This is the fifth of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward, the third was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area, and the fourth was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Steamboat. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions. In the near future I will do a summary post on all the additions.

Rubicon

This area contains mostly pristine areas south of the Rubicon River that were left out of the original wilderness. It is about 5,257 acres, the largest of the proposed additions.

The area includes the north facing slope from McKinstry Peak and Guide Peak down to the Rubicon River, where it connects with the existing wilderness and the Barker Creek area of my first post. Some of the river flats along the Rubicon River were helicopter logged, but were not roaded. The road shown on some maps around the head of Hell Hole Reservoir does not exist, has never existed. Though there are a number of old abandoned and use trails in the area, particularly just east of the reservoir, the only maintained trail, Hell Hole 14E02, ends at the Upper Hell Hole Campground, just outside this addition. I have not been on the McKinstry Trail in many years, and do not know if it is even passable through the brush fields, but it would be included in the addition. Upstream, the addition ends short of the Rubicon Jeep Trail. It is all within Tahoe National Forest and does not extend into El Dorado National Forest.

Land ownership is mostly Tahoe National Forest, with some Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which is the agency that owns and administers Hell Hole Reservoir and associated plumbing.

The map below shows the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. (pdf) The line separating the addition into two parts is an artifact of USGS watershed boundaries, which made the area much easier to map. Note that I have not added these proposed additions to my GaiaGPS public maps. After all five posts have been made, along with a summary post, I will add them.