The Great Rubicon Trail Adventure 2.

Note: this post is the second of two. See the previous post for the beginning of the story.

On the Trail Day Two.

A nice easy start.

The camp started to stir a little after sun rise on the second day.
After a light breakfast we struck the tents, packed up the jeeps and were on the trail around 8:30.

 
Not to far up the trail we met these guys.

After watching them tear things up a while we continued our slow pace over the rocky trail.

The Big Sluice.

The Big Sluice is a steep down grade with lots of rocks,

tight squeezes

and plenty of boulders to navigate.

We forged ahead.

Tara walked a good part of the Big Sluice to allow the kids a chance to get outside. It was not as if we were cruising along at high speed. She had no trouble keeping up.

As we were waiting for the jeeps in front of us to clear an obstacle I noticed an old stump that had been gnawed on by a beaver in the past. That’s a good sign.

Crossing the Rubicon.

This makes the second time I have crossed the Rubicon in my life. The first time was about fifty years ago on a back packing trip through the Desolation Valley. I had to wade across the river that time.

Eventually we got to the bottom of the sluice and crossed the Rubicon River on a not too old bridge. At some time in the not so distant past travelers on the trail would have had to ford the river here.

Here is a look at the river as we cross over.
It looks a little deep for fording. But never under estimate a determined jeep driver and his trusty jeep.

After crossing the river the trail seemed to ease up a bit.

Lunch Time.

We came to a beautiful spot along a side shoot off the river. There was shade and plenty of flat space to park and spread out.

We sat around in the shade, had a leisurely lunch and visited.

Here’s Sebastian enjoying a piece of bread.

Josephine was excited to see a water snake in the river.

There were some people across the river that were having a good time playing on a rope swing.

Cadillac Hill.

Eventually we left our beautiful lunch spot and began the last of the hard obstacles, Cadillac Hill. So named for some idiots who tried to drive down the hill in a Cadillac LaSalle. They died in the attempt. 

At this spot JJ got through ok but dug a hole on the left side.

Then Lynn came along, got crossed up and dug the hole a lot deeper.

Eventually Lynn has to have a tow strap assist but gets through the spot.

Dennis and I threw a bunch of big rocks in the hole and I got through okay.

Observation Point.

It went along like that for a while; some easy stuff , a little hard spot occasionally.

Eventually we got to Observation Point. This marks the end of the hard stuff.

WE SURVIVED THE RUBICON TRAIL
and so did our humans.

We left Observation Point and continued along the trail. We still hit some obstacles but nothing we hadn’t seen and conquered before.

The trail got smoother and smoother.
As we went along we passed several larger ponds with lots of Lily Pads.

Some of the lily’s were beginning to bloom.

Before long we were on the pavement and driving along side Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe heading for Truckee on I-80.

Okay, that was the world famous Rubicon Trail. It was bloody awesome.
There were several places on the trail that I didn’t think were possible to travers but with Dennis’s expert guidance we all made it through with minimal damage to any of the vehicles.

Dennis said that he has done the Rubicon four times. The last time was 12 years ago. He said that these were the worst conditions that he has ever seen on the trail.

Patti didn’t take any pictures of Snoopy doing his thing. Fortunately Cheryl sent me a couple. I don’t know where they were taken so I’ll just put them here.

A good nights sleep

The original plan was to camp out another night and drive the trail to Signal Peak tomorrow morning.
After last nights cold camp and the trail today we all decided that a nice hot shower and a real bed for the night was the ticket.
JJ and family headed for a friends Time Share to spend a couple days so we said our good bye's and best wishes and they headed out.

As we drove toward Truckee, Cheryl got on the phone and found us some rooms at The Inn at Truckee.

We got our rooms all settled and went to an Italian place for supper; it was ok.

Signal Peak.

A Little History.

In the 1800’s there was a watch station on Signal Peak where two men would spend the winter keeping a eye on the railroad tracks that cross the mountains here.
Their job was to watch for avalanches and rock slides that would occasionally cover the tracks. When the men spotted a problem on the tracks they would put a red lantern in the window.
The train engineers could see the lanterns from 20 miles and would know if the tracks were clear or not by the color of the lantern. Red for danger and green for safe.

Signal Peak Trail. 

We left the motel a little after 8:00 and got on I-80 heading west. We turned off at the Cisco Grove exit and followed Rattlesnake Road toward Fordice Lake.

The road wasn’t to rough but very dusty as it goes through some dense forest..

Eventually the trail gets up on the ridge and we start seeing wild flowers.

As we climb the ridge we can see these modern radio towers that have taken the place of the men and lanterns.

Eventually we get to the old stone building where the watchers lived and kept their lonely vigil.

On the south side of the building is a bay window where the watchers viewed the canyon and the train tracks.

Here is some of what they could see.

west:

The lake in the distance is Lake Spalding. I-80 disappears in the distance.

South:

Here you can see I-80 and the railroad tracks above it.

East:

After wandering around the shack for a while we eventually continued along the trail down the other side of the mountain.
We passed more wildflowers.

The trail dropped down the mountain fairly steeply but in a short time we were at the trail head.

We aired up the tires and said our good bye’s to our fellow travelers with promises to meet again in Quartzsite in the fall for more Jeeping fun.

We got on I-80 and drove to Auburn where Patti and I decided to take Highway 20 home. It is a much more relaxing drive than I-80.

We got back to Santa Rosa around 5:00 in the evening.

Wow! what an adventure!!

I hope you enjoyed reading about it

The Great Rubicon Trail Adventure

 

Acknowledgments.

Before I start the tale of the Rubicon Trail, I have to acknowledge the work of our guide, Dennis M.
He not only organized and lead the trip but busted his butt to make sure we all made it through the roughest trail that any of us has ever encountered, safely and in one piece.
He also took a lot of falls while trying to spot for us as we crawled over obstacles.

You may laugh at this picture but falling on these rocks is no laughing matter. I am surprised that he made it through without serious injury.
Thanks Dennis; we’ll follow you any where.

Cheryl's nephew, J.J. his wife Tara, 3 year old daughter, Josephine and 8 month old son, Sebastian came with us in their 1999 Jeep Cherokee 
What a great family.
The children were very well behaved and were a delight to have in camp. I have to say that I had my doubts when I heard that the little ones were coming but they were troopers.
Josephine even told her dad that she loved going over the rocks. She’s a keeper.

Our friend Dave, and his son, Lynn came all the way from Twin Falls, Idaho to join us on this trip. Lynn did all the driving and took very good care of his dad.

This was Lynn’s first experience rock crawling and he did well. From his excitement I think Lynn is hooked.

Getting There.

Rubicon or Bust

We left Santa Rosa around noon on Sunday heading to the town of Placerville in the foothills of the Sierras. We were to meet the others in the group there and the next morning head for the trail.
There was a lot of traffic between home and Placerville so it took us about 4 hours to make a three hour trip.

We eventually got to our motel (The Placerville Inn ) and got checked in.
Cheryl and Dennis were in a different motel.
Dave and Lynn arrived at the Placerville Inn around 6:00.
J.J. and Family were staying in Pollock Pines.

Busted!

Once Lynn and Dave arrived we all decided to meet at the Placerville Brewery for dinner.
We got in the jeep, I turned the key and nothing happened. WTF!!All the lights on the dash worked, the head lights worked. That meant the Battery was good.

What could it be?

Let’s eat.

Lynn and Dave had trailered their Jeep so they had Dave’s pickup. We got in their truck and went to supper. While we were there we found out that the local Auto Zone was open until 9:00 so after dinner we went to Auto Zone so I could buy a starter for the jeep.

No Joy.

There was still a little daylight when we got back to the motel so I crawled under the jeep and replaced the starter.

I tried to start the jeep again and it still wouldn’t do anything.
We decided that we would tackle the problem in the morning.

The Trail, Day One

A Solution Arrives in the Night.

During the night Dennis came up with a solution.
He had some stiff insulated wire in his jeep so we could use that to actuate the starter by holding one end of the wire to the solenoid hot side while someone touched the + terminal of the battery with the ignition on.
The jeep should started right up.
The only down side was that I had to crawl under the jeep every time I wanted to start it. Not optimal but reliable.
I would just have to not turn the jeep off any more often than necessary.

In the morning when we were ready to leave I got in the jeep turned the key and it started right up. WTF!! again.

I hate spooks in my car! It’s bad enough when something breaks but intermittent problems will drive you nuts.

Okay, we have a back up system so lets go.

We drove the 20 miles from Placerville to Pollock Pines and connected with JJ in the Safeway parking lot.

Next Stop the Rubicon Trail Head.

From Pollock Pines to the trailhead is about 30 miles.
We took Ice House Road off Highway 50 and follow it to Loon Lake.

Here we crossed the dam,

and drove down below it to the trailhead where we aired down the tires. Of course I forgot and shut off the jeep and it wouldn’t start so before we could go I had to crawl underneath and with Dennis’s help to jump start it.

 
These large granite mile stones are all along the trail.

 

Slick Rock, Cool!

Finally we are on the trail and it is already after 10:00.
The first part of the trail crosses a large area of granite dome. It is just like the red slick rock in Moab and is a lot of fun to drive on.

This stretch of slick rock doesn’t last long and we find ourselves in the boulders.

With Dennis’s guidance we slowly work our way through this set of obstacles.

We eventually came to another area of slick rock and were able to relax for a little while.

Not to say that there weren’t some interesting spots along the way.

There are plenty of beautiful views as we go along.
Some times though, your attention is so fixed on the trail that you have to stop every once in a while to take a look around.

Lunch.

We continue to travel along; climbing steep shelves

and working our way through boulder fields.

occasionally needing a tow strap assist.

Eventually we came to a spot where we could get off the trail and have lunch.

On a rock near by Patti noticed this cross.

After lunch we continued on our way. Just a short distance away we came to another mile stone

A mile and a half in over two hours. That might give you some idea of the difficulty of the trail.

Okay, break’s over back to work.

The trail for a short distance is fairly easy.

But that doesn’t last long.

That’s right, we have to climb up there.

More boulders.

We continued along this way for the rest of the day; climbing steep rocky grades,

 
and negotiating incredible boulder fields.

The Little Sluice.

By 3:00 we had traveled another two miles to the turnoff for the Little Sluice.

Dennis checked out the Little Sluice and decided that it was too rough.
Rougher than what we've gone through already today?
That’s hard to imagine.
We decided to bypass the Little Sluice so we continued along the trail.

More Slick Rock.

Just past the turnoff to the Little Sluice we came to more slick rock. It is always a little relief when we get to drive on the slick rock for a little while.

At the top of this one there is a squeeze between two trees with a hard right turn down hill on the other side.

Lily Ponds.

On the other side of the trees we passed some lily ponds; there were several along the trail here.

Another Hour, Another mile.

We continued along slowly crawling up slick rock,

through narrow slots,

over and around boulders

and eventually past the mile stone for the Old Sluice.

Our camp spot appears in the distance.

As we start down hill we can see Buck Island Lake in the distance; this is our destination for today.

How beautiful is that?!

And it will only take another two hours to get there.

Here are just a few pictures of the rest of the way to Buck Island Lake.

JJ had to have a little assistance here.

Yes, it is possible to get stuck going down hill. Especially where boulders are concerned.

Buck Island Lake.

As we approached Buck Island Lake we crossed a pretty little creek.

We crossed over the dam.

Around 6:00 we got to our camp spot, hungry and exhausted from the drive.

We set up our camps and had supper.

Later we were treated to the sight of the rising of the full moon over the mountains.

It had been windy all day which wasn’t bad as it kept it cool and blew away some of the dust as we drove along. But after the sun went behind the mountains it got very cold.
As fires were prohibited we all went into our tents and our beds early for a well deserved rest. Tomorrow is going to be another rough day.

Okay, that Is the end of day one of the Great Rubicon Trail Adventure.

What an awesome day!

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Heading for the Rubicon Trail

 

Ready to Go.

All right, the jeep is pretty much loaded and today we will drive to Placerville CA. About a three hour drive.
We will spend the night at the Great Western Motel there.
Hopefully we will get together with the rest of the people for supper.

Tomorrow morning we will meet up with everyone at Carl’s Jr and then head for the trail head off Ice House Road.

No Posts.

I won’t be blogging until we get back on Thursday.

Talk to you then.

Fire Without Matches.

Fire with flint and steel (history alert!)

Back in the days when I was “Tanglefoot” the buckskinner, one of the skills I learned was making fire with flint and steel.
Back before the invention of Bic lighters and even before matches,
most people made fire by striking a flint with a piece of steel to make a spark. The spark would fall on some type of material that would hold the spark and could be blown into a hot coal.
One of the most common materials that was used was ‘charred cloth’.

A strike-a-light kit.

Since I learned this skill I have always carried a “Strike-a-light” Kit in my back country vehicles.

My kit consists of a piece of flint, a steel striker, a tin of prepared char, a char burning tin, some un-chard 100 percent pure cotton cloth, some old (untreated) jute rope and a few small pieces of sap wood.

The heart of the system is the flint, the steel and the char.

Everything else is extra.

Out of Char.

The last time I used the strike-a-light was to start a fire for the last weenie roast we had on the Gila River. 
At that time I noticed that the char was about used up so I needed to make more.

Making charred cloth.

I found some cotton muslin material while I was looking for the leather to make the new door pull for the jeep so I decided that I should make some char to refill my strike-a-light kit.

To make char, I take several strips of cotton cloth and make an accordion fold in the strip.

I fill the burning tin (that is the one with the hole in it) with the strips of cloth and put it over a fire.

Usually this is done on a campfire but any high heat source will do.
I used an electric stove once but it smoked up the house so I don’t do that anymore.
This time I used my small gas barbeque and let the can smoke until the smoke stopped. Then I removed the can and let it cool. Don’t open the can until it is cool or you may end up burning all the char up.
When you heat the can up, the cloth inside is burned without oxygen and becomes char (this is the same method used for making charcoal).
The hole in the top of the can is to let the gasses escape but not allow the cloth inside to burn up. When it is done you have some very delicate charred cloth as you can see on the right of the above picture.

In the past I have used other materials for char such as the inner bark (Cambrian layer) of a dead cottonwood tree.
It worked but was extremely delicate and didn’t travel well. Almost any organic material will work as long as it is charred not burned and is light enough to catch the spark. Briquettes don’t work to well.  
The cotton cloth was also used for patching a ball when loading a muzzle loading rifle so the mountain men always carried some cotton cloth with them to use as patching and char.

Okay, so now I have the char made and my strike-a-light kit assembled and in the jeep. I also carry a Bic or two but I still like to start campfires the traditional way with flint and steel.

How to Make Fire Without Matches.

Okay, so now you probably want to know how to make fire without matches.

Here is the drill;

Make a nest of dry grass, thin bark or leaves.
If I can’t find any suitable materials I use the old rope in my kit and strip it down to individual strands, role it up into a ball and then form it into a small nest. I also put a little bit of scrapings off the sap wood into the nest to extend the time the nest will burn.
Take a small amount of char (one or two folds is plenty) lay it on the flint and hold it down with your thumb, Strike the flint a glancing blow with the steel near the char and watch for sparks hitting the char.

 
As soon as you see a piece of char glowing red, start blowing on the char and place it in the center of the nest and continue to blow on it folding the nest around the char until the nest catches fire. Set the nest in the fire pit and add very small dry twigs and leaves. Continue to blow lightly until the fire catches the twigs and leaves. Continue to add larger sticks until you have a good blaze.
That’s all there is to it.
It sounds like a lot of steps but it really doesn’t take much longer than using a match and newspaper and is a lot more magical.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip into the past and maybe learned something new.

A Birthday and Puttering in the Yard

 

Puttering.

The weeds along the side of the house were almost as tall as I am. Yesterday I decided that I should clean them out so I grabbed a tool that Is actually an old adz. It makes a great digging tool
I spent about an hour chopping down weeds and putting them in the yard waste barrel. I was pooped after that. There are more weeds but they can wait.

A Birthday.

My brother-in-law Tom became an octogenarian yesterday so after lunch we drove to Petaluma to congratulate him on his achievement and wish him many returns.
There were several generations (children grand children and great grand) children present to whish him well.

Okay, that’s it for today. 

Change Oil in Jeep.

 

About the only productive thing that I accomplished yesterday was to Change the oil and filter in the jeep.
Now the jeep is ready for the Rubicon.

I did spend some time researching fastener and parts for Bob’s engine swap project.

That was my day.