Mojave Road 2009

Took another trip across the 150 or so miles of the Old Mojave Road, this year I led the trip.

Photos Day 1

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Photos Day 2 Click here
Photos Day 3 Click here

We had 11 rovers, 22 people, 2 dogs, 75 degree days, 27 degree nights, 1 dead battery and a million memories.

Day one:Following the Mojave Road guide book, we started at the Colorado river on a warm sunny spring morning and collected some rocks for use on the third day. We headed out toward Fort Piute, broke for lunch and hiked to see the fort and a lot of petro glyphs. After lunch as we descended into the valley the weather turned dark, the wind picked up and rain clouds raced across in the distance.

We only felt a few drops, but the clouds and weather added another layer to the trail and the scenery. We found the old school bus, although someone said it looked more like a church bus since it's so "holey". It was then off to the "Penny can" where we made some generous contributions, some as much as a quarter.

Then we got the call over the radio... "hold up, we've got a dead battery back here." Hans' Optima wouldn't start his D90, a few tries, jumpstarts and wiggling wires and it fired up. We continued on to Government holes and other stops for photo opportunities. The trail, although not technically difficult requires constant focus and attention as you traverse for hours at a time from hard earth to soft sand, to whoop-de-doos, to sharp turns, to sudden drops and dips, to rocks and any combination of the above at a moments notice. Everyone did great and kept up the entire time.With night approaching we drove up to Mid Hills campground to see how it looked. Most of the campground is still burned out, but one part of the loop was still in-tact. Coldness quickly set in.. and the wind... the wind was angry... and cold.... very cold.. the kind of cold wind that makes you wish you brought an arctic expedition parka.. did I mention it was cold? It was 27 degrees not counting in the wind-chill which probably put it around 15.

Day two:We all woke up to icicles and frozen... well... frozen everything.

Soon the sun came out and the wind only blew occasionally. We headed down to Hole-in-the-wall which is a great place. Many climbed down the ring ladder while the rest of us looked on from above thinking how difficult that ring ladder looked.
Then, click, click. Hans' D90 wouldn't start again. An unsuccessful jump start later, Mark offered his spare Optima. That's what I said.."You carry a spare Optima?"... So they swapped out the batteries, wiggled some wires and it started up again.We headed to a great lunch spot and relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the view... Yes, you guessed it... not even a click from Hans' D90. Well, it wasn't the battery after all. With a little more wire wiggling, he found the wire causing all the trouble so the swapped the batteries back.Off to the Mojave Mailbox and the Frog Shrine.

People put odd things out in the middle of nowhere and people like us spend days driving to see those things.Next up, the Lava tubes. A MUST SEE, if you even drive this trail, thanks to everyone who recommended it and helped us find our way to them and Tom for pinpointed how to get there for me. On the drive out, Yoko took a photo which clearly has a UFO in the distance... we're not sure what to think of that...
I swear we didn't touch that photo up at all. After getting in some practice on driving in sand, we made it out to Little Cow mountain and found a great spot for all of us to set up camp. This time it was warm and the breeze was light. Everyone made dinner, relaxed, some took showers, we had fires... a welcome relief from the cold of the first night.

Day three:Thanks to Yoko, we setup the obligatory "line of Rovers" shot, and it came out pretty well.

We headed off across Soda Lake to Traveler's monument to deposit the rocks we brought with us. We headed over to Afton Canyon but Tom had to leave us early and headed out Razor road. Afton canyon was very sandy and a lot of fun. We made it to the train trestle, looked around for a bit and then a train appeared right on cue just in time for Oscars sons to put some coins on the tracks to see what happens when a freight train runs over a coin. We then followed a group of sand rails that were playing in the canyon and I think they couldn't believe we kept up with them. We criss-crossed the water and sand and had a great time.We ended the trip with a car wash at the water crossing just before Afton Campground.

If you watch the video closely, you notice I had a license plate when I went in, but none when I came out. The water pressure bent it so it was pointing straight ahead... very funny.

We had lunch on the Mesa above the canyon and said our good byes. It was a great trip, a great bunch of people