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2ND ANNUAL "RUBICON BASH"
Jeff's House Before The Kickoff B-B-Q.
Yes You Can Take A Grand Cherokee Through The Rubicon Without A Scratch If You're A Good Enough Driver!!!!
2ND ANNUAL RUBICON BASH July 4, 1996: This year Jeff Boyett, who lives in Sacramento, hosted a barbecue for the evening of the 4th and invited all the "Lost Coast 4x4's" members who were going on the Rubicon. Steve and Karen Tatman, who also live in Sacramento, supplied the meat and Karen did the cooking (and she did a great job!). I'm not certain how many people were there, but we had Jeeps and Jeep trailers parked on the lawn, in the garage, driveway, street and anywhere there was room to stuff a Jeep, 7 or 8 of us also spent the night at Jeff's, which meant there were sleeping bags spread in the house, on the lawn, etc. A hearty thank you to Jeff for his hospitality and to Steve and Karen for their expense and labor. It certainly set the tone for the week-end! July 5, 1996: We left Sacramento (those who stayed at Jeff's) about 7 AM and headed up Route 50, stopping near Placerville for breakfast, Josh missed the turn-off, (more or less) and waited for us at Placerville. Jeff got a free breakfast, since he ordered Chicken Strips?? for breakfast and they didn't have them, so the cook said he could have anything else for free. Tim Martin, who had towed his Jeep with his camper and spent the night on Ice House Road joined up with us and we arrived at Ice House shortly before 9AM on Friday, which was our scheduled time to meet and our club members started rolling in. We started out with a total of 11 rigs and 20 people, which are listed below: Jim & Jeff Boyett We left Ice House approx. 9:30 and headed up to Loon Lake, where we aired down, locked up and immediately found ourselves behind a convoy of new wranglers, apparently some kind of promotional run put on by Chrysler, and run by Mark Smith, with the drivers being Sales Representatives from the Scandinavian countries. A helicopter was hauling in their camping supplies to Rubicon Springs, the tents were left up for another run this week with mechanics driving. (It must be rough!) We started around the Lake into the first rough section and Carl Brandt put a big dent in his new Wrangler and decided to turn around and go back. Carl had not intended to make the full run and was just down to check it out, he has modifications already planned and he'll be ready next trip. The "good-natured" award will have to go to Carl as he took it all with a grin, saying "that's what I got it for!" We continued on past the slabs and into the trees, with Tom Grancy of the Grass Valley 4-Wheelers taking video pictures of us. Then we heard on the CB "Darin Smith just broke a rear driveshaft." Dave Wheeler, who was in the lead, went back and towed him through the rough stuff and escorted him back to Loon Lake while the rest of us parked in the shade overlooking the Lake and had lunch, and waited for Dave to return. After Dave returned, we continued on until we ran across a CJ
who had twisted the rear axle tubes and was looking for a welder, we backed up to allow a
FJ40 (who had a welder) room to turn around and go back to the CJ. We made it around the
disabled CJ and went on to Walker Rock, where Josh really got high centered on his rear
differential, with his front wheel up against a rock, I tried to winch him backward, but
he was too far over the rock and I was winching him tighter against the rock (hope that
wasn't what caused the big dent in the pumpkin, Josh!) We finally hi-lifted him up to get
the front end around and he winched himself frontward off the rock. A guy on a mountain
bike entertained us with his skill at going down Walker Rock, flying through the air, just
skipping down the hill. We finally caught up with Dave, who might have been a little
impatient with our playing around! We crawled on to the little sluice, where a guy and
girl in a dune buggy spent about a half hour trying to make it up the sluice, he never
made it, but he put on a heck of a show trying, we elected to take the bypass (in the
interest of time, of course) and bumped, banged and scraped our way into Spider Lake to
camp, I think it was rougher getting into our camp spot than anywhere on the trail! Steve,
Josh, Gene, Jeff and I parked right next to the lake, where we proceeded to have a steak
dinner. After visiting all our other members camp sites, we turned in, listening to some
yahoos driving around in the dark, smashing into rocks, people yelling at them for driving
through their camp. Gene woke about 11 PM with a Toyota Land Crusher about 2 foot from his
tent, with a guy saying he needed to move his tent so he could get to his camp, which was
about 25' away. Gene, being the good natured guy, actually got up and moved his tent.
Hugh About To Endo! July 6, 1996: Left Spider Lake and headed for Buck Island Lake, uneventful until Steve Fregeau ripped a valve stem off a rear tire, we got the tire changed and continued on until Hugh Carolan drowned his CJ7 while crossing a small pond. Steve Tatman yanked him out backwards, he got it running and tried a different way (which was deeper) he drowned out again and I pulled him forward out of the water. We stopped for lunch and some of the brave folks went swimming.(Burrrr!!!) We continued on to the Big Sluice and gradually worked our way down and set up camp beyond the main camp, where we all changed into swimming suits and enjoyed standing under the waterfalls, until Pat Lassiter caught a snake that was swimming with us, the pool cleared out in a hurry! After dinner, Pat invited us over for Birthday cake for Lisa and we sang Happy Birthday to her. I can't think of a better place than the Rubicon to celebrate a birthday. We sat around the fire for awhile discussing the day and the upcoming day, then turned in. I think we all got a good nights sleep.
Hugh's Jeep/U-Boat July 7, 1996: We got up early, ready to tackle Cadillac Hill, a Flatfender had lost it's brakes yesterday, the guy had bailed out and let it go. We had also heard that Cadillac Hill was really rough this year, we headed out and immediately ran into backed up traffic, someone was having trouble near the top, slowly we inched our way on past a Toyota PU that had 3 flat tires, Lisa drove Pat's Cherokee over the last obstacle and we stopped at a viewpoint (except for Dave who decided to get on home) and lined our vehicles up for a Kodak moment. Apparently (I found out later) Dave met up with Carl Brandt, who, after bashing the side in, decided to stick around the area and explore. After leaving us at Loon Lake, he went in through Wentworth Springs and almost to Walker Rock, where he was told by someone, that it was pretty rough for a stock vehicle, he then went back and drove to Lake Tahoe for the night and came in the back towards Cadillac Hill, where he met up with Dave after Dave had left us. They traveled back to Humboldt County together. Meanwhile we continued on out to Highway 89, aired and fueled up. Steve Fregeau called home and found out his wife was in the Hospital with pneumonia, so we all headed back through South Lake Tahoe and on to Sacramento, Jeff called ahead on the cellular phone and ordered pizza to be waiting for us. We had pizza at Jeff's and said our good-bye's, loaded Jeeps on trailers, etc. and departed for home. Steve Fregeau called the Hospital and talked to Suzy, who convinced him that she was OK and would be getting out of the Hospital the next day, so he and I stayed overnight at Jeff's and convoyed home the next day.
Jim Up And Over The Rocks! I really enjoyed this run and the people we had on the run. Ed Carolan, who came down from Boise, Idaho and rode with his brother Hugh, were both a great addition (I didn't realize that Ed has a great sense of humor, however twisted) Tim Gallager and his sister, Sue were a lot of fun and I think they are both hooked on this kind of trail. Steve Fregeau, who didn't even complain when he broke the valve stem, is a veteran of the Rubicon. Dave Wheeler, who started out at home with a dead battery, led us through safely, but probably would have preferred a faster pace. Ricky probably would have preferred a longer stay at Rubicon Springs. How many girls did you meet, Ricky? Darin Smith and his dad, who had the misfortune to break a driveshaft and have a short trip. Tim Martin, who keeps "Old Red" running, ran as tail gunner a lot of the time, so maybe his dog Lester was driving! Pat Lassiter and Lisa, who managed to bring the Grand Cherokee through without a scratch or breakdown. Amazing! Steve Tatman and his Uncle Paul are always great on a trip. (Bill might want his Wrangler back, Steve) Josh Hampton and Gene are great to be with and we look forward to doing Sierra Trek with them. (Thanks for the use of the stove, Josh) Carl Brandt and Bryan didn't get to do the whole trip, but it sounded like they had adventures of their own and I'm sure Carl got more familiar with his new Wrangler. Jeff Boyett, who was a great host and an even greater spotter, will be doing the Sierra Trek with me. As for me, I didn't contribute anything but this long Article! Contributed by
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