A Weekend on the Rubicon with the Contra Costa Jeepers

by Vern O'Connor

After a quick breakfast we again hit the road and arrived at the designated meeting spot, El Dorado CA around 3pm Friday. Bob Rice and Matt Kinney of the CCJ showed up a couple of hours later and we headed for the Rubicon area. We were to meet and camp at the Wentworth Springs entrance to the Rubicon Trail. The trail in was wet with snow, mud and deep water. After having to push the tow rigs with the Jeeps a couple of times we decided not to try our luck and back tracked to Airplane Flat campground. We parked Matt's Yellow TJ out on the road so the rest of the CCJ would know where we were. They arrived shortly thereafter. A few beers later Chet and I rolled our sleeping bags out on the ground, too tired to bother with the tent. I remember thinking how bright the stars were. The next thing I saw was a beautiful blue sky above the towering Redwoods we had slept under.

Saturday morning we hit the trail around 10am. About half way in to Wentworth Springs a section of the road was flooded. We could see that the fallen trees on the far side had been cut but there was no way to know for sure what condition the road was in under the water. With two possible lines through the water, Bob attempted the wider one straight ahead. Less than a quarter of the way across with his 35"tires under water he decided to back out. seeing Bob's reverse lights Matt decided to attempt the line to the left. The water was about the same depth but the bottom appeared smooth and firm so everyone took the left line. Shortly there after we came upon Bob Shannon camped at the Springs.

The trail out of the Springs lead up over a granite slab and soon we were faced with an intimidating climb up a wash with a fare amount of water running down. About half way up I started losing air out of my right front tire with every rotation. It was sounding like I had cut a sidewall but it turned out to be trail debris in the bead. We were stacking up in the trail so Bob R, Matt and I decided to drive on ahead to a huge granite slab and wait there for the others to catch up. We took turns flexing out our Jeeps on a large boulder.

Once the rest of the group arrived we hunted about for the trail until we came upon a steel plaque marking the way. There were lots of interesting places to play on the section of the trail leading to the 'Little Sluice'

I tried most of them but didn't push my luck as we still had another day to wheel, not to mention flat tow all the way back to BC. At the 'Sluice' I studied the lines those in front of me took and thought I would try something different. It would be a steep side hill on the right but it was that or over a huge boulder on the left. I ran the side hill but my tires were wet from the water running down the 'Sluice' so I couldn't hold the line as high as I wanted. I kissed the boulder with the left side of my Jeep right behind the door opening. I managed to keep the momentum going and cleared the 'Sluice' with out much difficulty. I was Stoked! 'Little Sluice' is reported to be the hardest part of the Rubicon Trail!

Ryan Taylor and his flat fender Willys appeared to have the most fun, laying it on the right side and tearing a header tube off at the head flange in the process. The header was so mangled that it was impossible to get the tube any closer than an inch and a half to the flange. Ryan and I cut pieces off the Willys body and welded them to form an extension to the header tube.

The drive back to camp was fairly uneventful and we even managed to scrounge up some firewood for the evenings camp fire. We weren't even in camp long enough to have dinner when a couple in a pickup drove up in a panic. There was a forest fire about a half mile away. A few of us grabbed shovels and went to investigate. The fire had covered about 5 acres of ground but was not up into the trees yet. We set to work at the leading edge to slow it down while someone went back to get the rest of our group. After about 45 minutes the Forest Service arrived and took over. We made our way back to camp for dinner and a few well deserved beers.

On Sunday morning those of us that didn't have other commitments decided to take the Loon Lake entrance to the trail. There were 7 of us, all Jeeps. We stopped on the Loon Lake Dam to take in the view and snap a few pictures. As soon as we got under way and at about 40mph my rear drive shaft CV blew apart. Unfortunately my spare was lying on the work bench at home. I did however have a spare front shaft with a CV. After some head scratching we determined that we could disassemble the front shaft and use it's CV on the rear. While under the Jeep installing the repaired shaft, I noticed light coming through from above. The flailing drive shaft had let go with enough force to punch holes in the floor! Once the repair was completed I hopped in the Jeep and as I grabbed my seat belt I realized the holes in the floor were directly in line with my ass! We caught up with the rest of our group at the next dam and proceeded down the spillway and out onto 5 acres of granite slabs.

While we were stopped for lunch on the slabs, I decided to change out the tie rod I bent on Saturday. After lunch we skirted the bottom of the slab to the left. We proceeded into a trail but not before crossing a stream deep enough to put 6 inches of water above the floor of even the tallest Jeep in our group.

From here the trail meandered back in the direction of the spillway. There were a couple of nasty spots and one horrendous pile of boulders that bashed the undercarriage into submission.

Once back out to the spillway we made our way back to camp to pack up and head down to Placerville for a great Mexican dinner. A short trip but none the less a great one. I can hardly wait to get back to the Rubicon.