Rubicon Trail 2024
Another Year, Another Rubicon Trip!
This year we had a strong group of 4 rigs! Jessica and Guy Giuffre, Marianne and Fred, Tom with Aga, and myself.
Run Members
- Jessica & Guy Giuffre
- Marianne & Fred Feldman
- Tom
- Aga & Dariusz Smigiel
Day 1: Airport Flat to Buck Island Lake
Plan for the first day was to get from Airport Flat Campground to Buck Island Lake. Nice and easy, right? It shouldn’t take longer than 3-4h, right? Wrong!
First backup? The gatekeeper! A group of Land Cruisers were having issues on the first obstacle (remember this – they will return in this story!). One of them turned around and decided to not go this year. Still, 2 more remained plus a few supporting rigs.
Around the same place we also met a group from San Diego Jeep Club, probably 6-8 rigs. They let us through, so we were slowly moving forward.
A few hundred yards later, when we were about to leave the slabs, Tom had problems going up over one “stairs”. His 37” AT tires started sliding. Guy Giuffre and a few other bystanders helped him safely get over this place.
Without any more problems we finally made it to the Little Sluice. Guy and Fred thought about going over it… but after a while “abandoned all hope ye who entered here.” Much bigger buggies got stuck there and moved a few rocks into very inconvenient places, making it impossible to cross.
That was also the place where Tom noticed a leak from Fred’s rear axle. After a short investigation it looked like a strange problem with the seal – somehow the oil was getting through. He filled it up and we moved again.
Somewhere around where we could already see Buck Island Lake, we had approaching traffic. Unfortunately, in the least convenient place (without any bypass, in the middle of an obstacle), a guy lost his throttle. Something was wrong with fuel delivery. He was cranking, the engine was starting up, but immediately dying.
He checked fuel lines, in the process spilling a bit of fuel in his engine bay (yeah, that wasn’t the best thing, but at least he confirmed fuel going into the engine)… and voilà! It started again. No idea what the problem was.
Finally, after about 8 hours (approx. 5pm) we made it to the Lake.
We found a nice spot with a great overlook at the dam. The night was beautiful, almost full moon… with an ‘extra party’ going on next door until sometime around 1am. Ear plugs for the win!
Day 2: Buck Island Lake to Rubicon Springs
After an “exciting night” when our neighbors partied till 1 or 2am, we got up and decided to drive another 3 miles to famous Rubicon Soda Springs! 3 miles, you say… what could go wrong?! By noon we’re gonna be there…
You know nothing, Jon Snow!
Similar to the day before, we started around 9am. Most people stayed at Buck Island, so we should have a really nice, fast, and pleasant run! It’s like with the joke: you can have it done cheap, fast, reliable – choose 2.
After a pretty uneventful drive, we immediately had to stop at the very top of the Big Sluice. A group of full-size rigs was claiming their way to the bottom of the hill… unfortunately a Chevy Silverado’s size played a huge disadvantage on this gnarly road.
Boulders field vs Chevy Silverado: 1 - 0
The sound and the cloud looked like something exploded! Fortunately, it was just a lost bead at the front passenger tire. Unfortunately, the location was less than comfortable to work on the tire. A bottle jack wasn’t helping (flex in the lift played a significant issue here). I had my hi-lift, so we decided to give it a try. After about 1 hour, the tire was back on the rim!
This was also the spot where I got stuck and had to pull the winch. Huge rocks caused me to turtle on one of them. That’s what you deal with when you go off-road with 35” tires.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the hill. Everyone made it without any scratch, we were happy to get to the Rubicon Springs by 1pm!… aaaand Silverado’s curse hit again!
Boulders field vs Chevy Silverado: 2 - 0
Something was really, really wrong, because the same rig lost beads on the front driver side! Additionally, the location was the worst possible. His front axle got stuck on a huge boulder (I would estimate something like 2,000 lbs), his rear axle just cleared a big-ass rock (about 4,000 lbs if not more!) but his pickup bed got stuck in the air. The only traction this rig was getting was from the front passenger tire – the very same one which some time earlier lost beads.
By this time, the backup of all rigs trying to get down the hill reached something close to 50!
Huge peer-pressure. We tried using a winch. No can do! We used a snatch block to double the power of the winch. No can do! Hi-lift was used to lift the bed, to push it down, away from the boulder. No can do!
At the end, one of the spectators brought a hi-lift extension, where we hooked up the broken tire and lifted it up with the hi-lift. 2 hours later, a bit of flame and a lot of trial-and-error, the unfortunate wheel had its tire back on the rim!
We arrived at the Rubicon Soda Springs sometime around 3pm-ish. The prophecy of 3 hours to the next campground actually took twice that time.
When we arrived, we found our spot on the slabs, and we were greeted by a thunderstorm! Most people went immediately to dip into the Springs. After a long day, it felt really refreshing. It rained for about 1 hour, but after that we had a really pleasant evening.
One thing which dropped a shadow on our trip was a missing person. One of the volunteers who was helping prepare the trail for Jeepers Jamboree 2024 (happening the week after) had gone missing. The night before we could hear helicopters flying and calling for this person. We learned that this volunteer was a very experienced person who knew the area well. The only thing we could do was cross our fingers and hope for the best outcome.
Day 3: Rubicon Springs to Wentworth Springs
Sunday started really lovely! We were ready to leave around 8:40am, so we decided to hit the trail. Y’know, it’s not gonna take longer than 3 hours, right? Wrong!
By the time we got to the bottom of Cadillac Hill… we knew it wasn’t going to be a quick ride home. Rumors were that a Jeep Gladiator had lost its fuel tank, so it was dead weight. It also meant we got into our “lunch break” quicker than expected – around 9-something.
For another hour or so there was no movement. I wouldn’t be surprised if the backup of rigs reached back to the Rubicon Springs. The only activity we saw was from SAR (Search & Rescue) teams trying to find the lost volunteer.
It took close to 2 hours to start moving again. Do you remember the Land Cruiser team from Day 1? They helped recover the unlucky Gladiator and moved it up the hill, allowing everyone else to start moving around.
The rest of the trail was a rather smooth ride. Unfortunately, the usual spot to take a group photo – the top of Cadillac Hill – was blocked off due to SAR activities. It was being used as a landing zone for helicopters.
Around noon we reached the last marker on the trail, snapped a commemorative photo, and went down to the staging area.
Final Thoughts
It was a really great trip! Thanks to Guy Giuffre, who against all the obstacles, helped with organizing the trip!
– Dariusz