Rowher Questions

[Mike]

This weekend I have to be in Lancaster for Saturday and part of Sunday (If not, I'd be helping to take the chunk of rock down on 2N17X. Mr. Green has a grudge for that thing!). Since I am near Rowher, I thought that Sharon and I would check it out on our way home.

I haven't driven any of the trails in the OHV park before, so I was wondering if everyone could share some advice. I'd like to run both Rowher and Lookout Trails if we don't get too late of a start.

Which trail do you think is better? Should we run Lookout Trail uphill or downhill? Are these the only Jeep trails (besides Sierra Pelona road)?

[ECV Jeep]

I can't believe that you won't be taking out that chunk of rock to place in your yard. Russ knows the Rowher area well, you might want to PM or phone him. I have run both Rowher and Lookout, and found them to be enjoyable. Can't be much help with specific advice, as I have only done each trail 1x.

[Geebo]

Both trails are fun A bit Steeeep in parts but doable.. Geebo....

[Russ Chung]

Rowher, Lookout and Sierra Pelona are the only 4x4 trails in the OHV area; the rest of the trails are for quads and motorcycles only. I suggest that you start at the Bouquet Canyon (north) end of Rowher, and take Rowher over the top of the ridge and down the other side to the OHV area, then return to the top of the ridge via Lookout and either continuing back to Bouquet Canyon via Rowher, or turn around and go back down Lookout. I've made the round trip in about three hours.

I haven't been on the Rowher trail in three months. Let us know if this abandoned pickup truck is still there:

[freewaydan]

[/QUOTE]

Is that a 14 bolt?

[Schmo]

Hey Malachi,

I've only been thru sections of Rowher, but it was a lot of fun. The book that I have also suggests running the trail from Bouquet Cyn . . . the trail head is located at the back of the dirt parking area across from Bouquet Reservoir. Here's what the book I have say's about it: "Difficult. Extremely steep and rutted. Lockers or excellent articulation are a must. Avoid getting sideways on the steepest hills or risk a rollover." After wheeling with you guys this weekend, I'd imagine that it would be a walk in the park for you! The first part looks really steep, but it was the angle that made me put my tail between my legs and go the easy way:mad:

[Mike]

Cool! Thanks for the advice everyone. Still open to any suggestions, but what Russ is suggesting sounds good to me. I may take Sierra Pelona back down just to say that I've been there :haha:

[ellosdos]

Rowher, Lookout and Sierra Pelona are the only 4x4 trails in the OHV area; the rest of the trails are for quads and motorcycles only. I suggest that you start at the Bouquet Canyon (north) end of Rowher, and take Rowher over the top of the ridge and down the other side to the OHV area, then return to the top of the ridge via Lookout and either continuing back to Bouquet Canyon via Rowher, or turn around and go back down Lookout. I've made the round trip in about three hours.

I haven't been on the Rowher trail in three months. Let us know if this abandoned pickup truck is still there:

I was there last weekend and the pickup is still there, but it dosnt have the axles anymore. It was a fun ride.

[sickandtwisted]

I find that funny 'cause I've run those trails in my stock Dodge Ram 2500

Hey Malachi,

I've only been thru sections of Rowher, but it was a lot of fun. The book that I have also suggests running the trail from Bouquet Cyn . . . the trail head is located at the back of the dirt parking area across from Bouquet Reservoir. Here's what the book I have say's about it: "Difficult. Extremely steep and rutted. Lockers or excellent articulation are a must. Avoid getting sideways on the steepest hills or risk a rollover." After wheeling with you guys this weekend, I'd imagine that it would be a walk in the park for you! The first part looks really steep, but it was the angle that made me put my tail between my legs and go the easy way:mad:

[Mike]

I find that funny 'cause I've run those trails in my stock Dodge Ram 2500

Hi Sickandtwisted! Just posted a 'Hello' on the 'Your Rockin' Jeep' thread. I'd have to agree with you on the Rowher trail. Other than the gnarly climb that Schmo is talking about, the trail was just mildly interesting. I'm glad I went though, because that first climb is way cool, but Lookout is KILLER! By the time that I got to the third big climb, I was locked front and back and crawling up in 1st gear.

Have you been up that trail?

[Mike]

Trail Report - Rowher and Lookout Trails

I know that this thread started out as just a discussion, but based on the advice that was given, Sharon and I decided to run the trails on our way back from Lancaster today. So, I thought that I would share a trail report. For those of you that run these trails often, please forgive my long-winded attention to detail, but I want to give folks that haven't been on this trail my first-time impressions.

If anyone has differing opinions or experiences, please feel free to chime in. I love to hear of other folks experiences (and lines)! Also feel free to poke fun at my timidness on certain parts of the run... First time runs often have those "why the hell did I do this" moments!

I had the impression that Rowher was really just a hill climb and descent trail with little real challenges other than overcoming gravity. So, when we got to the trailhead, I was amused by the three Black Diamonds on the trail sign:


But when I took a look at the trail ahead, my amusement turned to a "well maybe it has some challenges...":


The trail starts out with some attention-getting ruts and turns, but the spot that gave me pause was the first rocky climb. I thought briefly about not even trying the run alone, but then the comments from the MJR forum kicked in and left me with the thought that this was the hardest part, it must get easier after this....:


Please note the broken safety glass at my feet. The tint film and glass attached is lying just out of the photo on the right. The glass is a reminder of Scout99's Oops! post for Rowher, so I was a bit concerned about picking a solid line.

As it turned out, Mr. Green climbed the obstacle with little difficulty. He went up so quickly that Sharon didn't get a chance to catch a pic! At the top of the first climb, there are some excellent views of Bouquet Reservoir:


After this climb, the trail was not very challenging in my opinion. Within 30 Minutes, we reached the top of the ridge:


The rockpile at the top called me to try, but I passed this time. Maybe on another run...

As we wandered along the ridge, we had a visit from one of the natives:


I was playing on the side trails and missed the turn for the downhill run of Rowher. After realizing this, we back tracked to find the downhill run. We lost about half an hour due to this.

As a side note, the trail is really badly littered with trash. It was disgusting to me that there was so much litter along the trail. I don't know if there is a club that has adopted the trail or not, but if so, they have their work cut out for them. I did what I could, but my trash bag is limited.

Okay, off the soapbox... the trail downhill led us to the now famous Chevy truck:


As confirmed earlier in this thread, the axles have been removed. Other than a shell, there isn't much left.

The downhill run was not impressive to me. We didn't try the hills that claimed the flip of the Land Rover earier this year, but they didn't seem too insane. If we had more time to play I would have tried them.

At the bottom of Rowher, I thought about just calling it a day, but I could see the first climb of the Lookout Trail from there and I decided to go get a closer look.

The trailhead will make you think before you just hit 4Low and Go:


It looks more like an ATV trail than a Jeep trail and it is a loose dirt climb up a very steep hill. As it turned out, Mr. Green walked up this like it was flat road. But it wasn't long before I had a moment of pause. The 2nd big hill climb was enough to make me start taking this trail seriously:


This climb is not short, smooth or even-cambered! There is a nice rock falls to climb early on and then at the slight turn to the right, the trail gets loose and slightly off-camber. We were happy to get the top without having to use the rear locker.

Rolling right along, we found ourselves at the third big climb. This one was taller, steeper, longer, and nastier than the first two:


I briefly thought about stopping, but I didn't like the idea of going back down the last hill, so we pressed on. For this climb, I was locked front and back and used first gear in 4Low. I haven't used 1st gear in 4Low for a long climb since... ever! The climb had parts that are very loose rock and dirt. There were brief moments that I became concerned due to the front of the Jeep starting to slide downhill but the lockers pushed the nose on up the climb. I would try the side trails for this one if we had others with us on the next run. As it was, we stuck to the most traveled route.

Once we made it past the third big climb, the trail was a pretty easy climb back to the top near the rockpile area. We took the easy Sierra Pelona trail back down. The route is longer than the downhill run of Rowher, so next time I would probably just do that trail again.

The views on Sierra Pelona are nice. See the link to all the photos for the views. Otherwise, the side trails are easily done in 2WD and the drive is annoying due to the roughness of the drive. The redeeming factors of this trail are the views of the rock formations and the cool view of Lookout Trail from 5N14. This is a view of the number two and three climbs:


All-in-all, not a bad way to travel home from Lancaster. I really enjoyed Lookout Trail and the first rocky climb of Rowher. The total first climb up was 30 minutes, and the climb down was 30 minutes (not counting that I got lost playing round on the top of the ridge). The climb up Lookout Trail only took 30 minutes as well. So if you really pushed it, all of these trails could be done in two hours. It takes about 30 minutes to get back to the 14 from the end of Rowher so 2.5 hours from start to finish will provide you with some real challenges and some fun stuff to drag your friends back out to. Big groups will obviously take longer.

A big 'Thank You' to Russ and Schmo for your guidance. We didn't take many photos, but what we have can be found here:
http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q...out%207-29-07/

[Sandy R]

Great report!

[JJsKJ]

Thanks for the report and pics, exactly what i was looking for. I think I will head out there in the near future.

[sickandtwisted]

I misread that post I haven't been up the trail by the resevoir in the Dodge but I did have a chance to take my stock Rubi up that one a couple of times. Took it all the way from Bouquet to Rowher and it was a great ride. The Dodge has been up the trail after the second campground and some others as well. I actually met a guy claiming he owned the truck that's been abbandoned up there he said he was wheeling and broke a tie rod and could'nt get anyone up there to fix it so he reported it stollen. A local ranger told me they knew who it belonged to and it was to be heli-evaced outa there and his insurance was going to be billed. But you all see how far that went.

Hi Sickandtwisted! Just posted a 'Hello' on the 'Your Rockin' Jeep' thread. I'd have to agree with you on the Rowher trail. Other than the gnarly climb that Schmo is talking about, the trail was just mildly interesting. I'm glad I went though, because that first climb is way cool, but Lookout is KILLER! By the time that I got to the third big climb, I was locked front and back and crawling up in 1st gear.

Have you been up that trail?

[sickandtwisted]

Sorry guys didn't mean to thread jack... By the way exellent trail review it made me feel like I was on the trail again in my Rubi. I can't wait to get another Jeep!