SideXSide Action - November 2007 - (Page 30) + Paul from Hart’s Rhino Motorsports coming down Cadillac Hill Springs was our destination for camp, the site of a late 19th Century mineral springs and hotel. The Rubicon Trail located in Northern California is world-famous among fourwheel drive fans. In the late 1800's, the trail was established as a stage coach route between Georgetown and Lake Tahoe, mainly to serve two resort hotels at Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs. After the hotels went out of business the road deteriorated. Decades later in 1953, it was picked as home for the first Jeepers Jamboree. Since then it has gained international recognition and is considered the "Granddaddy" of all fourwheel trails - a 10 on most scales. The 4x4 trail portion of the route is about 12 miles long and is actually an unmaintained county right of way. The first group of nine UTVs (Rhinos and a Prowler) left the trailhead on Friday morning. The Polaris crew started out later that night and met us in Rubicon Springs. Two of the Rangers took a wrong turn in the dark and ended up in Truckee and didn’t make it to camp until after midnight. We’ll have to save that story for another time. After leaving the trailhead, we traveled on a pretty easy trail passing several high-elevation Sierra lakes until finally hitting our first serious obstacle – Dollar Hole. Dollar Hole can look a bit intimidating for anyone who hasn’t done any rock crawling, but it is pretty easy to slide down the rocks. And besides, there are much tougher obstacles to come. Help Keep The Rubicon Trail Open: Like many off-roading areas, the Rubicon Trail is under attack by environmental extremists. Do your part to keep this trail open by staying on the established trail, not driving over any vegetation, and packing out all of your trash. General Rubicon Trail Preparation: 2.Leg minders or doors – The good idea. Fresh from seeing the success of UTVs at the UTV Rally in Moab and as a former Jeep owner that has done the Rubicon many times, I knew that we had to give the Rubicon a try. We gathered fourteen UTVs and drove in from the Lake Tahoe side. Eight Yamaha Rhinos, one Arctic Cat Prowler, four Polaris Rangers, and one Polaris RZR made the trip. Rubicon 30 www.sidexsideaction.com 1.Helmets are not required, but a possibility of a roll-over is very high on the Rubicon Trail. 3.California OHV Green Sticker or "Non-Resident OHV Permit" 4.Spark arrestor SIDE X SIDE ACTION ADVENTURES We made our way through the trees and over more rocks until we emerged at Observation Point - a huge, granite slab that overlooks a valley and more SIDE X SIDE ACTION ADVENTURES SIDE X SIDE ACTION ADVENTURES http://www.sidexsideaction.com
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