Ok, who's in?

I just spoke with Marty and he's interested. No official dates yet, but let's hear when you guys can take off... We will probably need 3-4 days to run it so remeber to take off Friday and possibly Monday to complete the trail.

Also if you have any spare parts to bring along post that too. I've got some tierod adjusters and auto hubs.

BTW, if you want to come, come prepared for carnage and equiped to run the trail.

------------------------

1. Marty
2. Huey (my vote is for Oct. 17-20 for now)
3.

Is this trail OK for stock vehicles J/K You guys are nuts. I got a bit of that trail in one of Rick Warrens videos, no thanks, I like my paint job and I don't need any additional body work. Any of you guys ever run the Ducey (SP?) trail. I hear that is even harder than the Rubicon. By the way I bought a tow strap (3" 30' 30000 lbs) and a come along, so if you ever need to get yanked, give me call and I'll see what I can do. Provided you are not on the Rubicon that is. The guys at 4 wheel parts suggested a $20 D ring that was like 3/4" thick. Is that really necessary?

Nah, just go to Orchard Supply and pick one up a similar one for $7-10.

Enjoy the Rubicon, guys... It's not the kind of trail I want to try...just yet.

Huey, remember to use your new digi. camera... I expect to see over 100 pics from you.

If I were still in the Bay Area, I'd go too.

(In one of your Xes!)

Have fun and definitely take lots of pics.

When does daylight savings end? If I remember correctly (think Deer Valley, episode I), it gets dark around 5pm in October. :rolleyes:

Daylight savings ends Oct. 26th .

No more excuses, add your name to the list! :p

I could never forget that trip

You guy's have fun on the rubicon... maybe I'll come up and play around a little, but I won't run it with a stock centerlink, no gears, and 31's :rolleyes:

Then my vote is for pre-Oct 26!

I just ordered new rear springs from AC, and I'll probably try to install them next weekend, and see how I do on the Xterra Championships runs. I found out that my rear springs are currently 1" lower than stock!

If that's true, it is/was very impressive that you have been through places like Moab...Sourgrass...etc. this year.

Wow... I noticed they are low but didn't realize they are that low. Did you order both front and rears of just rear?

....

If you guys don't mind I need to move the dates up a week to Oct. 10-13 (due to work related deadlines), this may help a bit with daylight hours too. Let me know soon if these days will work for you and I'll ask for them off at work.

1. Marty
2. Huey (Oct. 10-13)
3. Dean (and weekend pre Oct. 26th)
4.

I'm getting excited!

I'm getting nervous!

1. Marty
2. Huey (Oct. 10-13)
3. Dean (tentatively Oct. 10-13)
4.

It looks like a good friend with a jeep and many hours on this trail will be running it with us. He's well equipped with a winch and 35". I should have a new clutch and oil pan for this trip.

Alright, just a few more weeks!

This is awfully tempting.....yesterday I ran Wentworth Springs trail almost to Ellis Creek. Thank god for the Calmini Steering & Roger Brown's RockSliderz! As it is, I still managed to bash both corners of my rear bumper on rocks when I was trying to get through probably the most difficult obstacle. I ended up sitting with both front tires about 4 feet in the air, rocksliderz on both sides on rocks. With the rear detroit locker, I was still able to back out of it. That's when I bashed my rear bumber corner end caps and put my spare tire into a rock too. This was the only bypass I took. I made the first "step" obstacle on that hill without any problems. Those were some HUGE rocks. On a few occassions, I was sure that the side of my Pathy was against the boulders/rock walls along the trail. This was the largest rock gardens that I've taken my Pathfinder through to date.
It was awesome and as soon as I get my pictures onto disk, I'll postem up on my cardomain and let you know.

Marty, have you been into the Rubicon via Wentworth Springs trail? If I understand correctly, without looking at the map, this is one of the entrances to the Rubicon.

At any rate, I have some repair work to do on my Pathfinder before I go out and beat it like that again. A transmission/t-case Skid plate is going to be a must! At this point, I'm not going to add my name to the list...I probably won't be ready for the Rubicon til next season.

MickB

Hey Mick, we will be going to the Wentworth Springs area this weekend as part of the Xterra Championships trip (well be doing Baker Pass Loop). BTW, Wentworth Springs will be the exit we take for out Rubicon trip, we will enter near Loon Lake.

I've been told that the "gatekeeper" at Loon Lake is nasty! I could see Loon Lake from where we stopped at on Wentworth springs trail last Sunday.

I'd really like to go! I can't say whether or not I'll be ready...probably not.

Mick

Here's your list though:

1. Marty
2. Huey (Oct. 10-13)
3. Dean (and weekend pre Oct. 26th)
4.

Huey, I think you got that backwards. Wentworth Springs is to the WEST/NORTHWEST, between Georgetown and Loon Lake. In other words, there are 3 "entrances" to the 'con:
1) Georgetown/Wentworth Springs
2) Loon Lake
3) Tahoe side (Hwy89) <--- but this is really the "exit"

Sorry to hear about the damage Mick. Was the rock you had trouble with this one?
IMHO Wentworth main trail is the next thing to Little Sluice and certainly more challenging (fun) than the rest of the Rubicon. However, there are a ton of bypasses on Wentworth.

Link no worky.

Link no worky.

Humph! Try it now?

That worked! Wow, that's a big rock!

Nope...I got through that one easy enough (I'll have pics of that one when I get my film developed & on disk) I did watch a jeep struggle on it, on our way out. One of the few obstacles where the longer wheelbase of my Pathfinder was an advantage.

The one I had problems with was about 30 yards past the one pictured. Imagine the one pictured about 2 ft taller with another huge boulder in the middle of the trail, also with a few large (but smaller) boulders on the right. I tried the right side, but the rock in the middle was too big and my passenger side rear tire got in a deep rut between 2 rocks....with both of my rock sliderz on rocks and both front tires in the air! I wasn't going any further. I actually damaged my rear bumper trying to back out of that one...then finally got back to the bypass, which was no cake walk itself! It was awesome! I could run it again with less trouble, just takes finding the right line. The Calmini steering held up fine, but I waisted an upper control arm bushing. The front part of the bushing disintegrated.

I'll hopefully have the pics by mid next week; I have 7 more pictures to take on that roll.

We were actually close enough to Loon Lake to take that exit, but the idea of running the Gatekeeper that late in the day wasn't too appealing to me.

As far as the damage went, the worst was the rear bumper end caps.....no big deal, since one was already smashed from Strawberry Creek. I need a steel bumper!

MickB

Here's some pics from Wentworth Springs:




This is where I got hung up....notice the large boulder left and center trail! You can't see it, but there was a large boulder (under cut on the front) on the right of the trail too....not an option!



Wish I was ready to go with you guys on your Rubicon run.....you'll have a blast I'm sure!!!!!

MickB

Yeah I'm interested in another "Con run since I have the fever now Oct 10-13 is Calx4 weekend that has been planned for sometime and I know some NCCX folks are going to that & supporting this annual run so I don't really think two separate runs the same weekend is

Oct 25-26 works much better for me as long as the weather holds, we could meet ~ 9am at the loon staging area on 10/25 camp over night at Buck Island and most likely be in Tahoe by dark on Sunday 10/26.

MickyB – yeah the pixs of Wentworth are pretty much standard for the rest of the "Con IMO. There're plenty more sections like that and some harder ones such as the old and the other sluices, etc so full bumper armour + skids including one for the rear diff are a very good idea among other things IMO.

So what's the official date? October 10-12? Are we going for sure? Who's in?

I'm still in (for Oct 10-12) and I can call Marty this weekend, but I'm fairly sure he is in.

Sorry XToolbox but the 24-26 dates are a bit far out there (after daylight savings) leaving us not enough light and the possibility of weather getting in the way.

Actually Daylight Saving ends at 2 AM on Sunday October 26th.

So you should have enough light for the few hours it takes to get up Cadillac Hill an to the Staging Area on Sunday morning.

According to my calculations only 20 minutes difference in Sunset and 33 minutes less Total Daylight between the two time frames.

Sunrise/Sunset/Total Daylight in Placerville,CA
10/10 7:06AM/6:34PM/11 Hours 28 Minutes
10/11 7:07AM/6:33PM/11 Hours 26 Minutes
10/12 7:08AM/6:31PM/11 Hours 23 Minutes
************
10/24 7:20AM/6:14PM/10 Hours 54 Minutes
10/25 7:21AM/6:13PM/10 Hours 52 Minutes
10/26 6:22AM/5:12PM/10 Hours 50 Minutes (First day of Standard Time)

Edited to add Sunrise/Sunset/Total Daylight data

The trip has been postponed to Oct 24-26. Everyone happy now? :p

Here's the new sign-up:

1. Huey
2. Dean
3.

BTW, we will be meeting at Loon Lake Friday Oct 24th at 9 or 10am.

BUMP, anyone else going, let me know soon. This will probably be the last chance to go before the season is over.

lol, i was thinking about you guys this weekend... wondering if you went...

and had an observation.

Daylight savings time is in your head
just don't change your clocks till after the trip... it completely irrelevent. AZ doesn't even change our clocks... thats why this popped into my head.

It was "dicussed" earlier in the thread...

Hey congrats on your new jeep Todrick! You can try and prep it for Friday, we can drag it out if it doesn't make it.

HELL NO... not yet anyway.

I wont even get a chance to get it in the dirt before next weekend... there is no way im driving to CA and making my first off-road trip in it a trip on the freakin rubicon...

actualy that does sound kinda cool... but no.

Are you guys getting nervous, yet? :p

I'm feeling kind of confident now! The truck is prepped and ready to rock!

I've got two spare tie rods, I've removed the front sway bar, and I now have beefy control arm armor (only on one side, though):

Very nice. Is it Roger who did the welding for ya?

I guess the worset...you guys can winch each other out. :p

I just hope that you both will have, at the end, tons of pictures and video clips to share with us... I've only walked into the Rubicon for about 100 yards or so from Loon Lake side, but I already can't wait to see how you guys can get through there... :rolleyes:

No, another friend helped me out.

Hmmm. I suppose that could be the biggest challenge! I just found some pics of the Gatekeeper :

http://www.delalbright.com/Rubicon/rubicon_survey_june12.htm

http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/rubicon03/rubicon2003_2.html

http://www.socalbigdawgs.com/rubicon.htm

http://www.delalbright.com/Rubicon/workday_sep03_gate.htm

Hmm. I think I found a thread about Marty!

Click here then find (ctrl-F) "xterra"

lol... oh well... hell they were almost complimentary... almost

OMG! Check out this thread!

And here's some pics of Little Sluice .

Are we nuts?

well... yeah.

but isn't that really half the fun

If you guys really want to get sick off of Rubicon pics, check out these from NorCal TTORA (Tacoma group):
NorCalTTORA
Each of the 3 galleries has hundreds of pics.

***The middle (2nd) gallery has labels for most/all of the pics (i.e. gatekeeper, sluice, etc....)
If you look around on the site you can also find some pictures from a recent MOAB trip.
Pretty good stuff from a bunch of SAS'd Tacomas.

Little Sluice this summer , one more
Have a great time....

That was the "moving" rock I was talking about!