What is everybody's opinion of running the Rubicon backwards??


Is it really that much more difficult

 

It's a lot more fun backwards I think. Maybe a little harder in some spots but not bad.

 

nocibur

 

So backwards it is!!

 

seems like your neck would get stiff running it backwards..........I guess if you had a good back up camera.......I know don't give up my day job. I thought it was 50-50 on which way to run it.

 

You beat me to it

 

Go when its not busy. Going against the grain can be slow.

 

The trail starts on the Tahoe side ends at Loon Lake. Traffic moves both ways. I would just look at the calendar to see if any big event is going on while you are there. If you run it backwards at least you will have population when you get off the trail vs being out in the middle of the wilderness at Loon.

 

Well not to knit-pick but more-so to avoid confusion, the Tahoe end has been the "traditional end" while Georgetown is the original starting point but since many skip out on Georgetown/Wentworth Springs, Loon has evolved into the "new" starting point hence the Granite Bowl's "Gatekeeper."

From the Rubicon Trail Foundation:
Rubicon Trail Foundation

So running it backwards would actually be from Tahoe out to Loon which is how we ran it as 2 big groups from NorCal & SoCal last summer.

 

I know what the OP meant, but...

We stayed later than planned, into the dark. On the way back, I entered a narrow trail which seemed to be a shortcut. It wasn't. After some 300 yards of a very narrow twisting trail, between trees, large bushes and big rocks, often with an inch or two of space on the Jeep sides, there was an absolute dead end.
Turning the Jeep around was impossible, so I had to back those 300 yard, inch by inch, in pitch dark. I couldn't see the spotter or anything useful with the stock tail lights.

Yes, it would have been easier if I could drive forward, using the Truck Lites, but then, it would not have been so much fun.

Also, if I was driving forward, we wouldn't have roared in laughter when the girl who joined us screamed in horror when the spotter shouted "stop", came back into the Jeep and said - "Close the windows. There's a big bear just behind us"...
(He knew very well that there are no bears over here...)