Bill Burke + Ocotillo Wells to Ocotillo trip

+ d

Adventurer
The old man and I spent last Thursday in Borrego Springs with Bill Burke at an all day seminar. For those of you who aren't familiar with BB read up about him, he's quite the guru. I must say it was well worth it... He coerced me into trying, what we would call a frame twister wash, and I was doing pretty well until my front axle articulated too much and I dropped a spring...doh! (Funny thing is I spent a good portion of the previous weekend drilling and welding attachment points for front limiting straps just to prevent this sort of thing, but never seemed to have time to actually attach them! Heck I even had the straps and hardware in a bag in the jeep!) The spring shot out of there with a bang when I started to comeback down on it, and at first I thought for sure I broke something. So I was partly relieved and partly embarrassed when I stopped looked under my jeep and saw the spring and isolators layin' in the dirt. Well Bill really kept his cool, I mean "getting unstuck" is his thing right? (I think he was kinda excited) So we stuck the spring back in and I started to back out of this tight wash when...of course the other spring drops out! On my Grand the driver's side articulates more than the passenger side, so Bill actually had to hold the spring in there while I was trying to back up and out of this wash. The guy is amazing, he has his hands in my wheel well while telling me to gas it and my tire is spinning away spraying the guy with rocks and sand! The other side is stuffed so hard that the tire is rubbing the coil tower and making a serious racket. Well I just couldn't get my ass around the corner so with a friendly yank from a TJ I was able to finally back out.

We left Borrego Springs well after dark and headed to a familiar camp spot near Split Mountain, we were relieved to find it vacant. Next morning we woke up, had a little breakfast and installed those limiting straps campside. We made our way up sandstone canyon to the Diablo Drop Off...which we intended to drive up. Having never seen it in person (the pictures weren't so bad) we were pretty optimistic. It took us a while to get through some tough sections on the approach to the base (thanks Kevin for my sturdy rocker protection!). Once we were there it was significantly more hardcore than expected, there were parts that were actually difficult to walk up. So we made some sandwiches, scouted the whole thing, and plotted our plan of attack (both of us thinking ‘we ain't going to make this). But I’ll be damned if we didn't clean the whole thing in one try. Of course we didn't take pictures...too stressed about making it, and then when its all over too quick we were kicking ourselves for not documenting the fun.

Once up on the mesa it was a great view and an easy drive to Arroyo Seco del Diablo. Once out in the Vallacito Wash we followed it all the way to the marsh, which is strange to go from sand and ocotillos to mud and reeds. It was pretty overgrown and we ended up backing out of there and heading over to Canyon Sin Nombre, where we set up camp in a nice hidden wash and went for a hike. After some beers and a hot carne asada dinner we were out for the night. Next day we headed back to San Diego to catch up with the real world, never enough time to really get lost. Enjoy the pics... David

waxing poetic...
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passenger spring re-secured...
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...******!?
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"now give it some gas..."
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mud...!?
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ahhh the desert tranquility...
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erin

Explorer
:jump:

Very cool write up +d, looks like a very good area. Nice pics also.

In the end did you have anymore problems once the limit straps were in place?
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Great write-up. Glad you were able to spend some time with "the man". He is one of the top trainers in the country. It was fun writing the "How steep, How deep" article with him.
 

+ d

Adventurer
expeditionswest said:
...It was fun writing the "How steep, How deep" article with him.

where could one find a copy of that article? sounds intriguing.
 

+ d

Adventurer
man! now i gotta subscribe to a 'yota magazine to get the goods!

though it seems more aligned with my vehicle aspirations than all those rockcrawlin' jeep mags out there...

when is there going to be an american expedition magazine?
 

cshontz

Supporting Sponsor
+ d said:
man! now i gotta subscribe to a 'yota magazine to get the goods!

though it seems more aligned with my vehicle aspirations than all those rockcrawlin' jeep mags out there...

when is there going to be an american expedition magazine?

I agree. I briefly flipped through an issue of 4WD Toyota Owner and I really liked what I saw. Jeep themed publications are altogether poor - each issue seems to come out of the same mold as the one before it, only with slightly different pictures and text with each iteration.

However, there is a new Jeep magazine that claims to be different, although it doesn't seem to have wings yet. I've never seen it in person, but it has me wondering.

http://www.jrations.com/

Frankly, I think the web is more effective at providing interesting and informative content moreso than any print publication. The magazines are nice because they serve as a nice compilation of info that is delivered to you personally, but one can typically stay "in the know" just by frequenting the appropriate forums such as this one.

Magazines are also handy on the throne if you don't have a laptop and wifi. You all know you do it!

:smilies27

As far as vehicle dependent expedition themed content, I had a hard enough time finding anything on the web let alone print. This forum is a godsend, not to totally kiss up - it is informative, friendly, mature ... except for me, perhaps. :eek:
 

flyingwil

Supporting Sponsor - Sierra Expeditions
Nice write-up David!

Silly me, I jumped striaght to the pictures, but reading your post made more sense to Bill's face on the ****** pic. Looks like you had a fun time. So what was the most valuable lesson you learned from Bill Burke?

He and Scott wrote a great article in 4WD Toyota Owner's Mag. If you want, I'll send you my copy when I'm done with it. (Hey I owe you anyways for the deflators!)

Thanks for the info.

Wil
 

+ d

Adventurer
hey thanks for that j-rations.com link chris...veeery interesting, the website content seems to be written by someone with brains (an internet rarity)...i'm going to put in an order for that first issue, lets see if it materializes. (funny, i say that brains are an internet rarity, yet i agree that there is an amazing wealth of knowledge out there mixed in with all the crap, the trick seems to be knowing how to mine the gold from the pyrite!)

wil! i may take you up on borrowing that issue, i'd like to see that article and just check out the mag in general. i'll be sure to send it back (it'll be a collectors item one day for sure)

you know, i'm not sure there was one massive revelation that i got from Bill that day...but it was interesting as he was talking, all the little facts, anecdotes, nuances and wish list items floating around in my head all started to click together and make sense...connecting the theory with reality with the equipment.

in a twisted sort of way i was really happy to get 'stuck' while i was out there with him...man, he was cool as a cucumber. after i fetched my spring and accoutrement out from underneath the jeep he put his hand on my shoulder and said "s'okay..we'll getcha outta here man" after that I knew everything was going to be okay, just watch, listen and learn. I’m pretty sure one of his ‘On the Road’ trips is in my future…hmmm after just checking bb4wa.com an anza borrego trip is coming up, and its on my birthday…coincidence?
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
Great post. And that is a great piece of desert you guys were having fun in :camping: Too funny about the limit straps being in your Grand :p


Some of the pics are coming up as red "x"'s for me. I'll try again later for those.
 

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