never been need opinions

[cruzerman350]

i hope i am in the right section for this. my question is what difficulty level is the rubicon? i have seen some pictures but i didnt know if there are ways to get around the real difficult stuff. i was hoping to go up there sometime next month with my dad. we both have land cruisers, fj-40s. mine is lifted about 3" over stock and has a small block 350 in it. my dads is a bone stock cruiser. niether of us have lockers so i was wondering if it would be even aprochable in these vehicles. the only place i have been that i could compare to this is swamp lake and that was in a freinds jeep. i know we couldnt make it up there. i am guessing that the rubicon is harder but i thought i would ask anyway.
is ther any place that you guys would suggest that might be easier of a trail. we didnt want anything that is going to be very challengeing or anyting that is going to break our rigs.
thanks
-miles

[tbone420]

u will break dont come :flipoff2: theres to many people already up here :)

[jeeperrick]

It all depends on driver skill, we just got back from the Con and on Sat. we got to watch and assist some bone stock CJ's on 31" tires go thru. The more stock you are the longer and harder the journey. If you decide to go, remember to pack it, pack it out, as well, good trail manners go along way.

[chartdog]

Stock cruisers can and do make it but based on the last part of your question I would pass for now.

If you want to try something else in the central Sierra try the "Slick Rock" trail off Hwy 4 near Bear Valley and the "Deer Valley" trail that runs between Hwy 4 and Hwy 88.

These are awesome and beautiful trails and if you are careful you won't break anything.

[welndmn]

without one of you having a winch, it will not be a very fun trip.

[Joshua Ryan]

You will beat the crap out of your rig. I was up there yesterday and saw a yota locked rear open front needed to be pulled through gatekeeper, and got pretty beat up. If you havent been to the trail Id say go take a walk and see what you are getting into. I see people on this board say its not too hard of trail. some parts I saw were crazy enough to get me to look at rock wheeling a whole different perspective.(build a bigger rig).

[cruzerman350]

thanks,
yea i had a feeling it wouldnt be the best idea for us. as far as beating my rig.....im not that worried about that. i dont have much of a body and i can fix whatever i beak so i beat it on a regular basis. i will look into dder valley and slick rock. is there any designated camping there or is it just find level ground and sleep. thanks again
-miles

[SlowMo]

The Blue Lakes campground is at the north end of the Deer Valley trail. I believe that camp ground is run by PG&E. Other than that there are many spots along the way for dispersed camping.

[chartdog]

Best camping is at Utica Res and Duck Creek for Slick Rock and at Deer Creek itself on the Deer Valley trail. Blue Lakes is great if you need a developed site for staging.

Get Forest Service maps for the Eldorado National Forest and the Stanislaus National Forest and you will find these trails are well marked and easy to find.

[cruzerman350]

thanks alot. i have one question that can hopefully be answed fast. are these places above 5,000 feet? thanks again

[chartdog]

Yes they both are. The Utica end of Slick Rock starts at about 6500 and climbs a little. The Hwy 4 end of Dear Valley is about the same, Deer Creek is over 7000 and Blur Lakes at the top is a little over 8000.

This is a little higher than Rubicon which runs between 6000+ and 7000. Not much of the real good stuff up here is below 5000.

[krb]

thanks,
yea i had a feeling it wouldnt be the best idea for us. i will look into dder valley and slick rock. thanks again
-miles
Good choice.I would say you could make it thru but the problem would be if you got stuck you would piss off some of the impatient assholes that go up there!You could also try Bald Mountain near Swamp.

[fullsped]

Another trail that you could look into would be the Niagara Rim trail off 108. You can read a little more info about the trail at: http://www.sc4wdc.com/agenda_niagra-rim-05.html A little info on Deer Valley: http://www.sc4wdc.com/agenda_hermitvalley-05.html Write up with pics from when my club ran it in June: http://www.sc4wdc.com/trip_report_HermitValley_05.html

Enjoy

Eli

[cruzerman350]

thanks alot. that what i was looking for

[PipeDown]

I made it thru (Tahoe to Loon and back) in my 98 4runner. But I have sliders, bumpers, lockers and dual cases. Still IFS, and running 33" MT/R's. Went in the end of June and there was a good amount of mud and high water crossings (well, high when you're only running 33's)
But I got away with no body damage. Of course I didnt run Little Sluice, no way I would have ever made it.

I'd say it would be very hard for you to make it through w/o lockers or at least a winch.