The Rubicon Trail, how cool it was!! Just completed it Friday with a great bunch for a friend's post-wedding Bachelor Party. Poor Boy Racing and Kracker Fab race teams were represented and it was awesome wheeling with them. There were no whiners, no breakages, and no problems, just too much fun!!! It was perfect timing, we were between two humongous groups so we didn't see a lot of traffic on the trail. Two days moving, one day relaxing/swimming/drinking at Loon Lake. Bears hit the camp a couple hundred yards from us but none (thankfully) found our camp. Mojitos, some awesome campsite cooking, beers, and awesomely funny stories about KOH and other trails. TV celebrities Glen & Kimberly Plake from Truck Night in America cruised by our camp, a really fun couple! One pic with them in a group photo below. Some guy in a stock Chevy pickup with no spare parts/food/anything twisted his rear aluminum driveshaft in half, it was McGyvered back together with a tree limb and lots of bolts lol. Overall it was lots of grins and laughs, what an experience. Another checkbox checked off!
Abe Gonzales, Kracker Fab guys Josh Atteberry and Josh Lawyer, Poor Boy Racing Sean McNamara, Geoff Constable, Brian McNamara & Sean Malone, and me.
Me behind Geoff Constable.
Abe Gonzales in his JK.
The rock slabs were really cool but even as easy as they look they could sneak up on you and you'd find yourself in trouble.
Geoff Constable. He just got through re-doing his entire TJ and it worked great. It was fun to hear his rear tires constantly squealing & chirping after installing a spool into his rear axle.
Yours truly with Sean Malone in his red Toyota following.
Frigging beautiful in the forest isn't it.
Josh Atteberry.
Josh had some fuel system problems that were finally tracked down to a deteriorating fuel line. He had to drive back off the trail to town (75 miles!) to buy an additional inline fuel filter to fix it. We lost much of our first day waiting for him to get back with parts. He had an otherwise awesome CJ with a big-ass V8 in it.
Josh. sticking his butt out and giving the pouty look here, had a great sense of humor, he was always doing funny shit. That's his race teammate Josh Lawyer in the blue tshirt.
Geoff's TJ wasn't in danger of tipping, they were helping the r-r tire gain a bit more traction by rocking the Jeep back & forth a tad.
Relaxing in camp adjacent to Loon Lake.
We had a great location on Loon Lake. That's my itty-bitty tiny-assed blue tent. It was so tiny-assed I had to sleep diagonally in it. At least it didn't take up much room in my space-challenged TJ.
Yours truly slicing and muddling limes for Mojitos. It was pretty hot so the Mojitos were a big hit with everyone.
Brian & Sean McNamara, the driver/co-driver for Poor Boy Racing. I wish I could consistently tell those two apart lol.
That's a thin-walled aluminum rear driveshaft on a completely stock 2018 Chevy pickup. Don't attempt to drive the Rubicon with one.
They put it back together but It ultimately proved again that it was not up to the Rubicon. A friend of PBR ended up bringing the owner of the truck a replacement driveshaft. The guy thought he could do the Rubicon with a stock Chevy pickup in one day so he brought nothing in the way of spare parts, sleeping bag, food, nothing. I ended up feeding him dinner and breakfast the next day. He spent a miserable night inside his truck. He finally left Loon Lake 11pm the next night but I don't know if he made it to the highway.
All three in this picture were totally ready for my camera lol.
Loon lake is frigging awesome. Cold but not REAL cold. I had to catch my breath after getting in with my floaty.
Loved the views at so many points.
Glen & Kimberly Plake, TV hosts of Truck Night in America stopped by. That's Glen in the plaid shirt, Kimberly felt safe effing with the harmless old guy (me). BIggest thrill I had all week lol.
Brian McNamara being assisted by Josh Atteberry and his brother Sean McNamara.
Geoff Constable, his TJ worked really well.
Josh's CJ worked great after he got his fuel problem fixed.
Next to our campsite. This location provided much entertainment due to all the breakages and some not knowing what they're doing.
Sean Malone, also a member of the PBR team. Funny guy always kept us laughing.
The Rubicon Bridge. Sean Malone is a pro photographer and used my camera to snap this. Great pic.
Yours truly on the bridge.
Helicopters are a common sight on the Rubicon, they're constantly hauling out trash and hauling in supplies, parts, etc.
End of the last day. We're all just so stoked how much fun we had. It was such a great trail most are already talking about doing it again.
Abe Gonzales, Kracker Fab guys Josh Atteberry and Josh Lawyer, Poor Boy Racing Sean McNamara, Geoff Constable, Brian McNamara & Sean Malone, and me.
Me behind Geoff Constable.
Abe Gonzales in his JK.
The rock slabs were really cool but even as easy as they look they could sneak up on you and you'd find yourself in trouble.
Geoff Constable. He just got through re-doing his entire TJ and it worked great. It was fun to hear his rear tires constantly squealing & chirping after installing a spool into his rear axle.
Yours truly with Sean Malone in his red Toyota following.
Frigging beautiful in the forest isn't it.
Josh Atteberry.
Josh had some fuel system problems that were finally tracked down to a deteriorating fuel line. He had to drive back off the trail to town (75 miles!) to buy an additional inline fuel filter to fix it. We lost much of our first day waiting for him to get back with parts. He had an otherwise awesome CJ with a big-ass V8 in it.
Josh. sticking his butt out and giving the pouty look here, had a great sense of humor, he was always doing funny shit. That's his race teammate Josh Lawyer in the blue tshirt.
Geoff's TJ wasn't in danger of tipping, they were helping the r-r tire gain a bit more traction by rocking the Jeep back & forth a tad.
Relaxing in camp adjacent to Loon Lake.
We had a great location on Loon Lake. That's my itty-bitty tiny-assed blue tent. It was so tiny-assed I had to sleep diagonally in it. At least it didn't take up much room in my space-challenged TJ.
Yours truly slicing and muddling limes for Mojitos. It was pretty hot so the Mojitos were a big hit with everyone.
Brian & Sean McNamara, the driver/co-driver for Poor Boy Racing. I wish I could consistently tell those two apart lol.
That's a thin-walled aluminum rear driveshaft on a completely stock 2018 Chevy pickup. Don't attempt to drive the Rubicon with one.
They put it back together but It ultimately proved again that it was not up to the Rubicon. A friend of PBR ended up bringing the owner of the truck a replacement driveshaft. The guy thought he could do the Rubicon with a stock Chevy pickup in one day so he brought nothing in the way of spare parts, sleeping bag, food, nothing. I ended up feeding him dinner and breakfast the next day. He spent a miserable night inside his truck. He finally left Loon Lake 11pm the next night but I don't know if he made it to the highway.
All three in this picture were totally ready for my camera lol.
Loon lake is frigging awesome. Cold but not REAL cold. I had to catch my breath after getting in with my floaty.
Loved the views at so many points.
Glen & Kimberly Plake, TV hosts of Truck Night in America stopped by. That's Glen in the plaid shirt, Kimberly felt safe effing with the harmless old guy (me). BIggest thrill I had all week lol.
Brian McNamara being assisted by Josh Atteberry and his brother Sean McNamara.
Geoff Constable, his TJ worked really well.
Josh's CJ worked great after he got his fuel problem fixed.
Next to our campsite. This location provided much entertainment due to all the breakages and some not knowing what they're doing.
Sean Malone, also a member of the PBR team. Funny guy always kept us laughing.
The Rubicon Bridge. Sean Malone is a pro photographer and used my camera to snap this. Great pic.
Yours truly on the bridge.
Helicopters are a common sight on the Rubicon, they're constantly hauling out trash and hauling in supplies, parts, etc.
End of the last day. We're all just so stoked how much fun we had. It was such a great trail most are already talking about doing it again.