Mojave Road/Trail in October?

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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.)

[Shadow-Warrior]

It looks like it will be a blast, I'm sad to say I'm a working stiff that lives on the other side of country. It's times like these that make me wish I was closer to the CO, UT area. I know you'll have a great time Larry, make sure you take lot's of pics buddy.

I know you have to fly out on Monday, take care of yourself buddy.

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shadow-warrior previously said:

It looks like it will be a blast,

This is not a run I'm willing to make solo. So let's see if somebody else is interested. If no FJ's I may post on Adventure 4x4's and see if a jeep driver wants to play. ---and in a perfect world, I might just have my Shadow Mount installed by then---

I know you have to fly out on Monday, take care of yourself buddy.

Thanks MM, the plane is wheels up at 0600 Monday and I should be back very late next Saturday -- but where there is the Internet, I do check in on the Forum and that means I'll be available to read your posts. SL

[therelaxer]

I wish I was semi-retired like you UPHILL. Let me look in to the trip, check with the little woman etc.... I want to do that trip you did to Zion, UT

Hopefully I will have my DO bumper and slider by then. I have the front end of my rig apart waiting for their arrival.

I am sure I will run into you before than.

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therelaxer previously said:

I wish I was semi-retired like you UPHILL. Let me look in to the trip, check with the little woman etc.... I want to do that trip you did to Zion, UT

Hopefully I will have my DO bumper and slider by then. I have the front end of my rig apart waiting for their arrival.

I am sure I will run into you before than.

Your FJ is more than stock, but either the Zion, UT trip or the Mojave Trail trip can be made with a stock FJ. There weren't any considerable clearance issues or traction issues that I couldn't have handled stock (including stock skids -- if you can call what Toyota puts on the bottom "skids"). Since I was by myself, I was more conservative than I'd otherwise be, however, I didn't do any rock romping because the roads and trails were not "creek beds". On one occasion I was running across the desert ENE of St. George and ended up in the back yard of a ranch -- waved -- a guy waved back -- and I entered the road that led to the ranch. On two more occasions, people in trucks I ran into asked what "somebody from California" was doing out there. I would have joked that I was scouting meth lab locations for a raid, but they weren't joking so I kept my comments to myself.

And yes, semi-retirement is a good thing.

[edadis]

If you are thinking of a small number of vehicles (3-5), I'm interested, but can't commit just yet. Please keep me updated.

[therelaxer]

Uphill are you doing 2007 Borregofest Trail Runs?

I was looking @ Borregofest, I can one or other.

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therelaxer previously said:

Uphill are you doing 2007 Borregofest Trail Runs?

I was looking @ Borregofest, I can one or other.

I thought about Borregofest and I do understand that there is almost certainly going to be a conflict between one run and the other for some people. I'd just enjoy the Mojave Trail run more -- less sitting around camp BSing and more driving on the Mojave Trail IMO. Not that you can't drive your heart out in the Borregofest, but I prefer a less crowded enviornment.

3-6 rigs on the Mojave Trail would be cool, fun and much more to my taste. We're likely to see Desert Bighorn, mustangs and a lot of wildlife on the Mojave (several springs along the route), it's more remote and there won't be the ATV's racing through camp until dawn.

[DominicG]

ill let you know down the road. i need to pick a 285 spare, onboard air, some fuel tanks... and a new work schedule.

but this does sound fun

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DominicG previously said:

ill let you know down the road. i need to pick a 285 spare, onboard air, some fuel tanks... and a new work schedule.
but this does sound fun

Since you're going to be an Orange County ManHo (based on the previous posting), I would think the work schedule would be somewhat "flexible".


Mohave Big Horn Sheep

I don't think that fuel would be much of a problem. A 5 ga spare should do it by way of reserve since you can fuel up at Prim, NV. I also question whether or not I'll go to the extent of airing-down but I must admit that I will have the PowerTank along in case I do.