Durran loop / Odessa and Bismark Canyons, SoCal

**mir207** · 03-19-2007, 01:15 AM

EDIT - I posted this a WHILE ago, and wanted to update the info abit. Another thread from the Adventure4x4 run also exists describing Odessa Canyon. As you can tell from the post, I got real scared on one of the upper obstacles in Odessa Canyon

I've since run it a couple more times. It's still dicey, but it is obviously doable with a high chance of survival

As erosion continues, it's not clear if it will remain so.

Anyway, Odessa and Bismark Canyons are part of the old Doran Scenic Loop (yup, misspelled in my original post title - should look this stuff up before posting

). They are near Calico Ghost Town, just north of Barstow on the 15 freeway, in SoCal. A map of the trails in the Calico OHV area can be found here.

I've added some more photos of what you'd be in store for as an extra post on the end of this thread. Movies of some of the lower obstacles are linked at the bottom of this post.

Original post:
We ran the Doran (misspelled in title) scenic route this past weekend - up Odessa Canyon and back down Bismark Canyon. I'd tried to do this same loop back in December, but my co-pilot got cold feet at one of the steps. This run is doable, but tricky, except for the "gate keeper" obstacle at the bottom of Bismark, for which a nice bypass exists (This obstacle is run by extreme rock crawlers, but when we walked on it, is had a fresh scraping of red paint and a pool of leaked gasoline - it's NOT to be tried in an FJC). My main reason for posting is that I would be very concerned about running this route again - so this is an FYI: there is a narrow slope path climb near the top of Odessa Canyon that is only barely wide enough for an FJC (read, not quite wide enough) with potentially fatal consequences for screw-up - we held our breath and gunned it, but it's DICEY (so should probably be run as two in-and-out trails rather than one loop). Other than that, the trail is GREAT with lots of boulders and steps/ledges and is generally just very bumpy. Under-carriage armour is VITAL

Here are some videos (first few seconds of each are messed up):

You Tube - Coming back down Odessa (running away 1)

You Tube - Coming back down Odessa (running away 2)

You Tube - Coming back down Odessa (running away 3)

YouTube - Onboard up Odessa Canyon (1)

YouTube - Onboard up Odessa Canyon (2)

YouTube - Onboard up Odessa Canyon (3)

YouTube - Descending a Step in Bismark Canyon 1

YouTube - Descending a Step in Bismark Canyon 2

YouTube - Onboard in Bismark Canyon

Arturus · 03-19-2007, 01:25 AM

Holy Crap! I think I would've put the waterproof interior to a real world test in that fifth video - or that tight squeeze - or that...

Nice driving (and spotting).

RESE · 03-19-2007, 09:45 AM

Sweet. Did you do that solo or is there another vehicle with you?

**jeshua** · 03-19-2007, 11:00 AM

glad you had fun on Odessa some of us went on it during the Calico clean up at night and didn't know what we were getting are selfs into.

How did you like that of cambur tight sqeez near the top of Odessa?
And that narrow road part you were talking about was lots of fun man was I sweeting it.

I realy hope I can do it again but with my sliders this time and maybe a lift when I get it.

**mir207** · 03-19-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

RESE previously said:

Sweet. Did you do that solo or is there another vehicle with you?

For a section of mid-Odessa, we ended up spontaneously teaming up with a jeep. However, the jeep blew out his rear u-joint on one of the ledge climbs, and we ended up soloing the rest of the run.

Quote:

jeshua previously said:

glad you had fun on Odessa some of us went on it during the Calico clean up at night and didn't know what we were getting are selfs into.

How did you like that of cambur tight sqeez near the top of Odessa?
And that narrow road part you were talking about was lots of fun man was I sweeting it.

I realy hope I can do it again but with my sliders this time and maybe a lift when I get it.

Did you guys do the whole run in the dark?

I might have liked the narrow road alot better if I couldn't have seen it. One slightly misplaced wheel there and I'd've been in a world of hurt. But that's the only place you risk more than just scratching the bodywork, and that's what makes the rest of the trail so much fun, right? And my hat is totally off to you running it without sliders or a lift - I couldn't have managed that.

**jeshua** · 03-19-2007, 12:15 PM

Quote:

mir207 previously said:

Did you guys do the whole run in the dark?

I might have liked the narrow road alot better if I couldn't have seen it. One slightly misplaced wheel there and I'd've been in a world of hurt. But that's the only place you risk more than just scratching the bodywork, and that's what makes the rest of the trail so much fun, right?

we started out with a little light but it got dark realy fast especaily at the speed we were going. we had about 10 rigs going up it and by the time we got to the little "water fall" it was just about completely dark then one of the guys with us broke a tie rod while going up the "water fall" and spent 3 hours trying to get him up and out of the way. By the time we were ready to go again it was 11:30. Night didn't help on the narrow section I think it was actualy worse at night with all the shadows. One of the guys with us had a narly old K5 diesl blazer with a crawler box on 40" tires and he actualy went up the section that you would fall down if you fell it was crazy watching him. Ya scartched paint that is the fun part

We all got out ok and went back up in the morning to fix the tie rod. But I went up in a mog that day to give my Fj a break. wow what a weekend that was.

FJ-Ollie · 03-26-2007, 10:15 PM

I was on the night run with Jeshua. I was the lead rig, not the trail boss, just lead rig. We recieved bad info and was told we could make the loop before dark. Boy were we misinformed... It had been dark for about an hour when we hit the waterfall. Just for clarification, the rig that broke the tie rod was not an FJC. Jeshua did a hell of a job getting his stock rig through there. The key to Odessa, like any other run, is good spotting and the correct line. Were you aired down??? Your tires look pretty solid in the vids...

frogeye · 03-26-2007, 10:41 PM

Ohhh ya Odessa at night baby! WOot pucker city in the FJC, but doable!

Watching the video is bringing back residual pucker!

**mir207** · 07-21-2007, 04:56 AM

Quote:

FJ-Ollie previously said:

Were you aired down??? Your tires look pretty solid in the vids...

Just saw this thread again. Nope, I was not aired done by even 1 PSI - full, hard street tires

I now have onboard air options for next time.

sanab430 · 09-15-2007, 08:30 PM

I missed this thread the first time around. Guys, where is this exactly? We should do this, in the day this time for you but for the first time for me! This looks great.