My "Once-A-Month" Adventure Thread

[boyfester]

Since the purchase of our 2014 4Runner Trail in December 2014, my wife promised me that I could go on one off-highway trip per month and I've been keeping her to her promise each and every month. Instead of posting each trip in different posts like I've been doing the past year, I thought I'd start an adventure thread of my own which hopefully rivals some of the other great "build" threads in this forum. That being said, let's do a recap so far:

DECEMBER 2014: Quickie trip to Cleghorn Road with my son and a friend. This was my first trip and I was very apprehensive trying to do anything too difficult. We mostly stuck to the easier sections of the trail.





JANUARY 2015: Pulled the tent trailer down to Anza Borrego for New Year's Day and gave the trailer's furnace a workout going through two propane tanks. We did mostly easy stuff: Font's Wash, Sandstone Canyon, Lower Coyote Canyon, tried a little bit of Calcite Mine but again, I got scared of a cliff edge and stopped.





JANUARY 2015: I was able to sneak in another January trip since the first day trip to Cleghorn was so short and the Anza Borrego trip started in December but ended in early January. This time I met up with a group from this forum and they showed me Pilot Fuelbreak (2N17X). This trip popped my cherry and really exposed me to some great people, awesome rigs, and our 4Runners' stock capability. I was more scared than my truck was but after conquering the Gatekeeper, I was ready for anything that 2N17X threw at us. This first picture is not me but I did gather my courage and completed it after almost psyching myself out.





FEBRUARY 2015: I met up with a group of people on meetup.com called So Cal Off Road Explorers (SCORE) and we visited the Silurian Hills. After 2N17X this was a snooze-fest but I had a great time visiting old mines and seeing the Colosseum Mine for the first time. It was a very large group but it was a fun trip and recommend this group to others. That's right, there is even a camper being pulled in the pictures below.





MARCH 2015: I met up with a group of guys from the UltimateYota forum and we did portions of the Mojave Road as well as Hole in the Wall and the Colosseum Mine again. This was a very small group and we actually blazed our own trail a few times. Between the last trip and this one I purchased a Yakima Load Warrior so I could carry extra fuel.

 

[boyfester]

MARCH 2015 (CONTINUED)




APRIL 2015: I led a small group of friends on Cleghorn Road and did my second tour of Pilot Fuelbreak Road (2N17X). This time we did all the tough stuff on Cleghorn. My confidence was booming after some of the experiences thus far and it was a great trip.







MAY 2015: I met up with another member of UltimateYota and we drove from Lucerne Valley through Rattlesnake Canyon, Burns Canyon, and Jacoby Canyon. We drove along Holcomb Valley too. Now I know why so many people love Big Bear!






JUNE 2015: This was an epic road trip with my son which included driving from California to Colorado and hitting the famous White Rim Road in Canyonlands, UT, Ophir Pass in Ouray, CO, Ship Rock in NM, and Canyon de Chelly in AZ. I have a write-up on this forum already but here are some pics.



The picture below makes me laugh every time I see it. If you look closely my son is covering up his eyes. At this point he was tired of me getting out and taking so many pictures and started complaining. I threw this picture up on Instagram and the "Likes" went through the roof.

 

[boyfester]

JUNE 2015 (CONTINUED)




I tried my luck on the famous Black Bear Pass but it had not been plowed yet and this was as far as I was willing to go. Better to be safe than sorry.








JULY 2015: I had a lull in July as I broke my pelvis mountain biking and wasn't able to go off-roading as I was in too much pain.

AUGUST 2015: Met up with SCORE again and did Cleghorn and Pilot Fuelbreak for a 3rd time plus Willow Creek Road for the first time. The sad thing was seeing some of Cleghorn's side trails being closed when they were open in Dec. 2014. Willow Creek was also completely dry.

 

[boyfester]

SEPTEMBER 2015: Hooked up with the SCORE group again and led a group through Grapevine Canyon, White Mountain, Butler Peak, and 2N13 to Green Valley. This was a tough one for me and I have finally realized that I don't really like trails much tougher than White Mountain (very rocky with 1-2 foot steps). I cracked my brand new RCI aluminum skid plate too. Thankfully, Josh at RCI replaced it free of charge with a new steel one.

 

[Drunner97]

Nice! Lot of trails out there to explore and I'm working on putting my runner through it's paces as well. It's unfortunate to see that the RCI skid cracked though, because that's what I'm waiting for to show up. I'm not planning on doing anything super crazy, but I'd hate for it to crack on something easy just because I misplaced a tire and came down hard.

 

[boyfester]

Nice! Lot of trails out there to explore and I'm working on putting my runner through it's paces as well. It's unfortunate to see that the RCI skid cracked though, because that's what I'm waiting for to show up. I'm not planning on doing anything super crazy, but I'd hate for it to crack on something easy just because I misplaced a tire and came down hard.

Definitely true Drunner! Let me know if you ever want to go on a trip. The SCORE group on meetup.com posts a trip pretty much every weekend. They do not do the rough stuff. There's only a handful in the huge group that like to do that. Myself, I like to stick to the easy to moderate stuff, while the majority of the group only does easy stuff.

 

[Drunner97]

I'll definitely have to check out that group. I'm trying to get out as often as I can while I have the money to do it.

 

[boyfester]

October 2015: Anza Borrego desert run with SCORE

OCTOBER 2015: Just got back from another run with the SCORE group in Anza Borrego. Some of us spent the night in Blair Valley on Friday night and met up with the rest of the group on Saturday morning in Banner, drove all day, and spent Saturday night in Blair Valley.


Meet up at Banner Store on Saturday morning



Headed up and down Chariot Canyon first




Next was down Oriflamme Canyon and the fun switchbacks



We exited onto Highway S2 and drove pavement until reaching Vallecito Creek Wash. We headed east along this wash to Arroyo Tapiado to the mud caves.


Parking at trail head to the E-ticket mud cave. It was about 30 degrees cooler in the cave.





Then we headed along Arroyo Seco Del Diablo to Diablo Dropoff. You drive the sand wash and then pop up onto this mesa to reach the dropoff.


This is the dropoff now. It is really easy and graded.

 

[boyfester]

October 2015: Anza Borrego continued

We headed to Fish Creek and Sandstone Canyon next for lunch.






After lunch we headed back out along Fish Creek Wash to Split Mtn and saw the "anticline". It's pretty cool!




That concluded our day in Anza Borrego and so I headed back to Blair Valley and was elated to see my trailer safe and sound ready for another night of camping. This time a couple other SCORE members spent the night. We did some light painting with our LED headlamps too.



Here's Blair Valley in the morning from atop the small hill above our campsite.




All in all, another great trip!

 

[AKmoney]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing. I really need to get out more.

 

[2003-4x4runner]

Great photo's and thank you sharing. I always enjoyed the deserts.

 

[Pancho1115]

Definitely awesome pics. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!

I'm curious though, are you rolling on stock OEM tires, or are they upgraded to A/T's? If OEM, how are they holding up in the rougher terrains with regards to traction and damage?

Thanks again!

 

[boyfester]

Definitely awesome pics. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!

I'm curious though, are you rolling on stock OEM tires, or are they upgraded to A/T's? If OEM, how are they holding up in the rougher terrains with regards to traction and damage?

Thanks again!

These are the stock OEM tires. They've held up incredibly well. I flatted one back in March 2015 on the Mojave trip and was ready to pluck down some cash for A/Ts but since then I've actually never had another flat. I've done some pretty rocky trails since and still no flats. I did purchase the tire insurance from America's Tire after I purchased the truck and so the replacement tire was like $8. When it is time to replace them, I'm moving up to 33s though to gain some ground clearance.

 

[Pancho1115]

That's good to hear. Like I said, your pics/posts got me all inspired to take out the T4R to play and tour the more deserted and isolated "playground" areas of SoCal. However, after forking out some much sacraficed coin for a full set of Michelin Defender LTX tires, I was a bit hesitant that the rougher terrain might be too much of a match for the investment since they aren't A/T's per se and most likely lack the more tougher skin A/T's could offer. I opted not to go with A/T's only because I favored all the other benefits these tires offered, and that I can use on a much more frequent basis since it is my daily driver. Especially the grip in the rainy/wet environments (prepping for El Niño), quiet ride, rolling resistance, etc.

LOL... sorry... got off track talking about my tires. :behindsofa:

Anyways, definitely feel more convinced to start hitting some trails now that you've provided your feedback.

As a matter of fact, the other day I went to the MeetUp website and found the group (SCORE) you meet up with. I signed-up to become a member, answered the 2-3 questions asked, dloaded the release of liability form to sign, returned it... but nothing. Haven't had a response or anything come through. :shrug:

I was hoping to be a member before the next upcoming meet this coming Saturday, Nov. 7th. Also was looking forward to a possible outing they have planned for Nov. 20th.

I'm wondering if I failed to complete a task or something. However I do have the "Membership Pending" status showing. So maybe I need to wait a bit longer.

You plan on going to either one of the outings scheduled for this coming Saturday?

 

[boyfester]

That's good to hear. Like I said, your pics/posts got me all inspired to take out the T4R to play and tour the more deserted and isolated "playground" areas of SoCal. However, after forking out some much sacraficed coin for a full set of Michelin Defender LTX tires, I was a bit hesitant that the rougher terrain might be too much of a match for the investment since they aren't A/T's per se and most likely lack the more tougher skin A/T's could offer. I opted not to go with A/T's only because I favored all the other benefits these tires offered, and that I can use on a much more frequent basis since it is my daily driver. Especially the grip in the rainy/wet environments (prepping for El Niño), quiet ride, rolling resistance, etc.



LOL... sorry... got off track talking about my tires. :behindsofa:



Anyways, definitely feel more convinced to start hitting some trails now that you've provided your feedback.



As a matter of fact, the other day I went to the MeetUp website and found the group (SCORE) you meet up with. I signed-up to become a member, answered the 2-3 questions asked, dloaded the release of liability form to sign, returned it... but nothing. Haven't had a response or anything come through. :shrug:



I was hoping to be a member before the next upcoming meet this coming Saturday, Nov. 7th. Also was looking forward to a possible outing they have planned for Nov. 20th.



I'm wondering if I failed to complete a task or something. However I do have the "Membership Pending" status showing. So maybe I need to wait a bit longer.



You plan on going to either one of the outings scheduled for this coming Saturday?

I'm leading the Hungry Valley trip on Saturday. Let me ask the group founder about your application. They are also on Facebook.

 

[boyfester]

Hungry Valley & Alamo Mountain, CA - Nov. 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 - A small group of us from SCORE traveled through Hungry Valley SVRA and Alamo Mountain. We first headed up Stipa and Condor Trails (easy to moderate) to Condor Mesa lookout.


View of Frazier Park, Castaic Lake, and surrounding hills from Condor Mesa



We then proceeded along the Powerline Road, Cow Trail, and did the North Loop in Quail Canyon. We watched some of the motorcycle riders on the MX track then headed back to the difficult-rated Pronghorn Trail. It was tight but easy...


until we got to the steep downhill. There are many videos of this trail on youtube and everyone is going up. Based on our direction of travel, we were headed down. It was pretty tricky as you had to do about a 9-point turn to get into position so you wouldn't roll your rig dropping in. As usual, pictures don't do this section of the trail any justice.




We then headed over to the 4X4 practice area for lunch and had a great time!





Afterwards we exited Hungry Valley to the south and headed up to Alamo Mtn in Los Padres National Forest. The paved road out of HV to Alamo Mtn was pretty bad with large pot holes. Thankfully, the paved road turned to dirt later on and it was much less choppy.




Here are some shots near the top of Alamo Mtn.


Coming back down Alamo Mtn, we found a little bit of mud.


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[spawn]

Great adventures youre having. [emoji106]

 

[boyfester]

DECEMBER 2015 - Mojave Road

I met up with the S.C.O.R.E. group on Friday morning at the Avi Casino and we broke up into two groups. I was fortunate to go with the group that only had 5 trucks while the other group had 17. Our group moved very quickly and ended up reaching the main POIs before the other group and so we'd leave by the time they arrived. The two groups went to different POIs throughout the weekend. Our group visited the Death Valley mines (west of Cima) while the other group spent time at the Kelso Dunes. We did meet back together at night though and camped together.

The start at Avi Casino on Friday morning.


On the way to Fort Piute, a military outpost established in 1859.




Beautiful scenery in the Mojave Desert


Every trail in the middle of nowhere needs a school bus and completely totaled car.


This is the Penny Can where your donations go to keeping the road conditions maintained. There were multiple cans hanging from the J Tree.


This is the Watson Wash drop-off. It was a little challenging but nothing that the TE couldn't handle. Of the entire groups of 22 vehicles, three of us tackled this one (me in the TE, one in a Jeep, and another in a stock Nissan Frontier). I do have video of both the Jeep and Frontier coming down in a previous post.


This is Bert Smith's cabin.


Government Holes


Our campsite for the night was around the perimeter of these granite boulders north of Mid Hills campground. It was windy and very cold but as our group of 5 got there first, we picked the best spots with little wind.






I climbed up top of the boulders later on.


Group shot before heading out on Saturday morning

 

[boyfester]

DECEMBER 2015 (CONTINUED)
Saturday included our departure from the main group as we headed up the Death Valley Mine Road. We found this small cabin built into the ground with a large corral nearby.






Anyone know what this metal "S" is for? It was embedded into some of the ends of wood only about an inch. We thought it was to possibly join two pieces together end to end.


We continued north and came upon the homesteads of the Death Valley Mines. This house was unlocked and very creepy.






Interesting to note was no drywall but painted fabric covering all of the walls.


I took a gander down this vertical mine.


Here's the view from the bottom.




We headed west into the ghost town called Cima. They had a working pay phone but everything else was dead and empty.


I had heard numerous stories from other travelers of the Mojave Road and the 10 miles of whoop-dee-dos west of Cima and so I found a different route. This pole line road is northwest of Cima about 1 mile and it travels in a southwest direction to Marl Spring. We took it and enjoyed no whoops. This trail is a keeper.


Marl Spring


Further on to the Mojave Mailbox and the Frog Shrine.

 

[boyfester]

DECEMBER 2015 (CONTINUED)
We then headed north on Aiken Mine Road to the Lava Tube. The sun was peering through the ceiling but we didn't see any shaft of light like we saw on the internet. The trick is to kick up some of the dirt on the ground and as the dust moves upward, you see the beam. It was very cool!




Our next campsite was at Motel Brannigan south of Seventeen Mile Point. I found this after reading about it Dennis Casebier's book and further internet searching. It is a well maintained cabin by the Desert Toads 4WD Club and when we got there, the Toads were there. They gave us a first-rate tour and put us up for the night. They even gave us a tour of the nearby Oro Fino Mine.


Here's our group along with some of the Toads.


Traveler's Monument at Soda Lake. We picked up three more rigs in our group for a total of 8. I finally got to read the secret message on the plaque after hearing about it for years.




Zzyzx Springs in the background


The Toads gave us some coordinates of some hidden cabins that we went to as well. I never would have known these were there as the rooftops matched the surrounding earth on Google Earth.




We then split up into just 4 vehicles at Afton Canyon.


We headed up to T. Bone Albright's grave.




Spooky Canyon




And that was the end of the trip. We didn't go all the way to Camp Cady but exited at Afton Canyon instead.