I just got home after spending a week camping on the east side of Spider Lake and four-wheeling on the Rubicon. The area is, for the most part, pretty much the same as it was on my last trip twenty-some years ago.
I did see some disturbing things though. For instance, there were several places where the original trail was deliberately blocked by persons unknown who had dislodged size large boulders and winched them into the trail. Disturbing ... Yes! Earth shattering ... No!
Then, on the afternoon of our third day in camp, the earth shattering happened. A group of 4 wheelers passed by the campsite with complete disregard for the concept of "Tread Lightly". These people came blasting through at what I would estimate to be a 15 MPH clip. Not bad for a trail with an average speed of 2 to 4 MPH.
Of course, yours truly yelled at them to slow down which only elicited their cheerful responses of "F*** you, A**hole". On top of that, several people told me to be quiet or I would piss'em off. I was confused to say the least.
It was then that I saw the tailgate of the last 4X4 pickup in the group, a truck that had obviously been rolled a time or two. Big black letters proclaimed "WWW.PIRATE4X4.COM". "What the hell is Pirate 4X4?", I asked. Again, I was told to be quiet because those guys were the Pirates of the Rubicon and were not to be trifled with.
Not understanding what was going on, I grumbled to myself and let the matter pass. The Pirates set up their camp about a hundred meters below us and all was OK ... for a while.
Along about two in the morning we were awakened by a lot of yelling and what sounded like a fight from the direction of the Pirate's camp. Shortly after that a rig that was powered by what sounded like a 6 cylinder V8 running at 4000 RPM attempted to drive through our camp.
I unassed myself and my 13 year old son from our tent at the time everyone else was doing the same. None of us had any intention of becoming Roadkill on the Rubicon. We all looked down toward Pirate camp and saw a bonfire that would make the late New Mexico burn look like a marshmallow roast. Rather vocally, we got the errant 4X4 back on the trail and he headed down to the Pirate camp. By 4AM, everything was quiet again and around 8AM the Pirates took their leave and headed for parts unknown.
But wait, there's more!
Later that morning I left our camp on foot to locate some deadwood for our own fire. My travels took me through the Pirate camp from the night before. That's when I got madder than hell. These guys had made a size large mess and to top it off, they had cut living trees to fuel their bonfire. Their trash was scattered from hell to breakfast and in general their camp looked like the city dump. My group spent several hours of our leisure time cleaning up their crap.
Is there any excuse for this kind of disregard for our public lands? None whatsoever! It's people like the Pirates of the Rubicon that give the off-road community a really bad name. People like this do nothing more than give the eco-nazis ammunition for their fight to keep us in our garages. The last thing we need is a bunch of rogue off-roaders mucking it up for the rest of us.
Later that day I asked a number of off-roaders if they had any knowledge of this group and their abberant behavior. Several of them responded on the condition I wouldn't identify them. I must add that what follows is only hearsay as I didn't witness any of these incidents except what is noted above.
1. The Pirates deliberately roll their rigs so that other members of the group can drive up on them. Makes for interesting trail debris not to mention a hell of an oil slick. (see the picture from their website)
2. Indiscriminate firing of weapons. The area is predominately granite and bullets riccochet. Could someone get hurt?
3. Rude, loud, abusive and threatening behavior toward people who disagree with their attitude and actions. A lot of families travel the Rubicon. Wives and kids don't need this. Hell, no one does.
After I got back to Carson City I fired up my steam powered, water cooled computer and looked up www.pirate4x4.com. Was I ever surprised. According to their website, the Pirates in consort with the USFS single handedly saved the Rubicon from all us bad guys. If what I witnessed last week is any indication of the Pirate's overall actions and attitude then I, for one, want no part of their particular brand of off-roading.
On that website they list a number of corporate and private sponsors. I have serious questions about this also. Do these sponsors have any idea of the actions attributed to the Pirates. If so, I can only assume that these sponsors condone those actions. If not, I would suggest that those sponsors take a second look at this group.
Are all of the Pirates of the Rubicon bad guys? I would hope not. In that case the good guys should weed out the persons responsible for these questionable acts.
Does the off-road community at large need people like this? Not no but HELL NO! We have enough problems fighting off Slick Willy and his merry band of Eco-Nazis without having to defend ourselves from within.
If what I saw was indicative of the behavior of the overall group then I would suggest that we as a community shun these people and anyone remotely like them. I sincerely hope that the Pirates of the Rubicon examine the actions of at least part of their group.
If any readers out there belong to the Pirates of the Rubicon or can offer a reasonable explanation please reply and set the record straight. As things stand now the Pirate's trail manners ain't too popular.
The bottom line is that we don't need renegade or rogue off-roaders making things rough for the rest of us. As I have said before we need to get our butts in gear and our collective acts together or we're sunk. It doesn't matter what we drive or ride. What matters is how we do it.
You all have to make your own decisions and form your own opinions regarding actions such as these. You can castigate me for posting this long-winded message or we can try to cure the problem by getting rid of the bad apples. The choice belongs to all of us.
BTW, overall, the trip was a most excellent adventure.
Copies of this post have been sent to:
Pirates of the Rubicon
California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs
United Four Wheel Drive Association
Rockcrusher
I did see some disturbing things though. For instance, there were several places where the original trail was deliberately blocked by persons unknown who had dislodged size large boulders and winched them into the trail. Disturbing ... Yes! Earth shattering ... No!
Then, on the afternoon of our third day in camp, the earth shattering happened. A group of 4 wheelers passed by the campsite with complete disregard for the concept of "Tread Lightly". These people came blasting through at what I would estimate to be a 15 MPH clip. Not bad for a trail with an average speed of 2 to 4 MPH.
Of course, yours truly yelled at them to slow down which only elicited their cheerful responses of "F*** you, A**hole". On top of that, several people told me to be quiet or I would piss'em off. I was confused to say the least.
It was then that I saw the tailgate of the last 4X4 pickup in the group, a truck that had obviously been rolled a time or two. Big black letters proclaimed "WWW.PIRATE4X4.COM". "What the hell is Pirate 4X4?", I asked. Again, I was told to be quiet because those guys were the Pirates of the Rubicon and were not to be trifled with.
Not understanding what was going on, I grumbled to myself and let the matter pass. The Pirates set up their camp about a hundred meters below us and all was OK ... for a while.
Along about two in the morning we were awakened by a lot of yelling and what sounded like a fight from the direction of the Pirate's camp. Shortly after that a rig that was powered by what sounded like a 6 cylinder V8 running at 4000 RPM attempted to drive through our camp.
I unassed myself and my 13 year old son from our tent at the time everyone else was doing the same. None of us had any intention of becoming Roadkill on the Rubicon. We all looked down toward Pirate camp and saw a bonfire that would make the late New Mexico burn look like a marshmallow roast. Rather vocally, we got the errant 4X4 back on the trail and he headed down to the Pirate camp. By 4AM, everything was quiet again and around 8AM the Pirates took their leave and headed for parts unknown.
But wait, there's more!
Later that morning I left our camp on foot to locate some deadwood for our own fire. My travels took me through the Pirate camp from the night before. That's when I got madder than hell. These guys had made a size large mess and to top it off, they had cut living trees to fuel their bonfire. Their trash was scattered from hell to breakfast and in general their camp looked like the city dump. My group spent several hours of our leisure time cleaning up their crap.
Is there any excuse for this kind of disregard for our public lands? None whatsoever! It's people like the Pirates of the Rubicon that give the off-road community a really bad name. People like this do nothing more than give the eco-nazis ammunition for their fight to keep us in our garages. The last thing we need is a bunch of rogue off-roaders mucking it up for the rest of us.
Later that day I asked a number of off-roaders if they had any knowledge of this group and their abberant behavior. Several of them responded on the condition I wouldn't identify them. I must add that what follows is only hearsay as I didn't witness any of these incidents except what is noted above.
1. The Pirates deliberately roll their rigs so that other members of the group can drive up on them. Makes for interesting trail debris not to mention a hell of an oil slick. (see the picture from their website)
2. Indiscriminate firing of weapons. The area is predominately granite and bullets riccochet. Could someone get hurt?
3. Rude, loud, abusive and threatening behavior toward people who disagree with their attitude and actions. A lot of families travel the Rubicon. Wives and kids don't need this. Hell, no one does.
After I got back to Carson City I fired up my steam powered, water cooled computer and looked up www.pirate4x4.com. Was I ever surprised. According to their website, the Pirates in consort with the USFS single handedly saved the Rubicon from all us bad guys. If what I witnessed last week is any indication of the Pirate's overall actions and attitude then I, for one, want no part of their particular brand of off-roading.
On that website they list a number of corporate and private sponsors. I have serious questions about this also. Do these sponsors have any idea of the actions attributed to the Pirates. If so, I can only assume that these sponsors condone those actions. If not, I would suggest that those sponsors take a second look at this group.
Are all of the Pirates of the Rubicon bad guys? I would hope not. In that case the good guys should weed out the persons responsible for these questionable acts.
Does the off-road community at large need people like this? Not no but HELL NO! We have enough problems fighting off Slick Willy and his merry band of Eco-Nazis without having to defend ourselves from within.
If what I saw was indicative of the behavior of the overall group then I would suggest that we as a community shun these people and anyone remotely like them. I sincerely hope that the Pirates of the Rubicon examine the actions of at least part of their group.
If any readers out there belong to the Pirates of the Rubicon or can offer a reasonable explanation please reply and set the record straight. As things stand now the Pirate's trail manners ain't too popular.
The bottom line is that we don't need renegade or rogue off-roaders making things rough for the rest of us. As I have said before we need to get our butts in gear and our collective acts together or we're sunk. It doesn't matter what we drive or ride. What matters is how we do it.
You all have to make your own decisions and form your own opinions regarding actions such as these. You can castigate me for posting this long-winded message or we can try to cure the problem by getting rid of the bad apples. The choice belongs to all of us.
BTW, overall, the trip was a most excellent adventure.
Copies of this post have been sent to:
Pirates of the Rubicon
California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs
United Four Wheel Drive Association
Rockcrusher
