Rubicon Trail Report, 2013.
If you're thinking of driving the Rubicon, and you should be thinking about driving it, I'm particularly fond of my Blazer's system: 38" tires, 5.13 gears, 5" lift, 1" body lift, a locker in the rear, hydro assist steering, and stout sliders. I came through with little more than a scratch. This is the first time I've wheeled with hydro assist, and it is AMAZING. I'd say it is as valuable as my locker. I'd like to do a selectable front locker too, at some point, but didn't
need it. A Blazer with smaller tires could do it - probably even at stock height with a locker - but you'd come out pretty bruised. I think sliders are a requirement.
I drove this trail for the first time last year with a couple of CK5 guys, a local Jeep friend, and a number of folks from Alberta (Russell and his buddies.) Last year we drove the trail east-bound from Loon Lake.
Info on that trip
HERE.
I went with two local fellows, CK5er "alexsdad" and a Jeep friend of ours. This year, as we were headed toward the same trailhead, we found out via a highway sign that the HWY 50 was closed due to a forest fire and we wouldn't be able to access the Loon Lake trailhead. I was pretty disappointed, and concerned about going up Big Sluice (3rd panel from the left, above) because I don't have a front locker and Big Sluice has some big boulders. But, it was our only option, and in the end I prefer the west-bound route.
The first several miles from the west-bound trailhead to Overlook Point is fairly easy, technical, and terribly bumpy. But the ride is worth the view!
Rubicon-2 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
It's a big cliff-like drop off that gives you a view of the valley that the first half of the trail follows. In the map, you'll see Cadillac Hill, which drops down along the cliff edge to Rubicon Springs. Here's alexsdad and his wife and daughter at the overlook:
Rubicon-1 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This is a pretty typical obstacle on Cadillac Hill: Lots of narrow spots (often narrower than this), with a steep drop off to one side and big boulders to get you off-camber. My beautiful bride walked about 2/3 of the trail and was my photographer. She did a real nice job!
Rubicon-3 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Rubicon-4 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Rubicon-5 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Rubicon-7 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Another common obstacle on that descent, of which I have no pictures, are terribly tight squeezes through trees - wherein you have about 3" of clearance on either side of your rig combined with an off-camber situation.
At some point on Cadillac Hill I heard a nasty bang, but assumed it was just my sliders or frame nailing a rock. When we got to the bottom of the hill I heard my front driveline clanking against my transmission crossmember. It turns out that I broke the rubber transmission mount.
Fortunately, at Rubicon Springs there's a camp manager with a generator, tools, etc. Rubicon Springs is actually a really well developed camp with a cabin for the manager, outhouses, a community area, rope swing into the river, etc. So, I went over there and dropped my transmission crossmember and clearanced the location where my driveshaft was hitting and then used a ratchet strap to clamp the transmission in place - to keep it from flopping around. Here's a picture of it after we got off the trail - notice that it did end up ripping, but there was enough friction between the rest of straps that it held it tight enough to get me home:
Rubicon-139 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
I also sprung a leak from the connection between my power steering overflow reservoir and pump. Some over-engineered use of duct tape took care of that leak. And we were back on the trail:
alexsdad going down a big rock face after Rubicon Springs:
Rubicon-10 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Here's my friend at what I consider the beginning of Big Sluice. A picture of his vehicle gives better scale for the size of the boulders. Of the whole length of Big Sluice, this first couple hundred yards was probably the most challenging. As many of you know, photos of this sort of thing often don't indicate how steep the hill was. But, this incline is such that you're staring at the sky the whole time.
Rubicon-13 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Going up the same area, a great example of when hydro assist steering is of critical benefit:
Rubicon-14 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Another tight sqeeze:
Rubicon-15 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Rubicon-18 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
After making it through the first section of Big Sluice, there's a real sharp turn where you have to squeak around a big tree. It's got a big drop-off on the passenger side, and of course, it is uphill and off camber. The pic doesn't do justice to the awkwardness of this obstacle.
Rubicon-19 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
And it's a big tree:
Rubicon-20 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This was about a 4' wall, and it took us a bit of time to find the right line for the job. My friend's Jeep was first, and due to his short wheel base and being the first-up-guinea-pig, it took a while to find the right line to get him through. The Blazers were a bit quicker to get through thanks to the long wheel base.
Rubicon-21 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Feeling pretty good about how well things were going on the uphill attempt at Big Sluice:
Rubicon-22 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This is a picture of the final stretch of Big Sluice. You'll notice the size of the boulders next to my buddy's Jeep, for reference.
Rubicon-23 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Tight uphill squeeze, even for a Jeep.
Rubicon-24 by
colbyjstephens, on Flickr
More to follow...
It was rockin! We took three days to do it: one day to do the first half, a second day to swim/hike/explore, and a third day to drive out. I'll post a full trip report tomorrow, but for now I have three teaser photos for you.
I need to go in and fix my transmission mount and my power steering, but that should be a fairly quick/easy job.
I was bummed. Everyone else spent a bunch of time using it, tho, and catching crawdads and generally doing things way more fun than what I was doing. 
