Category: <span>Uncategorized</span>

Rubicon Trail Foundation President Message

Hello Everyone,

I would like to provide you with an update as to the work we are doing behind the scenes.

• Welcome Jeff Blewett back to our board as a Director
• Save the Date: May 13th for a Drive Thru Dinner Fundraiser – more information to follow soon
• Save the Date: Sept.4th for Cantina for the Con – more information to follow soon
• Rubicon Trail Foundation Student Scholarship – – more information to follow soon
• Working with El Dorado County OHV Division to place signs up on the Rubicon during the winter months. The last few years we have had people go up unprepared and unaware of how fast conditions change. They then find themselves in a need to be rescued.  Thank you everyone for responding and providing feedback.
• Mid Trail Staff will have some new educational materials to give out
• El Dorado Forest Service announced today, March 31st that Dirt Roads will open April 1st, also they provided the following update on road conditions
  • Wentworth Springs Road – covered in snow between Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ice House Road
  • Ice House Road – covered in snow north of the Loon Lake turnoff
  • Mormon Emigrant Trail / Iron Mountain Road – snow and ice and ice gets thick beginning at Pilliken Road when travelling toward Highway 88 from Sly Park Road

 I am grateful for your continued support and donations.  I invite you to reach out and share your ideas, thoughts, and feedback.  Hopefully, I will see you soon at an upcoming meeting/event or on the trail.

Sincerely,

Chris Cowan
President, Rubicon Trail Foundation

Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon Trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.

Vision: Our vision is to be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.

President’s Message

The Board of Directors for the Rubicon Trail Foundation meet monthly for several hours, however each February we skip the regular meeting and hold what we call our Winter Summit.  Due to COVID restrictions we couldn’t hold our usual weekend Winter Summit, but we were able to meet for a whole day this past Saturday.  While this day is long and exhausting, we are so glad to have a list of priorities and goals to work toward and move forward with.  We use this time to strategize and plan for the year ahead.  This is the time to see the big picture on things and tackle our budget.  We cannot wait to roll out some new goals and share them with you.  Stay tuned.

List of Achievements for 2020                                                                                         

– Despite not having fundraisers due to COVID – we were able to maintain funded projects         

– New/updated brochure

– Upgraded the repeater at Spider

– Funded the carsonites grant to delineated the trail at the top of the bowl 

– Paid out $20,500 for Mid-Trail Staff

– $11,200 in matching funds to El Dorado County to fly rock for repair work on trail

– Donations/online sales up from previous years

– 3 mapping resources created – OnX, Gaia & Cartotracks

– Funded $1082.00 in volunteer meals for work parties

– Accurate swag count 

– Trash Can Hill work completed

– Working with a balanced/approved budget

– Worked with Tahoe National Forest 

One specific order of business we wanted to tell you about right away, is we filled our open board seat with someone many of you know, who previously was on our board, Jeff Blewett.  We are so excited to have him back.  Jeff is a huge advocate and dedicated to keeping public lands open.

https://www.rubicontrailfoundation.org/directors/

We look forward to rolling out some new fundraising ideas, seeing you on the trail or at an upcoming event.

Sincerely,

Chris Cowan
President, Rubicon Trail Foundation

Mission: To enhance the future health and use of the Rubicon Trail, while ensuring responsible, motorized, year-round trail access.

Vision: Our vision is to be the trusted stewards of the Rubicon Trail, ensuring sustainability for the experience of the users.

Rubicon Trail Foundation Annual Board Planning

Each year the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) gets together for a 2- day planning session to plan the year ahead and go over things that did and did not work.

First, we dedicated time to talking with Vickie and Justin from the County to hear about their new grants and how we can help fund these.  In January the County made a formal request to the Rubicon Trail Foundation for matching funds for the Operations and Maintenance Grant for the Placer County side of $32,000 and the Planning Grant for the Placer County side of $28,540.  We approved to fund the $32,000 for the O&M Grant.  We are still discussing the Planning Grant and gathering information to make the best use of donor’s money.

RTF Events:

Black Tie & Boots– This year is a SOLD-OUT event, honoring Randy Burleson with the prestigious “Rock Award”.  We are excited to raise funds for the Rubicon Trail and look forward to seeing many of our Sponsors, Donors and Supporters.

Cantina- RTF is moving forward with meeting with the Forest Service to discuss permit issues and requirements.  We hope to be updating you soon with an update for this fun event serving the best tacos on the Rubicon and focusing on education.

Off the Rocks Show & Shine- RTF is already working on a date and fun for the 2nd Annual Off the Rock Show & Shine.  We look forward to sharing that date with you soon.  This is a great event to come see the wheeling community and show off your rig.

Internally we updated the RTF History, had some training on Google Docs, talked about the importance of social media marketing and exposure and how we should move forward sharing information with all users, supporters, donors, sponsors and the next generation.

We updated our Strategic Plan and Goals.

Strategic Plan- How do we improve our educational programs on the the trail and stewardship for current and future stakeholders?

Strategic Plan- How do we improve communication with our present and future stakeholders?

Strategic Plan – How can we increase and diversify our funding streams?

We do have openings on the RTF Board, we are all volunteers and welcome you to come join us at a meeting and/or ask any questions you may have.

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.

Have a Safe & Fun Labor Day Weekend!

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:

1.  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.
2. Use alcohol in moderation and never while driving vehicle.
3. Buckle Up when you are in the vehicle.
4. Hydrate and use sun protection.
5. Grill responsibly
6. 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.

Fiduciary Responsibility

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.

HAM Radio’s

Do you have your HAM License?

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!

Ham