I thought I would share our recent trip over the Mojave Road this past Memorial Day weekend. The road is 138 miles long and traverses across the center of the Mojave National Preserve.
We left Friday morning and met up with my wife's parents in Bull Head City. We hit the trail at around noon and traveled west from the beginning of the trail right at the Colorado River. We traveled about 40 miles stopping at the old Fort Piute along the way. We spent our first night at about 4800 feet among the joshua trees with strong winds and temps in the 30's.
Our second day we traveled another 40 miles stopping at Rock Spring to check out the petroglyphs and settlement. There was a concern about the amount of gas we had with us (from the in-laws), so we took the opportunity to drive the main road that runs N/S through the preserve to a gas station to top off. At $5.29/gal I was glad to have only needed 10 gallons. This was our first opportunity to check gas mileage...6 mpg on the trail!! That night we camped at the base of a cinder cone among lava rock. Elevation that night was lower at 3200 feet and the temps were much more tolerable in the low 50's overnight.
The 3rd day brought another 40 miles, hotter temps and the Soda Lake crossing. What an amazing experience to drive across such a large dry lakebed. Our final night we camped in the middle of Afton Canyon and had warm temps (upper 60's lower 70's), no wind and a huge fire to enjoy.
Day four, our final day, was almost 20 miles of thick soft wash sand. Man, that was a tiring stretch to drive and listen to the engine whine the whole time. We completed the trail at about noon on Monday, so the entire trip was exactly 3 full days.
We had a blast and drove through some of the most beautiful desert wilderness I've ever seen. We drove in nearly everything but snow...dirt, sand, mud, pavement, rocks, washouts, hill climbs, and more.
The cruiser did awesome and I'm really happy that my BT3-C trailer was made for this type of rugged terrain.
If your interested, here are some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150832530623309.399894.647508308&type=3&l=b129600bd8
And if you're really interested, and have the time, I put together a 20 minute video of the entire trip. My wife narrates the whole thing and captures most of the cool terrain.
Mojave Trip - YouTube
Enjoy!
We left Friday morning and met up with my wife's parents in Bull Head City. We hit the trail at around noon and traveled west from the beginning of the trail right at the Colorado River. We traveled about 40 miles stopping at the old Fort Piute along the way. We spent our first night at about 4800 feet among the joshua trees with strong winds and temps in the 30's.
Our second day we traveled another 40 miles stopping at Rock Spring to check out the petroglyphs and settlement. There was a concern about the amount of gas we had with us (from the in-laws), so we took the opportunity to drive the main road that runs N/S through the preserve to a gas station to top off. At $5.29/gal I was glad to have only needed 10 gallons. This was our first opportunity to check gas mileage...6 mpg on the trail!! That night we camped at the base of a cinder cone among lava rock. Elevation that night was lower at 3200 feet and the temps were much more tolerable in the low 50's overnight.
The 3rd day brought another 40 miles, hotter temps and the Soda Lake crossing. What an amazing experience to drive across such a large dry lakebed. Our final night we camped in the middle of Afton Canyon and had warm temps (upper 60's lower 70's), no wind and a huge fire to enjoy.
Day four, our final day, was almost 20 miles of thick soft wash sand. Man, that was a tiring stretch to drive and listen to the engine whine the whole time. We completed the trail at about noon on Monday, so the entire trip was exactly 3 full days.
We had a blast and drove through some of the most beautiful desert wilderness I've ever seen. We drove in nearly everything but snow...dirt, sand, mud, pavement, rocks, washouts, hill climbs, and more.
The cruiser did awesome and I'm really happy that my BT3-C trailer was made for this type of rugged terrain.
If your interested, here are some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150832530623309.399894.647508308&type=3&l=b129600bd8
And if you're really interested, and have the time, I put together a 20 minute video of the entire trip. My wife narrates the whole thing and captures most of the cool terrain.
Mojave Trip - YouTube
Enjoy!
