Questions for those who have done the Rubicon Trail

[wibornz]

There are 5 Jeeps heading to the Rubicon trail from Michigan in the middle to the end of July. The Jeeps are all lifted and on 37s. So not really concerned with the Jeeps as we will spend the time and resources to prep them for the trip.

Question #1. Four of the five will be pulling small camper trailers. Is there a place close the the Rubicon Trail were we can drop the trailers while we run the trail? Or is there a best place to drop them. We know that we have to camp at least one night on the trail, so we are bringing stuff to do that.

Question #2. What kind of services are at or near the trail. Cell phone... hotels, motels.....gas.......Food etc.....

Question #3. Is there dispersed camping in the area of the trail? So I know we camp one night on the trail away from the campers, but on the second day can we get off the trail and go back to our camper and then reenter the trail to finish the third day?

We are a long ways away; I have done many cross country trips and want to plan and prepare as much as possible. So any advice you can give would be great. I am typically the planner of the group and the rest of them will just jump in their Jeep and say where are we headed today Ted. So I have to be prepared and my role is to help them prepare.

Thanks in advance for any insight that you can provide. Also if there is something that I didn't ask but should have, let me know. I am trying to be less wing it and more bring it.

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[Punk'n Willy]

Oh, I hope you document this trip. I can't wait to see pictures from this.

 

[wibornz]

Oh, I hope you document this trip. I can't wait to see pictures from this.

We are also going to Moab on this trip.

 

[tawsenior]

That was it? Nobody answered? Man, I came here hoping for some awesome info. I'll just go drink a beer now.

 

[GR8ESC]

One thing you should do is check for other events happening in July that will close the trail. Jeepers Jamboree has two events toward the end of the month, and Jeep Jamboree has their event mid-month. You can find a lot of information on the Jeepers Jamboree pages. Here is a link to a lot of information. https://www.jeepersjamboree.com/_documents/2022_4day_itinerary.pdf

Georgetown will be your closest location with any services and will be your gateway to Tom’s Cabin and then on to Loon Lake to start the trail.

 

[davewald]

Isn't Pollock Pines the closest services to the trail entrance at Loon Lake? That's where I'm planning to stay for our trip in late June.

 

[GR8ESC]

Pollack Pines is also a good option and does have more facilities.

 

[bjm00se]

I assume you already have this info, from the Rubicon Trail Foundation:
https://www.rubicontrailfoundation.org/trailinfomation/trailhead/

If you're still on facebook, you could also ask these questions on the "Rubicon Trail" facebook group and get many many helpful replies (along with the usual noise) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1039111506294500
There are lots of regular trail runners on that group.

Fresh Pond is the closest gas if approaching from the West, and they have lots of parking, and are RV friendly. You could probably leave your trailers there. Call them to be sure. They have no web presence to speak of.

From the east, it's the 76 station at SilverFork, just West of Kyburz.

There's no dispersed camping allowed anywhere inside the Tahoe basin, which includes from the lake to the mountain ridge divide surrounding it.

For places to park your trailers and camp in the Tahoe Basin, there's
https://www.camprichardson.com/camping-rvs/
Which is a pretty nice place, but hardly "getting away from it all" ;-)

which is on the way if you do a complete loop of West trailhead - trail - East Trailhead, pavement back to the west trailhead.

They're popular and you need reservations. There are other places to do RV/tent camping in the Tahoe basin; they're all pretty much well organized and findable via google.

There's not a lot at the west trailhead, but the East trailhead is very close to the towns of Tahoma and Tahoe city where there are hotels and stores.

There's various dispersed camping and sanctioned campsites in the forest nearer the West trailhead. The main thing is this is a pretty popular and well used section of the forest, at least on weekends in the summer, so all the lakes tend to be designated "recreation areas" which means that you either need to camp at a recognized sanctioned campsite, or at least 1 mile (???) away for dispersed camping. Away from the lakes, there are usually fairly plentiful places for dispersed camping. But you may not feel great about leaving your trailers unattended at those spots while running the trail.

I should mention some folks like to stay/camp at Ice House Resort, http://ice-house-resort.9gg.de/ but I've never been there.

Ben's point about the trail having become more crowded over time is certainly true, but I hear that it's reasonably quiet if you attempt it most weekdays.

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