Mojave Road 1st week of April - Condition insights? (3 Viewers)

[GerLC100]

Hey guys

attempting Mojave Road with my LC100 + small offroad trailer in the first week of April.

I'm aware about the current closures on the NPS website. Do you have any very recent knowledge about the water crossing or other things?

In case anyone has a nice campspot to share, happy to receive a PM On one video I found an old mine slightly higher elevated where you had a view across the railroad, but I couldn't find the location... :-(

Will report after my trip and share some details.

 

[AgentOrange]

That's an awesome trip to do! I do reccommend getting the Mojave Road Guide by Dennis G Casebier. I learned to drive out there in an FJ45 wagon and still found that book to have a lot of great information. I haven't been out there in about 3 years, so I have no recent information on the washout or water crossings, but April is the time to do it. Take lots of pics!

 

[GerLC100]

I heard quite a bit about the book, but didn't get it yet.
But read a lot online and watch quite some videos, so I think I found some nice places already, have at least 50 pins of locations/ spots in Gaia. Soda Lake are is closed due to rain, so I got to go around Zzyzx then head back in. Will check the water crossing, but not super stocked to take a big risk as I'm traveling with one car only, have not received my front bumper/ winch and I have not installed the diff breathers

There might be two three spots where the washouts could get back, that is currently my main interest. And of course the fact that it's supposed to slightly rain Saturday when I want to start the trail

Seems also like there is a new route: East Mojave Heritage Trail, 660 miles... But that'll take too much time for me.
But still thinking to connect from Yermo/ Barstow north towards Inscription Canyon (surely after stopping by Peggy Sue's Diner) and then move on to Red Rock Canyon State Park.

 

[AgentOrange]

I heard quite a bit about the book, but didn't get it yet.
But read a lot online and watch quite some videos, so I think I found some nice places already, have at least 50 pins of locations/ spots in Gaia. Soda Lake are is closed due to rain, so I got to go around Zzyzx then head back in. Will check the water crossing, but not super stocked to take a big risk as I'm traveling with one car only, have not received my front bumper/ winch and I have not installed the diff breathers

There might be two three spots where the washouts could get back, that is currently my main interest. And of course the fact that it's supposed to slightly rain Saturday when I want to start the trail

Seems also like there is a new route: East Mojave Heritage Trail, 660 miles... But that'll take too much time for me.
But still thinking to connect from Yermo/ Barstow north towards Inscription Canyon (surely after stopping by Peggy Sue's Diner) and then move on to Red Rock Canyon State Park.

Peggy Sue's is almost required! Water crossings in Afton Canyon will almost certainly have water this time of year but if you have at least one locker and diff breathers, I'm certain you won't have a problem. Went through them twice in one outing with my wife's unlocked Sequoia.

If you're heading out Red Rock Canyon way, also worth taking a little drive into Jawbone Canyon just a few miles away. Mostly dirtbike heaven out there, but it is neat to explore a little and won't eat up a lot of time. Still prefer to camp in Red Rock though

 

[GerLC100]

Now it has been some time since I asked about the road conditions and it's also two ago that I did the trip. Time to give you a brief report!

We took of in the Bay and made it to Afton Canyon Campground for the first night. This was just a quick overnighter to get to Colorado River next day.
The depth of the water crossing wasn't too deep. I saw a Tacoma driving through, 35" tires and I guess it was ~20" deep. So I knew on my way back where the water standing and that I could run through

 

[AgentOrange]

Afton Canyon is still one of my favorite places in all of the desert. Can't wait to see more!

 

[GerLC100]

Next day we went to the Colorado River to kick off the traditional direction of Mojave Road: east to west.
The weather was mixed, windy here there, some showers to expect during the day.

After grabbing a stone we started our way in.
The beginning of the trail was very wavy, so we needed to take it fairly slow. And then we got surprised by fairly rough terrain going up the pass. There were 2 stretches I couldn't pull the trailer up without CDL as it was wet rocks, partially heavily washed out. But we made it well and arrived at Piute Springs in the heavy rain. So we decided to not set up camp and move on to camp at Live Oak Spring Campground.
Mid way between Piute Springs and Live Oak the road has just been grated recently and the heavy rain made it a very muddy stretch. car and trailer just moved the way the wanted, we were sliding around, everything was muddy... That was fun!

 

[GerLC100]

As we drove quite a bit the past two days we promised the kids to not go too far on day 3. We targeted the Lava tubes and Aiken Mine for the night.
Arriving at the mine we just had a Sprinter and a Jeep pulling in, but luckily they didn't stay over night. So we got lucky: got the coolest site in the mine area and have been alone all day and night!

 

[GerLC100]

Next morning I had two awakening: the regular one and the one that made it very clear we can't proceed :-D
I found one of the tire hangers broke. Looks like the trailer doesn't keep up with my driving style and the level the LC can go :-D

So we decided to head out of Mojave Road and proceed to Joshua Tree NP (as it was planned for the day after).
Arriving at the campground I disassembled the hanger, got some bolts from Tractor Supply and fixed up the trailer so we could at least get home

 

[GerLC100]

All in all Mojave Road was a great experience. You get all types of terrain: sand, gravel, rock, flat, wavy, washboard, wash outs, ...
I didn't even try Watson Wash due to the heavy rain and mud, but I will be trying it another time.

We have seen 2 cars right at the beginning of the trip, within the first 2h or so. But that's it.
And we now understand why people say "3days, 2 nights". I would personally even say 4 days, 3 nights. Otherwise you got to drive 5h a day or so. Especially with the kids I would plan on driving 2-4h a day, but then have enough time to run around, explore and enjoy the place you're in!

 

[hoser]

The depth of the water crossing wasn't too deep. I saw a Tacoma driving through, 35" tires and I guess it was ~20" deep. So I knew on my way back where the water standing and that I could run through

About 3 years ago, the railroad company dumped a bunch of rocks in it so they could get back and forth through it easier. They were supposed to remove them after the construction work but they never did.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

deepest water crossing Ive ever done was at that railroad crossing. Water over the top of my hood, in through the fresh air vents, wet carpet. But we made it through.