The Rubicon Trail: Loon Lake to Tahoma

The trail that gave the Wrangler Rubicon its name, and the one every offroader wants in the logbook. This is the full crossing from Loon Lake to Tahoma across some of the most famous granite in the country, past the Little Sluice, the Big Sluice, and Rubicon Springs, then up Cadillac Hill to Observation Point, with an overnight on the trail. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail and a genuine rite of passage. Bring lockers, a spotter, and a rig you trust. You earn this one.

Rubicon Trail

• Loon Lake (Rubicon Trail Start)
• Granite Bowl
• Walker Hill
• Big Sluice
• Buck Island Lake (Trail Camp)
• Little Sluice
• Rubicon Springs
• Bridge over Rubicon River
• Cadillac Hill
• Observation Point
• Tahoma, CA (Rubicon Exit)

Complete your trip

This covers the route itself, not the drive to reach it. Everyone starts from a different corner of the country, so the run above is the part worth mapping in detail; the getting-there is yours to add. Once you save it to your account, drop in a travel leg from home to the start and a return leg back afterward, and the planner routes those connections for you. Swap the lodging and staging stops for your own while you are at it. That turns this from a great route into your whole door-to-door trip.

One last thing: there is no single right way to run a trail. That is half the beauty of wheeling and off-road travel, everyone takes a different line, a different pace, a different order. This is not the best way or the only way, just one way we wanted to share. Take what is useful and make the rest your own.

Grab the route

I built this whole route on WheelingTrips. Look at the full thing, and if you want it, save it to your own account and set your own dates.

See the route and save it

Have some feedback? Want to suggest an article or a route? Hit me up at troy@wheelingtrips.com.