spinning after seeing the first three vehicles. They needed a welder but we weren’t able to help.

The sailing was smooth until just above the split for the Old Sluice/The Slabs. Larry got hung up on a rock and wasn’t getting any traction from his rear end. A brief inspection revealed that he had sheared off all the bolts holding the hub on his rear end. In true Posse spirit, we decided to press on. We taped up the rear end, took the Slabs, and made it to Buck Island a little after 6. I had assumed that we would camp below the dam, but the area was taped off so we decided to pass. The water was high, but we were able to find a nice area.

While the rest of us were setting up our tents, Chuck headed to the lake with a fishing pole. About 15 minutes later he came back with a nice sized brown trout. The group thoroughly enjoyed the catch as we watched the large thunder heads building in the distance.

Tuesday started with a few sprinkles and a desire to get on the road quick to make sure we beat the weather and got Larry up Cadillac Hill. We started hearing Brad on the CB at about the time we hit the Big Sluice. The going was slow as Keane had to tug Larry over most obstacles.

Rubicon Springs was in rough shape. There were quite a few trees that had fallen and many of the Porta-Potties had been knocked over by the water during the years floods. We didn’t take any time to stop and look at the sites as it was a raining steadily by this time. The trail was clear and the group took extra caution to avoid the mud while staying on the trail.

Brad caught up at the bottom of Cadillac Hill and the extra hands were appreciated. Larry was forced to winch around the first big corner but a tug proved to be enough for most of the hill. Keane nearly had a heart attack at one point when he couldn’t make it over one of the big obstacles while pulling Larry and the truck hopped a little farther sideways than he preferred. This was Larry’s second and final winch while doing Cadillac Hill in front wheel drive in the rain. Earl, Brendan and Chuck made short work of the hill and were waiting at the top for the rest of us.

We stopped briefly for lunch, but knew there was work to be done. We caught a large group making their way out. Later we learned that they had started on Saturday (4 days earlier) and everyone in their group had broken or damaged something. Check out the bumper of the truck in the pictures at the final staging area.

After taking the strap on and off of Larry’s Jeep a few more times we got near the intersection with the Forest Service roads. Larry came out of one of the water areas too quickly and the flex in his frame caused his fan to cut his radiator. At this point he was essentially dead in the water. He was forced to winch one more time before the fire roads.

Once we hit the fire roads, the progress was good. There were a few snow drifts, but there was plenty of trail to follow. Keane towed Larry for several more miles until the transmission/crawl box/transfer case in the Toyota started to smell mighty warm. At that point Brad took over and we got Larry to the staging area. We all aired up and Brad towed Larry to the highway. From there, AAA took over. Larry, Cole, Keane, and a AAA tow truck went home over Highway 80 and the rest of the group headed home down Highway 50. The Highway 80 group was forced to stop in Auburn and switch tow trucks to avoid the 100 mile AAA limit. After 100 miles AAA charges $7/mile.

Keane made it home around 9 and called Brad a little before that. The group headed down 50 was having their own problems as a worn bushing on Brad’s Jeep was causing a death wobble that was limiting the group to around 40 mph.

Aside from Larry, carnage was limited. Lee broke a shock bolt and ended up with a few new dents compliments of Brendan’s rack. Keane dented his door and put his sliders’ through their paces. Larry ended up with a broken rear hub, broken fan, broken radiator, bent tie rod and two dead front shocks. Chuck dented his rear bumper. Brad will be replacing bushings in his suspension. Earl and Brendan came away with only a few new scratches on their skid plates.

All and all the trip was a good time. The weather could have cooperated a bit more but everyone was in good spirits. Earl and Chuck didn’t flinch at any of the big obstacles and made things look easy. Brendan proved that a Jeep on 33s could make it through the Rubicon with a good line and a few well placed rocks. Larry and Keane powered through most of the trail in 6-wheel drive and Lee and Dave put Lee’s Jeep through its paces.

Click here for my pictures: http://keane.fotopic.net/c990747.html