Epic Trail, The Rubicon
From Native Americans to Gold Rush Days to Jamborees
By Del Albright, Sustainable Motorized Recreation Advocate
The "Gold Rush" of 1849 brought California to
the national limelight and thousands of explorers and adventurers west to the
famous gold fields. The era was wrought with exploring, trapping, gold mining,
gun fights, and trading with Indians from the Pacific coast to the mountains.
From those hearty souls, we now have the famous Rubicon Trail.
Around 1850, trappers and survey parties were traveling
routes in the northern part of the state along the Georgetown-Lake Bigler
Indian Trail. Noted explorers like John Fremont, leading US Army expeditions,
brought Lake Tahoe to the attention of the Western world. Rubicon Springs was
discovered in the process, and today, we have the epic 4x4 trail of the world,
the icon of four-wheeling, the famous Rubicon Trail.
Later in the 1800s, the "Rubicon/McKinney" road
became a stagecoach route between Georgetown and Lake Tahoe, serving two
mountain resort hotels: one at Wentworth Springs and one at Rubicon Springs. Today,
it is claimed officially as a county road in El Dorado County, CA.
Before the gold rush and cattlemen using the trail,
native American tribes, including the Miwok and Washoe peoples, used the trail
and region for seasonal travel, trading, and hunting.
In the 1920s, Studebaker cars traveled over the Rubicon
Trail to Rubicon Soda Springs to enjoy this retreat in the mountains, nestled
along the Rubicon River. Eventually, natural erosion and continued use turned
the trail from touring to 4x4 required. Today, in the words of a Rubicon
"father" Mark Smith (RIP), the Rubicon Trail is rated a 10 out of 10
on the difficulty scale.
In 1952, Mark Smith and friends started the Jeepers
Jamboree, which has become the "Granddaddy" of all 4-wheel drive
events in the world. More on Jeepers Jamboree and Jeep Jamboree can be found at
the link below.
JULIUS
CAESAR?
Some historians point out that the name Rubicon is
related to Julius Caesar (50 BC) declaring war on Rome with his statement: "The
die is cast." So when his Army crossed the Rubicon River (in Italy), they
were at the point of no return. So, "know yee all today (in the words of
Del Albright) that whoever passeth through these hallowed rocks has crossed the
point of no return in life – and yee shall be hooked!"
On a more serious note, the Rubicon Trail is really only
about 20 (+ or -) miles long after leaving pavement from Georgetown, CA area to
Lake Tahoe. But this "short trip" is not a one-day buzz through
adventure. People who speak highly of their experience on the Rubicon talk
about a three or 4-day adventure, with time for swimming, hiking, taking
pictures, and just plain relaxing. Oh, yes, and some grueling four-wheeling as
well.
Stacie Albright, Author's wife at Observation Point.
Trail elevations run from 5400 feet to over 7000 feet,
with incredible Sierra Nevada Mountain scenery, vegetation, and granite rock
formations. It is truly breath-taking to drive through "large expanses of
exposed granite rock, the result of glacier movements that scraped volcanic
rock layers away to expose and polish the underlying granite." (Quoted
from "Rubicon Springs and The Rubicon Trail: a history, by Rick
Morris, Published by The Rubicon Historical Group, 2011).
ACCESS
POINTS AND LEGAL VEHICLES
There are two standard access points on the west end of
the Rubicon Trail: Wentworth Springs and Loon Lake. While not a one-way trail,
most four-wheelers enjoy the trail from west to east. The most common starting
point is Loon Lake, right at the dam/spillway, driving through and popping out near
Tahoma on the west shore of Lake Tahoe.
Both street-legal and "green stickered"
off-road motor vehicles, including jeeps, 4x4s, ATVs, UTVs, and dirt bikes, are
welcome on the trail. Volkswagen-type dune buggies have also been noted to
traverse the trail.
From the Loon Lake entrance, you'll cross famous
obstacles like "the granite bowl" or granite "slabs;" Ellis
Creek, Walker Rock/Hill; Spider Lake; Little Sluice; Big Sluice; Old Sluice;
Rubicon Springs; Cadillac Hill and finally, Observation Point.
In 2000, the Rubicon Trail became in jeopardy of closure
and a gate. Allegedly, Lake Tahoe's water quality was being threatened by soil
discharge off the Rubicon into McKinney Creek, feeding into Lake Tahoe. Placer
County received a "Cease and Desist" order with a huge fine attached
if the problem was not promptly fixed.
Hence, the BlueRibbon Coalition sanctioned Del Albright
(4x4 Ambassador) to work nearly full time (at their expense) to "do what
it takes to save this trail!" The California 4Wheel Drive
Association (CA4WDA) immediately partnered with Albright's BRC efforts, and
together with the help of tons of clubs and great folks from groups (to name a
few) like Pirates of the Rubicon (POR), This Dysfunctional Organization (TDO),
Rubicon Rock Heads, Auburn Jeep Club (AJC), Calif. Off-Road Vehicle Association
(CORVA), United Four Wheel Drive Association (UFWDA), Placer County, El Dorado
County, Jeepers Jamboree, and the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) among
others, gave birth to the Friends of the Rubicon (FOTR).
FOTR volunteers moving the original ditch tender's shack to make it the current kiosk.
Many clubs, organizations, national/regional groups,
international interests, magazines, associations, and businesses all joined in
to help save this icon of off-roading. (See the historical link below for more
listings of partners and supporters).
The immediate drainage problem was fixed in the summer of
2001 as FOTR became the largest, most organized, and best-known "friends"
group in the off-road world. Users adopted this trail and worked with all the
various governing agencies, local, state, and federal, to keep the Rubicon open
all year long.
In 2004, Albright gathered key players in the
four-wheeling world and formed the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) to be the "officialdom"
of Rubicon efforts, apply for grants, and "enhance the future health and
use of the Rubicon Trail while ensuring responsible motorized year-round trail
access."
Rusty Folena, a charter member of FOTR and RTF and
longtime RTF President, reflects on the early days of FOTR by saying, "At
the end of the day, the folks that made up FOTR were a huge accomplishment that
set in place a changing time for OHV, showing the world how if we can get past
the political barriers and just work towards one goal, we can do amazing
things!"
Albright continued to lead and mentor FOTR and RTF for
nearly 10 years with lots of help and support. "The Rubicon is alive and
well today because of the passionate dedication of the folks who use it,
committed county partners, tons of off-road businesses, and some solid
leadership by a great team of individuals," said Del Albright.
Jeepers Jamboree history: http://jeepersjamboree.com/history.html
Rubicon Trail Foundation Website: http://www.rubicontrail.org
Jeepers Jamboree Mileage Map and Highlights: http://jeepersjamboree.com/_documents/therubicontrail.pdf
Rubicon Trail Map with GPS Coordinates (courtesy Rubicon
Trail Foundation website): http://rubicontrail.org/map-randy.pdf
History of the Rubicon Trail (courtesy RTF website): http://rubicontrail.org/RTF-History.htm
Links to Rubicon Trail Today; a County Road (courtesy of the
County of El Dorado, CA): http://www.edcgov.us/Government/Rubicon/Information_to_the_Rubicon_Trail.aspx
MORE HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
FACEBOOK
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