Starbright Trail/Black Canyon Rd 12-30

[FishPOET]

http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9979

http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9980

[bruce p]

Just don't drink the water in Hinkley.

We were out that way over Thanksgiving- nice area. It looks like Ft Irwin has expanded a bit to the south, so older maps and gps systems may show some areas as BLM that are actually on the base now. Just keep an eye out for big military looking signs and you will be fine.

[FishPOET]

Tracy and I are leaving in a few minutes for JV and I will not have computer access. The forecast looks fine and the run is a go. We will be on channel 31 on the CB.

[Roger]

Mitch (Great88) and I are going to caravan over together Sunday morning. We'll be at Owl Campground before 8:30. We'll look for the rockin' Jeeps!

We'll be monitoring CB ch 31.

[FishPOET]

We were out that way over Thanksgiving- nice area. It looks like Ft Irwin has expanded a bit to the south, so older maps and gps systems may show some areas as BLM that are actually on the base now. Just keep an eye out for big military looking signs and you will be fine.

A quick note while on wifi access. I'll post up a full report with pics when we get home next week.

The run was great. We had 15 rigs. The weather was perfect. The base has expanded and we had to re-route around a fence and we found a gate to go through on a 2nd fence. There was not a sign of any kind on either fence.

A special thanks to Mitch for all the help on the run and for providing insight on the Inscription Canyon and Black Canyon areas.

[Mitch]

Doug,

Thanks for an awesome trip! You said 80 miles of dirt and mine turned 80.3 at the pavement in Hinkley. I'm waiting for you to get back before I post photo's. You'll like the pic's of the "mud slinging" incident on the way across Harper Dry Lake.
Great fun!

Mitch

[Roger]

Doug,

Thanks for an awesome trip! You said 80 miles of dirt and mine turned 80.3 at the pavement in Hinkley. I'm waiting for you to get back before I post photo's. You'll like the pic's of the "mud slinging" incident on the way across Harper Dry Lake.
Great fun!

Mitch

Mitch,
Did you get all the mud off?!!??

[FishPOET]

Owl Canyon campground is $6.00 per night. There are pit toilets, tables and fire rings, but no water. It is a beautiful campground that sees very little use. We occupied 4 spots for the night. By 8:30am the group had grown to 15 rigs.

We met at the Starbright trailhead at 9am. After a short drivers meeting we hit the trail. We stopped a few times and explored some old mining and prospecting sites. Around 11am we took a break at the Starbright mine. The Stabright Mine's major commodity was tungsten.





Back on the road again after a short break. We found another old mine at N35 11.688 116 56.298.







It was shortly after we left the old mine we found the first fence. It is a new fence (barbed wire on steel posts with a turtle barrier) without any signage. We backtracked to the mine we had just explored and found another trail to the west. About a mile down the trail we found another new fence, but this time there was an unlocked gate and we went through. About 3 miles later we hooked back up with our original route and we never did see another fence or gate.

We crossed Superior Dry Lake and headed for Black Canyon Rd. We had lunch at Inscription Canyon.

http://www.petroglyphs.us/photographs_rock_art_IC.htm

After lunch we made our way through Black Canyon stopping a couple of times along the way. We exited Black Canyon around 3pm and the group split into 2 groups. One group headed for Hinkley and Hwy 58. The other group headed East to break camp at Owl Canyon Campground.

Weather was a bit chilly in the morning, but warmed up nicely into tee shirt weather for most of the day. Out of more than 100 waypoints we only missed 2 turns and both were remedied easily. It was another great day on the trail.

[Mike]

Great Report and Pics. It looks like a good time, I'm sorry that I missed it.