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Jeepers Blaze the Trail for Golden 50th Jamboree

By Bill Mays
WON Field Reporter

Georgetown - Big gnarly tires, sliding, hopping, and crawling over immense boulders of granite rock, will be working their way through places like Dollar Hill, Sluice Box, and Devil’s Post Pile, traveling in a convoy, slowly working their way down the Rubicon Trail to participate in the Golden 50th Anniversary of the Jeepers Jamboree.


The Jeepers Jamboree has attracted over 94,000 participants over the last 50 years. Past participants have gone to the extreme of shipping their jeep from Hawaii, to partake in the exciting outdoor adventure and to brave the rugged, scenic, and legendary Rubicon Trail.

Rubicon Jeeper - Bob Pantekoek from Placerville, crawls his jeep up "Dollar Hill" on the Rubicon trail as he demonstrates the skill needed to run the 50th Jeepers Jamboree. Photo by JJ Mays

This historical trail runs a distance of 22 miles, starting in Georgetown traveling through fern grottos and up to glaciered smooth granite with some of the most beautiful country of the Sierra Nevadas and ending at the west shore of Lake Tahoe. The average speed is 3 to 5 miles an hour with the tougher areas getting down to a crawl.



Rebecca Caulton - shows us how a 16 yr girl can run the 50th Jeepers Jamboree with a little help from Dad, Dwight Caulton from Ceres, CA. Rebecca is driving the rugged "Dollar Hill" on the Rubicon Trail. "Dollar Hill" is short for "Thousand Dollar Hill," if you make it through, it can some times cost you thousands in repairs. Photo by Bill Mays		 "There are only 8 new participants out of the 407 Jeepers this year." Said Marcella Kenny the office manager of Jeepers Jamboree. "Because of the experience needed to participate in the event, they don’t get many new inexperienced jeepers. The Jeepers Jamboree does have guides on the trail in the very difficult spots to help with the less experienced Jeepers," Kenny explained, "If you should have equipment problems along the trail during the Jubilee, there are qualified mechanics at the repair stations at Buck Island and Spider Lakes with some parts available for a fee."


"Winter storms change the degree of difficulty from year to year," said Chris Estep. "This is one of the reasons Jeepers return year after year to make the run." Estep is one of about 300 volunteers who put in the hard work it takes to set up for an event like this.

The American Legion volunteers provide the food for the Jeepers and entertainment is flown in by helicopter to the famous Rubicon Springs. This is site of an old mineral springs resort and is the main camp. This year’s entertainment will be country western music provided by the "California Cowboys" and Nashville singer-song writer Tommy Barnes, who has written songs for Tim McGraw and Hank Williams Jr.

If your looking for a great outdoor experience to test your off road driving abilities and possibly catch a trout along some of the lakes and streams that border the trail, you can get additional information at the Jeepers Jamboree office at 6275 Main Street, Georgetown, 95634 or call (530) 333-4771.



Bill Mays - WON Field Reporter uses his Honda quad 4X4 to gain access to the Rubicon Trail and take some photos for the 50th Jeepers Jamboree. Photo by JJ Mays