anza borrego + sheephead mountain

[viter]

last weekend my friends and I were running a checkpoint at a dirtbike race out by plaster city area - that in itself was a lot of fun, but afterwards one of my friends and I left in my truck to do a little exploring first in the anza borrego desert and then up in the mountains on the way back to San Diego. The other point of going to the mountains was to test out my newly built sliders.

lava rocks

carrizo wash east of the "creek" section

some salty water running throught the creek at carrizo wash

creek puddle diving - after getting a little lost this was the only way to the "dry land"

remains of the old stage coach station were people used to change horses centuries ago on their way west

wabbit or whatever you call it

canyon sin nombre

 

[viter]

sheephead mountain road begins off of northern side of the buckman springs exit off fwy 8. the maps show this road going all the way to Sunrise hwy and forest service website lists road condition as open. Gliders use this mountain as a take-off point btw, so you can see them gliding through the air on some days. I've been on this road before but everytime I would reach the hard rocky section I would turn around and go back since without sliders body damage was basically guaranteed. Now, equipped with sliders and a good spotter we decied to try to make it all the way to Sunrise hwy. I've seen other tire tracks going further up the trail before so I had high hopes of making it through.

beginning of the hard downhill rocky section at sheephead mountain trail

left slider - works!

right slider - works!

and uphill

more slider work

unfortunately after the hard rocky section the trail got really overgrown with brush but we kept going hoping we could exit on Sunrise hwy. however eventually we came to a spot where a big boulder was blocking the road and there was no way around it. plus after the boulder the road merged into a trail only wide enough for a bike.

the rock that was blocking the trail is on the right

you can see sunrise highway in the distance

so we had to turn around. on the way back we had to climb up the first downhill section on the way in where you have to climb a steep incline with 2 huge rocks placed perfectly to bash your sliders on. luckily just as we were approaching the hard section an FJ Cruiser appeared from the freeway side of the trail. I asked the driver to wait for us in case we could not make it up the hill I could winch myself up using his FJ as an anchor. even with rear locked we would progress only 1 ft at a time, 1 rock step at a time. when there was only one more rock step to go the truck kept getting more and more sideways on the hill as the rear kept spinning out. at that point I decided that one more try and then it's time for winch. that last attempt with a good measure of gas got us over all the big rocks and to the top! after 15 min of struggling.

we looked over thr truck to check for damage and couldn't see anything. sliders got quite a test as we used them at least a dozen times and they took all the hits without even denting the sheetmetal seam on the cab (in some places it is only 1/8-1/4 from the slider legs). unfortunately though next morning while sitting on my bike getting ready to ride to work I glanced at my truck and saw a nice dent on the driver side quarter panel of the bed (I'll post a pic of this later on) - somehow we missed it on the previous day. looks like I'll have to clearance the bed and build that rear bumper I've been thinking about...

a couple more pics - http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/ua_taco/desert and mountains - mar 2009

 

[GTKrockeTT]

i need to get back to AB, haven't been in over a year. nice pics!

did you air down? looks like you would have made it over that ascent with more ease with low PSI.

 

[BlackX]

I think I might have seen your truck in Carrizo this last weekend. Looks like you had fun.

 

[viter]

i need to get back to AB, haven't been in over a year. nice pics!

did you air down? looks like you would have made it over that ascent with more ease with low PSI.

I didn't air down. I thought about it, but decided against it since there were a lot of large rocks and clearance could have been an issue - lower air pressure would have lowered the truck only a little, but every bit counts. Maybe it would have been benefitial to air down, but it seemed to me at the moment that the main problem was not so much lack of traction between tires and rocks but the size of the rocks and the fact that some wheels would end up very unloaded at times as suspension flexed. If it was sandy or muddy, I would have aired down. now that you mentioned it, I might think about it more next time...

 

[viter]

I think I might have seen your truck in Carrizo this last weekend. Looks like you had fun.

I've seen a number of vehicles but mainly in canyon sin nombre. What were you drivng?

 

[calamaridog]

I love the stealth winch mount.

 

[viter]

I love the stealth winch mount.

thank you! that thing have served me well so far!

 

[BorregoWrangler]

Very cool! I've always wondered how far sheephead mountain road goes. I checked it out years ago with my old stock pickup so I didn't get nearly as far as you did. I say we head up there with some tools and clear out the rest of the trail! Or you could try heading in from the Sunrise Hwy side, if it's open. :smiley_drive:

 

[BlackX]

Let me know if you go Borregowrangler

 

[jl8088]

Nice post, i was at Buckman Springs exit this past sunday because i was riding dirtbikes at Coral Canyon.

On my way bace west going home, i glanced at the road heading north and wondered where it would take me when i don't have two bikes strapped behind my truck. Glad you were able to give me a heads up.

How many miles could you drive back before you encountered the nasty stuff? The road looks decently long on google earth.

 

[BorregoWrangler]

Let me know if you go Borregowrangler

Will do.

 

[viter]

one thing to think about is that the trail is easy all the way up to that hard rocky section (maybe 5 miles), then the hard section is only like 100ft long, and then the trail becomes easy again until the huge boulder blocking the road (about 2 miles further probably) where you can't go any further. Even if the boulder wasn't there, right after that big rock the road becomes super narrow - only wide enough for a bike (due to wash outs and the fact that it is on the side of the mountain). also the portion of the trail after the hard section is super overgrown with brush on the sides of the road, so unless you really want to scratch the paint on your truck to see the big boulder blocking the road I would say going all the way is not worth it. The only reason I went this far was because I thought the road continued until sunrise hwy as map shows it. I don't think I'll be going back up there much since now I know the road just dead ends. Now, if I had a dual sport bike I would definitely want to go and explore that trail further!

if you really wanted to complete the road in a 4 wheel vehicle you will need to spend probably days building up the road at washouts and moving huge (think half of your truck) rocks.

I would be interested to try it from the sunrise hwy side though... (there it should connect to kitchen creek road somewhere as well)

 

[MG34]

Is this where you are trying to go.

 

[LandRoverReno]

last weekend my friends and I were running a checkpoint at a dirtbike race out by plaster city area - that in itself was a lot of fun, but afterwards one of my friends and I left in my truck to do a little exploring first in the anza borrego desert and then up in the mountains on the way back to San Diego. The other point of going to the mountains was to test out my newly built sliders.

lava rocks

carrizo wash east of the "creek" section

some salty water running throught the creek at carrizo wash

creek puddle diving - after getting a little lost this was the only way to the "dry land"

remains of the old stage coach station were people used to change horses centuries ago on their way west

wabbit or whatever you call it

canyon sin nombre

Great area!