Rubithon 2007

[Roberto Miranda]

Guys, I just did Rubicon backwards and forward with Buttercup, 33" tires, ARB lockers front an rear...few dents...it was awesome!!!
enjoy the pictures...

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...e&conn_speed=1

Roberto

[scherf68]

Great trip, great photos, thanks for sharing.

[Mike]

Wow! Those are the best photos of the Rubicon trail that I have seen so far. It looks like it was an excellent trip. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to a time that I can run it for the first time!

[Mtbikbob]

Wooow.....thanks for sharing!

[RAT]

Great pics Roberto. The rubicon looks good. We'll be going soon.
Thanks,
Rat

[Roberto Miranda]

thanks my friends... the rubicon was awesome, the water...to cold for me, mosquitos don't even bit me...I'm not sure why...I'm discriminated by mosquitos!!! jejeje I like to watch the girls driving their rigs overthere and the 11 year old boy was doing the same...I did't carry my camera by then...damn it..

[steelman]

Nice Roberto! Glad you posted the link here. For some reason the computer wasn't cooperating with me, so the link in the e-mail you sent wasn't working. Looks like a great trip! I gotta get up there one day. :thumbs_up

[Roberto Miranda]

you better hurry...we never know when will be closed...it's to close to water reservoirs...people is following the rules so far, but if is closed, will be no surprise to me...

[Rubigirl]

best pictures I have seen also, you guys didnt miss a rock! lol

[miguelitojeep97]

oh man...I cannot wait for my turn!! soon....so soon..

[Roberto Miranda]

OK, guys here is my 1st draft. The first half of the trip report. I'm still need to review the grammar and all the stuff, I'm working on it...then, the second part. Your feedback is more than welcome to learn over my mistakes.

Rubicon with a Lexus, 33” tires and 2 1/2 inches lift. You are an ANIMAL, but I liked how you drive…people said to me…
June 16th to 24th.


The real planning of my trip to Rubicon started last year; I guess, watching my friend’s pictures and dreaming about doing it for several years. One of the first steps was to install the lockers (at Off Road Evolution), a gadget that allows me to have real 4-wheel drive traction, eliminating the differential function that allows the wheels to spin. I already have some armor on Buttercup (slee off road products are my best friends), so I was in shape in that area. 33”tires are welcome in the 2007 wagon’s run, so I just need to sign in; I assumed that. It’s funny, the maximum size allowed in Fun Race is 33” but here is the minimum size required for that trail, but let’s face it, wheeling in mud is not the same as wheeling on rocks. I will confirm that for sure.

I had some mechanicals issues doing my new lockers test run, not even turn them on and I broke the knuckle nuts when I hit a rock. Joe Somerville helped me out and we worked together on Buttercup every other weekend until we cover his unique inspection list. Driver side knuckle was not reviewed in deep details, we trusted that will be ok. That’s definitely part of my journey, no doubt about it.

Saturday June 16th. I left home about 5:30am (an off road trip is the only reason that I wake up so early) and I drove all the way to Sacramento to meet Alvaro, David and Silviu, who comes from Venezuela especially for this run. At Alvaro’s place, we removed the sway bar on Buttercup to allow more articulation on the rear axle and then, we join Andy’s family for lunch at a local fish restaurant.

We left Sacramento and drove to Lake Tahoe and camp there. Andy reserved two spots in a park with Lake View and we had Mexican food and some Margaritas that night in a close by restaurant. Jim arrived later that night; I was already sleeping on the ground, I was too lazy to set-up my tent. Jim received a warning ticket; we parked 4 cars instead of 3.

Sunday June 17th. After having breakfast, we fill the gas tanks and hit the trail head, not without doing the air-down ritual first. The first miles were done for a perfect trail, not big deal until we stopped at Observation Point. Then, the famous Cadillac Hill was ahead of us, the first serious obstacle. The sliders and gravity did and awesome work here. I was able to sort all obstacles and we arrived to Rubicon Springs about 3pm, set camp (I didn’t know that Andy paid the fee to camp there too) and I jumped into the water, well, it was just a splash for me ok, I’m from the warm waters of the Caribbean sea, so this is to cold for me, no matter what.

Alvaro and Silviu come later and we had some Scotch (3/4 of the 1.5 liter bottle) at the river. I got drunk so badly that I was crawling to get into my tent. The guys take care of me, and they documented the all event, so you can laugh about it.

Monday June 18th. Next day, keep rolling, like the slogan. Jon with a 4runner mini truck was with us today. We stopped at Big Sluice to study or better said decipher the best way to sort out the obstacles (rocks) with minimum body damage keeping the trail as it is. We spend and hour or so with La Cabra and it went trough without major damage, just few more dents. At my turn, we weren’t so lucky and I did some body damage on the rear passenger side panel. Dents are like tattoos, just better histories, someone said. Jim with the 60, Jon with the mini truck and Andy with the 40 did it without problems, years of experience I guess. Spotters in good shape are priceless on this trail, don’t leave without them, they are your eyes. Silviu said that it is like a chess game, is just about the right strategy to figure out the line to follow-up. I’m not sure when the U bolt of Jon’s mini truck was broken, but they fixed at lunch time. I watched and learned.

There is many regulations on Rubicon trail, one of them if where to camp. We need to camp close to the trail and fare away of any damn. Vehicles must stay within 25 feed of the center of the trail at all times. The dams are vital water reservoirs for all California residents, so is very normal to have this type of regulations to keep people away. That night, we camped close to the trail in the Spider lake area. We had Carnitas that night. I chopped the onions and the bell peppers and Alvaro did the rest with some help. It was a great dinner, surrounded by friends and a crystal-clear sky. I slept on the ground; my tent was at Rubicon Springs. I’m lazy to set-up a tent every night. In the other hand, the granite absorbed solar hit, so at nighttime, is really warm and comfortable. I remembered that we spoke with some ATV guys; they hardly believe that a Lexus was there. My ego was shoulder to shoulder with the stars that night.

Tuesday 19th. We got up early but we leave late; I walked to Spider Lake and did some shoots. That place is out of this world. We had Carnitas left over and we had them with eggs as breakfast. We had espresso coffee each morning and we run out of milk really early. No one brings milk for an off road trip, just Alvaro. Jon cannot believe what he tasted since the night before, so we gave him the welcome in the best NorCal style, by the mouth. I don’t remember any hard spot from Spider Lake to Loon Lake. We by-passed the Little Sluice but I do remember another group coming in and they also had hard time to believe that grocery getters are there, so we joked about it and we all laugh together, that’s the beauty of this sport. We crawl over the granite walls and arrive to Loon Lake, starting point for almost everyone who tries this trail. We did it backwards with soccer mom wagons!!!

Our plan was to get some food at Ice House, some ice, fill with gas (I burned ¾ of my tank, ¾ of 80 liters or ¾ of 20 gallons) and returned to Loon Lake and camp there. The TLCA organized run will start from Loon Lake next day.
Well, the kitchen at Ice House was closed, La Cabra had a twisted drive shaft and Buttercup was leaking oil from the passenger side knuckle. So Alvaro called few friends. Tom was still on Sacramento at that time and we asked him to buy some spares parts that we may need as well as drinking water and bring them with him. Andy had the spare parts that I need on his rig, but if we used on mine, we will be risking the trip preparation not having the spares available just in case.

Silviu and Alvaro took care of La Cabra, I was finally cooking the chicken that Carol made for us and I feed the crowd. That was part of the plan, cook for the group a couple of nights and eat others people food the rest of the time. It works great for me.

We leave Ice House and stopped at a campground where some other 80’s owners were there. Andy takes control to fix me leaking baby and in a couple of hours we were done. Believe or not, we used duct tape to solve and issue with the hub, that’s why the seal went off in first place, not Rubicon it self.


Damage so far:
CB antenna
AM/FM radio antenna (before Rubicon)
Bend tie rod
Bend rear control arms (before Rubicon)
Bend muffler pipe
Leaking transfer case
Few dents added
Plastic Fender flare removed (by the rocks)
Scratches on the sliders
Scratches on the bumpers
Scratches on the body
Dust and mud all over the leather interior…like I really care...

We fix the seal that went off, but I need to replace the hub and re do all the work.


checklist
viaje Lake Tahoe-Loon Lake - done
el sello que se jodio y la reparacion - donde
viaje Ice House- Tahoe
la experiencia de manejar los FJ Cruiser y verlos en accion
la reunion de 4 venezolanos en Rubicon
las regulaciones de la trilla - done
tener que llevar poceta como parte de los requisitos para pasar la inspeccion tecnica...
quedarme pegado en el unico barro.....coñ o de la madre....quedarme pegado en el unico vadeo y que me rescataran los FJ cruiser....doble coño de la madre....

daños al carro, son mas que un simple carajazo...done

en fin, hay burda de temas por contar, pero con la visita de los suegros y matar las vainas pendientes que tengo que se me acumularon al estar fuera una semana, se me ha complicado escribir y plasmar todas estas ideas, que si no las escribo ahora, se me olvidan

[Roberto Miranda]

my first draft had a lot of errors, mainly, I'm not using past tense...anyways, the second draft (spanish and english) and commented pictures at www.yopo4x4.com

have fun,
Roberto