My "Once-A-Month" Adventure Thread

started reading from beginning to end... i have to say i was bummed there wasn't more!! Really awesome! Post up anytime you plan on doing any future runs!
 
started reading from beginning to end... i have to say i was bummed there wasn't more!! Really awesome! Post up anytime you plan on doing any future runs!

I've been going with the Southern California Off Road Explorers (S.C.O.R.E.) group on meetup.com. Feel free to join up with them. They're not into hard core (rocky) stuff but more easy to moderate runs. They're very knowledgeable on lots of So Cal trails and trips are planned every weekend. Many of them are into mine exploration and desert cabin restoration which turned me onto them. I, unfortunately, am only able to go once a month so sometimes I'll create my own trip on their site or join one that they have already scheduled. The group is really large in size and lots of people sign up for trips and a waiting list will form, but a couple of days before the actual trip, most people bail out. My January 2016 trip to the Randsburg area (which I'll post soon) had 15 rigs signed up in the beginning but by the day of the trip, only 5 vehicles showed.
 
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Marc, I tried signing up. I guess you need to get approved by the organizer. I signed up awhile ago with now response from anyone. Any help here will be much appreciated.
 
JANUARY 2016 - A group of 5 of us met in Johannesburg last Saturday and headed to the El Paso Mountains for a Sat/Sun run. The first stop was to head over to Randsburg, the "living" ghost town. This city has some history.


The Church of Santa Barbara, built in 1904


Site of a WWII air strip near Goler Heights, CA


Edith E. cabin and mines


Beginning of The Narrows in Goler Gulch. It was tight in some spots but a pretty moderate trail.







We stayed in the sand wash for a while and then climbed out to head over to Holland Camp.



This is the remains of Holland Camp


Very jagged rocks on the way to Apache Mine


Smaller shafts south of Apache Mine


I was trying to reach a radio tower that I found on Google Earth at the following coordinates (N 35° 26.173', W 117° 48.743') and this trail, EP127, is one of a few trails not closed by the BLM that will reach it. Unfortunately, my stock tires could only get me so far as I wasn't willing to climb the last steep, snowy section to the ridge and risk a slide or rollover.



We ended up turning around and heading for a different route. The next route included some snow and ice but at a much shallower angle.



The route to the radio tower from this side was even worse as the snow and steepness made the trek too risky. We did see a lone guy out here in a Jeep who decided to trudge up the mountain by himself.
 
JANUARY 2016 (CONTINUED)
From there we backtracked to Mesquite Canyon Rd and drove to the Walsh Cabin. It is situated on top of a mtn peak and is famous for being a windy spot. The cabin is actually tethered to the peak.




Unfortunately, vandals/idiots have destroyed this once nice cabin as the doors were shot out or even removed for firewood. Some people are complete idiots!

From there, one of our crew had to leave and so we were now a party of four. Here we are driving south over Garlock Mtn.


This is Bickel Camp. Unfortunately no one was there so we weren't going to be able to see all of his stuff up close. I recommend you look up the history of Walt Bickel. He sounded like an interesting man. Bickel Camp


The next morning we took our obligatory group shot before heading out.


Bad news came in fast as our husband and wife team had a "check engine" light pop up on her FJ Cruiser. We tried to diagnose the problem on the spot but the truck kept running on 5 cylinders. As they both drove separate rigs (gotta love that!), they both departed and headed to the CA-14 and got a tow back home from Mojave, CA. It turns out that some rodents crawled up into her engine bay at our campsite and chewed through one her wire harnesses.


So our party of four was now only a party of two as we continued into Bonanza Gulch along the Bonanza Trail (Trail EP 15). This road is basically a horse-shoe that starts and ends at Trail EP 30. The first cabin we came to is named Johnson's House. Gotta say the commode was painted colorfully even if a little bit weathered.




Next up was the Joni-Jac cabin. Again, lots of history with this place and it is one of the few that is maintained by an outdoor club. I'd sleep in here if I needed to.



Further up the trail is Sears Cabin, so named after the store.


At the northernmost point of the trail is the Post Office. It was badly damaged over the years by idiots and so the BLM unbelievably didn't let it wrought, but actually rebuilt it. While empty inside, it was clean.



We took a jaunt off of the Bonanza Trail and drove up to some random mine claims not fenced off. I didn't have the courage to go down this one.


So we continued on to the Holly Ash Cleanser Mine, which unfortunately was fenced off. Again, idiots shot at the steel posts holding up the barbed wire and basically shot down the metal posts creating an opening to walk through. Apparently they wanted to see the short caves up close instead of using their zoom lenses on their cameras. I have a feeling this stuff is going to be closed off forever someday based on the stupid things people do.
 
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JANUARY 2016 (CONTINUED)
We then headed backwards a little bit and headed southeast the Burro Schmidt Camp and Tunnel. I had so many stories of this tunnel from my parents and so I had to check it out. The cabin was fenced off and thoroughly damaged by weather and people. They actually had a sign post out front with a picture of the woman who took care of the place after Burro Schmidt died and someone shot at it and put a hole in her eye. This woman was interviewed by Huell Howser back in the day.


We headed up around the bend to see the tunnel. This amazing tunnel was built by hand and took him almost 40 years to build.



Here is a picture using a 1 second exposure and an LED headlight.


Due to time constraints I wasn't able to walk the entire length. I stopped and turned around at one of the maintenance tunnels that he built to store hardware.



Our adventure continued through Red Rock Canyon State Park where the hills almost look like a strawberry sundae. These pictures don't capture the real reds unfortunately.



The only other challenging part of this trip, besides the Narrows, came near Cudahy Camp. It was a steep downhill with a couple of ledges. Any lifted truck could have taken the path straight ahead of my truck but I ended up taking the path to the left like the Jeep below.



From there we headed to Cudahy Camp which ended up being just a concrete foundation, but across the dry creek we saw an interesting open door in the rocks.



We drove over and it was only about 20 feet deep. Perhaps an old dynamite storage room?


Our adventure was coming to an end as we headed west on Opal Canyon Road to the CA-14. This is the last shot of the area as we crawled out of the canyon.


We aired up and headed our separate ways before I stopped at the entrance to Red Rock Canyon's campground. Truly beautiful scenery out here.


I drove home before taking a side route to the ghost town of Garlock which had a small plaque nearby. Near this house I found an unlocked gate allowing access into Mesquite Canyon. Gotta remember this place.

 
Marc, I tried signing up. I guess you need to get approved by the organizer. I signed up awhile ago with now response from anyone. Any help here will be much appreciated.

I've heard the same thing from other people. I have no control over that unfortunately. I don't know how often the leader accesses the meetup page. I must have got lucky as I was approved the same day. They are on Facebook too and you can hound them there too.

https://www.facebook.com/socaloffroadexplorers/?fref=ts
 
February 2016 - Angeles National Forest and Rowher Flat with SCORE

We did a run up to Santa Clarita last Sunday for my "once a month" trip. I led a group from SCORE which included a wide range of vehicles. We were met with adversity right from the start as the first half of my planned route was closed due to the 2014 Powerhouse Fire. For those going up there, the following trails are closed: 6N24, 7N01, 7N05, portions of 7N02, 7N08, and even sections of the PCT. We ended up driving up and down San Francisquito Canyon Road hitting any open trail and having a good time.

We did find an old abandoned/destroyed structure covered in graffiti that was pretty cool in the San Francisquito Canyon. When you look up the coordinates of this site on Google Earth, there actually used to be a large concrete head there. It wasn't there when we arrived but that must have been a sight to behold.




We then drove up the San Francisquito Canyon but were consistently blocked access with locked gates. We then found a trail which led us up into the mountains before dumping us off into a small community with Private Property signs everywhere. We trespassed quietly and no one came out to "greet" us with shotguns. The road ended at San Francisquito Canyon Road again and so we decided to head over to Rowher Flat.

We reached the entrance to the difficult Rowher Trail, saw no locked gate, and then were met with another obstacle. An empty and abandoned Jeep was turned sideways on an uphill completely blocking access to the trail. We couldn't believe it. After finally finding an open road, we were blocked by a vehicle. Instead of bailing and taking the easy Sierra Pelona Road, five of us were able to pull it to the side of the trail so we could pass it. One pulled with his Jeep, one of us sat inside to operate the brakes, and the other three of us stood on one side to keep it from tipping over.



Here's the empty Jeep on the right side of the picture after we moved it to the side. It had a note on the windshield saying the owner would be back tomorrow but with no date when it was written. We had no idea when they'd be back.


Tackling Rowher Trail was FUN!












We eventually met up with the others near the middle of Rowher Flat and were amazed at the huge boulders near Fall Canyon.








That finished the off road portion of the trip. We then split up as some had to head home while five of us decided to head over to Vasquez Rocks. It was only 10 minutes away. I decided to shoot some B&W too.


We hiked to the top of the peak on the left.




View from the top




Our rigs at the end of the trip at Vasquez Rocks
 
Trip Report: Death Valley - April 2016

Last Sunday concluded a sweet 4-day trip to Death Valley and two small side trips to Goler Gulch and the Trona Pinnacles. To make the wife happy with my absence, I had to forgo my monthly off-highway trip in March. :crybaby: I was bummed but it allowed me enough time to put in a 2.5" lift and get some mud terrain tires. I literally got 5 used BFGs (275/55/17) for under $200 from a Jeeper a couple of days before the trip so I was extremely happy!

The crew on this trip was my dad and all of his retired work buddies. As you'll see, everyone drove Jeeps and I was the only one in a Toyota. There were only a few there that still had day jobs, including myself, but most were retired and were now part-time photographers, boy scout leaders, etc. I was a little bummed that we weren't camping out on the trail as this is this crew's usual forte but since we would be around Lone Pine and Ridgecrest, they wanted to stay in motels with showers and restaurants.

Thursday, April 7
We met up in Acton at Crazy Otto's for breakfast and from there headed up the 14 together. I don't know if any of you have been there but that place is wild. The pancakes are over a foot in diameter and there are 3 of them on a plate! Before making the long trip to Lone Pine, we did a little "shakedown" and drove up Goler Gulch near Randsburg. I've been here now twice in the last few months and this a great trail. We went further up the trail than I did in the past and there were a few challenging sections.



This is the Narrows. It looks intimidating but I did it a few months ago in a stock vehicle with street tires and had no problems (except for a few scrapes underneath).






The trail pops out a couple of times before dropping back into the wash.



My dad's friend unfortunately got high centered within the first 30 minutes and we had to place some rocks under his tires to free him. He just retired 6 months ago and someone forgot to tell him that he didn't need to dress "business casual". This was the first time I've ever wheeled with someone in a polo and khakis.


We headed back into the gulch to find this little "step-up" surprise. There was an easier way around it, but why do that? I would have easily scraped my bottom on this a couple of months ago, but with the new lift and slightly taller tires, I had no problems. I was stoked!




We stopped for lunch and this small canyon before heading up the 395.


From there, we lined up in a caravan and drove to Lone Pine. Instead of checking in to our hotel, we opted to drive the Movie Flats Trail in the nearby Alabama Hills. This is an easy trail with lots of great vistas and huge rocks throughout.





If this place looks familiar, they filmed many movies here including the cult classic "Tremors" with Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon.


 
Friday, April 8
The next day we headed north out of Lone Pine to Big Pine and then headed east to Hanging Rock Canyon where there was a sulfur mine.


Sulfur mine - This place smelled like eggs!








We then headed south to the Eureka Dunes for lunch.






One of the guys had a drone taking aerial shots too.




We moved on to Dedeckera Canyon which had barrel cacti growing out of the cliff walls. It was cool to see!










One of the guys had heard about a cast iron bathtub in the middle of Death Valley with marbles and rubber duckies in it so we set out to find it. It didn't take us too long.




I don't question my dad's friends. So far on this trip we've had one guy wearing business casual and now someone with a horse head.
 
This is the Saline Range.


We continued on to Lower Warm Springs which had some great natural springs and palm trees.








There was a strange bat symbol at the springs and on a nearby signpost.


We reached the end of South Eureka Rd and headed back north on 9S01 and found some interesting cabins, shacks, and mines.












 
Saturday, April 9
We stayed in Lone Pine the previous night again but this time packed up all of our gear and were headed south to spend the night in Ridgecrest. Today's trip included visits to Ballarat, Barker's Cabin, Mengel Pass, Russel's camp, Greater View, Geologist's cabin, Striped Butte, the 49ers' Escape Route through the Slate Range, and the Trona Pinnacles.

The first stop was Ballarat, CA. Lots of interesting things to look at out here.










Me and my dad.


We headed south and spotted this road going across the wet lake.


We headed east into Coyote Canyon. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I snagged as we were moving along pretty quickly.


Next up was a visit to Barker cabin where Charles Manson was found hiding out. Unfortunately someone burned the cabin down in 2009 so the only thing there was a foundation. There was an adjacent cabin though.






We then moved north to Mengel Pass which had some challenging rocks but the 4Runner was able to get through with no issues. I am really happy with the lift and rock sliders as I put them to good use.






Mengel Pass






I played around on this off-camber hill that shot up from Mengel Pass. It was steep and again the 4Runner had no problems on it. This is me coming down.


Another group came right after us and powered up the hill too.


 
After the Pass, we headed towards Russel Camp and then Greater View.










Found some very small flowers here.






















We then moved on to the Geologist's cabin and Striped Butte. The stripes on this butte were amazing!






 
We then headed back to Mengel Pass through Coyote Canyon but traveled along the 49ers' Escape Route in the Slate Range. The first part of the trail was filled with never ending whoop-di-doos as it traversed the perimeter of the dry lake and then the next portion traveled along a lava field which was equally as bumpy.




The escape route was definitely worth the price of the whoops and lava as the road traversed the ridge line of the Slate Range.








The road then dumped us out near Trona where we aired up.


We were set to visit the Trona Pinnacles on Sunday but as this would have meant backtracking from Ridgecrest, I opted to visit the pinnacles on Saturday before the sun went down. They did not disappoint!




Magnificient in color or black and white.





Thus concluded my trip to a portion of Death Valley. I had a great time! I can't wait to go back.
 

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