Mojave Road - Spring 2012

[Seanz0rz]

Here is the album with all the pictures: http://s955.photobucket.com/albums/a...ave Road 2012/

A very cool video Troy made:
http://blip.tv/ultimateyota/uy-mojave-road-6071002


First, a big thanks to Kevin & Neashell, Troy, JD, and Mark, Linda, their two girls Ryan and Lauren, and their dog Max for making this trip a pleasure to lead. Alexus and I are grateful to all of you for making our 1st wedding anniversary a great one! You are all welcome to travel with us in the future!

Here is a very quick breakdown of our travels:

March 30, 2012
Friday morning, Alexus and I, with Kevin and Neashell close behind, traveled from the Avi Casino, and met Troy at the trail intersection with Needles Highway. From here, we proceeded west towards our first real destination: Fort Piute. After visiting the ruins and taking in the beautiful scenery, we backtracked down the road and proceeded through the pass to the other side of the Piute range. We continued north along the range to see the Piute gorge, and the continuation of the old pass Fort Piute protected. This overlook provided us with spectacular views, and the option to hike through the gorge on a trail. We choose to continue on.

Fort Piute Ruins:


Piute Gorge:


Back on the road, we visited the old bus and Ford Falcon wagon abandoned in the desert, then headed out to find out camp for the night.

Bus and Falcon:



Traveling up Carruther’s Canyon Road (maps will list it as Caruthers) was an interesting experience to say the least. The Mojave Road proper is marked with rock cairns on the right side of the road (when traveling west). This road would not be marked, because it is not officially part of the road. There were numerous intersections, forks, spurs, and a few strange sights (a slide in truck camper surrounded by river rock walls was of particular note) making navigation very difficult. GPS was relied upon heavily here, and did not fail us. We took a turn off of Caruther’s Canyon Road where it looked more traveled and arrived at our campsite. We were shocked at its beauty, and quickly made camp and prepared lunch, relaxing for the remainder of Friday evening, knowing much road lay ahead for Saturday and Sunday. This was by far the best camp site I have personally ever visited. It comes highly recommended!

Caruther’s Corral:


Creepy Camper:


While at camp, Kevin and Neashell explored the local rock formations, and Troy drove up Caruthers Canyon to find a small mine. He retrieved an interesting rock, with green and purple minerals.

Beautiful rocks:


Kevin doing his best to create a great youtube clip:


JD came at night, just before we turned in for bed. Mark and his family joined us in the middle of the night, and quietly set up camp.

Morning came, and with it, our start of Saturday’s festivities.

Everyone is ready to roll!

[Seanz0rz]

March 31, 2012
Saturday morning, our five vehicles set off down Caruther’s Canyon to rejoin the Mojave road.

Our first stop was Rock Spring, which requires a drop down into Watson Wash. Just a few hundred yards before the drop, Kevin had put Neashell behind the wheel. In just moments, her offroad driving skill would be put to the test.



Rock Spring had a bit of water flowing through it, and was very beautiful:


We then visited the cabin at the top, and then proceeded down the road to Government Holes. The windmill here was still pumping water from the well that was dug hundreds of years ago.



Next on our journey was Marl Springs, but we stopped at Big Rock Camp to enjoy lunch. Marl Springs has a flooded mine shaft that is used to feed water into a trough, though the trough was dry. After Marl Springs, we visited the lava tubes. In these short tubes, there are a few sky lights that shine in the dusty air, making bright columns of light.



After the lava tubes, we encountered a very lost van on the Mojave Road. They were trying to take a short cut back to the highway. I told them to turn around, and when they did they immediately got stuck. A winch, strap around the axle (the Chevy van lacked any sort of recovery point) and a little bit of time got them out of the soft stuff, but they still needed to be turned around. Kevin got in and tried to get enough momentum to beat the soft sand, but still couldn’t make it. A few big pushes from the group freed it, and we sent them on their way towards more solid and appropriate roads.



From there, we found our camp site, set up camp in some of the worst winds I have had to endure with a tent, and enjoyed our beautiful surroundings with good friends and a beer (or if you are Mark, a juice box (it’s ok, I had pineapple juice, but at least it came in a can!))



The night was windy and cold, but Sunday would prove to be very exciting!

[Seanz0rz]

April 1, 2012
Sunday was suppose to be a pretty easy day. Check out some nearby mines, visit Traveler’s Monument, poke around Afton Canyon a bit, enjoy a water crossing, and then head home. Little did we know, this would be one of the most exciting stretches of road we would see. After rounding Seventeen Mile Point, we dropped down Paymaster Mine road. The idea was to visit the Paymaster and other mines in the area. Our GPS failed us in being able to pinpoint the Paymaster mine where we thought it was, but a quick side trip down another road into a canyon paid off. While most of the group hiked up to a mine we could see from the canyon floor, I hiked up the other side to see what was there. I found much evidence of a small settlement there, including a glass window, most likely from a small house or other building, and many, many soup cans. I noticed a patch of loose rock that was a different color than the hill side, hiked up and found a vertical mine shaft, at least 20 feet deep. When I turned around, I saw another pile of loose rock, this one much bigger, and even more evidence of people. Hiking several dozen yards up this canyon, I found a mine shaft that went very far back and branched. Score!





The old rails for the ore cars were still in place, but mostly covered in bunny droppings. It was a very good find, especially as the others came up empty handed on the opposite of the canyon with a gated mine entrance.

From our excursion in the mountains and canyons, we continued on to Soda Lake. Upon seeing a vast open playa, the guys expressed their joy by having much fun at a considerable speed. Having calmed down after an impromptu drag race between JD and Kevin (which JD won with twice the cylinders and almost twice the horsepower), we drove to Traveler’s Monument. After depositing our rocks to the pile, reading and reflecting on the plaque contained within, and taking some pictures, including the group shot in the first post, we continued on to the sandy part of the wash.



After having a considerable amount of fun in the intertwined river bed, we headed towards Afton Canyon. I hit a small rut in the road and managed to slice open the sidewall of my left front tire.

Sad tire is SAD!


While I was getting my sockets out to remove the spare tire and replace the injured tire, Kevin had the lug nuts off. While I was removing the spare, Troy had the truck jacked up, ready to pull the tire off. The whole tire change took less than 10 minutes, and we were back on the road in no time! THANKS!!!

We finally arrived in Afton Canyon and soaked up all the beauty it had to offer.


Troy and JD found a way up to one of the canyons, and everyone had a fun time climbing through tunnels and canyons, traveling all the way to the top.


There was a considerable amount of water in Afton Canyon and in the Mojave River. One particular crossing gave us some trouble, and caused Kevin and I to have misfires and the resulting check engine light. Both issues were solved with a little bit of time in the warm, dry air.

We continued on, and the big water crossing was nothing more than a puddle, as they have filled it in with gravel in the past few years.

The end of our journey together came at Afton Canyon Campground, where we aired up the tires, disposed of our trash, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the highway and on to our homes.



We had a most incredible experience, one we will never forget. Everyone was a pleasure to travel with, and it was great meeting some new faces, spending time with some familiar ones, and generally having a wonderful time with wonderful company in wonderful surroundings.


Carnage Report:
So far, just a slashed sidewall of a 6 year old, 45k mile tire.

We traveled approximately 170-180 miles, the vast majority of that was dirt (a few miles graded dirt road, and a few more were paved). We saw rocky desert floor, several mountain passes, rolling desert sand, granite, several different types of river beds, basalt, decomposed granite gravel and sand, and many more types of terrain. We went from 500 feet above sea level at the start of the trail in Nevada to nearly 6000 feet at our campsite and outside Government Holes. We traversed the world’s largest and densest Joshua Tree forest. Most importantly, we had a great time with great people.

[troyboy162]

I had an absolute blast! This was my first multi-day trail ride. Sean planed things out perfectly and all I had to do was show up haha. I cant thank you enough for that Sean! The two camp sites were really great spots. The canyon was the only place for 100 mile with shade. Not to mention that it was a beautiful spot. The lava canyon was really impressive too.

For the sake of anyone's research who's reading this. I needed 20 gallons of gas from gas station to gas station. It looked like I was averaging right around 8-9 MPG in the rough terrain with A/c running That looks valid with Seans millage of 170-180 for the trip. My truck daily drives at ~14 MPG. My Igloo Maxcold cooler was the only one to keep some block ice for 4 days starting with frozen food. This trip made me realize how important a cooler is. I would like to try a "IRP Outdoors Ice Otter" next time along with larger blocks of ice.

Videos:
http://youtu.be/P3rmDVCiDs4

[troyboy162]

[kafene]

Thanks for making this the best offroad run we have ever had!

full report coming soon... stay tuned!

Family and I had the BEST camp trip ever. Way more than I ever expected. The scenery was fantastic. Nothing like I thought a desert would be. Can't wait to go back!!! Linda says you guys were the best!

[Marc P]

Looks like a blast...lots of areas I saw last year. I will try to with you guys next time you plan a run.

[troyboy162]

looks like Paymaster got gated in 2009. I found other accounts of people finding the gates in 2009 as well.
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&m...492c7&_cview=0

bastards....it was a good one
https://ideasec.nbc.gov/ows-cls/NP14...20Mine%20B.pdf

[slosurfer]

Where was this??

[img width=800 height=600]http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww234/troyboy162/Mojave%20Road%2020120401/IMG_0355.jpg[/img]

[Seanz0rz]

north of road, east of afton canyon and the wash section, there is an old mine. troy decided to check it out and can tell you much more about it. we did get to hit some good mines, and ill be sure to include more of those in the planning for the next trip. ill find the coordinates later.