My truck is fairly well equipped. I have full armor including full skids. I have ARB locker in the front and Factory Elocker in the rear. I also have a 4.7 TacoBox from Marlin.
Well then
What is the chance of a satarday after wheeling departure? Sounds like I have to get back home for Sunday am family events.
You are free to leave anytime. Some considerations:
1. The main event takes place Saturday at the Springs Campground, activities starting around 10am and continuing through the night with the dinner, raffle, and bonfire. Leaving early on Saturday means you'll miss out on these things.
2. While about half of all participants should already be in the springs by Friday night, there are run groups still making their way to the springs as well as people running solo (renegades) entering from both sides (the Springs has two ways in or out: From Loon [the long way] or from Tahoe [the short way]). Because both routes leading to the Springs have multiple narrow sections near the Springs where vehicles can not pass, depending on what time you leave Saturday, you could be really held up waiting for rig after rig trying to get to the Springs.
Recommendation:
I'd recommend you leave out to Lake Tahoe (shorter route to get out) either very early Saturday morning -- leave camp no later than 6am, or very late Saturday night -- leave after the raffle around 9pm and nightwheel out. There are usually a good 10% or so of all participants leaving after the raffle so you'd likely have some company on the trail should you leave Sat. night.
Question:
What time to you need to be home on Sunday? A popular way to beat the crowd and avoid the association's Exit Strategy, is the following:
- 1. Be fully packed up and ready to go before the main Saturday night dinner
- 2. Only take the bare minimum to dinner & raffle (camp chair, silverware, flashlight, light jacket)
- 3. Don't consume any alcohol during the dinner & raffle
- 4.0. Immediately after the raffle, hop in your truck and head up Cadillac Hill in the dark to a small campground just beyond the Parking Lot In The Sky. Here is a map for where this camping spot is: https://goo.gl/maps/pvriyVPfBAw It is a small camping spot but I've never seen it overloaded after the main Rubithon event.
- 4.1. What this does is it gets the hardest remaining section of the trail (Cadillac Hill) out of the way, and most importantly, before anyone breaks down holding you plus hundreds up on this non-passable section of trail.
- 4.2. Side note worth mentioning: Back in the early 2010s there were reports of bear near this campground but a few years ago they were captured and hauled to a different forest by game officials.
- 5. Hit the trail early and be the first one to Lake Tahoe! From the top of Cadillac to the Tahoe Staging Area (map: https://goo.gl/maps/3kcDzwcqoHy), without any traffic it's only about 45 mins at a fast pace or hour to hour and a half at a slightly faster than normal pace. So you could be to pavement, aired up and on your way, as early as 7am Sunday morning whilst not having to miss any of the Saturday evening activities.
Regards,
BigMike
