My trip to the West Coast, Rubithon...

[Mtbcoach]

Just got back into civilization after spending a few days traveling along the Rubicon trail. What an amazing adventure. We had myself and my 2 daughters (and Rubi of course), Annie and Mark, Mike and his twin boys, John, Chris who had Barry riding shotgun and the 3 TTT FJC's.



Great group to be with and having 3 Toyota Trail Team trucks and crew gave me a great deal of confidence in taking on this expedition. Great thanks to Robbie, Ron, "Woody", Collin, Conner and Garret. What an amazingly professional group, expert spotting, highest level of patience I've ever seen and not a hint of being tired of the task laid at their feet. We were very fortunate to have them as our professional guides.

Also, more thanks to Jason, Sol and Barry who traveled from NC even though his rig wasn't able to get to the event. They helped with spotting the whole way also. Without these guys, I don't know what my FJ would have looked like afterward.

We left Loon Lake Wed at noon with 8 FJ Cruisers. Our goal was to get to Spider Lake on the first night, Buck Island Lake on the second, down the Big Sluice into Rubicon Springs the 3rd night, burn Sat hanging around the springs then exit on Sunday with the "exit strategy" having the FJC's going last since we are such a problem.

Hopefully, Barry will share his experience and pictures also. He was a great asset to our group through spotting and offering a different perspective for at least one of the Toyota Trail Team drivers. We were very lucky to have such a great and positive group to take this on, as a "Rubicon Virgin". Camping at Buck Island Lake was perfect, well there might have been a slight mosquito issue, but it was a beautiful place to be for a night.

Its hard for me to put this event into perspective but the organizers did an outstanding job with the whole event. The breakfast and dinner was very good and all the events went off without a hitch. We camped at "Dirty Dozen" in the "Springs" which was a nice place to hang out since it was a bit removed from the "adult" events.

Bottom line is that I'm very thankful for being able to experience this event and trail at least once. I highly recommend everyone finding a way to do this at least once. The biggest problem is that I have to find a way to pull this off again now that I've done it. I have to see do it again at some point in the future.

I'm uploading pics to my photobucket site in the "Rubithon 2008" album and here are a few for a taste...




















You have to look closely to see the reaction of my daughter to know how close were were to the granite...

[Mtbcoach]

I was so busy focusing on the trail that there just wasn't enough time to jump out much to take pictures. The trail is a constant of obstacles and you really can't lose focus for very long without risking damage of some sort. And, we were trying to keep a good pace so that we were not blocking the trail just for photo time.

But, with all that said, here are some of my favorites from Day 2...















Puppy love, Abby and Rubi taking a break...

[Mtbcoach]

More from Day 2...




Campsite at Buck Island Lake, just our group to the whole lake...




Tired puppy, finding a break from the sun under the FJ...


End of Day 2...

[Mtbcoach]

Pics from Day 3, coming down Big Sluice...








Hanging out in the back with Brianna, how can anyone nap going down this stuff...

[Mtbcoach]

More from Day 3...

Look out Robbie...
















Crossing the bridge into Rubicon Springs...


Its been a long day for a pup...

[Mtbcoach]

Day 4, not so many pics going up Cadillac hill, sorry...














On top of Observation Point...


Grand Prize winners Mark and Annie...


With all my girls on top...


All the rigs with their drivers...

[BigRed08]

looks like a lot of fun. great pics.

[fj40z]

WOW! That looks awesome! What a blast that must have been. Did you ship youre FJ or did you drive it out?

[jfz80]

Great pics and im sure even greater memories. Cheers to you for making it happen.

How'd the cruiser fair? i cant believe that tailpipe is unscathed by day 4

[cruiser4life]

That is a dream trip. Great pics!

[Mtbcoach]

Thanks for all the great comments on the pics, I'm glad that my daughters have inherited my photo skills (and equipment).

Originally Posted by fj40z

WOW! That looks awesome! What a blast that must have been. Did you ship youre FJ or did you drive it out?

Barry worked hard to get the shipping to work out but, in the end, it didn't come together. I drove out with my girls and pup and will drive it back.

Originally Posted by jfz80

Great pics and im sure even greater memories. Cheers to you for making it happen.

How'd the cruiser fair? i cant believe that tailpipe is unscathed by day 4

Yeah, the tailpipe is a bit more "ovalized" than when I started. I slammed that thing against the bumper/frame more times than I can remember. I was hoping I would destroy it so that I could do a "damage upgrade", something the wife can't argue much about.

I felt that we all did great. We had 9 FJC's, two suffered some damage. One slipped on a rock and it slid into the driver side, rear window, punching a hole in it. The other creased the passenger side, rear door and quarter panel, finding a heavy branch or the like. No one knows for sure since the driver didn't know when it happened and I didn't see it happen on the trail since I was following them down the Big Sluice.

My wheels have many "scares" and I crushed one of the plastic caps of the wheels. I also peeled all the Line-X off the bottom of my sliders, proving that using that method to cover sliders isn't a smart idea. I earned the nickname "Snakeskin" since my sliders were "molting".

I attribute much of our success to the spotters and my success to some upgrades I had performed right before the event. I dropped some 4.88's, ARB front locker and Inchworm "Lefty" transfer case which gave me a HUGE amount of control and feel for the terrain.

But, now I'm WAY over the top on my upgrade budget. I'm writing it off as doing my part to help the economy turnaround...

[shinton]

Wow, VERY cool!! A true testament to the FJC, drive TO the Rubicon, drive THRU the Rubicon (no breakage) and drive home.

Reliable AND wheelable, just fantastic!

My 'long term goal' is to eventually replace my 80 with a FJC, just hard to justify spending a new car moolah on something I am putting on 1000 miles or so per year right now.

Thanks for the pics, I have been wanting to do this trip for years.

[D'Animal]

Thanks for the pics!

Just to let everyone in your club know, the Rubicon Trail is in the worse shape it has been in in quite a few years. It was a lot harder and more challenging than in the years past.

Congrats once again on making it through without damage.

[Mtbcoach]

Originally Posted by shinton

Wow, VERY cool!! A true testament to the FJC, drive TO the Rubicon, drive THRU the Rubicon (no breakage) and drive home.

Reliable AND wheelable, just fantastic!

My 'long term goal' is to eventually replace my 80 with a FJC, just hard to justify spending a new car moolah on something I am putting on 1000 miles or so per year right now.

Thanks for the pics, I have been wanting to do this trip for years.

That is exactly how I feel as well. It still amazes me to here the "back row grumbling" in these type of events where the FJC's are mentioned. Hearing comments when the Tony thanked the lead TTT driver, like "fitting a square peg in a round hole" and "what a waste" when the Grand Prize of a Marlin double crawl box was one by an FJC owner makes me scratch my head.

All I know is that I enjoy driving it and am still amazed as to what I can drive it through. In as much as I thought some of those 40's we saw down there were amazing, I still love my FJC even if it is a "square peg"...

[Mtbcoach]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

Thanks for the pics!

Just to let everyone in your club know, the Rubicon Trail is in the worse shape it has been in in quite a few years. It was a lot harder and more challenging than in the years past.

Congrats once again on making it through without damage.

Thanks for the congrats. It was really due to the excellent spotting and guidance of Robbie, Ron and Brian (and the others) to get our FJC's down the trail. They really know the limits of them and got us through. It was great fun and I hope to be able to do it again...

[rutbeer]

I have a few photos up, but they are pretty much the same angles
rutbeer - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Be sure to check out the mouse that was living in the ARB bumper. We should have introduced him to the timber rattler we saw the first day.....heheh...

No doubt I tried very hard to pull the shipping off. I had even booked my plane tickets to Reno in anticipation of it all coming together at the last minute. In the end, the rates skyrocketed to more than double my quote about two months before the trip. If I had the vacation time, I would have driven, but there's always next year, right?!

It was a great trip though, and as I found out later, not having my 40 there was a blessing in disguise. I would not have been able to wheel with Jerry and the FJ's, and my underside is not nearly armored enough. It's a different terrain from Tellico, because pretty much all the rocks come at you from underneath, whereas Tellico has a lot of rocks in the mud walls that reach out and grab at your quarters. Having stout sliders, and even rear quarter panel sliders for a 40, is a must have.
The rocks are enormous for a truck on 34's, and they just keep coming. Imagine every trail at Tellico strung together end to end, and that's about what you're dealing with....but toss in lots of sun and lots of ravenous mosquitoes.