The Rubicon Trail - Pollock Pines, CA - Igneous Rocks

On August 8th-11th, 2019 I joined Jeep Jamboree USA to take on The Rubicon Trail. Its a 17.
1 mile long jeep trail that winds through both private and public lands of El Dorado County.

Day 1:

We started off at the trailhead at loon lake where everyone aired down their tires and prepped for the next 3 days at 1 mph. We set off, passing by possibly one of the most photographed trail signs.

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From there we arrived at where the gatekeeper used to stand. It got its name because it kept people and vehicles out that would not be able to complete the trail. It was unfortunately demolished in 2004. Once passed that we made our way into the Granite Bowl.

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This massive open area is nothing but slick exposed granite that was un earthed buy glaciers moving and scraping all the volcanic rock that covered it. We journeyed down into the bowl then back up The Steps on the other side. 

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We kept moving along at our very exiting snails place past an ample amount of various difficult obstacles. Past Ellis Creek Bridge, up Walker hill. and finally to The Soup Bowl. Made up of 2 ledges, each over 5 ft tall it was a challenge to everyone.

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From there we make our way onto the landmark piece of the trail, Little Sluice. Little Sluice is the definition of rock garden, made up of  small sedimentary rock and granite. It used to have much larger rocks but were broken down by the forest service to make this part passible.

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The rest of the day was just as grueling as the beginning passing our way through more obstacles like:

Squeeze

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Arnolds Rock

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The Big Sluice

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Saw Tooth

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We finally make it to The bridge that will take us into Rubicon Springs and where we will camp for the night. Day 2 was spent at Rubicon Springs where we swam, relaxed, and repaired the damage the trail had done the previous day. 

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The Rubicon Trail (https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/1029-the-rubicon-trail)

Rubicon Trail (https://www.atvescape.com/the-directory/trails-and-tracks/california/rubicon-trail?cat_id=105)

A New Way To Rubicon (https://www.fourwheeler.com/events/1909-new-way-rubicon/)