Bad Lines Rubicon 2024

[dwphoto]

Checked one off the Bucket list this past weekend and it was definitely one for the books.
A few months back @sdecurti and I started chatting about getting together a little Rubicon Summer trip.

3 days on the trail
5 trucks
9 Humans
Memories for a lifetime.

2 Blue Jeeps @UCD BAJA with @Lugnut and @Treeguy77 and his boy
1 Rasined Toyota Pick Up Hayden and Ashton
2 first gen 4runners
Loose and Lost Nick and then @sdecurti and I in my shit box.

We'll skip the mess of me getting the 4 runner ready for battle and save that for my build thread.

Scotty picked me and 4 runner up at my place in Thousand oaks Thursday afternoon about 3pm we hit the pike set for his folks place in Garden Valley, CA just outside of Georgetown.

as we dropped down the grapevine.. temps were right about 100 degrees we passed this wild man with no top and a tigerstriped tail gate. None other than Loose and Lost Mobile

We pulled in to pit to get some food and fuel. We were rolling 4 deep in the power wagon. A/C was set to otterpop mode.
Nick was rolling solo. I asked him if he wanted some company for the drive as we had another 4-5 hrs to go. He said sure.
Pretty funny only had met him a time or 2 previously. Ended up shooting the shit all the way to Scott's parents house.


The next morning woke up nursing a bit of a hang over from previously nights activities.
Watched the kittens and turkey

Unloaded the 4 runner to repack it completely. got that handled shortly after Hayden and his lady Ashton rolled in... apologizing for being late ...after driving from Calgary, Alberta 20 hours ! Was the most Canada shit I've seen. Too damn nice those Canadians!

We hit the road to Georgetown Grocery store to meet up with @UCD BAJA and Ezra...
Gathered the neceesary supplies and hit road to Loon Lake Spillway.
There was some construction on Icehouse that held us up for 10 mins or so.

Stoke levels were high!

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Ezra lives down the road from me. Great dude. Looking forward to seeing more photos!

 

[the_fablab_]

subbed for more photos

 

[Treeguy77]

Ezra lives down the road from me. Great dude. Looking forward to seeing more photos!

Are we neighbors?

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Are we neighbors?

If you consider Walnut and Conyer neighbors, sure! lol. This is Brandon Miller. I didn't realize you were on here!

 

[Treeguy77]

If you consider Walnut and Conyer neighbors, sure! lol. This is Brandon Miller. I didn't realize you were on here!

Oh hey Brandon!

 

[charlie brown]

i just got back today. was on the utv conquest run. had about 35 utvs. they provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, trail mechanics. was my 2nd year going.

saw a tow rig in the parking area with a badlines goodtimes sticker. left a whats note note.

did you know about the 70yr guy that was working on the trail in a group for the jeepers jamboree getting lost last friday? they had over 120 search and rescue people on the ground and 2 hellos looking for 5 days. they just found him alive today.

 

[UCD BAJA]

i just got back today. was on the utv conquest run. had about 35 utvs. they provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, trail mechanics. was my 2nd year going.

saw a tow rig in the parking area with a badlines goodtimes sticker. left a whats note note.

did you know about the 70yr guy that was working on the trail in a group for the jeepers jamboree getting lost last friday? they had over 120 search and rescue people on the ground and 2 hellos looking for 5 days. they just found him alive today.

Yeah! Saw you last Sunday riding shotgun in a SXS between the slabs and the green bridge with the first vault toilet. You left that note on our truck. I saw you drive by and was like hey I know that guy then saw your note and was like yep! Hope you had a good trip!!

 

[dwphoto]

Trailer parking was a bit of a cluster fuck, we ended up finding a few spots. Us Toyota dudes began airing down. @UCD BAJA figured he start out the trail with a bang.
unstrapped the Jeep. Got in it fired started to back up. Jeep died on him. He's now rolling forwards as it was bit of an incline towards the tow vehicle. He hits the brakes and they of course go to the floor. They Jeep pops up over the little trailer lip and nestles right into @Lugnut 's tail gate. .

We ended up winching him back off the trailer which I then tethered him to a flat spot so we could assess the situation. Brake line was fucked. Drag Link was bent to shit. The Jeep guys looked through spare parts boxes trying to find brake line. No dice.

Little frontier medicine... We need Vise Grip sponsor.

He rammed it alright. haha

Mandatory spillway shots.

We did a quick alloy Armor Touch up on the tail gate.



@UCD BAJA said that the jeep was good ! I was like what about about that bent to shit drag link ? "Oh, it's always like that. lets go! " Jeep guys are built different hahahaha

We loaded up and hit the trail. Only 2 hrs later than we had wanted to start.

 

[UCD BAJA]

Figured I'd find a spare brake line on the trail and trade for cash or meat.....nope rolled with one good driver side front brake and the 2 rear questionable rear drum brakes. I didn't trust my brake set up 100% so Treeguy/Ezra reeled me down the slabs just to be safe. I was glad the line didn't burst going down the slabs!!!! Drove the rest of the weekend on 3 brakes and a pair of vise grips. New brake lines are arriving today so I'll have spares for next time!

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Super Jealous.

I still plan to do the Rubicon in the Ranger when she's back and running.

 

[dwphoto]

We all cruised through the gatekeeper without issue. Had a few truck ahead of us Including this bad ass Discovery.



and then let a few guys come through that has been waiting before we pulled up. Was pretty cool one of the guys actually knew who I was from the Sloan Motorsports fundraiser. We all made it up to the top of the slabs.

As @UCD BAJA mentioned his brakes were less than optimal for a steep decent so we broke out the @Backcountry4WD Recovery Kit for the first time on this extravaganza probably a solid 1/4 mile into the trail... just as we are rigging up rope to @Treeguy77 we spot...

@Mannysouza and his F100 chugging up the slabs coming towards us with a Bronco on the Umbilical cord. and @ultra4jones in his F350 behind him



Chatted with Kevin for a few minutes. they were bringing the dude with the bronco back out to the trailers and the were going to be coming back toward Buck Island lake for the night.

We dropped the Slabs was pretty uneventful.

@looseandlost told @H.skina he could take any line he wanted out of the slabs..

We cruised up and out of the slabs toward whale bones.

hayden taking some kind of party line ended up getting Turtled. haha

By that time @Mannysouza and @ultra4jones ( IG) and now @nickbreakseverything ( IG ) has re entered the chat.

papa Smurf

 

[dwphoto]

@Mannysouza

@nickbreakseverything pulls up and I kinda of do a double take I recognized the jeep and then him. I was like hey! your are @nickbreakseverything on IG right ? hes like YA! haha then he tells me he has a steering rack for his Ranger that is parked at Buck Island haha dude is a savage.

We let Nick and the big boys pass us we discussed getting a move on we wanted to make it to camp before dark. ( shooting for Spider Lake )

 

[dwphoto]

We make it maybe 5 mins until I don't see Ezra and Hayden behind me. We radio in... You guys all good back there ???
no response....
hey Ezra you good ?
"No.... ( you could hear it in his voice ) Both upper links hiems have pulled out not sure if driveline is bent but we are dead in the water. "
Copy that we'll head back...

Note there was no way around Jeep... complete trail plug status.

We ended up running back up to where @Mannysouza and @ultra4jones buddy was stopped asking them if they had hiems.
Manny thought he had what we need so we offered to just spin around and lend a hand

Sorry total fan boy thing is fucking rad.

 

[dwphoto]

Manny ended up not having the right hiems but we though another buddy of thiers did... so I hop in with Nick @looseandlost We head to where they were parked maybe 1/4 mile ahead of where jeep is broken.

Before I get in I spot this in the rocks. Fuck bud some one was actually rocking this up here in the middle of the forest... haha what a time to be alive

I actually told nick I was going to walk to take photos of him haha

We get to where they were parked annnnnd they are gone!
Nick tells me to get in and he drops the hammer... full KOH mode haha. 3 turns later we find them @ultra4jones diffed himself out on a couple of boulders. We told him we needed what we needed (I think it was 1 inch hiem) they only had one . He offered to spin around as he had a welder on his truck...

Got nick Spun around

Almost hit a tree with my horrendous spotting haha

We get back and they are getting it back together

Coming from same direct as us we have about 15 rigs stacked up and maybe 5 coming the opposite way haha No pressure.

After some massaging the boys rallied and got it back together and good enough of a trail fix that Ezra and his son could continue on with us and not have to retreat back to the truck and trailer.

We got the trail plug out of the way and let everyone go by after that 1.5- 2hr cluster fuck.

Good times... now it's 530 -6ish.

 

[dwphoto]

finally on the move again we made it to the first bridge

didnt get any photos up walker hill. after maybe 30-40 mins we arrived at the famous Soup bowl

Hayden made it up after trying for a few mins.

Then this chap steps up to the plate... basically just points her straight and starts the fog machine out the tailpipe haha

Rock Crawler
I love Rock Crawling
Keep Hard Line

Bromontana winched up said line haha

Nick steps up to the plate

Nick gave her hell for probably 20 mins

End up saving for another day. Before he exploded something.
Seeing as Nick as basically the same truck as mine minus body lift and motor.. I figured I'd bitch out on attempting and also save it for another day.

 

[dwphoto]

Hayden hadnt had enough just yet. Round 2.

At this point we were all pretty smoked, We decided to just post up near soup bowl as it was almost dark.

@UCD BAJA fired up some steaks on the Camp stove we had copious amounts of sport sodas and just as many laughs discussing the days fuckery. Finally hit the rack about 3:30am when the Howl shut itself off.

 

[dwphoto]

The next morning come early.
everyone slithered out of their tents for some coffee and " breaky" haha

We packed up camp and head back over to the Soup bowl which was maybe 100 yards from where we had camped to watch Ashton give it a go.

She makes quick work of it and we fire up the trucks to head to Spider lake for a little dip... it was already getting hot.

Right as were are pulling out of camp.. Dustin the Dirt Nation dude pulls up with his buddy.

We get to Little sluice and find this bronco on the struggle bus

We watch for maybe 20 mins and realize this is going nowhere in a hurry and decide to take the bail out

We park as you arent able to drive right up to spider lake? short 2 mins walk and....

 

[Harry Johnson]

aaay! Not a bad spot to hang out

 

[Hambone]

We must have just missed each other. I saw the yellow ford at the bottom of the granite bowl going out as we where going in.