The Rubicon Trail - Part 2 - Trail Review and Guide in 4k UHD

Hey everyone, Joshua Nesser. This is part two of the two-part series on the Rubicon Trail. In the last episode, we got all the way up to the Rubicon Trail, we started the trail, and we were near Buckline Lake when we came across a vehicle that looked like about to roll. Let's continue from there. Randall, position yourself. We need to put a winch on him. I think it might be better just to pull you sideways. Amir front is straight at his rig right there, and we're going to pull cable all the way to him. Yeah, you're so close right now. All right, get it tight. All right, go ahead and clear, Abe. All right, guys, clear. Keep going. More, more, more. A little tighter. Good. Hold it there. Go ahead and jump in and just drive it out of it. All right, you're good. Unhook. Unhook, he's down. After using proper winching techniques, we were able to safely recover him and get him going down the trail. Dude, I can't believe it didn't go over. When something like this happens, it often scares a group and changes the dynamic of the group. Now, the good was we were at the bottom of the granite, so it was leveling out, but everyone was still a little bit more cautious from this point on for a while until we reached Buck Island Lake. Good job. Just around the corner is another obstacle that actually gets my nerves spiking a little bit, and what happens here is it's a V-notch, and you have to go inside this V-notch, but the thing is your right side drops down this massive hole and there's rocks on the right side, so you feel like you're just going to destroy your whole vehicle. I could see how someone could roll there. As you can see, we're pulling tires, just pulling through it, but everyone made it through, no problems, and Buck Island Lake is just around the corner. Oh, where did I set that bumper? So if you're going to do this trip outside of an organization, I would stop here at Buck Island Lake. The swimming here is top-notch. There's great canoeing. You can go out to the little island out in the middle. It makes a lot of fun. The camping, on the other hand, is pretty cool. It's a lot of little small camping spots where you have enough space for tents, and I've seen this like on Fourth of July as a very fun area to hang out with as everyone's just having a great time. Now to get out of Buck Island Lake, you do have to climb out, and there's a few obstacles that are pretty sketchy and difficult, but pick the right line and you can make it through. Good job. Not far from Buck Island Lake, you're going to come to this corner, and this is the one spot that always gave me the most difficulty in the open-open jeep. It's just a lot of flex, so if you have lockers, you can push through it, but if you're open-open, it might be difficult. This is where we learned Kim's front locker was still not working. We're having an issue with the front end. The axle is supposed to be in stock and ready to be repaired before this trip, but for some reason, the parts didn't show up. Well, up to this point, Kim's been doing this without a front locker, but hasn't had any problems. Well, we officially made it to Big Sluice, and having two vehicles now with front-end problems, it makes me a little concerned, but we've got good drivers, and the challenge is half the fun. Let's see what's ahead of us and see if we get through this with any problems. You see me go over the tree, right? I don't see any tracks behind you, because I ain't recognizable. I don't turn that sharp. About halfway down Big Sluice is what they call Sawtooth or, used to be the tree, Rock Squeeze, and in 2021, the tree fell, creating what you see now. Overall, way easier to get through, but people still are hitting the tree and rolling over there, so be careful, take your time. We're gonna keep going down Big Sluice, get near the bottom, which is where I think the hardest part of the required trail is. Well, we made it to the part of the Rubicon Trail that I consider is the hardest part of the required trail when heading east, and this is where the biggest rocks and holes are. The odds of getting hung up are high, so you have to pick the right line. When we went down, there was a lot of little rocks in the holes, making it a lot easier than normal, but it still gave people a lot of problems. Well, when we made down Big Sluice, it's been a long day, really long day, but you know what that means? Rubicon Springs is not much farther ahead. Just a couple more trees you have to sort of squeeze through, another rock, and we're there. Excited, looking forward to relaxing, taking the lawn chair out, just enjoying a little bit of life. Let's keep moving. We'll be there in a few minutes. With the knowledge of Rubicon Springs just around the corner, the group wanted to pick up the pace, but you know, you still have to play on some of those hard rock obstacles, but an idea, lawn chair, and dinner sounded absolutely amazing. We wanted to get to camp and start our relaxation, and then out of nowhere, the beautiful smell of barbecue. Pulling into Rubicon Springs came with such a sensation of accomplishment, knowing that you pretty much completed most of one of the hardest trails in America. The trip here was hard, but worth every second. Knowing there's amazing barbecue around the corner, some of the best camping you could do in your life, and let's be honest, a great creek to play in, I'm really looking forward to what's going on over the next day and a bit. Let's get camp set up, relax a lot, and enjoy the music, festivities, and the people around us. It was quite clear everyone was thinking the same thing we were about. Let's get some food and relax. Food smelled so good standing in line waiting for it, but the line was short, and it was well worth it. Well, it's been a really long day on the trail. We ran out on the creek, cleaned up, but the best part is we brought a propane campfire so we could tell ghost stories, and one of the ghost stories we had to tell was my very own experience seeing a ghost here at Rubicon Springs. With everyone exhausted, we slept so good. Next morning, the weather was perfect. We decided to head down to the creek, hang out, had a lot of fun, made a great day of swimming, relaxing, and sleeping. Well, after a lot of horseplay, a lot of relaxing, a lot of having fun, it was time to get dinner, so we started cleaning up and heading over to base camp. So the decision to move out early wasn't my own, but we did wake up very early to be one of the first people out. Well, all good stories have to come to an end, and this is the beginning of the end of the trip for us. We're heading out. Rubicon Springs was fun. Next stop, Lake Tahoe. Let's get moving. After relaxing for a few days, you forget that you're in the middle of a hard trail, and right out of the get-go, of course, is a difficult obstacle. Sort of an eye-opener, being that it's only six o'clock in the morning, and we're barely awake. As we're pulling out of Rubicon Springs and entering the flats, it sort of made you realize that this trip is coming to an end. It was a very sad moment, and then on top of that, you pass by all the grave sites of everyone who's passed on this trail, and you have to remember that this is a dangerous sport. You need to be safe. Always wear your seatbelt, and certainly don't drink and drive. Well, we made it to the base of Cadillac Hill, and this hill is notorious for causing people problems, and only feet into the trail, Mike has an issue and almost hits the other Mike in our group, but we continue on. We pushed up the trail, came in the jail, no problems at all, and as I go up this hill, I always look around and just take in the beauty. I mean, it's so beautiful. Being from Southern California City, you don't see this every day, and I imagine most people don't either, so just stop and enjoy the view, and if you're going to stop, Observation Point is a must stop. This is another one of those, let's take a photo moments, because it is just beautiful. Our group decided we're definitely going to stop, take some photos, and just relax and enjoy the scenery before heading down the trail, because past here, there isn't much more to do, only a couple more obstacles, and then onto the dirt road to get out of here. Push back, there you go. Well, we started heading up the trail, and we decided to play on all the harder obstacles, because we were one of the first people out, which made a lot of fun. We actually met a lot of great people at base camp, and a lot of them actually ended up coming out with us the next morning, so always about picking up more people to wheel with. I love to wheel with people, and really amaze half the fun is getting to know new people on the trail. Well, we had some fun playing the rocks, and we kept on moving. You know, with Tahoe not much farther away, it did get us a little sad, but at the same time, this has been one epic adventure, and I have to admit, makes me want to go back and do it again. One of the fun things about this trail is it's constantly changing, and because it's in the high sierras, the snow changes the trail constantly, so as we're going on this trail, we came around the corner and found this guy struggling. You know what, we all struggle, so I jumped out really quick, gave him a quick spot, got him on the right path, and he was able to keep going. We had to turn around and help our group through this spot, which is half the fun. That's why we came out here to do this. There you go. Watch that. Yeah, you'll be fine. Go. Just keep it turned. Just keep it turned. Keep it turned. Keep it turned. Keep it turned. There you go. Now straight through. Good job. That's the end. It's killing me. It's so dusty. Oh my god. I need a mask. Well, we made it to the dirt road part of the trail. That means we're done with four-wheel drive. If it wasn't Jeep Jamboree, we'd probably be carrying a little more speed than slope. You know, you don't want to go faster on the corners, but there's plenty of straightaways where you can carry a little bit of speed up the uphill trail. It's nothing hard, nothing difficult. I mean, this is about as two-wheel drive as it gets from here on out, but the views are really good. So, you know, don't focus on the road only. Pay attention to what's around you. There's some beautiful trees, beautiful lakes. They're just astonishing. We're gonna keep moving down the trail. It gets to the end here up, so let's keep moving. The last section of the trail is very, very easy, and it's definitely 100% two-wheel drive capable. There is a large parking lot at the end that you can leave your cars and trucks and trailers. So, if you wanted to explore this trail, you could just park there. So, one of the neatest things I thought about this is they actually will air you up into the trail, because for me, it takes me about an hour, hour and a half to get both vehicles aired up. And actually, on this trip, we broke one of our compressors, so it probably would have taken us over two hours. So, thank you guys for airing us up. Well, we made it to the trail. There was a lot of body damage, breakdowns, and a lot of exciting adventures. There's a lot of stuff we didn't catch on film. So, why don't you come out and explore this trail yourself? Have your own adventure. You can join the Jeepers Jamboree, or you can go do it on your own using the information on the website. With that said, I'm gonna wrap this up, get home, take a shower. So, please like, subscribe, and share this video. I want you to, like, send it to your friends. That's what makes this stuff possible, is the sharing of these videos. Get on the website. Make sure you're all accessed. I mean, it's cheap, and it gives you all the information you need to plan your adventures, and then just get out and wheel. Well, I'm dirty. I'm gross feeling. It's time to go home. Be safe. See you on the trail soon. So, now that you did the Rubicon, what are you doing next? Sleep. We off. We're gonna sleep and shower. Sleep and shower. Wash this for about three days. It was challenging, but I survived. It was a great trail. Had a little damage, but we got it. Sounds great. Rum Springer. Rum Springer. I can't make it. Turn around. Yeah. He's looking for the 405 freeway. I told him he missed it up here at the 805 cutoff. Yeah, he doesn't know his way around. We need to talk to him. He's not reading signs right. Right. All right, I guess we'll make our outro video. All right, Mike, you just came from the trail. How was it? Randall, the Rubicon. Too early. Kim said it. Is that nerve-wracking right there? Those things? Does it fold in? It should. I have to, like, double-hand it. Shoot him. I said that bumper.