Members and Guests adventured into the Mojave starting at Afton Canyon in late January during ideal temperatures and wind conditions (luck was shining on us)
The water pools by the railroad bridges was only about 6-8” deep and extended into long sections of water in the wash road sections. This provided for some early afternoon excitement for those with a heavy right foot .
Next we hiked back into Spoooky Canyon for some amazing examples of what pressure, time, and mother nature can shape.
We knew the Soda Lake crossing was going to be closed (November storms reformed portions of the lake) so we looped out to Baker for a final gas stop. We had spotted some camping prospects along the north side of a large lava flow, with previous fire rings and natural protections.
In the morning our last two attendees arrived and we attempted to follow the Indian Springs trail up and around the cinder cone mountain. Unfortunately it has some washout sections which would have compromised a couple of the rigs, so we elected to proceed on with only part of the group while the rest tracked around the lava flow and we rejoined on the other side. We felt comfortable with this strategy because we had mapped out both options in OnX and GAIA and shared the routes amongst the participants. We couldn’t maintain constant radio communications, but were successful in regrouping on the other side.
Next stop was the lava tubes, another amazing example of the volcanic activity long ago.
Next we headed to the Aiken Mine for a lunch stop and to explore the operation remnants. this cinder cone mountain appeared so pure, the equipment indicated they were just using direct excavation into the sorters to get piles of the desired stone sizes. No crushing equipment was needed.
As we wrapped up and started to head on, one rig failed to start. After deeper inspection it was determined the starter was not engaging into the flywheel and no “tapping” or mechanical prying solved its reluctance. As starters don’t commonly give any pre-indication of a pending malfunction, this was an unavoidable situation. Using starlink technology (that a couple members have integrated into their setups), we were able to confirm that this rig could not be bump-started through any means. This knowledge avoided the risk of damaging further components by trial attempts.
Fortunately (as we try and travel in multiple rigs) we were able to easily tow the rig off the mountain and back to pavement where AAA was willing to haul it to a repair shop. Again, luck was shining on us!
After a few trail washout surprises and rerouting, we were able to stay on route plan schedule to the next campsite.
Just short of the campsite a tire failed on the larger trailer, and with some quick teamwork the spare was installed.
This picture of the remnants of the blown spare was easier to capture the following morning
Fortunately the big trailer packs two spares, so continuing on was of little increase in risk
We swung back up to the Mojave Road so we could reinforce our good fortune with donations at the Penny Can Tree.
This section of the Mojave has some flourishing Joshua Tree sections.
Objective on Saturday was to reach the California Mine by lunchtime. It appeared to be a precious metals operation which had been abandoned for over 20 years (at least).
After lunch, we looped back north again, weaving through some more mining areas, rejoining the Mojave Road near the Eastern Gate on the edge of the preserve. As we dropped down in elevation, we actually encountered some of the roughest section of the road/trail. It was evident that everyone had gained a greater comfort level in what they could traverse with their rig, so we all pushed on.
Our last waypoint was a visit to the ruins of an old fort. We enjoyed our final campsite/campfire before returning to the blacktop Sunday morning
We discovered so many additional areas to explore in the Mojave.