There has been lots of work down on the Rubicon Trail to make it the sanctuary that it is. The County, the Rubicon Trail Foundation Board and many volunteers have been out there spreading the word of Pack It In/Pack It Out.
What does Pack It In/Pack It Out mean? This common saying is a simple yet effective way to get visitors to take their trash home with them. There is no reason why people cannot carry out of the backcountry the extra food packaging materials, and human waste that they carried in with them in the first place.
Trash and litter ranks high as a problem in the minds of many visitors.
Trash and litter are human impacts that can greatly detract from the naturalness of an area.
We must all be mindful of even the smallest effects we have on land. That is why the Rubicon Trail Foundation advocates Pack It In/Pack It Out. We must all be good Stewards to the Rubicon Trail.
If you need WAG Bags please contact us at 888-678-2426 or [email protected].
Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.
Vision: To be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation would like to extend our Heartfelt Thanks to our Generous Donors. It is their supreme excellence and generosity that drives us to succeed.
We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Steve Sasaki at Power Tank. Steve has generously donated to our Black Tie & Boots event in years past but also to our 1st Annual Off the Rocks Show & Shine, happening on October 12, 2019.
It is companies like PowerTank that has helped us to continue the work that we do to enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon Trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.
For more information on this event please contact us at 888-678-2426 or [email protected].
By Vickie Sanders
There has been a lot of discussion about spills recently. The County wants to remind everyone spills were part of the cleanup and abatement order from 2009. The county developed an educational program commonly called the 4’s, sanitation, spills, sedimentation and safety.
In 2011 spills were the focus of the year and with state grants the county has provided spill kits ever since at the kiosk free of charge. This is your green sticker money at work for you. You have already paid for them.
In the past RTF staff under contract with the county have been at the kiosk to hand these out. This year the county hired staff to be at the kiosk. Staff is there Friday thru Monday from 12-6. If you miss staff or need a kit you can always contact Vickie Sanders and come by the office. The County office is located in Placerville by the fairgrounds.
There is a group addressing the recent spills in the bowl. Thank you once again to a community that takes care of the resources and each other. Without your help the county could not do the work needed for the Rubicon.
In addition, RTF has 2 mid-trail staff on trail, Glenn near Buck Island and Mike near Spider. Both of these awesome gentlemen gladly will hand out spill kits provided by the County.
Play is the highest form of research.-Albert Einstein
This past weekend a few of our board members went to the Rubicon Trail and provided some education about the trail, gave out WAG Bags & Spill Kits, and had fun meeting and greeting users of the Rubicon Trail.
One of the main goals of the foundation is to provide education and help answer any questions about the trail. We all met so many new wheelers who had never been before, to also seeing old faces who had to be on the trail even though Cantina for the Con was not happening.
We taught a whole group of brand new trail users all about WAG Bags, locations on the trail and then also some on how to use a Spill Kit.
It was great to see families having family time and unplugging from devices that are all too time consuming-
Hopefully everyone had a safe and fun Labor Day!
If you are interested in volunteering and making a difference on the Rubicon Trail please contact us at 888-678-2426 or email us at [email protected].
All kit contents were bought by the Rubicon Trail Foundation and our generous donors.
Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.
Vision: To be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation would like to wish everyone a Safe & Fun Labor Day Weekend!
Reminder: Cantina for the Con has been postponed this year
Here are some helpful safety tips so you all enjoy your celebratory weekend:
Going on a road trip? This is one of the busiest weekends on the road. tell people where you are going and when you plan to return, pack all weather clothes, and plenty of food and water. Do not forget to have your emergency pack in your vehicles to include flashlight, jumper cables, tool kit, and tire gauge.
Use alcohol in moderation and never while driving vehicle.
Buckle Up when you are in the vehicle.
Hydrate and use sun protection.
Grill responsibly
Take caution in the water.
Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.
Our vision is to be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation would like to update you where our monies have been spent through 7/31/2019. We recognize that donors have many choices on where to spend their hard earned dollars and we like to be transparent and give you the results that you expect from your investments. If you have ideas or thoughts on where you think funds should be spent we welcome all ideas.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation was created in 2004 in order to financially support activities on the trail that are required to keep the trail open. This is a never ending and important obligation that RTF has undertaken. Your support is absolutely essential to provide a myriad of services to the trail such as: Helicopter time for rock drops, FOTR support, Educational support with Mid-Trail Staff, various Rubicon U activities and on-going access to the RTF Property. Without the support of everyone from vendors, sponsors and individuals like yourself, none of that trail support is possible.
We offer this graph to you as an overview, but it is just that, an overview.
We are always happy to provide you with the latest information, so contact us at [email protected] or call us at 888-678-2426.
Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.
Our vision is to be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation partnered with Rugged Radios to give each child at Camp Rubicon a hand held radio to use and understand the importance of having communication devices available when in out of cell service areas. You never know when you will need to make an emergency call out for help.
The radios were programmed for frequencies that could be used during Camp Rubicon with the hope that each child or family will become interested and get licensed so that they can use while camping and recreating.
What is a HAM Radio?
Ham Radio is the very best way to communicate on the Rubicon and other trails. It is literally a lifesaver!!! People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It’s fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.
Why is having a HAM Radio license important?
There is little to NO Cell Service one the Rubicon Trail. HAM Radios are great because you can communicate with people all over the world if licensed and get help if needed in an emergency situation.
Other benefits—learn electronic and radio propagation, learn geography, and enhance personal communication skills.
How to get a HAM Radio License:
You will need a License to Operate A Ham Radio, you can contact any local amateur radio club for more info, or take Advantage of the classes that RTF sponsors. This class is designed to take you from zero to HAM radio operator in no time at all. Its typically held in the Sacramento Valley area, in El Dorado Hills. For more info on classes you can email John Arenz [email protected] or http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class
If you already have a Ham Radio License here the frequencies used on the Rubicon-
146.805 -.600 PL123.0
The KA6GWY repeater, covers the west slope of El Dorado County and the Sacramento area.
145.350 (repeater transmitter), odd split to 146.205 (repeater receiver), PL123.0
The Tahoe Basin KA6GWY repeater, linked 24/7 to the 805 ELD repeater, coverage in the Tahoe Basin.
146.805 simplex, no PL
This is the repeater output frequency of the KA6GWY repeater. Nice to have so that you can talk to your friends right in front of you, still listen to the repeater, but not tie it up when simplex will work just fine.
444.9875 +5.00 PL156.7
The Rubicon repeater located near Spider Lake, coverage on all of the Rubicon Trail except east of Barker Meadows OHV trail.
444.9875 +5.00 PL 107.2
Same as RUBI except that when using this PL it links to 805ELD and 805 TAH.
444.9875 simplex, PL107.2
This is the repeater output frequency of the Spider repeater. Nice to have so that you can talk to your friends right in front of you, still listen to the repeater, but not tie it up when simplex will work just fine.
Note, PL is used because some users decode PL on their handheld radios.
If you do not have a HAM Radio you should consider getting one.
The Rubicon Trail Foundation holds 1 to 2 classes per year to get you your HAM License. Contact us today!
I guess everyone knows by now that I’m the day to day poo truck driver for RTF. At this point it is also common knowledge that El Dorado County next season will take over this service. We (RTF) couldn’t be happier! When we built the poo truck, we did so as proof of concept. A little history, in 2010, the anti-Rubicon closurists were watching the trail intently. They campaigned the agencies (El Dorado County and the Forest Service), saying they couldn’t spend money putting bathrooms on the trail because they had no way to service them, and of course that they couldn’t spend money building a service truck because there was nothing to service. Chicken and egg, if you will. RTF built the truck and started providing the service to help solve the sanitation problem on the trail because it needed to be done, the same way the county built the bathrooms…because it needed to be done. Now that RTF has proven it can be done, it’s time for a government agency (the County) to take it over.
So on to the original subject. A typical day for me on the Unimog starts at Spider Lake. I pack a lunch, fill the mog with water and leave as early as I can. It takes me about five hours to go to the far end of Buck Island Lake, suck out the four toilets (about 350 gallons of poo slurry) and return to Spider, pumping the Arnold’s Rock toilet on the way back. From there it’s another two hours to the Ellis vault to dump, and two hours back to Spider. So a nine hour day. The following day, thankfully, is much shorter. It usually takes about 5 hours to do that. On the trail I chat with people on the trail, educate and just try to be friendly.
Sounds simple, and it is, usually. Of course, sometimes things don’t go as well. I’ve popped tires turning a nine hour day into a three day extravaganza trailering a new 250 pound tire and wheel in and changing it. I’ve also run out of gas in the pump and had to beg borrow, and steal fuel, ok mostly beg, from trail users (yeah, I know, dumb). Of course, users create roadblocks too. I HATE wipes. They clog the machine and must be removed using a hook and pliers. Please, please, don’t put wipes in the toilets! I’ve found some interesting stuff in toilets too…many pairs of underwear (men’s and women’s), pajamas, lots of random trash, full bags of trash, and one of my favorites, a block of cheddar cheese. Who does that? All of this stuff has to be removed, bagged, and placed in a leak proof bucket to be taken off the trail and placed in the trash. Yes, that happens in my personal rig.
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