Post by Explorer 1 on Jan 14, 2014 21:16:43 GMT -8
New Year’s Day trip 2014
With the recent memory of our Mojave Road trip still in my mind I decided to go out again and re-trace the trails we covered in the dark not only to see what they looked like in daylight but to also see what other options were available especially in getting past the sand dunes.
I also wanted to try out Explore 3, the JK (Jeep Wrangler) I purchased just a week before. So off we went. Mina came along with me, Matt Dillon with his sister Natalie and friend, Emily Thompson and then Fernando and his wife.
We traveled to Ludlow where we left the pavement and headed north toward Broadwell Dry Lake. Here Matt was able to demonstrate the power of his 5.9 liter Jeep Grand Cherokee with speeds into the triple digits.
At the top of the ridge we turned right and followed the high tension power lines as we knew these would eventually come to the Sand Dunes that gave us a challenge getting around on our prior trip. I was reminded again how easily it is to get disoriented at night driving on unmarked dirt roads. Now in the daylight I could see miles upon miles and every landmark that told me where I was easily seen.
Just before the dunes we climbed up to where we could clearly see the ground we had just covered and then the dunes and the trail on the other side going into Jack Ass Canyon.
Travel on the dunes for all of us was an easy challenge, I expected the two other ZJ’s (Grand Cherokees) to possibly have some problems but the sand was firm enough that we crossed them easily.
Before we turned around and started heading back from the dunes we wanted one last thrill on this steep hill, it was steeper than the movie shows.
We then came across our camp spot complete with our fire ring and piles of different colored mud we had scrapped off our vehicles from the partial crossing of Soda Dry Lake.
We traveled over to the Mojave Megaphone where had lunch and then across the Mojave River watershed toward Afton Canyon.
Traveling alongside the railroad I took a few movies of both Matt and Fernando traveling alongside having some fun.
In Afton Canyon Matt and Natalie explored the first part of Spooky Canyon while waiting I used the time to instruct Fernando in the use of two peddle driving and articulating his ZJ.
We didn’t leave the canyon without some water fun and the baptizing of the new JK.
Thanks,
Fred
Explorer 3
With the recent memory of our Mojave Road trip still in my mind I decided to go out again and re-trace the trails we covered in the dark not only to see what they looked like in daylight but to also see what other options were available especially in getting past the sand dunes.
I also wanted to try out Explore 3, the JK (Jeep Wrangler) I purchased just a week before. So off we went. Mina came along with me, Matt Dillon with his sister Natalie and friend, Emily Thompson and then Fernando and his wife.
We traveled to Ludlow where we left the pavement and headed north toward Broadwell Dry Lake. Here Matt was able to demonstrate the power of his 5.9 liter Jeep Grand Cherokee with speeds into the triple digits.
At the top of the ridge we turned right and followed the high tension power lines as we knew these would eventually come to the Sand Dunes that gave us a challenge getting around on our prior trip. I was reminded again how easily it is to get disoriented at night driving on unmarked dirt roads. Now in the daylight I could see miles upon miles and every landmark that told me where I was easily seen.
Just before the dunes we climbed up to where we could clearly see the ground we had just covered and then the dunes and the trail on the other side going into Jack Ass Canyon.
Travel on the dunes for all of us was an easy challenge, I expected the two other ZJ’s (Grand Cherokees) to possibly have some problems but the sand was firm enough that we crossed them easily.
Before we turned around and started heading back from the dunes we wanted one last thrill on this steep hill, it was steeper than the movie shows.
We then came across our camp spot complete with our fire ring and piles of different colored mud we had scrapped off our vehicles from the partial crossing of Soda Dry Lake.
We traveled over to the Mojave Megaphone where had lunch and then across the Mojave River watershed toward Afton Canyon.
Traveling alongside the railroad I took a few movies of both Matt and Fernando traveling alongside having some fun.
In Afton Canyon Matt and Natalie explored the first part of Spooky Canyon while waiting I used the time to instruct Fernando in the use of two peddle driving and articulating his ZJ.
We didn’t leave the canyon without some water fun and the baptizing of the new JK.
Thanks,
Fred
Explorer 3