RUBICON : A Legendary Jeep Trail & Off-Road Adventure

The night before our 2010 Project-JK Rockin Rubicon Trail Run, I asked my friend Tom why he wanted to run this trail and he casually responded that "if you want to be an accomplished four wheeler, there are a few places in this world you have to go and one is the Rubicon." Crossing through the El Dorado National Forest up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Rubicon Trail is truly one of the most beautiful ones I've been on bar none. Of course, its unrelenting 22 miles of boulders that need to be crawled, steep ledges that need to be climbed, narrow trees that need to be squeezed between, deep muddy water crossings that need to be forded and tippy off camber terrain that needs to be carefully negotiated is ultimately what makes the Rubicon Trail so legendary and famous around the world.

Originally made as a single half hour video, RUBICON : A Legendary Jeep Trail & Off-Road Adventure has been broken down into a 3 part series, each approximately 10 minutes long and so that it could be broadcasted on YouTube. In this first episode, you will see where our adventures began in South Lake Tahoe, our road trip down to the Loon Lake Staging Area, our crawl through the Gatekeeper, descent into the Granite Bowl and climb up Walker Hill and all before tragedy strikes.


Originally made as a single half hour video, RUBICON : A Legendary Jeep Trail & Off-Road Adventure was broken down into a 3 part series, each approximately 10 minutes long and done so that it could be broadcasted on YouTube. In episode 2, we pick-up the pieces of Inyo-JK's Jeep, brush off the dust and continue our trek to Rubicon Springs. Along the way, we pass by the Soup Bowl, take in the impressive views across Spider Lake, descend the off camber granite slabs, tackle the rock obstacles at Buck Island Lake, negotiate our way down the very challenging Big Sluice, add a couple of stock Canadian Jeeps to our group, cross the historic Rubicon Bridge and then, just as we we pull into camp, we hear a call coming in over the CB... it's Trail Bud.

Crossing through the El Dorado National Forest up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Rubicon Trail is truly one of the most beautiful ones I've been on, bar none. Of course, its unrelenting 22 miles of boulders that need to be crawled, steep ledges that need to be climbed, narrow trees that need to be squeezed between, deep muddy water crossings that need to be forded and tippy off camber terrain that needs to be carefully negotiated is ultimately what makes the Rubicon Trail so legendary and famous around the world.


Part 3 of RUBICON : A Legendary Jeep Trail & Off-Road Adventure is the last chapter in a 3 part series that was originally made as a single half hour long video. In this final episode, we kick start our morning at the crack of dawn and with a welder in hand. Once repairs are made to Trail Bud's broken front axle housing, we head over to the cool waters of Rubicon Springs and spend some time cleaning up and having some fun. Packed up and ready to roll again, we slowly climb our way up the last real challenge on the Rubicon Trail - Cadillac Hill. At the top, we take in the awesome view, pose for pictures, assess the condition of our Jeeps and then make our way back to civilization down in South Lake Tahoe.