Project-JK NorCal Wentworth Springs / Rubicon Trail Run 07/18/09
07-19-2009, 04:02 PM
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Project-JK NorCal Wentworth Springs / Rubicon Trail Run 07/18/09
For our 5th (in under 2 weeks) and most likely final run while up in Tahoe, we decided to hook up with DizzyLiz and the NorCal crew to do a good part of the Rubicon but coming in from side trail called Wentworth Springs. Starting out at a campground called Airport Flats which is west of Loon Lake, the Wentworth Springs trail winds it way up north and then east taking you around the Granite Bowl before hooking up with the main trail. For the most part, this is an easy trail through the forest but just past the Wentworth Springs campground, there are a few by-passable sections where some serious fun can be had.
Once on the Rubicon, we kept pushing forward until we got to the Little Sluice where we stopped for lunch and with the hopes of watching some of the buggies take a stab at it. From there, we doubled back until we reached the trail split-off and then made our exit over at the Loon Lake Dam.
Anyway, here are a few pics from our trip.....
Airport Flats campground where we met up with everyone and aired down....
Sean guiding DizzyLiz across a stream after spotting her down a technical drop in...
Me getting ready to jump in and get my feet wet....
rampage fording his way across while MBATF starts his descent....
Rubicon Trail sign near the Wentworth Springs campground....
Taking a quick stop to check out a pretty waterfall along the way....
MBATF climbing up a granite slab close to where we hooked up with the Rubicon Trail....
The closer we got to the Rubicon, the more rocks we started to see. Here's rampage making his way up....
Sean climbing his way up the first real boulder challenge on the trail....
rampage taking a slightly different line up....
MBATF working his way up nicely....
If I recall correctly, this obstacle is called the Post Pile and here you can see JKDinker stopping to pose on his way up....
After I got us high-centered, WOLette decided to jump behind the wheel to get us off and then up and over these rocks....
MBATF posing on the boulders while Sean checks to see what's hanging him up....
On the Rubicon Trail at last! Here's a trail marker that we saw at the trailhead....
Where the trail is hard to follow such as in the Granite Bowl area, street reflectors or signs likes these in trees help you to fing your way....
Working our way around the outter edge of the Granite Bowl....
View looking west as we wait for the rest of our group to catch up....
JKDinker carefully negotiating his way up and around a tight section of trail....
Sean tried the same line but slid off early causing him to drag his driver side rear fender on the boulder....
rampage flexing his way nicely up and over....
WOLette kickin up the dust as she works her way up the Soup Bowl....
and, here she is getting ready for the final climb up. Without front lockers, this was a bit tougher to do and even though she hooked up with a winch, she ended up not needing it...
People standing on the opposite side of the Little Sluice trying to measure it up.....
For every obstacle we went up, we also had to come back down....
A bit narrower than us, MBATF was able to slip between the rocks....
Unfortuantely, none of the tight squeezes got any wider. Here's Sean just squeeaking by....
JKDinker taking a different line up and over this boulder....
See anything wrong in this pic?
Just before Ellis Creek, there were a couple of Toyota's stuck in a bad way in the shoot so we took the bypass around them. Just as I was about to drop off the last ledge where the trail splits off, I pushed my brakes to the floor and nothing!! Fortunately, I was able to pull up on the hand brake and stick it 1st quick enough to prevent a really hard drop.
Here's a shot of the tourniquet I set up with sling to keep things out of the way....
Just as we got to the fork where the trail splits off toward Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs, we encountered a huge traffic jam of Toyotas. One of the guys walked up to me and with a doubtful look, asked if I per chance had a welder to which I said "yes". Just as he was about to say thanks anyway, he did a double take and said, "really, you do?" As it would turn out, one of the guys in their group blew out a drive shaft and this is what it looked like....
Fortunately, the guy who broke was an ironworker and so he was happy to do his own welding....
Back on the trail again, we came across this Jeep trail sign that had some embellishments added to it....
MBATF and rampage dropping into the Granite Bowl....
View from behind and looking out southwest....
On the other side watching JKDinker coming up with DizzyLiz and Sean following behind....
rampage climbing up the final ledge leading us out of the Granite Bowl...
DizzyLiz and Sean making their way up and out as well...
JKDinker entering into Gate Keeper....
On the other side and on our way up to the Loon Lake dam....
And at last, airing up at the Loon Lake Chalet and with the sun still shining!!
As mentioned, these are just a small sampling of all the pics that we took and if you would like to see all 509 photos, simply click on the link below:
Project-JK NorCal Wentworth Springs / Rubicon Trail Run Photo Gallery
While this was a very long trail run, it truly was a ton of fun to do especially being that we were with such good company. A big thanks needs to go out to DizzyLiz for putting this run together and to JKDinker for leading the way. We truly had a wonderful time and hope to do it again soon!!
Once on the Rubicon, we kept pushing forward until we got to the Little Sluice where we stopped for lunch and with the hopes of watching some of the buggies take a stab at it. From there, we doubled back until we reached the trail split-off and then made our exit over at the Loon Lake Dam.
Anyway, here are a few pics from our trip.....
Airport Flats campground where we met up with everyone and aired down....
Sean guiding DizzyLiz across a stream after spotting her down a technical drop in...
Me getting ready to jump in and get my feet wet....
rampage fording his way across while MBATF starts his descent....
Rubicon Trail sign near the Wentworth Springs campground....
Taking a quick stop to check out a pretty waterfall along the way....
MBATF climbing up a granite slab close to where we hooked up with the Rubicon Trail....
The closer we got to the Rubicon, the more rocks we started to see. Here's rampage making his way up....
Sean climbing his way up the first real boulder challenge on the trail....
rampage taking a slightly different line up....
MBATF working his way up nicely....
If I recall correctly, this obstacle is called the Post Pile and here you can see JKDinker stopping to pose on his way up....
After I got us high-centered, WOLette decided to jump behind the wheel to get us off and then up and over these rocks....
MBATF posing on the boulders while Sean checks to see what's hanging him up....
On the Rubicon Trail at last! Here's a trail marker that we saw at the trailhead....
Where the trail is hard to follow such as in the Granite Bowl area, street reflectors or signs likes these in trees help you to fing your way....
Working our way around the outter edge of the Granite Bowl....
View looking west as we wait for the rest of our group to catch up....
JKDinker carefully negotiating his way up and around a tight section of trail....
Sean tried the same line but slid off early causing him to drag his driver side rear fender on the boulder....
rampage flexing his way nicely up and over....
WOLette kickin up the dust as she works her way up the Soup Bowl....
and, here she is getting ready for the final climb up. Without front lockers, this was a bit tougher to do and even though she hooked up with a winch, she ended up not needing it...
People standing on the opposite side of the Little Sluice trying to measure it up.....
For every obstacle we went up, we also had to come back down....
A bit narrower than us, MBATF was able to slip between the rocks....
Unfortuantely, none of the tight squeezes got any wider. Here's Sean just squeeaking by....
JKDinker taking a different line up and over this boulder....
See anything wrong in this pic?
Just before Ellis Creek, there were a couple of Toyota's stuck in a bad way in the shoot so we took the bypass around them. Just as I was about to drop off the last ledge where the trail splits off, I pushed my brakes to the floor and nothing!! Fortunately, I was able to pull up on the hand brake and stick it 1st quick enough to prevent a really hard drop.
Here's a shot of the tourniquet I set up with sling to keep things out of the way....
Just as we got to the fork where the trail splits off toward Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs, we encountered a huge traffic jam of Toyotas. One of the guys walked up to me and with a doubtful look, asked if I per chance had a welder to which I said "yes". Just as he was about to say thanks anyway, he did a double take and said, "really, you do?" As it would turn out, one of the guys in their group blew out a drive shaft and this is what it looked like....
Fortunately, the guy who broke was an ironworker and so he was happy to do his own welding....
Back on the trail again, we came across this Jeep trail sign that had some embellishments added to it....
MBATF and rampage dropping into the Granite Bowl....
View from behind and looking out southwest....
On the other side watching JKDinker coming up with DizzyLiz and Sean following behind....
rampage climbing up the final ledge leading us out of the Granite Bowl...
DizzyLiz and Sean making their way up and out as well...
JKDinker entering into Gate Keeper....
On the other side and on our way up to the Loon Lake dam....
And at last, airing up at the Loon Lake Chalet and with the sun still shining!!
As mentioned, these are just a small sampling of all the pics that we took and if you would like to see all 509 photos, simply click on the link below:
Project-JK NorCal Wentworth Springs / Rubicon Trail Run Photo Gallery
While this was a very long trail run, it truly was a ton of fun to do especially being that we were with such good company. A big thanks needs to go out to DizzyLiz for putting this run together and to JKDinker for leading the way. We truly had a wonderful time and hope to do it again soon!!
Last edited by wayoflife; 07-19-2009 at 04:27 PM.
07-19-2009, 04:47 PM
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WOL, busted brake line? Didn't the rears stay online?
Would have scared the crap out of me, so I can just imagine the feelings you were going through while you sized up evasive action. Had stuff like that happen to me. Glad you and the family came through ok.
Did you get it fixed before traveling south?
Would have scared the crap out of me, so I can just imagine the feelings you were going through while you sized up evasive action. Had stuff like that happen to me. Glad you and the family came through ok.
Did you get it fixed before traveling south?
07-19-2009, 05:32 PM
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i so wish i could be going on this one but unfortuantely, we need to be heading home at the end of the week.
07-19-2009, 05:36 PM
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WOL, busted brake line? Didn't the rears stay online?
Would have scared the crap out of me, so I can just imagine the feelings you were going through while you sized up evasive action. Had stuff like that happen to me. Glad you and the family came through ok.
Did you get it fixed before traveling south?
Would have scared the crap out of me, so I can just imagine the feelings you were going through while you sized up evasive action. Had stuff like that happen to me. Glad you and the family came through ok.
Did you get it fixed before traveling south?
all was good and it was only the front passenger side line that got cut. somehow, the line got tangled inside the coils of the coilover and the body of it chopped the line with the bottom retaining cup when going into a stuff. totally crazy.
for now, i just have the bandaid fix which got us back to south lake tahoe (boy was that ever a scary drive especially coming over echo summit) and i'm hoping to get a replacement line from teraflex this week. i should be heading home before next weekend.
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07-20-2009, 06:54 AM
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well, i'm not all that fond of the sticky stuff but, piginajeep is working on putting together the 2nd annual east coast jk fest in october and if we can figure it out, we'll try to be there.
07-20-2009, 07:48 AM
#10
JK Jedi
I didn't manage very many pictures as my camera's memory chip was full.
But here is what I got:
Looks like Jamie is enjoying her first time out Jeeping
This was the last one I got on the camera~ but I popped a few on my camcorder and will upload them in a bit.
But here is what I got:
Looks like Jamie is enjoying her first time out Jeeping
This was the last one I got on the camera~ but I popped a few on my camcorder and will upload them in a bit.