Include

[uphill]

FINAL COMMITMENT LIST:

AIR2AIR
UPHILL
JESHUA (Saturday Only)
FJDAVE
MIR207
POKERDAWG
THERELAXER
NEVADAESH

This is an edit and will serve as the steering page for the Mojave Trail trip for Saturday, October 20 through Sunday, October 21. Since we're leaving early on Saturday, this will mean that unless you live in Needles or Laughlin, you will have to travel on Friday, October 19 to make it to the trail head for the Saturday morning departure.

I made part of the run years ago... however I have spoken to a few people who made it recently and they ALL say it's a two day/one night run. Depending on how fast you do it, you're usually through the trail and on the freeway by mid-afternoon the second day.

THE TRIP REQUIRES one night camping on the trail.

An Adventure 4X4.net group made the run on September 8-9, see later postings on this thread for HIGHBEAMS and JESHUA's report. I suggest that we take their advice and not re-invent the wheel in terms of departure times, meeting locations, etc.--

"Meeting Place: The gas station in the corner of the parking lot of the Avi Casino on the Colorado River! Link: Avi Resort and Casino There are currently some rooms available if anyone wants to stay there Friday night. It'd be a good idea to either stay there or one of the hotels in Needles, because.....

Meeting Time: 8am - SHARP! Everyone should be gassed up and ready to roll NO LATER THAN 8:30am!!!

Camping on Saturday night will be primitive! There are no hook-ups, no electric, no water, etc. It'll be somewhere along the trail (exact location TBD)....
Trail Description: This is a generally Easy trail through the desert - about 130 miles of scenic beauty and history. BUT BE WARNED - there are some small sections that are moderate to somewhat difficult. Desert conditions change with each gust of wind and drop of rain - so be prepared for just about any trail condition. Seth and I pre-ran it this last weekend...and some parts, as of right now, are ROUGH! ... The good news is that the most difficult section, a short descent into Watson Wash (we ran it in reverse and it was a very challenging UP!) has an easy, improved dirt road bypass.... The only thing that never changes about The Road is this - it is a loooooooooooooong drive. You and your rig should be up to the challenge. Starting on Day 1 at 8:30am should get us to camp just before nightfall. If we get a decent early start on Day 2, we'll be off of the trail and onto the 15 (between Barstow and Baker) sometime around mid-to-late afternoon."

SEPTEMBER 07 Trail Report from HIGHBEAMS:

"The trail is a must do. we covered an average of 5 miles an hour with several stops for vistas, flats, repairs etc. I could see that being pushed to more than that
along the way we had a blast, it is basicly a sandy dirt road. a few minor obstacles. The hardest parts usually have a bypass. You will be amazed at the scenery, but bring a guide book, we passed a few places I knew we could have stopped at, but part of that is the size of the train we were towing. Close to 30 rigs can get quite hard to get started again.
Stock vehicles can easily make the trip.
Just carry all your emergency gear, 2 days extra water supply and go.
If my schedule was not full in Oct, I would love to do it again."

About.com: http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/nov/stories/mojavetrail.html (MAP)

The Mojave Road in the Mojave desert - DesertUSA (ABOUT THE ROAD, ITS HISTORY, ETC.)