JohnTheLuck's Adventures Thread

[JohnTheLuck]

Upcoming SoCal trip

Ok, with my fingers crossed and hoping that everything will go as planned this time (not like last year...), I am finalizing my itinerary for a seven week trip to southern California. This will be a trip mostly oriented to off-roading with a few hiking trails in between. These are the general places me and my wife should go:

Around Yuma AZ;
Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area;
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park;
Ocotillo Wells State Recreation Area;
San Bernardino National Forest;
Sand to Snow National Monument;
Mecca Hills Wilderness;
Coachella Valley Preserve;
Joshua Tree National Park;
Cibola National Wildlife Refuge;
Around Blythe CA;
Around Needles CA;
Mojave Trails National Monument;
Mojave National Preserve;
Rainbow Basin Natural Area;
Around Barstow CA;
Trona Pinnacles;
Around Ridgecrest CA;
Red Rock Canyon State Park;
Around Lone Pine CA;
Death Valley National Park;
Around Parhump NV;
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area;
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument;
Lake Mead National Recreation Area;
Valley of Fires State Park;
Gold Butte National Monument;

That should be a very busy trip and a blast!!! I hope the government shutdown will end before impacting too much the things I want to do and go.

Again hoping the weather will not be a problem, we should leave Montreal Canada on Friday January 25th, and we should reach California four to five days later. I should be able to update this thread every night.

On the trail or on the road, if you see me around, don't hesitate to come salute me. It is always a pleasure to meet someone in person with the same passion as I do.

Finally, I want to thank many T4R members that helped me identify possible destinations, mostly [MENTION=124470]tay4R[/MENTION], [MENTION=164260]MaddoxPics[/MENTION], [MENTION=137107]Ray Dunakin[/MENTION], [MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION], and probably many more that I forgot to mention. Thanks you guys so much guys!
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[smallfry]

Valley of Fire is kind of meh, cool but meh. (my opinion after hiking the arae over two days)

Yuma there's a couple of neat trail systems in the area (Red Cloud Mine/Chibola/Imperial NWR and Indain Pass Road).

Not really off-roading but check out Lassen Volcanic National Park (interesting area) and Lava Beds National Monument (the caves are kind of cool to explore and there is some old war history in the area).

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Valley of Fire is kind of meh, cool but meh. (my opinion after hiking the arae over two days)

Yuma there's a couple of neat trail systems in the area (Red Cloud Mine/Chibola/Imperial NWR and Indain Pass Road).

Not really off-roading but check out Lassen Volcanic National Park (interesting area) and Lava Beds National Monument (the caves are kind of cool to explore and there is some old war history in the area).

I already went to Valley of Fires SP once, but I hiked only White Domes Trail and Fire Wave Trail. I might reconsider according to time and your opinion. We will see.

Around Yuma, I already planned to go to Indian Pass and Imperial SRA. Since this is my first goal, if the weather cooperate (which is not the case now around here!!!), I might get one day earlier. I would then take a look at Red Cloud Mine. Thanks for suggesting!

Lassen NP and Lava Beds NM are way to the north than what I plan now. These destinations were on my itinerary of my 2018 trip I had to cancel. I really want to go there again. maybe next year.
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[JohnTheLuck]

2019-01 Southern California

Day 1:

Start point: Montreal QC
End point: Lexington VA
States traveled: QC, ON, NY, PA, MD, WV, VA

Distance driven: 1159 km

Feels so good to be on the road again in the 4Runner!!!

My wife and I left Montreal early this morning to enter the US in New York state near Lake Ontario, using the I-81. As it is often the case, we encountered some heavy snow of short duration. Nearing Syracuse NY, the snow stopped. Later, the sky cleared and got a lot of sunshine.

There is not too much to report now. Tomorrow, we will continue toward the south on I-81 to join the I-40. This was the fastest way to escape the intense winter we are experiencing. We are kind of lucky since our planned departure date occurred exactly between two major winter storms.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 2:

Start point: Lexington VA
End point: Memphis TN
States traveled: VA, TN

Distance driven: 1066 km

It was an other long day on the road, a pretty uneventful day I would say. The highlight of the day was for sure the disappearance of the small snow flake in the little screen in the dash of the 4Runner; it has been lit since our departure from home yesterday.

We are in Memphis TN for the night.

Tomorrow, we continue our drive toward the west on the I-40 with a short break in Oklahoma City to meet someone very special. Stay tuned for more!
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 3:

Start point: Memphis TN
End point: Shamrock TX
States traveled: TN, AK, OK, TX

Distance driven: 1038 km

Today, we continued our way toward the west, leaving Memphis and crossing over the majestic Mississippi River. There was no wind and some light fog. With the low sun, there was some wonderful scenery over the many ponds.

Later, we stopped in Midwest City near Oklahoma City to salute Mark Doiron, an avid overlander and producer of high quality videos on his YouTube Channel. I have to give a lot of credit to Mark after having inspired me at many occasions. Mark owns a heavy modified Jeep Wrangler, but as a great overlander, forgive me to post his Jeep picture here!

You can watch his videos on http://www.youtube.com/c/digitalbydoiron

After saying goodbye, we continues west to Shamrock TX where we stopped for the night.

Don't be discouraged, the picture fest is about to start soon! This is what happen when California is kind of far from home... 5 days on the road...
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 4:

Start point: Shamrock TX
End point: Holbrook AZ
States traveled: TX, NM, AZ

Distance driven: 1022 km

Are we there yet??? This was the 4th consecutive day on the road toward California. We decided to take a break at the end of the day and stop for few hours at Petrified Forest NP. This was our second visit to the nice park. This time, the sun was shining and beginning to go down. The colors were amazing. We started on the northern part of the park.

(Yesterday, I told you the picture fest was about to start, so here it is!!!)

Everywhere, we could see part of petrified trees down the cliffs after being eroded away.

Further south, we entered a different rock formation with a blue shade, Blue Mesa.

We had to leave without being able to see everything since the park closes a bit before sunset.

Tomorrow we should reach our first official destination of the trip, Yuma AZ.
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[MAST4R]

I am not following the thread, but why skip Arizona to go to California? Sure, you get much better food at similar prices (if eating out), but in terms of adventure, AZ offers some very interesting trails.

And the best of the best is Southern Utah (not just Moab).

Do you use any 4x4 guides? Charlie Wells and Peter Massey are the best; the former's are much more recent though. Wells is a more even spread from dirt roads to extreme with everything in between, a very good balance. Massey is mostly skewed towards dirt roads and easy trails with a fair bit of moderates (some have changed a lot) and a sprinkle only of difficult trails with nothing very hard let alone extreme.

There is no other way to really get good info; all the online guides that are good require prior knowledge of the terrain and some experience to be used fruitfully.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

I am not following the thread, but why skip Arizona to go to California? Sure, you get much better food at similar prices (if eating out), but in terms of adventure, AZ offers some very interesting trails.

And the best of the best is Southern Utah (not just Moab).

Good question! I have been in Arizona a few times, and close than 10 times in southern Utah.

When planning this trip, we decided to go directly to California since there is so much to do there and we went there only once. You have to take in account that going to California for us is a 5 days trip from home, while Utah and Arizona are only 4. So we have to make the traveling worthwhile by spending most of the time in California. I am not sure I will be back in California shortly.

This is a hint just for you (...), we should be back in Utah and Arizona in next September to November.
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[MAST4R]

Good question! I have been in Arizona a few times, and close than 10 times in southern Utah. When planning this trip, we decided to go directly to California since there is so much to do there and we went there only once.

This is a hint just for you (...), we should be back in Utah and Arizona in next September to November.
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Fair enough, have fun! You can always pm me if you have questions about specific trails. I may or may not know the answers

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Fair enough, have fun! You can always pm me if you have questions about specific trails. I may or may not know the answers

I will keep this in mind. Thx.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 5:

Start point: Holbrook AZ
End point: Yuma AZ

Distance driven: 745 km

Today was finally our last day of this atrociously long trek across the US to reach California. We left Holbrook AZ and reached the Mogollon Rim in the Apache-Sitgreaves NF. Then, we started our long climb down toward Phoenix AZ while crossing the Tonto NF. Pines slowly began to be replaced with beautiful Saguaro cacti.

[MENTION=306890]MAST4R[/MENTION], yes, I saw so many trailhead and 4wd trails, for sure we will be back in Arizona, hopefully soon.

Later, we made a short stop in Gold Canyon to see some good friends, then continue our route toward Yuma.

Without loosing a minute, we headed directly to Ferguson Lake Road, a very easy road in a superb scenery along the Colorado River. Unfortunately, the sun was mostly hidden behind clouds and the pictures doesn't reflect the beauty of the place.

We stopped briefly at Ferguson Lake Fishing and Hunting Club.

On our way back, the last rays of the sun for the day illuminated the hills above the Colorado River.

Tomorrow, we stay around Yuma for another day. We should do some wheeling again, and some hiking, well welcome after 5 day on the interstates.
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[MAST4R]

Great pictures!

First time I hear about the Ferguson road. Looks like a nice and fast trail. What is your return route? Or are you passing through elsewhere?

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Great pictures!

First time I hear about the Ferguson road. Looks like a nice and fast trail. What is your return route? Or are you passing through elsewhere?

Indeed Ferguson Lake Road is a really nice and extremely easy road.

Hey, we just arrived today!!! No thinking about returning now...!!!

Seriously, our itinerary brings us slowly toward the north until we reach Lone Pine CA. Then, we will head east toward Pahrump NV, the Mesquite NV and finally St George UT, the last destination before we head east toward home.

Depending on the weather, we could use the I-70 up to Columbus OH, then the I-71, I-90, and I-81. Another choice more to the south is to reach again the I-40 and connect to the I-70 near St-Louis. We will see. Go read my post #281 in this thread for more details about what I plan to visit.

 

[MAST4R]

Thanks for pointing me to that post. I like the thorough approach you have taken, it does show your experience

I suppose you will drive the Mojave Rd while you are on it.

What 4x4 guides are you using?

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Thanks for pointing me to that post. I like the thorough approach you have taken, it does show your experience

I suppose you will drive the Mojave Rd while you are on it.

What 4x4 guides are you using?

I will run the Mojave in part since we are not doing camping.

I mostly use Funtreks and also Peter Massey books (they are now a bit outdated but the trails are still there).

I also use some web sites like TraillOffRoad among others. NPS and USFS are also good for some others.

 

[MAST4R]

I will run the Mojave in part since we are not doing camping.

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Great, that's what I do. TrailDamage.com is the most extensive resource for UT and CO (12$/year) and Charlie Wells' Funtreks are getting a new CO guide ready for late spring.

This is useful as well: Jeep the USA - Best Jeep trails in the Western U.S. I stay with the 2.0-3.0 there with only a couple select 3.5s planned.

Yeah, the Massey guides have aged. I find no difference on trails rated 1-3 (except when closed) but some trails rated 4-7 have changed a great deal from the time they were described. Wells makes it a point to update his guides about every 5 years.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 6:

Start point: Yuma AZ
End point: Yuma AZ

Distance driven: 152 km

We started the day by going to the Indian Pass Road, a relatively easy trail going through varried terrain. At first, it runs in a flat area covered by small volcanic boulders. Ocotillos and chollas were in great number.

After passing Indian Pass, the trail descend in a rocky section toward a wash with many narrow passages.

After some time, the trail enters the Picacho State Recreation Area near the shore of the Colorado River.

Later, the trail crosses a very nice section of orange rocks.

We then drove the 4Runner on a secondary trail on an old railroad grade to an overlook over the Colorado River and ruins of an old stamp mill.

[


We left the 4Runner for a bit and hiked the Stamp Mill Trail. This is a spectacular trail on top of colorful ridges.

We follow the recommendation of the volunteer at the Ranger Station and headed toward Red Rock Canyon to hike in a another colorful area.

We then left Picacho SRA and headed toward the Valley of the Names where soldiers in training during WWII started a trend to write their names using dark rocks over the light sand. The extremely low precipitation rate make these marks last a very long time.

Tomorrow, we will leave Yuma to continue toward the west.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 7:

Start point: Yuma AZ
End point: Brawley CA

Distance driven: 318 km
Distance hiked: 1.2 km

Our first destination of the day was the Wood Plank Road State Historic Landmark where remains of a road constructed in 1915 using wood planks to easy crossing the Imperial Dunes.

After, we headed north and began climbing the Black Mountain Road. This road crosses a strange landscape of black lava boulders with many cacti growing.

The view at the top toward the east was very spectacular.

The view toward the west allowed us to see our next destination, the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.

There, we headed onto the Oldsmobile Hill Road after airing down a bit and installing the required safety flag.

At the base of this impressive and intimidating dune, many persons with OHV were having fun climbing and descending the dune. I decided not to make a fool of myself and stay humble with the capabilities of the 4Runner.

We headed back on the highway and reached the Hugh T. Osborne Overlook. Then we continue from the overlook onto the dunes to reach the Sand Highway Road for some distance.

This was my first experience with the 4Runner over sand dunes. At the beginning I was very cautious but I realized fast how to manage this kind of terrain. It was a lot of fun. And guess what: the wife didn't want to drive a bit!

The sun was about to reach the horizon when we were near Brawley CA. We were crossing fields of veggies, one after the others. It was a spectacular view, but the dark clouds on the horizon cast some doubts over our planed activities for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, more trails were planed but as I am writing this message, the rain is falling over Brawley. We will advise tomorrow.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 8:

Start point: Brawley CA
End point: Brawley CA

Distance driven: 275 km
Distance hiked: 4.2 km

Anza-Borrego Desert SP, what an incredible place!!! You're in for a treat...

As the weather forecast was not looking so good for tomorrow, we decided to change the order of some activities. Thus, we headed to the southern part of Anza-Borrego Desert SP. We will spend several days in this place that we discover for the first time.

We started the day going down onto Canyon Sin Nombre Road. At first, we were a little worried by the effect of yesterday's rain, but the ground was already pretty dry.

After a few narrow passages, the canyon opened up and we joined the mouth of a slot canyon that we explored. While the sun had dried up the road, it was quite different for the slot canyon in which the sun enters only a few places. We quickly had very heavy shoes because of the sticky mud.

As I followed my wife a few steps away, I found a small friend she had stepped over unknowingly. It was not too threatening as it was only about 4 cm in diameter.

Continuing our journey, the landscapes followed one another, some more beautiful than the others. The color schemes were pretty incredible. We then took the Arroyo Seco del Diablo Road.

We stopped to explore a narrow side canyon named Diablo Tail. Normally it is opened to small vehicle but it was closed. Precipitation had softened the walls and small pieces of mud were falling regularly. Some strange, rounded and long rocks were visible on the canyon wall.

We made a slight detour to get to an overlook over Diablo Dropoff Road. This road has a very steep descent and is one way down. As we wanted to continue the roads we had started, we did not go down.

Back on Arroyo Seco del Diablo Road, we entered a plain with a large number of ocotillos an chollas cacti.

Then we joined the Arroyo Tapaido Road circulating in canyon dug in very dense mud. There are many mud caves to explore cautiously since the danger of collapsing is real.

We then proceeded onto Vallecito Wash Road to rejoin the pavement. Somewhere along the road, a street sign was planted on a small promontory, a kind of wink to civilization that seems far away when we are in these remote places.

Wishing to enjoy the good weather before the rain forecasted for tomorrow, we headed toward the Dos Cabezas Road. Here, the landscapes were very different, with hills made of granite blocks.

This road joins the site of the Dos Cabezas stop on the San Diego and Arizona Railway, built around 1906 and nicknamed the "railway of the impossible" because of the rugged nature.

This railway was abandoned and then restarted several times. It is on this railway that is located the famous Goat Canyon Trestle, an extraordinary work, but how inaccessible. We should try to see him from a distance tomorrow, hoping the weather will not deteriorate.
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