[Ray's 1975 CJ-5]                                                                                                    [Click here for all pics of the trip]

Rubicon Trail - September 5-12, 2001
Some serious trails out there

The Beginning

Boarded the plane in Raleigh, NC for the sole purpose of four wheeling the Rubicon Trail in California. Note the dates above! Had a quick layover in Dallas, then a flight to Reno, Nevada. There, we found this chauffer who was apparently looking for my son, Micah. Too bad we didn't bring him along. Coulda gotten a limo ride! Click for larger image

Click for larger image Click for larger image Click for larger image We drove around the lake for the views. That's me at Emerald Bay; one of the most photographed spots in California. The second shot has Pat and Vern, friends of the family who went out with us. Pat went to San Francisco while we were on the trail. In the last shot you can see Vern at the base of the tree. He has a lumber business in NC. Trees here are a little bigger. Hey Vern, how many barns you think can be built out of that one? Vern looked up at the trees while I (Geologist) looked down at the rocks.

Packin

Time to load up! We were taking two jeeps, Uncle John's '41 MB and Grandpa's '51 CJ-3a. The '41 has a stock 4 cylinder, SM420, Dana 18 transfer case, and Dana 44 rear end with 4.88 gears. The red lady has a 283 chevy, T-90, Dana 18 case, and a Dana 44 with 5.13s. Both have lockers in the rear. The lady is a little hard to drive through as it has a grabby clutch and the gearing isn't quite low enough for crawling. My brother drove it completely through the trail. I took the '41 through. Gearing is much better with the SM420. Next year, the old lady will have a NEW SM420. Then that will be the crawler with power to boot.
We met up at Loon Lake with the rest of the Trailblazers, a loose 4 wheel drive club that takes in all loners as comrades of the trail. When the group first got together several years ago, the rigs were mostly stock and only one had a winch. Now 7 of the 8 that were going through had winches and all but one have lockers.
A brisk morning brought the rigs to life and onto the trail we went.
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FUN

Well, it didn't take long for the fun part of the trip to begin. These guys joined up just before hitting the trail. Their tailgate popped open and all the gear slid out. This was very funny but should have been an omen to them. The latter part of the trail was almost a nightmare for this quite capable, 35-inch, locked Scout II. Click for larger image

Here are a few other pics of rigs and people that were part of our pack.
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Damage

For our two jeeps, the lady had one broken hub bolt. That's all. My brother did an excellent job with little brakes, a consistantly flooded carb, grabby clutch (not good w/ the v-8), and the "flying around" loose steering. Beats Dad's broken hub from two years ago and my Uncle Dave's spun axle from the year before that. The CB in the '41 didn't work, but that was before we had even left the house.

The Trip Home

Remember me asking you to look at the trail dates? The trip was intended to be from Sept. 5-12. Well, September 11 kinda ruined the flight back (planned for the 12th). Must admit, though we were about 3000 miles from home, at least we were with family. Many other people were in worse predicaments.
Quick calls to car lease places found few cars available. As we found out later, even those scheduled to be returned were kept by the people in them so they could get home. Well, Pat kinda wanted a newer car anyway. Off to the dealership. They returned with a '97 Expedition. We offered to take her through the Rubicon Trail in comfort. She declined.
We left on the 12th at 10am for home. 41 hours later (straight through except for one eat-in breakfast in Tennessee) and we arrived at our house 6am Friday morning (14th). Pat, Vern, Dad, and my brother went on to Raleigh to get the cars and head for their home, 6 hours away.
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