Two forum members take on the Rubicon Trail - with wives and kids!

[J0E]

Fellow forum member @Cookie Monster and I recently ran the Rubicon Trail from Loon Lake to Tahoe with our wives and five (combined) kids. We both have 37s, lifts,

Really fantastic report. I've got this bookmarked to review when I plan my run.

@RubiTuesday has 37x12.5 Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MT which I suspect have a non-trivial height and width advantage over @Cookie Monster 37x12.5 KM3 Tires. I have 37x12.5 KM3 Tires and they're 35 13/16" tall and at least an inch narrower than most 37's I've compared them with.

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[Ratbert]

It really depends on who you go with. You seem to be hung up on jeepjamboreeusa. A stock JLUR has done it just fine. Also the trip gets easier after these events due to the rock rollers.
I had no problems with my 35s although I did scrape up my bumpers, sliders and wheels.

Excellent point. For some reason I was focusing on Jeep Jamboree, but he didn't mention that.

 

[Ratbert]

Yeah saw that… I guess I will not be doing the Jamboree. Seems ridiculous especially for a 2dr Rubi. While I would like to join a fun group I’m not sure I need to dump the dollars vs. find a few experienced folk to join me and do it our style.

I have one buddy living in Carson City area with a JLUR and 37s who has already done the Rubicon. I did a couple BOH trails in Oregon with him and trust his spotting. I’m sure I can convince him to run it again.

I erroneously thought that you were talking about the Jeep Jamboree. No clue how that got stuck in my head other than that's what we're doing. My apologies.

 

[Ratbert]

Very seriously
fyi, jeepers jamboree was the original that started in 1953 by mark smith. It’s been going 70 years. then came jeep jamboree which is more family oriented which has been going 44 years. Now there is jeep jamboree USA which is done by smith and family and includes more than just the rubicon.

Smith started Jeepers Jamboree and now does Jeep Jamboree USA too? And neither are the same as Jeep Jamboree? I guess none of the three groups have trademarks.

 

[RubiTuesday]

So just curious how many years of experience do you all have, sounds like you are both well versed in the off-roading do's and don'ts.

I know enough to be dangerous. I spent several years wheeling (both as a passenger and a driver) while growing up. Took a bit of a break while in the military and have gotten back into it since I bought the JLUR in 2019.

Not directly related to Jeeps, but before venturing out, I’d recommend being comfortable with the basics of camping, wilderness first aid, etc., if you’re not already.

 

[TroyBoy]

Smith started Jeepers Jamboree and now does Jeep Jamboree USA too? And neither are the same as Jeep Jamboree? I guess none of the three groups have trademarks.

Jeepers jamboree and jeep jamboree are the same organization just split up for different reasons. The first is the original and geared towards adults. You must be 16 years or older. Jeep jamboree is geared towards families.

 

[HendersonJL]

@RubiTuesday, Great write up!! Thanks!
@Cookie Monster What an awesome trip! You finished the Rubicon trail, and I still havent installed the suspension!

 

[Ratbert]

Jeepers jamboree and jeep jamboree are the same organization just split up for different reasons. The first is the original and geared towards adults. You must be 16 years or older. Jeep jamboree is geared towards families.

Interesting. Very, very few kids on the Jeep Jamboree that we did in Moab last year.

From what I can tell Jeepers Jamboree is only on the Rubicon Trail while Jeep Jamboree (USA) has events nationwide.

 

[Geoarch]

Fellow forum member @Cookie Monster and I recently ran the Rubicon Trail from Loon Lake to Tahoe with our wives and five (combined) kids. We both have 37s, lifts, and lots of armor (our rigs: his and mine). Here are my thoughts on the experience.

(the famous sign)

Looking back, if I had to describe the Rubicon in a word, it would be unrelenting. In the military, sometimes we'd embark on what we were told was a 5 mile run. After reaching the 5 mile mark, the leader would yell out "just kidding, keep going!" and keep running for another mile or two. Just when you think it's over, or going to be easier, it's not. That's the feeling of the Rubicon. It's not that any one obstacle is impossible (yes, we bypassed a few that looked like harder 8s or easier 9s), but that it is constant 6s and 7s with the occasional 8 and your rest periods are 5s. My wife and I often wondered how Jeep gets stock vehicles through. Must be really good/practiced spotters and lots of rock stacking - and not caring about damage.

A few words on Cadillac Hill. Going in, my expectation was for off-camber, tippy obstacles that put you in danger of going off the edge of a precipice. What we found were some moderate to difficult obstacles (I used my lockers three times on the trail, one of them was on Cadillac), but the edge just wasn't a factor. We weren't close to the edge, the drop off isn't a shear cliff and there are lots trees to stop you from tumbling all the way down. If you did somehow manage to go over the edge, recovery could be difficult and you'd probably sustain some damage, but we were never worried about it. Full disclosure, we've both wheeled a lot in Colorado (including Black Bear) so our perceptions may be a bit skewed. Passing oncoming traffic would be tricky, especially in numbers. To mitigate this, my wife hiked up the hill with a hand held radio to ensure we wouldn't meet unexpected traffic.

How long did it take? From Loon Lake to Rubicon Springs campground took about 9 hours. This included about 45 minutes for lunch and hitting almost every toilet (#kids). From the campground to the trail's end (Tahoe side) took about 4.5 hours. Note that we encountered roughly 30 oncoming vehicles that were part of a work party, plus various others, so we ended up spending a fair amount of time (an hour?) pulled over while waiting.

(camped at Rubicon Springs campground)

And now for what everybody wants to know, how much damage did I sustain? First and foremost, no one got hurt and there was no body damage. Those were our two goals. I have the following aftermarket armor/skids: @lodoffroad front and @ROCK HARD 4X4 rear bumpers, RockHard rock sliders, @Metalcloak full belly skids, RockHard muffler skid, MetalCloak front and rear diff skids, MetalCloak front and @Artec rear LCA axle side, Rusty's rear frame side LCA skids, MetalCloak FAD - how much does this stuff weigh? With the exception of the passenger rear frame side LCA, every single one of them took hits. Other than scrapes, the only "damage" was two dings on my exhaust pipe tip and a ding in the outer portion of the driver's side RockHard Patriot rock slider. The bottom of the round bar is slightly concaved and a 48" level will just slightly teeter totter when placed along the top of the rail. That was the result of a particularly hard hit at about hour 8 and my lines were starting to get a bit sloppy. Of course all four wheels are rashed and my tie rod looks like I took a rasp to the entire length of the bottom. Scrapes I didn't expect: the leading outboard edges of the MetalCloak shock relocation brackets and the back of rear trackbar (axle side) mount.

Would the factory skids (where applicable) have been sufficient? Mostly. I seriously doubt that the factory rocker guards would have prevented body damage. IMHO, you're asking for trouble if you don't protect your engine oil pan and protect your front diff drain plug (if applicable). If you don't relocate your steering stabilizer, you'll probably end up carrying it as cargo. Would I have altered my driving style/lines if I didn't have so much armor? Probably, but I wasn't trying to intentionally beat on them.

(Me on V Notch)

How much fuel did we use? We topped off at the 76 station near Silver Fork. The 3.6 finished with just under 5/8ths and the 2.0 finished with just over 1/2 tank.

Where did we stay? Since wives and kids were involved, we elected to fly the families to Reno and pick them up there after we drove the Jeeps cross country - he drove all the way from Virginia, I joined in him Colorado. From Reno we drove to a VRBO in South Tahoe where we based our operation. This allowed us to let the families settle, install a few last minute parts (like my @SPIDERWEBSHADE which I had shipped directly to the VRBO), and dump stuff we wouldn't need on the trail (including my top/doors and his rear windows).

(ready to go, morning of departure for the Rubicon Trail)

Oh yeah, it's really dirty/dusty. Admittedly, we didn't help matters by running in various forms of #jeepnaked. But seriously, my kids looked they had spent a day in the coal mines.

How did we navigate? I ran Gaia maps with the paid version of Trails OffRoad gpx file and waypoints on an iPad mini, backed up on my phone for redundancy. This combo worked very well, as I had downloaded various maps/resolutions before hand. I will say that it's kinda easy to lose the trail in some areas, particularly on the large granite flats. In some spots there are precious few of the small road reflectors and they can be difficult to see. We made a game of it by sending the kids ahead of us to find the markers and when that didn't work, I just tried to follow the gpx file like I was flying on instruments.

In all, it was the trip of a lifetime, a bucket list accomplishment roughly three years in planning - and I highly recommend it.

I ran the earlier version of the trail in the 70s with a 73 CJ-5 with larger tires (can't remember the size) and wider wheels, a Warn winch that I used a few times both for me and friends. I had the straight six, and my buddy had a 73 with the V-8. My torque was better and his hp better. We also paired up with a 43 MB that kicked our ass. I was a dumb 20 year old going on 15. I wouldn't try that in my 22 Gladiator with only 35s and the Mopar lift. Thanks for the reminder of a fine day in the Sierras.

 

[n8billings]

Great write up! I think I have to stop with you, first made me jealous with your upgrades, now with this bad ass trip! Well done sir!

Is that an Earl Grey Jeep?

 

[Mgg253]

Is that an Earl Grey Jeep?

White, and a little dusty

 

[n8billings]

White, and a little dusty

Maybe that’s what they should have called the Earl color…

 

[kubicon]

Great report!! we are going in a few weeks this gets me even more excited.

 

[av8or]

Great report and thanks for the write up. I’m going 9/18 and I’m just as nervous as the first time.

 

[BDinTX]

@Cookie Monster you mentioned in this thread:
(2) OEM Steel Rear Bumper Improvements | Page 4 | Jeep Wrangler Forums (JL / JLU) - Rubicon, Sahara, Sport, 4xe, 392 - JLwranglerforums.com

That you were going to put on those metal cloak brackets to stiffen your OEM bumper. Did you do that and did it take any hits? I looked around and didn't see any feedback.
Thanks!

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