Before signing up for this trip please check out the preliminary announcement at http://tinyurl.com/8p5wz and decide if this trip is really for you. Additionally if you are new to my trips, please consult my latest rules of the trail at http://tinyurl.com/cmlp8 This years annual Sierra Challenge is August 6-13th . These are all wheeling days. We will be meeting the evening of Friday August 5th, at the Loon Lake campground. This is a pay campground, used for meet up convenience. To get there take California HWY 50 to Riverton California, 24 miles East of Placerville, 40 miles west of South Tahoe. Coming from the West its just before the highway becomes a 2 lane, classic California twisting, motorhome nightmare headed to Tahoe. The Turn off coordinates are 38’ 46.165’ 120’ 26.838. Head North on FS3 or Ice House Road 24 miles then turn right towards Loon Lake, this is the turn to miss at 38’57.773’ 120’21.955’. Along the way you’ll pass Ice House, a small resort and the last spot for Expensive gas and supply’s for 3 days. There is a bulletin board at the Loon Lake Campground to check for messages, or camp location acquired by the first arrival. 38’58.788’ 120’19.173’.

Saturday August 6th:
A reasonable start is welcome, but it is a relatively short day. BUT, this is the start of the Rubicon, world famous vehicle testing ground and known for difficulty. For many drivers this is the hardest trail ever attempted. The first obstacle, the gate keeper is a QUITE SERIOUS filter, recently stabilized, and designed to keep the un-prepared out. Serious rock crawling, stacking and interesting maneuvers are required. LWB back bumpers WILL be damaged here. From here on over heating is common, let the trail leader know if you need cool down time. Start your backup fans after the gate keeper. We will camp at the lovely Spider Lake. NOTE: This camp area saw an emergency closure due to people leaving there waste everywhere! We need to make sure waste is buried, or hauled away. Its hard to comprehend why bozos refused to bury there waste at this one lovely spot.
******Good Fishing, Cold Swimming*******

Sunday August 7th:
We will travel from Spider Lake to Rubicon Springs, and camp on the Rubicon River. Rubicon Springs is private, and there will be a small camp fee, though its not designated camping. I would like to have an OPTIONAL run down the Old Sluice, which favors short wheelbase vehicles. I will require someone to lead the remaining group to Buck Island Lake.
******Good Fishing, Good Swimming*******

Monday August 8th:
Today we travel up Cadillac Hill and over Barker Meadows, eventually coming out and supplying up in Trukee. We will then camp on the Tuba River, at the start of Fordyce Creek Trail.
******Fishing or Swimming********

Tuesday August 9th:
If you thought the Rubicon was tough, Fordyce makes it look easy. This extremely demanding trail is quite possibly the most beautiful trail in California. 5 winch hills WILL result in various aid for most vehicles. Water crossings are EXTREMELY deep and demanding, make sure your engine is watertight. We will camp at the most beautiful campsite in California, the waterfall campsite. You have to see it to believe it. A second, relaxation day at this site has been cancelled due to the impending Sierra Trek Event.
******Cold Swimming********

Wednesday August 10th:
Today we finish Fordyce Creek trail, including the demanding last “ Miracle Mile”.
After Fordyce we begin a journey into new territory for myself, so here the details get a little more unknown. We will camp somewhere between Meadow Lake and Forest City, but away from Meadow Lake due to the Sierra Trek setting up.

Thursday August 11th:
A visit to the historic district of Forest City is planned, and hopefully a pre-arranged tour.(details to some) Afterwards its into Sierra City, to start our first exploration of the Gold Lakes region. Lets take a quote from the ALWAYS reliable Wells guide shall we? “ Nowhere in California is this kind of beauty combined with such exhilarating drives” Somewhere else I read “once you find this paradise, you’ll want to keep it to yourself” Kind of sounds terrible to me! Although I am fairly confused by the complex interconnection of these trails, it is likely we will do the Sierra Buttes trail, and do a hike to the fire lookout at Sierra Buttes before finding camping. We may be on the Sierra Buttes trail, or due to the easy nature of todays trails able to move onto a spot along the long, Gold Valley Trail.

Friday August 12th:
A thought for today is to make it a shorter day, and finish part of the Gold Valley trail, and start Snake Lake trail, and camp at Snake Lake.

Saturday August 13th:
Complete Snake Lake, visit the Four Hills Mine, then stop at the Plumas-Eureka State Park and Museum, before saying goodbye and heading home late. As an option we can find a place to camp and head home early Sunday morning.

That’s it for now. Further planning, and detail refinements to come. Keep prepping your rig, packing your camp gear, exercising your rock stacking arm and dreaming of the “Range of Light”…………

Holy cow! Check out http://www.tinyurl.com

Please!

Lloyd, I edited down your post with smaller URLS to shrink down the page width.

Thanks!

At Spider Lake, it's not practical to "bury" your waste, as you can't easily dig a hole in solid granite. Even where the ground isn't solid rock, there are insufficient "private" locations where one can dig a hole that has not already been used by someone else.

The best polict is to NOT plan to bury human waste on the 'con. Plan to pack it out. Any group running the Rubicon should have with them a PETT toilet . The Friends of the Rubicon are very vocal about this issue, and rightly so! Read more about the issue here. I bought a PETT toilet prior to running the 'con a couple years ago. Fortunately, nobody needed to use facilities until we arrived at Rubicon Springs. But it was still better to have it than not.

Just a quick note, in case anyone has thought of this trip, we have changed the departure day from Loon Lake to Friday Morning. This was agreed to by everyone going so far. It was a mistake I made planning this year. I forgot weekend on Rubicon at Spider Lake = Party central nightmare. Not sure how I forgot Anyhow, it also buys us another day before the Sierra Trek.