Trail Report: The Old Mojave Trail Report

[Roger]

It was an awesome trip! I couldn't have hand picked a better bunch of people to go with:
Clay - TJ Clay and is friend Lee + sons Tyler & Harry
NWood - Nathan and his daughter Megan(?) + his friend Chris
Chuck - Dirtman13
Geebo and his friend Dylan Thomas (super guitar player!)
Jeri Lyn - Jeri Lyn
Learning2Crawl - Carolee
Blazer4949 - Steve
Joe
I hope I have all the names right. Please let me know if I need to make any changes.

I'll post more later, but I'm exhausted. All of you who took photos please post them! They are great! And please post your comments & observations.

More Later...

[Geebo]

Roger,you are right it was a great trip I loved all the History from our narratorn( JeriLynn )hope I spelled it right,Thanks to you and Chuck for leading the way I,m still smiling..But too pooped to post..I will later on....Geeb

[Geebo]

A few pic,s

[Jeri Lyn]

Nice pics! I had a great time. I haven't laughed so frequently in a long while. Thank you to Chris for picking up after Carolee and I as we "dropped" things along the trail. What a great time!

[Ol Man]

Looking forward to the full report. I have a couple of questions. Our group is going to do this starting Thur. We will be on the Road three nights.

1. How did you guys do on gas? Were people able to get to Barstow or did you use gas from your cans?
2. Did you find water? This would be to use a bucket and take a little shower, not for drinking?
3. Where did you camp? Mileage according to Casebier's book.
4. Are most of the cairns still there?

Again, looking forward to your reports.

[Roger]

Looking forward to the full report. I have a couple of questions. Our group is going to do this starting Thur. We will be on the Road three nights.

1. How did you guys do on gas? Were people able to get to Barstow or did you use gas from your cans?
2. Did you find water? This would be to use a bucket and take a little shower, not for drinking?
3. Where did you camp? Mileage according to Casebier's book.
4. Are most of the cairns still there?

Again, looking forward to your reports.

1. We took two side trips so we used a little more than if going straight through. I believe most can do fine with a topped off tank but I recommend bringing a 5 gallon gas can. If you have to buy gas, It is not that far from Baker up the Kelbaker Rd.

2. Bring all the water you need. I definatly wouldn't drink any water out there because of the cow crap all around the springs and I wouldn't bathe with it either. The springs are not flowing much now.

3. The first night we camped at Mid Hills Campground. It is on numerous maps and there are signs leading you there from Cedar Canyon Rd & Black Canyon Rd. It has limited water and nice toilets. The second night we camped near mile 95 at Little Cow Hole mtn. We found a nice cove with a fire ring in it and it was fairly sheltered. We dubbed it "Rasberry Flats" by way of "Little Gatekeeper". You'll have to PM Dirtman13 for the explaination of the names.

4. The carins are still there. But some are tricky to spot. Remember they are always to the right side of the trail heading west. Once you enter into the Mojave River Flood Plain, through all the sandy washes, pay close attention for them, that is the worst area for markings. There are wooden poles about 8' high to mark the trail also.


I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please just ask!

One last thing, if your group is larger than seven vehicles, you should get a permit.

[Ol Man]

Roger, thanks for the info. Will see after the reports if I have any additional questions.

We have our permit.

[nwoods]

I've got about 1200 images to sort through. Here are a couple I tagged so far:

[jdholder]

Nathan,

How did you take the second image? Tripod? Do you know the lens, exposure and aperture?

Beautiful shot in a difficult environment!

[dirtman13]

Day 1

Thanks Roger for putting together a great trip. It was a good group of people. On our way to the Avi Thursday we had a little wait on the 40. Some trucker flipped his rig right across the freeway.

Friday we made our start at mile 0 on the Colorado River.

It was still a little early for the spring bloom but all the rains defiantly made an impact. Everything was so green. I think the Mojave is going to have an explosion of color this year.
This is the area around Fort Piute.


The Penny Tree got a new can.

New monument for the Nevada Southern Railway.

Of course once at Rock Springs we had to recreate the cover to Mojave Road Guide.

We did see some color around Rock Springs. I didn't notice the little guy on the top until I downloaded this shot.

Government Holes

Mid Hills was our camp for the first night. The area was still trying to come back but it will be a few years. Still a great camp ground with some good photo ops.

[dirtman13]

Day 2

Saturday we woke to chilly temps. After breakfast we made our way to Hole-In-The-Wall. On the way we saw our first sign of life. A couple of these guys were heading up the hill over.

We played on the rings for a while.

At the bottom someone installed a rope heading up to the base of the lookout platform. I tried to climb this wall last year to no avail.

Now I could finally get the shot I wanted.

On the way to Marl Springs I had to get this shot.

Mail Box


At the Lava Tubes I was pleased to see that we made it at the perfect time. The sun was just peeking it’s why in to the cave. I stirred the dust up a little and got these great shots.



Our second night we camped at the base of Little Cow Hole.

This night was all about the sky (and raspberry’s). The sunset was gorgeous.


While we were at the NPS in Hole-in-the-Wall we found out the space station was going to be visible that night. Unfortunately by the time I got the camera ready it was gone but I did finally a star shot.

First site of the day was Soda Lake.


Travelers Monument group shot.

Poser

After a quick run through Mojave River wash it was on to Afton Canyon.


Coming in to Afton.

After two days of dust it was nice to play in the water.




Believe it or not. Mojave carnage.

After a quick lunch in the Afton campground we headed for the final optional leg of the Mojave Road. After which we aired up and said our goodbyes.

Thank you all. I had a great time.
The rest of my pics.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...-09/?start=all

[TJ Clay]

I had a fantastic time. We couldn't have had a better group to travel with, just don't ask how rasberry flats got its name. That wasn't my idea.

[nwoods]

Nathan,

How did you take the second image? Tripod? Do you know the lens, exposure and aperture?

Beautiful shot in a difficult environment!

Handheld, Canon 20D with my favorite lens, the 16-35 F2.8 L MkII.

Here is the EXIF data:

[Materdaddy]

Amazing looking trip. I love the lava tube pictures guys! Nice report Chuck.

Keep the pictures and stories coming. "D

[Geebo]

Chuck Thanks for the pic,s and the write up it was a great trip I saw things I,ll probably never see again ..and the entire group was awesome ..what a cool time..