Influencer I
Not sure exactly what to call the area ... NE of Coso Junction, W of China Lake, mostly S of Coso Wilderness. In any case, figure I'd post the trip, since I haven't seen much about the area before I went there. Summary, in place of full text:
- Desert beauty. If Joshua trees and red-iron dried lakebeds are your things, this is gorgeous.
- A bunch of mines, some active, some abandoned (mostly pit, that I saw), almost all of which screamed "danger"[1].
- A few golden remote campsites built on old mine sites, but mostly no pre-existing campgrounds. Very isolated, as far as camping goes.
- Bound to change rapidly, there is active mining going on, and you can tell there's erosion control in progress.
- I'd rate just about everything as C4WDA 1-2, with a few sections that might be rated 3 due to erosion rutting and related. But given there's a bunch of bypasses and alternates, nothing that requires 4WD.
- There are tagged cattle on the land, so someone owns them; don't spook them.
- There's a few spots where there's dried lakebeds, obviously some people go mudding up there. It was 95% dry when I was there, so I can't tell you how gnarly it gets when it's wet.
- I forgot to record everything, but I recorded just about all of the S/SE side of things; you're pretty hemmed in by china lake. I may have also missed a few spurs or loops in the center, but I think most of the area for investigation lies at where I marked "Y" intersections towards the N end. But, I had other destinations in mind, so I opted to bail W and leave that for another day. :)
- gpx and pics below.
[1] Some SAR friends of mine always curse pit mines; horizontal shafts can cave in but usually because you're doing something, sarlac pits suck in people just trying to take photos even when they think they're safely away from the edge. :/ And apparently, they're a horrible waste of ropes to get in position for a rescue.
- Desert beauty. If Joshua trees and red-iron dried lakebeds are your things, this is gorgeous.
- A bunch of mines, some active, some abandoned (mostly pit, that I saw), almost all of which screamed "danger"[1].
- A few golden remote campsites built on old mine sites, but mostly no pre-existing campgrounds. Very isolated, as far as camping goes.
- Bound to change rapidly, there is active mining going on, and you can tell there's erosion control in progress.
- I'd rate just about everything as C4WDA 1-2, with a few sections that might be rated 3 due to erosion rutting and related. But given there's a bunch of bypasses and alternates, nothing that requires 4WD.
- There are tagged cattle on the land, so someone owns them; don't spook them.
- There's a few spots where there's dried lakebeds, obviously some people go mudding up there. It was 95% dry when I was there, so I can't tell you how gnarly it gets when it's wet.
- I forgot to record everything, but I recorded just about all of the S/SE side of things; you're pretty hemmed in by china lake. I may have also missed a few spurs or loops in the center, but I think most of the area for investigation lies at where I marked "Y" intersections towards the N end. But, I had other destinations in mind, so I opted to bail W and leave that for another day. :)
- gpx and pics below.
[1] Some SAR friends of mine always curse pit mines; horizontal shafts can cave in but usually because you're doing something, sarlac pits suck in people just trying to take photos even when they think they're safely away from the edge. :/ And apparently, they're a horrible waste of ropes to get in position for a rescue.
