Stryder106
Explorer
This is my first trip report recapping our first ever multi-day adventure trip - so be gentle, it's my first time. But, before we delve into that little tale, a bit of background is in order.
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The early part of the road varies in terrain hard dirt, soft sand, some rock, then a lot of rock as we did the last few miles to Ft. Piute, our first stop of the day. I was really impressed with the new 35" General Grabber x3s as they were not spinning on anything. The last few miles to Ft. Piute are slow going due to the rocky road - it takes a bit of time.
Then, we headed south for the alternate route because the normal Road is closed. A little over 8 miles into the alternate route is the Leiser Ray Mine - about 300 yds or so off to the left. Our three vehicles on this trip: my 2002 Avalanche, 2011 Jeep JK, 2014 Ford Raptor
This is US!!!!! my girlfriend and I - notice the hat. This is my nod to Chris Collard. After reading his story about his many hats over the years and how they essentially anchor his adventures - I figured every great adventure needs a cool adventure hat.
After looking around the mine, I was surprised at how long it took us to get there - it was lunch time. I now started getting concerned about my planned pace and whether we could make Hole in the Wall before dark. With that in mind, and dicey weather, we decided to skip the corral and get on down the road - no pun intended. Our next stop was the Magic School Bus.
Notice the skies - it was cold and windy as it had been raining earlier and storming the few days before. The high temp we saw this day was 42F. We decided to bypass Indian Hill/Well and our next planned stop would be at the Penny Can tree. I wonder if this is America's first toll road? The kids loved this.
A quick stop at the railroad marker and then the road gets pretty rough, rutted, and narrow. My Av now has some serious pinstriping on it. But I'm OK with it, it's 15 years old (even though I take great care of it), but my buddy with his much wider and newer 2014 Raptor - had a completely different expression on his face when looking at the sides of his truck. I told him that at least it's white and the stripes tell a story that most others will never know. At the drop into the wash to get to Rock Spring, we backed out of this. While it was steep and moguled, my bigger concern was the width of the wash at the bottom. I was convinced my buddy's Raptor would have an issue because I was pretty sure it would be tight for my Av. With a perfectly good bypass available, and keeping in mind that I was on an adventure and not offroading, we skipped this. Besides, his wife in her Jeep was refusing to do it, so I wouldn't want to split the group for the sake of saying I went down a dirt hill.
Our next stop was Bert Smith's cabin. Pretty cool place with a neat story behind it. Bert was a WWI vet and had been exposed to poison gas in the war. The Army built this house and sent him out here to have the arid air help his lungs - but they essentially sent him out here to die. Well Bert lived, 25 more years. And in that time he encased the original wood frame house in rock. My buddy's future retirement home (he does work for the government afterall - so it's in the cards).
From there we did the trail to Government Holes and then once back on Cedar Canyon Rd we picked up the pace because it was 3:30 and the sky was getting black. At this point it was a faster pace to Black Canyon Rd and 10 miles to Hole in the Wall. We pulled in at 4:30 and made camp. For newbies like me, it's $12 per site and cash only - first come first served. Pitched camp, built a fire, and made dinner. But by the time we were eating, the temps were down into the 30s and would keep plunging while the wind started howling. Sunset was pretty spectacular.
No better way to cap off the evening around a campfire than with the perfectly cooked S'More. Our recipe: Ditch the Graham Cracker. Use 2 Girl Scout "Thanks-A-Lot cookies (shortbread with milk chocolate on one side). Roast 2 large marshmallows until golden brown, slide between the two cookies (chocolate side in) and squeeze a bit. Count to 5 to let the chocolate melt - and dig in.
Day 1 ended cold and windy, but as I laid in the tent with my girlfriend snuggled up to me and reflected on everything I had seen and experienced this day, it was a little overwhelming. Reconnecting with one of my best childhood friends and modifying my Avalanche with him, reconnecting with a college buddy to do these trips with, making new friends, the history of The Mojave Road, the sites of it, the feeling of being able to do and see things most others won't do or see, everything I had learned - playing it all back in my mind, a feeling came over me that all is as it is supposed to be. And as I nodded off to sleep under the brightest Milky Way I had ever seen, a smile crept over my face. Good night Pt 2 / Day 2 tomorrow.
We are completely new to this multi-day mobility gig. We are well versed at base camping with our pop up trailer at established campgrounds - not necessarily hookups or showers, but always a toilet and always with the trailer. After a trip to Death Valley in which the offroad limitations of my Avalanche became painfully obvious, I started modifying it to be more capable. Then, about a year ago, while at Barnes and Noble - I discover Overland Journal, and thought, "What is Overlanding?" I peeled it open and instantly got sucked in. I started reading the mods and trips and gear reports and thinking about true reliability and focusing on my vehicle's weakpoints with an aim to eliminating them and increasing both my capability and my ability to self recover. \
Then, I came across Expedition Portal and started reading the adventures of others - right here in my own Southern California backyard - and what is this Mojave Road gig? (note - I've gone up and down both I15 and I40 and all around Mojave road in Needles and Barstow - but never even knew it was there). This trip became the focal point for a first multi-day truly mobile experience. We started working our way up to this trip - though my girlfriend didn't know it. Progressively longer trails, overnight in a campground, but in the tent made for my Av rather than the trailer. All of it was successful - then I announced The Mojave Road to my girlfriend and the concept of multiple days in remote territory covering a long distance completely self-supported. Her reply, "And exactly what am I supposed to do when I have to go to the bathroom? I can't hold it for three days buddy". NOTE to newbies - The proper response is NOT to take your girlfriend out to your rig and point out the shovel attached to the roof rack. Ask me how I know. \
About this same time, I reconnected with a college football buddy whom I haven't seen or spoken to in 20 years and it turns out they are just like us - base camp and hike, but getting into the mobility aspect. So, we planned a BBQ get together with the families and one of his work partners who is getting into it as well - and we planned out a Mojave Road trip - all of our first experience. Their wives convinced my girlfriend that a Luggable Loo is doable - so the BBQ was a huge success. Now, after that long-winded opening, without further adieu - the trip report.\
Planning - The 7Ps
I have a background that emphasizes planning - the 7Ps to be exact: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. With that in mind combined with this not only being everyone's first trip, but also my idea, I felt responsible for it to go as well as possible for everyone. We would have 5 vehicles - which due to an electrical issue and an illness dropped us down to 3 vehicles (with one very upset 17 year old girl who owns her Jeep and was seriously looking forward to this being the first trip in which she could drive - she would end up riding in my backseat - oh the joy of teenage female emotions mixed with hormones. But I digress). The plan called for a 3 day / 2 night pace and I did all of the research I could, seeking out opinions on this site from you all, Google Earth (flew the road virtually a bunch), books, maps, etc. Night 1 target: Hole in the Wall campground (toilet there - I'm not a dummy) and the night 2 target would be somewhere near 17 Mile Point. My research had led me to a place off the beaten path as my goal. I had everyone in the group buy Dennis Casebier's book The Mojave Road Guide and read it to get sense of the history for what we were about to undertake.\
Day 1\
The group met at 5:00am in Riverside and traveled to Avi Casino in Needles to top off with fuel. We reached mile 0.0 at the Colorado River at 8:30am to begin our trek. When I turned my truck around and reset my odometer and Lowrance to 0 - a complete feeling of adventure and excitement crept over me. Whatever it was, I loved it. After all this time, getting to go somewhere that relatively few people have gone - I felt it in my soul.The early part of the road varies in terrain hard dirt, soft sand, some rock, then a lot of rock as we did the last few miles to Ft. Piute, our first stop of the day. I was really impressed with the new 35" General Grabber x3s as they were not spinning on anything. The last few miles to Ft. Piute are slow going due to the rocky road - it takes a bit of time.
Then, we headed south for the alternate route because the normal Road is closed. A little over 8 miles into the alternate route is the Leiser Ray Mine - about 300 yds or so off to the left. Our three vehicles on this trip: my 2002 Avalanche, 2011 Jeep JK, 2014 Ford Raptor
This is US!!!!! my girlfriend and I - notice the hat. This is my nod to Chris Collard. After reading his story about his many hats over the years and how they essentially anchor his adventures - I figured every great adventure needs a cool adventure hat.
After looking around the mine, I was surprised at how long it took us to get there - it was lunch time. I now started getting concerned about my planned pace and whether we could make Hole in the Wall before dark. With that in mind, and dicey weather, we decided to skip the corral and get on down the road - no pun intended. Our next stop was the Magic School Bus.
Notice the skies - it was cold and windy as it had been raining earlier and storming the few days before. The high temp we saw this day was 42F. We decided to bypass Indian Hill/Well and our next planned stop would be at the Penny Can tree. I wonder if this is America's first toll road? The kids loved this.
A quick stop at the railroad marker and then the road gets pretty rough, rutted, and narrow. My Av now has some serious pinstriping on it. But I'm OK with it, it's 15 years old (even though I take great care of it), but my buddy with his much wider and newer 2014 Raptor - had a completely different expression on his face when looking at the sides of his truck. I told him that at least it's white and the stripes tell a story that most others will never know. At the drop into the wash to get to Rock Spring, we backed out of this. While it was steep and moguled, my bigger concern was the width of the wash at the bottom. I was convinced my buddy's Raptor would have an issue because I was pretty sure it would be tight for my Av. With a perfectly good bypass available, and keeping in mind that I was on an adventure and not offroading, we skipped this. Besides, his wife in her Jeep was refusing to do it, so I wouldn't want to split the group for the sake of saying I went down a dirt hill.
Our next stop was Bert Smith's cabin. Pretty cool place with a neat story behind it. Bert was a WWI vet and had been exposed to poison gas in the war. The Army built this house and sent him out here to have the arid air help his lungs - but they essentially sent him out here to die. Well Bert lived, 25 more years. And in that time he encased the original wood frame house in rock. My buddy's future retirement home (he does work for the government afterall - so it's in the cards).
From there we did the trail to Government Holes and then once back on Cedar Canyon Rd we picked up the pace because it was 3:30 and the sky was getting black. At this point it was a faster pace to Black Canyon Rd and 10 miles to Hole in the Wall. We pulled in at 4:30 and made camp. For newbies like me, it's $12 per site and cash only - first come first served. Pitched camp, built a fire, and made dinner. But by the time we were eating, the temps were down into the 30s and would keep plunging while the wind started howling. Sunset was pretty spectacular.
No better way to cap off the evening around a campfire than with the perfectly cooked S'More. Our recipe: Ditch the Graham Cracker. Use 2 Girl Scout "Thanks-A-Lot cookies (shortbread with milk chocolate on one side). Roast 2 large marshmallows until golden brown, slide between the two cookies (chocolate side in) and squeeze a bit. Count to 5 to let the chocolate melt - and dig in.
Day 1 ended cold and windy, but as I laid in the tent with my girlfriend snuggled up to me and reflected on everything I had seen and experienced this day, it was a little overwhelming. Reconnecting with one of my best childhood friends and modifying my Avalanche with him, reconnecting with a college buddy to do these trips with, making new friends, the history of The Mojave Road, the sites of it, the feeling of being able to do and see things most others won't do or see, everything I had learned - playing it all back in my mind, a feeling came over me that all is as it is supposed to be. And as I nodded off to sleep under the brightest Milky Way I had ever seen, a smile crept over my face. Good night Pt 2 / Day 2 tomorrow.
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