I wheel alone. I hate Spotters especially random ones posted up along a mild feature. Takes all the fun out of it for me. Reminds me of that insurance commercial 'Don't be your Dad' where the guy is handing out unwanted advice to strangers. Sure, if I ascend Hell's Gate or the stakes are high I will gladly accept local experience and wisdom, but please leave me alone at the local OHV park.

Speaking of solo - I'm going on a 3-day Mojave excursion at the end of September but have no friends who want to go. The terrain is super tame, I will have plenty of food, water, and a Toyota - not worried about it. I get to do this because I paired it with a mountain bike race at Big Bear. I will finish mid-pack (unless there aren't enough old geezers in my class and I podium) load up my stuff and leave. Then the fun begins. See, I have the family convinced that racing is in my blood, but I really just need to get away.....

Speaking of which - I mountain bike alone all the time - way more dangerous than wheeling alone I'd say.....

I got off track - glad the folks who were missing are fine and props to the friend for putting out the word. Hope no one has to do that for me.

Nothing wrong with "wheeling"** alone, as long as you have correctly gamed out the risks and solutions and have contingency plans for all possible scenarios. Having an inReach or satphone with you is smart.
I've been to the White Mountains/Bristlecone Forest area several times; There have always been substantial numbers of other folks visiting the area, and the roads are generally well-graded. Also, cell service is generally available at any point that overlooks the Owens Valley.
** I define "wheeling", for myself, as backcountry travel, not driving as entertainment. Those that want to rock crawl or shoot jumps in remote areas are smart to have support personnel nearby.

A vhf/uhf hand held ham radio is a possible alternative to a SAT phone, much cheaper and no subscriptions. There are repeaters all over the place in CA, mostly on mountain tops, all you need is line of sight. I have hit repeaters some 30 miles away with a 5W handheld. There are no morse code requirements anymore for a technician license, just a pretty simple multiple guess test. You can also talk to your buddies when in a pack. When natural disasters (not that there are hurricanes anymore) strike, HAMs take over a lot of the emergency communications. Cell towers are gone. Despite the cellie craze, ham radio users have actually increased quite a bit. On the downside, if you're in a gulley, you are not likely to 'see' a repeater.
Here is a list of repeaters in INYO:
Inyo County amateur radio repeaters
In an emergency it is legal to 'mod' these units to transmit on marine bands as well as aircraft bands.
These things are pretty compact too:


Of course another alternative is a CB radio. Plenty of truckers use these, but you will need one with sideband along with an antenna. Sideband also allows up to 12 watts transmit power. Range is all about the antenna. With a center load antenna, you can get over 20 miles. In a forest or gully, your range will decrease dramatically, but you don't need exact line of sight. No license is required for CB.

Lots of good points in all of your guys posts.....I wheel alone quite often as well and take the necessary precautions.

A few details have come to light via my friend (who is friends with the lost guy).....It seems that this is not a case of being ill prepared to go wheeling alone, but a situation where mental illness was a concern. He had made some irregular communications (online-posts and then texts to family and friends.... then radio silent) that made his family believe that he may not be in a good mental state and needed some help. They did not believe it was to the point where the rescue authorities needed to be involved...but were concerned none the less. At the end of the day we all need a little help some times and I am glad he is home with his family.

I am glad this community is here to give sound advise and backup support when folks need it!

Excellent point as well. Ham/CB just any additional communication devices to reach out in an emergency, I have one as well (good for between-vehicle communication too). I'm not too fond of the HAM licensing part, but in an emergency, I wouldn't care.

My issue is being able to reach the right person in an emergency. With a sat phone, I can directly reach anyone pretty much as long as I can see the sky (forests, bottom of a valley, cloudy day, storm, etc... not a problem) and then arrange for help. It also has an emergency GEOS button which will transmit my location to a predetermined group of people, so I don't have to chat. As an added bonus, I can receive texts for free and send them out as well (can send to phones or even email addresses). So there's that if I just want to "check in".

My worry with ham/CB is reaching the wrong folks, in the wrong location or not reaching anyone at all.

And yes, if you're in an OHV, like Hollister or Gorman, generally, you'll be around others so that's not too bad to be "alone" since it's sort of a park.

I did the Mojave Road about 6 years ago, took about 3-4 days to cross it, it's pretty much a dirt road, just one or two slightly technical points. However, I was with another truck and we had a total of 4 people with us. I would NOT want to break down in the middle of that road, although we did encounter some other groups, but they weren't exactly consistent.

Again, I think everyone on here generally knows their risk levels and most of this chat doesn't apply to us, but just glad this allowed us to open the conversation. Most threads are about building the truck, or modifying this or that... but rarely do we talk about "best practices."

There's a staggering % of off-roaders that I have encountered that don't carry spare food/water/fuel whatever. On some pretty desolate trails. Only have their cell phone (of course no cell signal) and are either alone or with their wife and kids. These are cringeworthy moments for me.

The really scary ones, by and large, are the folks in lifted newer pickups, 10k for a liftkit... 1 dollar worth of sense.

True dat….

Wheeling alone on tame fire road trails where a tow truck can get in and pull you out, sure, go ahead. Wheeling alone on a more technical trail or desolate area where a tow truck will be unwilling to come save your ass, I don't agree. The reason I don't agree is now you are relying on other groups to bail you out. Another group is going to feel compelled to save your stupid ass and then you screw them out of their plans.

It's always good to go with at least one other rig so you can pull each other out of trouble or at least be able to drive out and get more help and any tools and parts you need. In my opinion, leaning on strangers and screwing over their plans isn't cool.

I've been mountain biking for over 35 years and I do it alone too. The big difference is even with a major mechanical that can't be fixed, you can still walk out. When I mountain bike alone, I leave early so I have plenty of daylight available in case I make a wrong turn or have a mechanical. I also try to let someone know my planned route. I also take it down a notch on the downhill sections knowing if I crash hard and screw myself up, I might be in a bad situation.

If your rig breaks down in Bum F#ck Egypt (Mohave Road as an example), you're not getting out without leaning on some other group coming across you. So, I'm going to disagree with you here. It's best to wheel on remote or technical trails with at least one other rig.

I totally agree with the solo safety angle but can't let lack of interest in joining me stop me. I will have a safety beacon in effect. The Mojave Road area is pretty tame and has travelers and the heat will have dropped into the low 90s by the end of the month. The Fox US Open at Big Bear was just cancelled due to the CA All-Forest Closure, so I'm going to spend my time on the west side of the Road between Afton Canyon and the Rasor OHV park and Cady Mtns. Do you still ride (MTB)Tim? I'm older than you, but still race the other geezers (for fun - Cat 2/Sport Class) in the gravity events. I always do the DH and DS at Sea Otter.....No more Enduro. Doing that on Thursdays was ruining the whole weekend!

Yes, I still ride but not as much as I use too. My body is a bit messed up and also lack of motivation to spend lots of time in the saddle. I raced for quite a while. I made it as high as the Semi-Pro class. I also raced Cyclocross. I raced the A Division, Master 35+A, and Master 45+A. Too many injuries got me to retire. One year I won my Expert age class at the Sea Otter. I raced cross-country.

I wheel alone on technical trails a lot. I've also recovered more then a few rigs that got stuck wheeling alone. All those rigs had a fairly new driver to the off-road scene. Two I was able to drive out by lowering tire pressure and using the parking brake. Five others I've had to resort to winching or snatching.

The one thing they all had in common was no recovery gear. A hi-lift and the ability to use it would have recovered all but 2 of those. The other 2 probably could have gotten themselves out if they had a winch.

As for my personal wheeling alone. I have a full set of tools, a full set of front end parts including spare spindles, and a pretty deep mechanical know how. I also have years of seat time on very technical trails. Even with that I also carry a go bag. It's got food, shelter and warm layers. If I need to hike out 15 miles in the future because of catastrophic engine or trans failure I'm prepared and able to do that.

If your comfortable wheeling alone, do it. If your not, don't. If you are make sure you are prepared for worse case scenarios. They can, and will, happen. One thing I don't worry about is relying on anyone. If I ever need help I'm sure karma will find a way to provide it. One of the unwritten rules of wheeling goes like this: No rig left behind. I know I've never left anyone. Even if it meant adjusting my plans to help out a fellow wheeler.

Well……. If the issue was a mental one here then all other bets are of. All assumptions are made assuming the cheese is squarely planted on said cracker….. if the cheese slides off the cracker…. Eh….. things usually get a little dicey.

Don’t solve temporary problems with permanent solutions. Ever.

On the subject of wheeling alone, that’s a more nuanced discussion. Risks and remoteness have to be taken into consideration.

My family and I wheel alone pretty regularly. But it’s done very smartly in not super remote areas (almost always in cell service when the Wilson booster is powered up.) I have a booster, multiple gps units, multiple radios, multiple cells, garmin in reach that works incredibly well and people I can call to get me. These are also people that I have helped in the past.

Lots of food water and gear. Always warm clothes. The vehicle is super solid mechanically as I am my own warranty station having spun my own wrenches professionally and for hobby for the third decade in a row.

On those solo rig trips it’s almost always fire roads with some mixed technical.

My issue is getting people to go. My brother seems to be more willing to go these days with his TJ rubicon assuming it’s close by.

I’m about ready to go join a local association to hopefully find more folks to go with.

Now all of this said, I’ve been in many many many bad spots in my life outdoors prior to my family with kids life. Enough **** ups have been made to where a good decision making skill set has been developed.

I’ve snowmobiled alone before, and got bitten bad. Almost had to spend the night. Good news was I was setup for it. Bit still a super bad deal to cause for yourself as the walk out is a real ****ing problem in snow. Walkouts are easy without snow assuming no fires are present.

Anymore for me snowmobiling alone is a no go. Wheeling with one rig doesn’t bother me as long as it’s done smartly and don’t take unnecessary risks. I detoured around a snow drifted road in early June to avoid a potential stuck situation. I surveyed the area a good five minutes, decided that a trip down a slope around the obstacle and up the slope was near a zero risk and carried on. The result was an epic day.

Short story long, it’s not a blanket yes/no answer to go wheeling in one rig. If you don’t know what your doing, it’s obviously a hard no. If you do know what’s up and are self sufficient for survival and know your limitations, I say it can be done and done well.

But do be cautious. If there’s even a feeling of doubt, then the answer should be no.

Cool - Much respect for you XC animals. I need gravity to excel. I know you have a physically demanding job and the consequences of getting racked up every weekend would be bad. Luckily I fly a desk and coworkers just laugh at me when I show up in a cast on Monday.

Backcountry aloneness is actually what I want - I have a wife and kids who are nearly grown and stable enough to deal with it if I were, say, snatched by aliens. I have no concerns about the risks of traveling solo. I bring enough resources to survive and I don't ever plan to rely on the kindness of strangers but I do carry a 30 foot kinetic rope if I need to give or receive a quick yank. I spend more time thinking about how I could help others actually. For on-road help I carry a charged up 1/2" impact and all lug-size sockets. A tall bottle jack and some wood blocks, a tire repair kit if they don't have a viable spare, and even a lug-lock defeater if they can't find their lug lock key. I would also be happy to pull someone out of a ditch - my time schedule isn't that important to me (being alone) and helping some poor bastard out would be one of the highlights. Enough virtue signaling from me. I totally support preparedness and safety measures, but as another poster said - the next catastrophe may well be something you did not see coming! I'm taking some chances alone before I'm too old to....or til I finally get a friend off their ass to join in

There's lots of ways to meet people to wheel with. This forum is one of them. There's a Facebook page called Bay Area Toyotas that regularly plan trips. But, group trips have their own issues meaning you don't know who the hell you're going to be traveling with and there might be some idiots in the group or they're annoying as fuk.

Maybe we could do a mtn bike ride one day and see if we can stand each other. If so, we could maybe do some trips together. I will be putting together a Death Valley trip this coming February. Death Valley is awesome. I'm assuming you've ventured through there.