Team Toad: Rubicon Trail, Lake Tahoe, California

Debbie and I did the Rubicon Trail together in August 2023 in the EcoToad. It was the first time she'd wheeled with me in the new Jeep, and we had a successful trip. Since I'd never done the trail before, I chose Barlow Adventures as tour guide.

Garmin's map of our three days on the Rubicon trail
I'd been wanting to take a guided tour with Barlow's for some time, and when they announced their Rubicon schedule in the Fall of 2022, I jumped at the chance. I would be in Utah the week before (overlanding The Maze).

We booked flights for Debbie to fly into Reno the day before the trip, and to fly back to the ranch the day after. I would drive the Jeep out to the trail, pick Debbie up, and then drop her off at the airport and drive back to Texas the following week.

Then California got one of the ten snowiest winters on record, meaning the trail would not likely be safe to cross even in late June.

Barlow's called me in April and told me the June trips were cancelled, and I could either get a full refund, or reschedule for July or August. I choise the second week of August.

Fortunately we were able to reschedule Debbie's flights to and from Reno, so It just meant I'd have to drive to the Western US twice this summer.

Little Sluice, late May, 2023, Mike Walker

Little Sluice, early June, 2023, Rubicon Trails Group

Little Sluice, August 8, 2023

As you can see from these photos from the Rubicon Trail Facebook Group, there was still snow in early June. We probably could have run the trail the last week of June, but they couldn't be sure in time for people to adjust their travel plans.

I used the extra month to tweak my rig. I rearranged the Bulletpoint phone mounts so Debbie had a place to charge her phone.

I also had the rear seats removed, and bolted a couple of plastic bins in the rear footwells. Two more bins stacked on top of them.

I also pared down my tool kits and recovery gear, since I wanted to reduce weight as much as possible for this difficult trail.

Since our tour guides Nick and Jamey would be doing all the cooking. I decided to experiment by leaving the Engel fridge/freezer at home. Instead we'd use the Yeti Tundra cooler to keep our snacks from melting.

Spoiler alert: I really missed my fridge.

I headed West a week before, but I'll put that in another report. I had some adventures, met up with some old friends, and got the Jeep to Reno on Monday to meet up with Debbie at the Reno airport.

We stayed at the Rock Creek Inn in Georgetown California for the week.

We kept the room the whole week so I could offload everything we didn't need for the Rubicon trip (extra luggage, clothes, camera gear, food, and other things I needed for the trip out and back).

It was an added expense to reserve 4 days instead of 2, but it meant that when we were camping the Jeep only had the stuff we really needed. It made finding things in camp a lot easier.

Tuesday morning we met our group in Georgetown, and headed out to the trailhead at Loon Lake.

Pre-game: Checking in to the Jeep Badge of Honor App

Our first challenge was to check-in to the Jeep Badge of Honor app. I am using an Android phone on AT&T, and although you can check in without cell coverage, you can't start up the app without it, since you have to log in to your account.

So I started up the app before leaving Georgetown, and kept refreshing my phone, but somewhere along the way my phone went to the lock screen and when I opened it back up the app wanted me to log in again.

Somewhere between Hartless Mountain and Chipmunk Bluff I got just enough signal to log in to the app and check in to the Rubicon Trail. But I had to go a few more miles to actually register the check-in (it said my check-in was pending and I had 24 hours to confirm it).

It was good that I got checked in and confirmed before the trailhead, because I didn't have coverage until two days later after leaving the trail.

Day 1: Loon Lake to Buck Island

Once we got to the Loon Lake kiosk, we stopped and took the obligatory photos of our rigs with the Rubicon Trail sign.

While we aired down, our tour guide Nick Cimmarusti put our breakfast burritos under each Jeep's hood, because Barlow's is famous for their engine cuisine.

We had four Jeeps in our group, all of us on 37s.

Sedona, the guide's Jeep, a Rubicon 4xe driven by Jamey Marcucci.
EcoToad, my diesel Rubicon.
Matt's JL, a gas-engine Rubicon driven by Matt and Bryan.
Giselle, another JLURD rented from Barlow's for the trip by Dave and Marie.

We had a quick driver's meeting at the big map at the kiosk, and we were off on our adventure.

Normally I'd have a lot more photos and descriptions of each major point in the trail, but we set a fast pace, tried to keep the group close together, and I had both hands on the wheel while watching Nick's spotting directions.

Nick basically just walked the entire Rubicon over the course of three days, because he spent more time spotting and walking than he did riding.

When I wasn't being spotted, I was doing my best to follow Jamey's line over the rocks. He's a good driver, but even he needed spotting on quite a few of the obstacles.

I was told by David Rainey that the Rubicon was "like Standing Rocks Road in the Maze, but longer and unrelenting."

He was so right. While a small fraction of the obstacles were really challenging, much of the trail was just straightforward medium level rock crawling. But there were very few straight dirt roads between the obstacles for me to catch my breath.

Looking back at our GPS track and locations of some photos, I have a much better understanding of where we were.

The toughest obstacle for me that day was climbing up a rock face after crossing over the dam at Buck Island.

The rocks on the Rubicon are slipperier than the Moab slick rock I'm used to, and I hadn't aired down lower than 18 psi, so I found it hard to get traction. It took me three tries, but with Nick spotting and my tires heating up from a slow rpm, I finally got up the hill and into our camp for the first night.

We camped by the side of Buck Island lake, and Nick made a nice dinner. Seriously, Barlow's fed us really well the whole trip.

After dinner, Matt and I played with a Milky Way composite photo with our Jeeps. Matt wanted to show off his undercarriage lights, and they do look nice with the Milky Way in the background.

Day 2: Big Sluice to Rubicon Springs

After breakfast, our second day was short; first was "Big Sluice" and then "Property Line".

Nick had told us that the second day would be the hardest rock crawling, and that Property Line would likely be the toughest portion of the whole trail.

Here you can see Fuzzy off-camber with the EcoToad, Matt off-camber with his JL, and Debbie crouching down to take the picture of Matt being off-camber.

But it was also our shortest day. In three hours we went less than two miles before arriving at "Dirty Dozen", a camp ground at Rubicon Springs.

Note that while the trail itself is a public road, it passes over private property at many points, including Rubicon Soda Springs.

There is a cash fee to camp there, and there is a reservation system you should check in advance.

Barlow's had reserved us a large camp at Dirty Dozen, and that meant that we had to cross the Rubicon River to get to camp. I'd been worried about this crossing for months, and in the end it was barely up to the axles.

But at least I could finally say, "I've crossed the Rubicon!".

Just before coming in to Rubicon Springs, I misjudged a rock. I'd intended to put the passenger tire over it, and instead let it go inside of the passenger tire and hit the steering stabilizer.

Then, to make sure it hurt, I backed up, giving the rock a second shot at the stabilizer.
I didn't notice anything wrong, but as we pulled into the parking area at Rubicon Springs, Nick looked under the EcoToad and told me I had "re-configured" my steering stabilizer.

So after we got set up at camp, I decided to remove it. The stabilizer is designed to prevent death wobble at highway speeds, and does nothing useful while rock crawling.

You can see in the last photo that the rod is bent. My fear was that the added force needed to steer would wind up overheating the power steering actuator.

Day 3: Cadillac Hill and out to Lake Tahoe

The third day was easier wheeling than the second.

First in order to leave "Dirty Dozen" camp site, we had to cross back over the Rubicon.

Then there was a steep climb out of Rubicon Springs.

Then we cross "Cadillac Hill" before driving out onto Observation Point to get an iconic group photo.

After that the road was mostly dirt until we got to the parking lot at the Tahoe side.

As you can see from the photo there were a lot of trailers and tow-rigs waiting for the wheelers.

We had sandwiches for lunch and aired up our tires before taking the highway back to Georgetown.

The total miles from Georgetown to Loon Lake and over the trail was 57.8 miles (that included going back to the Rock Creek Inn after fueling on Monday).

The mileage for the whole three days was 6.7 mpg, including the first hour on the paved road from Georgetown.

I normally figure 18 mpg for paved roads and 6 mpg for trails, so this was within expectations. We got back to Georgetown with about 3/8ths of a tank, and fueled up in Auburn the next morning.

Day 4: Epilogue, Wrenching and Back to Reno

Driving on the highway from the trail end, I did notice a very slight tendency for death wobble, due to the missing stabilizer. Nick had recommended running the front tires at a lower pressure, high 20s or so, to help reduce it.

But it was clear that I needed to put in a new stabilizer before getting on the interstate.

Nick had found a replacement steering stabilizer in Auburn CA, which was actually on our way back to Reno. John at the parts desk actually had gone to high school with Nick, and told him they had one in stock.

We showed up early Friday morning and got the new part for the amazing low price of $43. John said it was the cheapest shock absorber he'd seen recently.

But the shop wanted $150 to install it, and their next service appointment was a month away. Since we had only 4 hours to get Debbie to the airport, we declined.

Instead we stopped at the Gold Run Rest Area on I-80 and I put the new part in. Replacing the steering stabilizer is literally the easiest wrenching you can do on a Wrangler. There are two bolts, and each has a special fitting so you only need one wrench to install them both.

There is a preparation step; you have to extend and compress the shock five times with the correct end down, and then the part was nicely labelled so you could tell which end went where, and how to orient the piece so it wouldn't wide up upside-down.

With the new stabilizer in place, the EcoToad was back to handling 80mph plus on the highway with no problems. The diesel engine makes the JLURD a powerhouse.

I dropped Debbie off at the Reno-Lake Tahoe airport. She had her own adventures after landing in Dallas. Her alternator died, and she wound up having to be towed home.