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Mojave Road STUCK/Calico

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  • Mojave Road STUCK/Calico

    Well on March 15th me and my buddy drew headed out to Needles from San Diego to start the Mojave road, and then we would meet up with a another friend and his land cruiser on thursday, finish the trail and head to calico, The first day went awesome we visited the fort puite remains, did a little rock climbing, I stepped on a cactus which went right thru my shoe, then went to sit down to pull all the needles out of my foot and sat on a cactus..OUCH, so we continued on, to about 3/4 thru the eastern half, setup camp made dinner and enjoyed our camp fire, we woke up at about 8:30 and continued on exploring the rock springs, and the cabin up there, there was an older couple who were volunteer rangers, doing some repairs on the cabin, and gave us a tour and told us about the history and who had lived there. we continued on having a great time, when we began the western half we did some more rock climbing got some good pictures, made fire in a camp site we found and cooked up some brats for lunch, a few hours after the penny can, and the mail box, lots of whoop ti doo's we were at soda lake, seemed really dry, hard as rock like driving on concrete, about 15 minutes into it we came up to what looked like a river, that stretched all the way acrossed it.... I creeped up to it with my front tires and they sunk up to the hubs, and my back tires were were only about 6 inches from dry land and in about a inch of much, but I was stuck, but we managed to get out... We thought about hitting it going fast but it was 6 feet, mud, 6 feet water, 6 feet mud, 6 feet dry, and then the same thing again, so we drove north towards baker hoping to find a area were it was dried up, it was getting muddy , so I head NE not wanting to get stuck, I was soon getting bogged down, It looked dry but was really a thin white crust with mud under it. And I could'nt go forward any more, Threw it in reverse and backed out of it luckly following my tracks out for almost a mile!!! If we would'nt have gotten out I dont think any one could have gotten us out as it seemed we were surrounded by the hidden mud, Since were out, and did'nt want to go back we seemed close to baker, and we were desperate so we decided to just head toward the thermometer and the I-15 Every thing was going fine, hit a few mucky spots, but with plenty momentum, the closer we got there were alot more bushes.... and it was now dark, Im all about treading lightly, but at this point it was our only safe bet out of the lake bed, we got about a mile from baker, and BAM Some one had dug a 7 foot by 6 foot hole that came out of no where I was in muck up to my doors....... my right front tire was up on the bank so I was almost on my side, and there was no getting out...... after an hour of digging and getting no where we both packed up a bag to take to baker and we would get a hotel room till, our friend devon came the next morning with his Land Cruiser (36's rear locker 350 V8) we new he could yank us out... But I decided to get on the CB and see if I could find a local, well as it turns out the cool thing to do in baker is hang out on channel 19, after talking to about 20 locals and truckers I finally got directed to channel 10 were some local 4x4 guys were chatting on they came and yanked me out, I bought them some beer for there trouble, while on the cb every one said the mojave river was pretty full and there was no way I would get thru afton canyon, I dont know if it was true, so we headed to barstow for the night, got there at 2 am woke up at 11 and headed to calico, The land cruiser didnt get the dorans entrance so I was'nt about to try even though I had a front and rear lockers, I did'nt want to destroy my body only having 32s, so we did odessa canyon and had a fun time and back that night to san diego, Besides, the soda lake ordeal it was awesome experience and I will go back next year and do it again. Will post pictures soon!!!
    Last edited by skates04; 03-18-05, 11:08 AM.
    Locked up fourbanger (Poor Mans Rubicon)

  • #2
    Sounds like a great trip! Always wanted to run the mojave road. Cant wait for the pics!

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    • #3
      A few pics,
      http://photobucket.com/albums/y82/skates04/
      In picture 3 you can see my jeep if you look close.... Were at the top of a mountain we climbed. the tiny jeep shows how high up we are.
      Locked up fourbanger (Poor Mans Rubicon)

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      • #4
        You really were stuck in that one pic! Awesome pictures!
        [color=grey]Ryan[/color]
        [COLOR=DarkOliveGreen]No Jeep To speak of. But I got a Hummer H3[/COLOR]

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        • #5
          Skates,
          Nice set of pix. Looks like fun. Don't suppose you wanna go again? Some friends of mine and I are going next month. Where in SD do you live? Keep me informed if you're doing some local stuff. I'm always up for a run.
          Steve
          2000 TJ Sport, 3 spd auto
          4.5" RE LA, 35" MTR

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          • #6
            Looks like a lot of fun, good jeeping and a few climbs.
            I was thinking about the road, but maybe a few more weeks of sunshine are in order.
            THANKS for sharing, awesome run

            Jim
            censored for having an opinion

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            • #7
              Yes I may be interested... Depends when you are going though since Im in the Military and I just took 10 days of leave, Some of that for my Mojave trip. If its over memorial day weekend or somthing I might, I will PM anytime Im gonna go out locally for sure always looking for more people to wheel with!! Let me know some more about your guys planed trip if I cant go I will give you some pointers, and GPS Cordinates if you want... If you dont have a GPS I may be willing to let you borrow mine so you dont get lost, there are alot of intersections out there. Let me know when you are going wheeling for the day around here! Should have my jeep fixed Saturday
              Locked up fourbanger (Poor Mans Rubicon)

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              • #8
                I was thinking about the road, but maybe a few more weeks of sunshine are in order.
                I would defintely let it dry out, However the 3/4 of the trail from Needles to Soda lake are Dry. I did'nt get to finish soda lake and west ward, so Im actually itching to go back and Do the WHOLE thing since I kinda got shafted in Soda Lake... If any of you go and you see any mud there Turn around, It will eat you and your jeep alive
                Locked up fourbanger (Poor Mans Rubicon)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Skates,
                  I'm planning on going April 8-10. Leaving friday after work and staying at the avi casino. Doing the first half of the trail on saturday, camping, then finishing it up on sunday. should be home my 10 or so on sunday night. The whole thing will be done within a typical weekend. So hopefully its do-able.

                  I put most of the infomation about this trip here
                  http://www.macamar.com/sitefiles/articles/mojave-road/

                  I'm pretty well prepared for navigating the MR though, I have detailed maps and a gps, in addition i've done the road before and have a pretty good memory for directions. I've got dennis casbier's Mojave Road Guide and Bill Mann's 50 Mysterious and Interesting things in the Mojave Desert Volume 1 & 2. A pretty complete Mojave collection if I do say so myself. Thanks for your generous offer though, and I do appreciate your trail report. Because of that, I'm considering not doing the Soda Lake, as much as I enjoyed it the last time I was there. Too bad.

                  Will keep you in mind if I do any wheeling out here.

                  Steve
                  2000 TJ Sport, 3 spd auto
                  4.5" RE LA, 35" MTR

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Sounds like your alot more prepared than I was!! I just had a GPS and The guide to SoutherCaliforina Trails and Back roads. Wish I could go but those days would'nt work out for me... If you happen to get in any trouble around baker and need help, get on channel 19 and ask around for travis, or "The Fat Mexican" they are unemployed, bored and spend there nights on the CB talking to truckers. And would love for an excuse to go wheeling
                    Locked up fourbanger (Poor Mans Rubicon)

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                    • #11
                      Will keep that in mind. You reminded me of the time I did the soda lake last time. It was in November and although there had been rains before, it was nothing like the storms we've had recently. The lake was muddy as hell and we crossed it doing about 30 miles per hour. I did it in a stock wrangler and felt that to go slower would have been a bad idea. Aside from a couple bumps and big splashes it was pretty easy. But I was too tense to enjoy it until it was already over. We blasted right past the visitor's monument too. So It could have been a better time for us as well. Anyhow, we'll keep the names of those two guys in mind.

                      S
                      2000 TJ Sport, 3 spd auto
                      4.5" RE LA, 35" MTR

                      Comment

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