5th Annual Mojave Road Expedition, March 11-13, 2016
The dates are set. Friday March 11, 2016 through Sunday March 13, 2016.
If you can't make it the whole weekend, come out and join us for a day trip, come a day late or leave a day early! This trip is very similar to the previous years. If you have done those, you may want to sit this one out, as it will be much the same. I'd also like to get some new people out there!
The first post will be continually updated with more information, locations, suggestions, etc.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5508/1...46d30d0d_c.jpg
General Information:
Our direction of travel will be East to West - Beginning on Needles Highway (near the Avi Casino) and ending at Afton Canyon Camp Ground.
6 Vehicle/14 Person Max (NPS regulations - otherwise we must apply for a permit) If there are more than 6, we will reach out to NPS for a permit or we will split the group into two smaller groups for camping and driving, whichever is more convenient.
Attendees:
1. Seanz0rz - Sean
2. Savage Offroad - Roy & Shawna
3. toyotech - Jose +1 & Dogs
4. JC
5.
6.
7.
8.
Itinerary:
Thursday:
20:00 - Camp 1 or Avi Casino
Friday
09:00 - Start Mojave Road at Needles Highway
Fort Piute
12:00 - Piute Gorge - Lunch
School Bus
Indian Wells
Penny Can Tree
16:00 - Caruthers Canyon
Watson Wash and Rock Spring
Government Holes
Camp 2
Saturday
08:30 - On the road again!
Death Valley Mine
Mojave Cross
12:00 - Marl Springs
Mailbox
Lava Tubes
Aiken Mine
17:00 - Camp 3
Sunday
09:00 - Almost done!
Green Rock Mill
Traveler's Monument
12:00 - Mojave River Sands - Lunch
Buried Rail Cars
Afton Canyon
Mojave River Crossing
15:00 - Homeward Bound
Important Information:
Communication:
Ham only run. If you don't have a ham, I have 1 extra hand held, but I highly encourage you to buy one and get your license. Contact me if you have any questions about this.
UY simplex primary 146.430MHZ (2m Ham)
Vehicle Requirements:
- Vehicle in good working condition, with no known faults
- Working 4WD
- 1 spare within 2" of other tires
- Working, suitable jack
- Front and rear recovery points
- Ham Radio in good working order
Note: Stock Vehicles are welcome on this trip. There are only a couple of short, difficult spots, and they are easily bypassed if necessary. The vast majority of the road will be a single track thorough the desert. Some areas present unrelenting corrugations, and others have undulations that can catch you off guard and swallow your vehicle. This is not a technically challenging run, but a scenic drive over some of the most beautiful desert areas found in California. The long distances and rough road are the challenge. Terrain will vary from rocky desert pavement, extremely soft sand, off camber sections, deep ruts and washes, and Soda (somewhat) Dry Lake. There will also be some water crossings that are easily crossed. 2wd vehicles could make it, but I am requesting that all vehicles are 4wd.
Required Equipment and Supplies:
- Enough fuel to travel 200 miles in 4wd
- Minimum 1/2 gallon water per person, per day
- Food
- Well stocked, current first aid kit
- Tow strap & shackle
- Method to refill tires, if you choose to air down (HIGHLY recommended, especially on the western edge)
- Basic tools
- Sanitation Supplies - anywhere from a shovel and TP to a PETT toilet and privy, your choice.
- Emergency Info Sheet
I will not be doing vehicle inspections, but I expect you to have all of these things in your vehicle.
Recommended Items:
- Rear locker
- Full size spare
- Spares for common items
- Still/Video camera with spare batteries and extra memory
- Binoculars
- Fire wood
- Wide-brimmed hat
- Sunglasses
This is by no means a complete list, but merely the high points of what should be considered for this trip.
For those uninitiated to expedition style desert travel: The best way to travel is to travel light but do not forget comfort items. Three days on the road without a good night's sleep can spell disaster!
Sanitation:
At some point during this trip, you will have to use the bathroom. There are no toilets where we are camping, and one along the road. #1 is fairly easily handled, #2 is up to your comfort level. I personally have a bucket with seat, Double-Doodie bags, and a privacy shelter. What you bring is up to you. Pack in - Pack out is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.
Firewood:
As long as the fire restrictions are lifted, camp fires will be allowed. If they are still in effect, we will work around that.
We will be camping 2-3 nights. If everyone brings 1-2 bundles of firewood, we should have plenty for 3 nights of camping with a small fire.
Weather:
Weather can be very unpredictable in the deserts. This event is a rain* or shine event, meaning we will be traversing the desert even if it is raining. Temperature can vary wildly. Higher elevations can see significant snowfall during the winter, and lower elevations frequently break 120F in the summer. Temperatures are expected to be between 50 and 70 in the day, and 30-50 at night. Layers are suggested, as well as extra socks and gloves. Saturday night, we will be camping between 4000ft and 5000ft. It can get quite cold.
*With an expected severe El Nino event this year, the threat of flash flood is even higher than most years. We will play it by ear. We may have to cancel or postpone the trip if heavy rainfall is expected.
UPDATE 2/27/16: It looks like we will have a system dropping into the area on the 11th. So far it looks fairly mild and short lived, but we will have to keep an eye on it. I will update again as more information becomes available.
More Information:
Dennis Casebier's "Mojave Road Guide" is HIGHLY recommended. It can be purchased here: http://www.desertusa.com/web_cart/db/pages/5094.html
I also have a previous edition for sale if anyone wants it. PM me for details.
Other guide books have information on the trail but the best is the one mentioned above.
Google is a great resource for research about the Mojave road.
Dirtopia has a bit of information and quite a few waypoints here: http://www.dirtopia.com/wiki/Mojave_Road
Probably the best resource is looking at the past trip reports.
MRE 2013
Mojave Road day trip
MRE 2012
Mojave Road West
Route:
Subject to change as I do even more research:
Final Distance: ~160 from start to finish.
About 30 miles of that is pavement, but speed will be limited to 40 mph to save the tires from overheating.
Distance from Fort Mojave, AZ gas station to Trail Start is 7.5 miles and Distance from Trail End to Barstow gas station is 47 miles, most of which is on I-15. There are probably other gas stations, but this is the one I always aim for. We have also taken some backroads to get to Barstow to avoid Vegas return traffic.
Escape routes:
If you just can't take one more minute of the desert, good news! There are several roads that cross the Mojave road that will take you back to the highways.
US95 - After just 11 miles on the road, if you figure out this is not for you, US95 will take you south towards Needles, or North towards Searchlight, NV.
Lanfair Road - Lanfair Road will come up around 40 miles in. North will take you towards the I-15, and south will take you to the I-40. The distances from the Mojave Road to the interstates are 32 miles to I-15 (road can be difficult), and 27 miles to I-40.
Cima Road - This will take you to I-15, 12 miles from the Mojave Cross.
Kelbaker Road - This will take you to Baker on the I-15.
There are other roads. If you think this is important information for you to have, you may want to research these roads further. We will have multiple maps and GPS devices to aid in navigation, even unexpected and emergency navigation.
Important Files:
These are from 2014, but will be pretty close to what we will be dealing with this year. I will update them by the end of January, so check back!
MRE 2014 Safety Brief.pdf - Safety tips
MRE 2014.gpx - GPX file for loading track and POIs into a gps system
MRE 2014.kml - Google Earth KML file
MRE 2014.kmz - Google Earth KMZ file
