It had been a full two years since my first trip across the Rubicon.
This time I was accompanied by my Dad who came down from Portland
to ride shotgun. It was his first trip really wheelin', and although
he did own a CJ5 briefly in the early 70's, I don't think he had
any idea what was in store. I was really looking forward to this
trip as it was the first outing of 2003 for me and I had just
replaced my stock front shafts with the newer units that have
the 297 u-joints. Lots of spare parts, everything looked good
to go. And this time we were running the trail backwards (from
Rubicon Springs to Loon, instead of the more typical route the
other direction).
The trip up was uneventful until just past the turnoff on I-80
to Fordyce, when the Jeep started belching smoke. I pulled over
and discovered transmission fluid dripping all over the catalytic
converter. Great. We topped it off and headed through Tahoe City
to the staging area on McKinney Wentworth Springs road. By then
the leak seemed to have subsided. We ran into Lee and his son,
then Stoney (AKA the guy with no doors, no spare, no blah blah
blah...hahaha, if you know Stoney you get the picture!) and his
girlfriend, Jesse and Jacob, and Farmer Matt and his family. Set
up camp in the parking lot and had a nice dinner.
Early next morning more of our group showed up. We were waiting
for Goatman and Sean P. but Sean P. had a leaky t-case and turned
around. We met up with Richard and Kevin, and James and at the
top of Cadillac Hill while we were eating lunch. Goatman's Jeep
looks great these days (amazing what a rollover can do!) with
the back chopped and a really well-designed cage.
Cadillac was easy and the only other thing of note before Rubicon
Springs was the horrible swarming mosquitos and a bit of deep
muddy water that we crossed. The trail was a lot more wet than
the last time I was up there but all the snow was gone.
Big Sluice was interesting coming
up it instead of going down it. It too was pretty slippery but not
that difficult. Of course, I took the sane lines most of the time!
Near the hairpin turn at the top I sliced my right front tire up
really good, two large quarter size holes in the sidewall that took
about seven plugs to fill. Thank goodness I bought a tire repair
kit for this trip. The plugs were still leaking a bit but we made
it up to Buck Island Lake without other problems. I think there
was a bit of breakage for others...Lee knocked out his side window
and did some body damage, and I think there were a few other little
problems.
Buck Island was beautiful. Two years ago we only stopped briefly,
but this time we found a great camp site that was well off the
trail and secluded from the wind with plenty of room to spread
out. This was a good thing because our group had a LOT of shit.
Lee wins the award for biggest gearhead with his powert inverter,
Mr. Coffee maker, a sawzall that came in handy cutting firewood
and more meat than I've ever seen in my life. Tons of food to
go around. That night we had a fabulous mexican spread with half
a dozen kinds of homemade salsa, carnitas, nachos, steak, fajitas,
and plenty of tequila and blended margaritas thanks to Jesse.
It was quite a scene around the campfire that evening with plenty
of off-color humor and heavy drinking. Weather was great if a
bit chilly. I went to bed but apparently later in the evening
Andy and Britt rolled in.
Lee coming up
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Another shot of Lee
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Goatman climbing
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Goatman II
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Farmer Matt near the Springs
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A waterfall near the Springs
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Dad catching some zzz's after
lunch
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Beer break at the Springs
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Me coming down something
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Stoney on a tough little obstacle
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Lee getting the line
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Farmer Matt, with authority
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Another shot of Farmer Matt
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Waiting on the way up Big Sluice
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A cute canine passenger
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More Big Sluice
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The scene at Buck Island Lake
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Nice spread!
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Lee getting serious with his meat
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Getting a fire ready
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