Mojave to Calico

[skates04]

As long as it stays dry, me and 3 guys with vehicles will be going from San diego to needles , on or around the 15th of march, we are going to run the Mojave road from east to the West and then Hit up Calico, and maybe camp out or grab a hotel the night after (Gonna be pretty filthy by then) Just wondering if any one has any advice, for these area's as we have never been up there before, I will be purchasing a GPS unit before we leave so I can aleast plot out the mojave road with cordniates from a couple books I have. If any one else wants to go let me know, For skill level we all pretty much have 33s one guy has 36s on his Land Cruiser, but no lockers yet.... Im locked up completly and the other guy has a rear locker. Let me know the fun area's of Calico, were all ready for some body damage and axle snapping.
Lucas

[jmbrowning]

http://myjeeprocks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1321&
http://tmoon.org/MojaveRoad012304
http://desertusa.com/mag99/nov/stories/mojavetrail.html

The Mojave road itself is not a very challenging trip technically, but it will really take you back in time. If you have time, get the Dennis Casebier book. It is very detailed and gives directions about every quarter of a mile. You will not get lost using this book. The book has an amazing amount of history, so I'd recommend reading it even before you take off on the trip so that you can put everything in perspective. It's also interesting to see how your imagined Mojave Road from reading the book compares to the real thing. If you don't find time to order the Mojave Road Guide from desertusa.com or amazon, you can pick it up at the Death Valley NP Visitors Center in Barstow. The location of the center is literally under the Bun Boy thermometer.

The only real technical part of the Mojave Road is Soda Lake. If it has been raining at all in the week or two before you go, I would recommend bypassing Soda Lake completely or you will be hopelessly stuck in the caustic mud. We were fortunate that it was fairly dry when we went. There was little mud and we stayed about a 100 feet apart so that both of our Jeeps wouldn't be stuck. What mud we did fling up did start oxidizing bare metal immediately, so rinse up real well when you get home.

Also, if you like, I think I have a mapsource file of the Mojave Road that I could post, if you will be using a Garmin GPS receiver/software system.

Other thing...don't forget to bring a rock from the edge of Soda Lake to add to Travellers Monument in the center of Soda Lake, if you do venture across it. Also, remember to keep the inscription on the plaque of Travellers Monument a secret only known to those that have visited the Monument, lest the rest of your four wheeling days be hopelessly cursed.

[skates04]

I probably will be getting a Garmin... Any one you would recomend for around a 150??

[hurley37]

Just a clarification...... I think the Death Valley Visitors Center is in Baker, not Barstow, along with the worlds tallest thermometer. But Baker is off of Interstate 15, and as far as I remember I took Interstate 40 to get to Needles and the start of the Mojave Trail. I think

[jmbrowning]

Just a clarification...... I think the Death Valley Visitors Center is in Baker, not Barstow, along with the worlds tallest thermometer. But Baker is off of Interstate 15, and as far as I remember I took Interstate 40 to get to Needles and the start of the Mojave Trail. I think

You are so right. Bun Boy is in Baker. Must still be jet-lagged from today's trip from Managua.

[jmbrowning]

I probably will be getting a Garmin... Any one you would recomend for around a 150??

Depends on how you want to use your GPS receiver.

1. Mapping receiver: This would allow you to load basemaps into the receiver so that the GPS receiver actually is used as your map and also has Point of Interest information. These would be receivers like the eTrex Vista or GPSMAP60. I really like my Vista for walking around cities where I have time to screw my eyes up looking at the dinky map and can make use of the POI information.
2. Basic Receiver: These units allow you to upload and download waypoints with a serial cable (except the Geko 101). You can string together waypoints to make a route and the receiver will tell you basic information like location, speed, altitude, and how to make a beeline to the next waypoint. There is NO basemap to reference to your surroundings. These are fairly inexpensive and I'd recommend the eTrex Yellow or the Geko 201. I have both and like them equally for off-road use. The Geko is smaller and is nice for locating your car when you park it at the fairgrounds or for geocaching. The eTrex Yellow has a larger screen, lasts longer with AA (instead of AAA), is cheaper, but doesn't have WAAS (if that is important to you).
3. Sensor Recievers: These have no display and therefore require the use of a computer to display location. The Garmin GPS 18 with the Panasonic Toughbook is my current off-roading setup. I use the sensor in conjunction with the TOPO mapping software and it automatically tracks me onscreen on the topographic map in real-time. It is a bit more bulky than a mapping receiver but I find that the display is much easier to read and I can also refer to saved maps and other resources with the computer. Also, annotating the map is much easier than scrolling one character at a time. The major bugaboo is that if the laptop goes belly up, there is no way to get GPS data from the receiver as there is no display. Consequently, I bring along a basic receiver and a Del Lorme Gazetteer atlas as a backup.

For your basic needs, I'd suggest the eTrex Yellow or Geko 201 ($99 and $120, new respectively). You can use them with the Del Lorme Gazetteer or other topo maps to show your location for now and, if you want to, in the future, you can attach them to your computer with a serial cable and use them as a sensor with mapping software.

[skates04]

Sounds good!!! Thanks for the basic info, I appreciate it.
Lucas