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Author
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Topic: Rubicon Trail...
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 06:23 AM
Not hunting related at all, except that I was driving my usual hunting ride.
Spent week before last in California - what a totally fucked up place that is... But, never mind any of that, we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of neat stuff.
First part of the trip was running the Rubicon Trail. Been wanting to do this forever and ever, finally got my chance. Four rigs in our group, me in my silver LJ, my buddy Steve in his blue 2 door JK, Doug in his K-5 and Corey in his red TJ.
I didn't take most of these, I was too busy driving. Either our friend Jenn, or my son Logan took most of them. Anyhoo... Just a bunch of fun pics from the trail.
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 06:29 AM
Bunch more...
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 06:37 AM
And one more big bunch...
That's it!
Rest of the trip included Bodie, Mono Lake, Yosemite and Ancient Bristlecone Forest. Put almost 2,000 miles on the Jeep, camped out 6 nights, hotel 1 night, it was all good!
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 03, 2014 09:25 AM
Hope you had fun, bro. Myself, I have transversed such, a time or two, but never deliberately, on purpose. Tell you the truth, I don't understand the jeep break stuff mindset?
There is a place up hwy 39 along the San Gabriel river where people congregate to attempt crossing a big mud hole. It seldom ends well. And, they love it, for some reason?
Dave, you live a good life!
How many engine mounts were broken?
Good hunting. El Bee
PS just let me point out. as fucked up as is Kalifornia, some adjacent states are well on the way. Maybe it's infiltration or just osmosis, but it's coming to a place near you. Pretty pathetic, huh?
edit: seems like that Chevy had no business up there....
[ September 03, 2014, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31495 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 09:52 AM
Leonard, I don't get the "break it" mentality either. It ain't me, that's for sure.
No motor mounts broken.
The Blazer had no business there for sure, but, he knew what he was getting himself into and took the new dents in stride. He did blow a driver side hub and sheared off all six bolts holding the hub on though. And sheared off five of the six holding the other side on! Finished the trail, including Big Sluice and Cadilac Hill in 3 wheel drive, which made things even more entertaining!
That was about the extent of real broken parts. A complete "break down" (har-har...) would be:
Me, LJ, no damage aside from very minor cosmetic (dented/scratched skid plates meant to be abused).
Red TJ, no damage aside from minor cosmetic (scratched a plastic fender flare).
Blue JK, dented the holy fuck out of everything underneath, but most of it doesn't matter. Did smash the steering stabilizer, dent in exhaust resonator, tear off rear flare, waste rear bumper and put small dent in rear panel. Peeled rear diff cover, leaked a bit of gear oil. He was the only one in our group who had done the trail before too. See pics...
Blazer, few small dents in rear panels, tore a weld on homemade rear bumper, one blown hub, both hubs about to fall off due to broken/sheared off bolts.
Pretty minor, by Rubicon Trail standards, I think? Put it this way, all the rigs were able to continue another 1300 miles of the trip with little or no attention. All I did to my Jeep when I got home was wash it. Good to go for getting after the coyotes in a few weeks.
No doubt, Kalifornication is here already, has been for a long time, just slowly taking over. I had not "visited" California except for work for a very long time though. It was a genuine shock to my system! Went to see Ted Nugent in a local bar a few weeks ago, he likes to talk a lot during his set. He had played in Colorado the night before. He asked the crowd in Salt Lake "what the FUCK happened to Colorado?!?!". One of the things he kept repeating to the crowd was "don't let the Californians fuck up Utah like they did Colorado!". It's too late, really, of course.
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 10:03 AM
BTW... I think I know how the process works, from having been around hundreds of people who moved to Utah from California.
Almost without fail, the folks who move here from California go like this:
At first, they can't believe how "nice" it is here, how clean, how friendly, how "easy", how little traffic, how little crime and so on and so on.
But, after just a little while, they start complaining about specifics, about "how much better it was back in California". They forget all the bullshit they left behind, forget how nice they thought it was when the first got here, and start complaining about everything that's not like what they left behind.
So, they go about changing things to be "more like they were back in California". Never realizing that by changing some of the things to be the way they liked them back home, they are also recreating all the bullshit that caused them to leave in the first place.
Simplest terms, they see gov't as the answer to everything. And don't realize the reason Utah appealed to them in the first place, is because we have traditionally viewed gov't as NOT being the answer, to anything.
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 03, 2014 11:20 AM
Is that what the Intellectual set calls a DICHOTOMY?
You forgot to mention how they change the wide open friendly atmosphere with their bunker mentality and their locked gates. Gates that were never closed before, except to control cattle. (which doesn't involve locks)
Liberal Civilization is approaching, and it's ugly. In the almost 50 years I have been roaming the west, one two track at a time, many of these places are hard to recognize, today.
Good hunting. El Bee
edit: Like Bodie
[ September 03, 2014, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31495 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Lone Howl
Free Trial Platinum Member & part-time language police
Member # 29
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posted September 03, 2014 02:51 PM
Ahhhhh....full size rig on the trail. I love it! I love blazers and such. Ive had a few of em. Nice looking front axle setup.
Excellent as usual Dave.
[ September 03, 2014, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Lone Howl ]
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When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.
Posts: 2083 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2003
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 03, 2014 03:34 PM
No doubt. I've wheeled full size rigs most of my life too. It was a lot of fun doing the trail with Doug! The sheer size forced him into some hellacious lines at times. He just grinned and went for it!
He had just finished building that new front axle just before the trip. This was it's maiden voyage.
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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jimanaz
2nd Place RICHARD FARNSWORTH LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST
Member # 3689
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posted September 03, 2014 03:54 PM
quote:
But, after just a little while, they start complaining about specifics, about "how much better it was back in California". They forget all the bullshit they left behind, forget how nice they thought it was when the first got here, and start complaining about everything that's not like what they left behind.
So, they go about changing things to be "more like they were back in California". Never realizing that by changing some of the things to be the way they liked them back home, they are also recreating all the bullshit that caused them to leave in the first place.
Simplest terms, they see gov't as the answer to everything. And don't realize the reason Utah appealed to them in the first place, is because we have traditionally viewed gov't as NOT being the answer, to anything.
BAM!!!
That's cool stuff, Dave. I'd like to pretend that I could hang with that crowd, but 5500 pounds won't. I do hereby challenge you to a drag race. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posts: 940 | From: AZ | Registered: Oct 2010
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 03, 2014 04:14 PM
Yeah, but. Part of the undercurrent is skill. I know I can manage some shit better than the average dink.
Good hunting. El Bee (old guys rule)
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31495 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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KaBloomR
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4252
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posted September 03, 2014 07:34 PM
Looks like it was an awesome trip! I went with a buddy and a few of his friends on the Fordyce trail about 15 years ago when I lived in Sacramento. I don't know how it compares difficulty-wise to the Rubicon, but some of the sections scared the hell out of me.
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"It always gets a helluva lot worse before it gets any better"
Posts: 302 | From: Utah | Registered: Nov 2012
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted September 03, 2014 07:46 PM
Dang, just looking at those pics made me nervous.
It looks like a grand adventure though!
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
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posted September 04, 2014 02:53 AM
Looks like a great trip Dave. no too much carnage.
Bodie is amazing really gives you a sense of what it was like.
I left California 23 years ago still feel ill approaching the border when going back to visit.
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Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted September 04, 2014 04:39 AM
KaBloom - from what I hear, Fordyce is definitely the harder of the two. The guys I know who have done it have had some fairly major carnage along the way. Including one ruined motor on one of the water crossings. Just from what I've heard him say, it sounds like the deep water crossings alone would put it on a whole 'nuther level!
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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KaBloomR
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4252
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posted September 04, 2014 06:17 AM
Our convoy consisted of 3 Marlin Crawler equipped Toyotas that were bobbed and snorkeled, and 1 badass CJ - all of them trailered to the trailhead. The bodies and skid plates took some abuse, but were past caring. Definitely not near as comfortable to travel in as your group's rigs.
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"It always gets a helluva lot worse before it gets any better"
Posts: 302 | From: Utah | Registered: Nov 2012
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knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
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posted September 05, 2014 07:04 AM
Looks like alotta fun, Dave!
Boyz & their toyz...
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted September 05, 2014 08:24 AM
I remember once, over terrain that looked kinda like the pictures, but without the pine trees. Oh yeah, and it wasn't a road, we blazed that trail, probably has not seen wheel tracks since? Who would be that stupid? Took long enough for a fresh killed coyote to turn completely putrid, I might add.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31495 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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JimM
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4420
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posted September 25, 2014 04:10 PM
Ahhhh Rubicon memories.
The 1st time I hit that trail was 1976 and you could do it in a stock rig w/29" tires & break nothing.
My last time was in 2004 in a rock crawler Toyota 4runner I built and I watched the changes from an easy rocky road to a boulder nightmare/winching/rollover hills for many.
I actually don't miss it or the Fordyce Trail. Way to many idiots on them.
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