Crossing the Mojave
I usually do trip writeups in my build thread but I thought this one deserved its very own place. Over Thanksgiving break I had the privilege to spend a few days crossing the Mojave Desert with @cytronus and another friend. Spent a good amount of time doing research and planning this trip and it ended up being one for the books! Wanted to share my experiences with T4R so that future adventurers can do the same!
Route that we took (140 miles over 2.5 days): Download
The Beginning: Alabama Hills
We started the trip off in a staging area just about two hours from the Mojave. It’s one of my favorite camping spots in California and a great place to begin adventures into the great California deserts. The trails in this area are incredibly scenic being at the base of the Sierras and near Mt Whitney (Tallest mountain in the lower 48).
Most of the stuff is graded dirt roads but there are some fun little sections if you go looking for them. These sections also lead to the best camping spots which are only accessible by 4x4 keeping the masses out.
Staying here gives you the ability to wake up to views like this:
The Beginning of Mojave Rd
Our trip plans called for us to go from West to East on the Mojave Rd. This is the opposite way that most people cross the Mojave but it was the way we were going as our final destination was Sedona, AZ. Our starting point on the Mojave Rd would be the Afton campground right before the infamous Mojave River water crossing. This is where we met my other friend and after some intros and airing down we decided to immediately tackle the water crossing. Here is a short vid of my truck making the crossing.
The water wasn’t super deep but it still required you to keep momentum and a nice bow wave. Otherwise you were in for some wet carpets. After conquering the river we pressed on to rocky trails that paralleled the train tracks. We came up onto some really cool looking slot canyons and decided to take a break.
The sun started to set and we were on a mission to find the perfect camping spot. This was a fantastic opportunity to put my new lighting setup to the test. I was BLOWN away by the tremendous output of my Baja Designs 30” S8 + Squadron Sport lights in the front. It really made driving in the dark open desert a breeze. Thanks @baja+designs
We finally found a great camping spot and decided to settle down for the night. Nothing beats a nice campfire with good friends, food and beer.
Day 2
We woke up relatively early and had a nice breakfast before rolling out to cross the famous Soda Lake. We were very fortunate the lake was bone dry making it easy to drive across. I’ve seen plenty of videos/photos of people getting stuck in the lake bed when it’s wet. Not a fun experience I’m sure.
We even had some time to stop and enjoy Traveler’s Monument. A place where people can drop off a rock and add to the ever growing pile!
After completing the journey across the lake we were in search of some lava tubes. Trying to find this place proved to be a challenge as I got our convoy a bit lost on some side trails. I think we all added some desert pinstriping because of that ;) Here is @cytronus coming up a rocky technical portion of the trail:
We finally located the site and climbed down the dark and cavernous tubes which once flowed with hot molten lava thousands of years ago!
After a quick lunch we ran into a group of retired tourists making their way up to visit the site. They decided to take their rental Ford Explorer up one of the rocky 4x4 roads and got about a couple hundred feet before they blew out a tire. My original plan was to plug their tire. However, after inspecting it and finding a huge gash in the sidewall we decided it was best to put their spare on. At this point they were only about 30 miles from the nearest asphalt and the return trip back was via graded dirt road.
Here is @cytronus and myself changing their tire out:
After leaving the lava tubes we pressed on in search of the Mojave mailbox and frog display. As we made our way to that landmark we were presented one of the most beautiful sunsets that I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I don’t know what it is about the desert but I’ve never seen a sunset this colorful. Absolutely amazing!
We arrived just in time to check out the frog display before it got dark!
It was right after this stop that my 5 year old Panasonic OEM battery decided to quit on me. In middle of nowhere. Luckily I was with other trucks that could give me a jump but I thought it was a perfect opportunity to try my GB40 Li-Ion jump pack. Broke that bad boy out and the truck fired right up! I can’t say enough about this little device. It will now have a permanent home in my truck and I will never leave home without it again. We would use it three more times as we completed our journey.
The Final Day
After another great night camping it was time to say goodbye to @cytronus and my friend. We ran out of time and they needed to get back to work the next day. There was about 30% of the road left to do so we packed up and left camp early to complete the rest of the journey solo. The remainder of the Mojave Rd was uneventful but it did get a little more fun towards the end. This was a nice steep hill climb I got to do:
[youtube]18BUyjuiuc0[/youtube]
After a few miles through a Joshua tree forest we found ourselves at the banks of the Colorado river. Just as quick as the trip started we were now at the official end of the Mojave rd. Wish I could say I completed the Mojave unscathed but during the last few miles of the trip I got complacent coming off a rock shelf and slammed my front RCI Aluminum skid on some rocks leaving a nice souvenir on my oil filter access panel.
Just goes to show you that you always need to pay attention!
I usually do trip writeups in my build thread but I thought this one deserved its very own place. Over Thanksgiving break I had the privilege to spend a few days crossing the Mojave Desert with @cytronus and another friend. Spent a good amount of time doing research and planning this trip and it ended up being one for the books! Wanted to share my experiences with T4R so that future adventurers can do the same!
Route that we took (140 miles over 2.5 days): Download
The Beginning: Alabama Hills
We started the trip off in a staging area just about two hours from the Mojave. It’s one of my favorite camping spots in California and a great place to begin adventures into the great California deserts. The trails in this area are incredibly scenic being at the base of the Sierras and near Mt Whitney (Tallest mountain in the lower 48).
Most of the stuff is graded dirt roads but there are some fun little sections if you go looking for them. These sections also lead to the best camping spots which are only accessible by 4x4 keeping the masses out.
Staying here gives you the ability to wake up to views like this:
The Beginning of Mojave Rd
Our trip plans called for us to go from West to East on the Mojave Rd. This is the opposite way that most people cross the Mojave but it was the way we were going as our final destination was Sedona, AZ. Our starting point on the Mojave Rd would be the Afton campground right before the infamous Mojave River water crossing. This is where we met my other friend and after some intros and airing down we decided to immediately tackle the water crossing. Here is a short vid of my truck making the crossing.
The water wasn’t super deep but it still required you to keep momentum and a nice bow wave. Otherwise you were in for some wet carpets. After conquering the river we pressed on to rocky trails that paralleled the train tracks. We came up onto some really cool looking slot canyons and decided to take a break.
The sun started to set and we were on a mission to find the perfect camping spot. This was a fantastic opportunity to put my new lighting setup to the test. I was BLOWN away by the tremendous output of my Baja Designs 30” S8 + Squadron Sport lights in the front. It really made driving in the dark open desert a breeze. Thanks @baja+designs
We finally found a great camping spot and decided to settle down for the night. Nothing beats a nice campfire with good friends, food and beer.
Day 2
We woke up relatively early and had a nice breakfast before rolling out to cross the famous Soda Lake. We were very fortunate the lake was bone dry making it easy to drive across. I’ve seen plenty of videos/photos of people getting stuck in the lake bed when it’s wet. Not a fun experience I’m sure.
We even had some time to stop and enjoy Traveler’s Monument. A place where people can drop off a rock and add to the ever growing pile!
After completing the journey across the lake we were in search of some lava tubes. Trying to find this place proved to be a challenge as I got our convoy a bit lost on some side trails. I think we all added some desert pinstriping because of that ;) Here is @cytronus coming up a rocky technical portion of the trail:
We finally located the site and climbed down the dark and cavernous tubes which once flowed with hot molten lava thousands of years ago!
After a quick lunch we ran into a group of retired tourists making their way up to visit the site. They decided to take their rental Ford Explorer up one of the rocky 4x4 roads and got about a couple hundred feet before they blew out a tire. My original plan was to plug their tire. However, after inspecting it and finding a huge gash in the sidewall we decided it was best to put their spare on. At this point they were only about 30 miles from the nearest asphalt and the return trip back was via graded dirt road.
Here is @cytronus and myself changing their tire out:
After leaving the lava tubes we pressed on in search of the Mojave mailbox and frog display. As we made our way to that landmark we were presented one of the most beautiful sunsets that I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I don’t know what it is about the desert but I’ve never seen a sunset this colorful. Absolutely amazing!
We arrived just in time to check out the frog display before it got dark!
It was right after this stop that my 5 year old Panasonic OEM battery decided to quit on me. In middle of nowhere. Luckily I was with other trucks that could give me a jump but I thought it was a perfect opportunity to try my GB40 Li-Ion jump pack. Broke that bad boy out and the truck fired right up! I can’t say enough about this little device. It will now have a permanent home in my truck and I will never leave home without it again. We would use it three more times as we completed our journey.
The Final Day
After another great night camping it was time to say goodbye to @cytronus and my friend. We ran out of time and they needed to get back to work the next day. There was about 30% of the road left to do so we packed up and left camp early to complete the rest of the journey solo. The remainder of the Mojave Rd was uneventful but it did get a little more fun towards the end. This was a nice steep hill climb I got to do:
[youtube]18BUyjuiuc0[/youtube]
After a few miles through a Joshua tree forest we found ourselves at the banks of the Colorado river. Just as quick as the trip started we were now at the official end of the Mojave rd. Wish I could say I completed the Mojave unscathed but during the last few miles of the trip I got complacent coming off a rock shelf and slammed my front RCI Aluminum skid on some rocks leaving a nice souvenir on my oil filter access panel.
Just goes to show you that you always need to pay attention!
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