Mojave Road Feb. 12-13 Trip Report

[boydmick]

What a great trip!! Everyone made it back safe and we had a fantastic time!

First, some trip info:
Original Planning Thread

SPOT Tracking page

We had great weather for the start. The storms had all cleared through, but the ground was still damp. This really kept the dust to a minimum. We set a nice relaxed pace and really tried to soak in the surroundings (actually, my friend Josh's F250 was forced to set a nice slow pace to keep his teeth from rattling out)

Now, some pictures:

Pictograph near the start. . .



Black Cat Saloon. . .



Almost as nice as home



more to come. . .

 

[boydmick]

Playing with the camera. . .



Brent at the Penny Can. . .



Arm out the window shot of Stan. . .




still more. . . .

 

[boydmick]

Brent and Bubba at Rock Spring. . .

Snow and ice but the water was still flowing underneath.


Big Brother is watching. . .

Be careful what you do at Government Hole!


A stretch of Cedar Canyon Road. . .

Snow all over the New York Mountains.



even more. . . .

 

[boydmick]

Mid Hills Campground. . .

I wanted to stay here but the tent campers had other ideas!


Backside of Hole in the Rock. . .

We found a good spot in the campground (no snow) and then Brent, Bubba and I went for a hike.

Bubba and I at the Steel Rings. . .

We had to help him some but he made it!



hang in there. . . .

 

[boydmick]

Day Two:


A tribute to those before us. . .



Marl Springs. . .



Trail Carnage. . .

This Dodge suffered a massive wheel falure and had to be left behind





moving along now. . . .

 

[boydmick]

Stan, Brent and Jeff check the mail. . .



Checking out Aikens Mine. . .



Stan pops a bead. . .

A little too fast in the washes by Rainy Day Mine!
Pretty quick repair though, we were able to fill it while still on the truck.



almost done. . . .

 

[boydmick]

Traveler's Monument. . .

It was pretty slippery, but we made it through.


Standard Under the Bridge shot. . .

Before the Ford


River Crossing. . .

Not too deep


We pushed on through Afton Canyon and continued up the river toward Manix wash. It had started to rain fairly steady at this point so we opted not to hike to the triangles but continued on instead. We returned to pavement and aired up at 5:32 pm.

A quick drive to Ludlow for fuel and dinner at Bob's Big Boy then off to home!

 

[e9999]

nice pics!

lots of washboard? (I hate that stuff...)

 

[bluto]

Boyd Im getting an invalid attachment in post 7.
Thanks for fixing it!

 

[boydmick]

nice pics!

lots of washboard? (I hate that stuff...)

I'm sure Stan and Brent have some better shots, just wait until they post.

Not really any washboard, but there are stretches of whoop de do's or what I would call undulations. 10 to 15 mph max.

Boyd Im getting an invalid attachment in post 7.

Fixed it for ya.

 

[bluto]

For the 80s with a stock fuel tank - how many gallons did you use to cross it. Advice on how much to carry for extra fuel if needed.

Did you guys use a combo of CB and Ham on this trip?

Thanks.

 

[boydmick]

I added 6 gallons but didn't need it. Brent didn't add any and made it back to Ludlow for fuel.

Bring 5 gallons just to be safe, or if you plan on exploring a whole bunch.

Each vehicle had CB, but only Brent used his Ham. He had limited contact with repeaters.

 

[Dan2722]

Great report! This is on my to do list of trips for sure.

 

[Brentbba]

I'll get pics up later. Trying to figure out my code 26 I threw on the trip.

Gas - Had 10 gallons with me up on the rack. Made it from Avi Casino at the beginning all the way back to Barstow where I put in 23 gallons! Didn't use what was on the roof rack.

Our communications was limited to CB as I was the only ham with a radio on the trip. Boyd has a Yaesu VX-7R from work, but left it at home.

I was able to hit intermittently the Big Bear repeater. Heard lots of chatter on one of the Barstow repeaters, but on the one radio check I tried on Barstow, I got no response - running high power. Second day was the best for picking up Big Bear. I'd have to say though that even for an emergency, hitting any repeaters along the Mojave Road is spotty at best. Ludlow repeater was active on the drive down I-40, but never heard any chatter while we were on the trail.

 

[rfjtoy]

Some of the pics

Here are a few.

 

[rfjtoy]

And a few more.

People tricks and a dog that climbs stairs.

 

[rfjtoy]

Last few pics

The trip was a great sucess. Hope to do it again when it is a bit warmer. Thanks Boyd, Josh and Brent, always great to wheel with you guys! Jeff even got to let off a little steam.

 

[Brentbba]

Gang,

Let's see if this link works. Cox has a pic, video, etc file sharing program now that can store up to 5gb, so let's give this a a try. I clicked on it and was able to view the pics.

http://digitalvault.cox.net/invite/...xprod_gemini1&t=3591f7824a3af3c6&r=mg&lang=en

Enjoy. Sorry for all the scenery photos. I'm one that believes that the the desert we have is a beautiful place! As it was my first journey down the Mojave road, there are pics of all the information signs the park service has out there.

Trip was a fantastic success. Thanks to Boyd for posting this up. I've been wanting to do this trip for several years now and this was my first opportunity. I was not disappointed. I agree with Stan, let's do this again when it's a little warmer! As you can see from the pics, it was a bit nippy! Mid High campground was covered in a good 6" of snow. Cedar Canyon Road was an adventure (BLAST!) driving in all that mud!!! What's the name of this site anyway! All the history along the route from Fort Piute to the railroad, navtive indians, settlers, etc. Just fasinating! Hard to imagine what we did in a leisurly two days was done on foot, covered wagons and horses in the mid 1800's! Wow!

Company with Boyd and his faithful companion Lightning (Bubba) the rock climbing dog!, Stan and his son Jeff and Josh and his wonderdog Taco (the guy in the Ford) were a true pleasure to be with on this trip!

Hopefully, Stan will be able to post up some of the video's taken. If not, I'll see if I can upload them to the Cox site and share them.

 

[SoCal_80]

Looks like you guys had a great trip, thanks for the report! Congrats!

 

[gon2srf]

Great trip report guys, awesome pics too! Hard to believe we ran it 3 weeks ago with no snow and in the low 40's at night. Winter came late. I think another trip is called for when it's warmer but the snow pics are just awesome. There aren't many takers this time of year and the solitude makes the trip even more special.

It was fun "watching" your progress on the Spot Messenger! Boyd; wondering why you shut it off at Manix?

Glad you all had a good time! Thanks again for posting up the great pics and taking the time to share them.