On a Friday afternoon we meet up with our friend Damian in Georgetown west of Lake Tahoe. He came all the way from Los Angeles to join us on the Rubicon Trail, which is known as one of the most difficult trails in the States. We hit the trail that same day hoping to get a start ahead of the crowds. After a brief stop at Tom's Cabin we follow the shoreline of Loon Lake to the 'Gatekeeper', the first and appropriately named obstacle, where we have a few trucks ahead of us.

It is fun to watch the other 4-wheelers tackle this obstacle and finally it is our turn. Since Damian's truck is more modified than ours, he takes the lead in case we need to be strapped. The 'Gatekeeper' is a pretty tough obstacle, especially if the ground clearance is limited as it is on our rig. Our friend makes it through without any problems and we do well, too. Only in the last section we get high-centered and have to be pulled through this spot. We decide to set up camp on a huge rock slab near the trailhead. An Offroad Club is holding an organized night run and we hear vehicles crawl by until 1 am.
It has to be said that the Rubicon is one of those trails where you don't have time to relax. Every single portion needs your full concentration - if there is no major obstacle then the trail is like a rock garden.
The next day we make our way over the many challenging sections until we are in an LA-like traffic jam because there is a Jeep Club with 40+ rigs in front of us and it takes time to get all those trucks through the trail. Various breakdowns ahead of us make the waiting an endless experience. (A piece of advise: Do not attempt to drive the Rubicon on a weekend.) Close to Buck Island Lake the going gets better because many people camp out along this lake. On one of the rocks I catch a flat tire, but that's why you carry spares. We tackle another obstacle and on the tilted rock I break my driver's side rear view mirror by crushing it between the car and a rock. Apart from this mishap we make it to Spider Lake alright. This area is crazy. Unfortunately this is the dirtiest and most crowded place along the Rubicon: there is trash scattered everywhere, bottles hanging from trees and the main amusement seems to be alcohol instead of wheeling. Except for three drivers, everybody seems to be drinking beer, even while driving.
We take a quick dip in the lake to wash off some of the dust and then continue about 200 feet until we are held up again by a broken-down Jeep (broken front drive shaft and bent tie rod). We finally manage to bypass them only to get stopped by a Landcruiser Wagon with two broken rear axle shafts. After some waiting we even get by this rig and work our way slowly over big boulders between trees approaching Rubicon Springs. But, you guessed it, somebody broke down again. A truck lost a wheel - broke all wheel studs and had nothing to hold the wheel on the axle. The day is coming to an end and after another endless wait we make it further and all the way to Rubicon Springs, a privatly owned area with a campground. A local Jeep Club holds its annual Rubicon run and camps out here. Beside them there are tons of other people hanging out around the organized party. Countless 4-wheelers are gathered under a fiesta tent, and thanks to their speakers we will hear the music two miles away through the dense forest. This party, again with plenty of alcohol, is too crazy for us and we continue to find a quieter campsite. Following a few water crossings, a little bit of mud and still endless boulders we get to Cadillac Hill, and since we have at least another 30 minutes of daylight we decide to keep going until we find a level spot to camp for the night. After we let opposing traffic pass, we reach another uphill challenge: the trail slants downhill toward the right where a huge boulder prevents bypassing this off-camber section. Damian manouvers his rig through this obstacle by mounting the boulder with his rear tire. My approach needs to be different because the boulder is too tall for my truck. I navigate the Jeep around it and the truck leans precariously to the right. I get past the boulder alright when I feel the rig roll over. I try to save it by steering downhill and give a little more gas but the truck is not responding and very slowly falls on its side. Without the weight on the roofrack, we probably would have made it. The top-heaviness added the extra bit that caused the roll-over and it was a fairly gentle fall. Fortunately, Magdalena and I are okay. Damian helps us climb out of the vehicle and we inspect the situation. The truck landed mostly on the rear quarter panel and the passenger side rear view mirror (now that one is broken, too). Luckily, none of the windows is broken. Our attempt to radio someone in Rubicon Springs fails - the only person we get a hold off is camped at Buck Island Lake (too far away to be of any help). We both don't carry a winch so we have to work with what we've got: HiLift jack, straps, manpower of three and one vehicle on all four wheels. Millions of mosquitos are eating us alive while we try to figure out a strategy. I use the HiLift jack to grab on the roof rack (hopefully it does not rip off the roof) and jack it up all the way to the HiLift's limit (about three feet). That is not enough to get the rig back up. I put one spare tire upright under the roof line to secure this position. But how do we provide more movement to put the rig back on its tires? Finally, we use a small tree on the hill side, and again hope for its strength, attach the first strap to the roof rack and the tree and another strap from Damian's Jeep to the middle of the first strap. This way we hope my truck would be pulled towards the tree. And, yehaaaaaa, it works! But there is another problem… The rig is back on its wheels but if we take the strap off, it'll fall over again. There is not enough gas in the tank to start the engine in this angle and we have to use our spare gas to get it going. A little more pull from our friend and driving to a more level ground finally does the trick. After about 2.5 hours of hard work - it is 11:30 pm by now - we continue our journey in search for a campsite. I want to stress that the Conferr roof rack proves its strength when we use it as a contact point for both the HiLift jack and the strap - the bull clamps grab the roof gutter solidly. The toll: surprisingly little damage to the car and hundreds of mosquito bites. Notice: No trees were hurt during the production of this scene!
The next morning we hit the trail early to avoid other hold-ups. After a few miles of rocky terrain we make it to the paved road again. I think, never before have I enjoyed asphalt surface that much…
Considering all the breakdowns we have seen on this trail, I am surprised that we make it without any mechanical failures.

In my opinion, the Rubicon is the mother of 4-wheel trails. The scenery is awesome, challenges abound and the experience is priceless.
Attemps have been made to close this trail because of the destruction and abuse. Unfortunately, I have to agree. Most of the people we saw and met on the trail where irresponsible and acted immaturily. An option might be to restrict use: drivers should have to register with name and license plate, no alcohol, and a small fee which might help to patrol this area. I am NOT for overregulation but observing the behavior of 4-wheelers on the Rubicon was depressing. This is not the crowd that most 4-wheelers want to be associated with…

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Directions: From Georgetown follow Georgetown Road past Uncle Tom's Cabin (you will see a sign for it pointing to the right). Stay on the main road and turn left onto Icehouse Road. Follow signs to Loon Lake and drive across the second dam. The pavement ends and you see a staging area. A huge rock slab is the start of the trail. Maps are advised (available at the Jeeper's Jamboree in Georgetown) and a GPS is helpful. Trail finding is somewhat difficult.