Black Mountain Trek, CA (3/31-4/2) Planning Thread

[expeditionswest]

Located in California, just West of Yuma, our trail starts along the Colorado River and passes through the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation and North to the Chocolate Mountains. This gets us into the Picacho State Park for remote camping and some exploration along the Colorado River. From there it is West into the Black Mountain Range.

Friday: Make camp along the Colorado River in the Picacho State Recreation Area. Group members can show up at any point throughout the day at camp. The road in is easy. The first choice camp ground is Outpost camp (thanks for the suggestion Al), which is the furthest camp north in the area. Maps to the camp grounds are available at the park entrance. $7 per car for camping. If the Outpost camp is taken, then the next camp further south will be the option (4S Beach Camp). If these two campsites are occupied, than instructions will be left in 4S Beach Camp.

Directions to Picacho State Recreation Area: Exit interstate 8 at exit #171 onto Winterheaven Drive. Turn North and proceed .3 miles to the paved route S24 and turn East (there should be signs for the Picacho State Park). Bear left onto Picacho Road (still S24) and travel north. Cross over All American Canal at 4.5 miles (N32 47.83 W114 36.74, WGS84). Turn NW on A 481 (N32 50.17 W114 38.40). From here the road deteriorates, crossing several washes as you proceed N. Fee area is at approximately 18 miles (N33 00.49 W114 37.15). Turn West towards Taylor Lake. After Taylor Lake area, it is 8 miles to the outpost on an uninproved track. Outpost Camp is at approximately (N33 04.171 W114 41.244).

group members can arrive anytime at camp on Friday. I am going to shoot for 2:00-3:00.

We will be monitoring the following comm.

CB 4
2M 146.460

Saturday:
Leave camp at 8:00 to take advantage of the good light. Proceed to Indian Pass Road and climb Indian Pass (moderate). Intersect Black Mountain Road before hitting S34 (Ogilby Road). We will make camp at the foot of Black Mountain. We will make camp early in the day, and allow for some exploration and hiking.

Sunday:
A later start today, leaving camp around 9:00. From camp, we make the steep and challenging climb up Black Mountain, where we should get some great images. After making the summit with beautiful views, we drop down the other side and onto Hwy 78. From there, a drive north to Cibola NWR and onto Blyth (those in SD can go south).

Group Size Limit: 10 Vehicles
1. Expeditions West: Toyota Tacoma
2. BajaTaco: Tacoma
3. FlyingWil: Tacoma
4. WhiteThaiger: Gen-two 4Runner
5. ElCoyote: Commanche and Adventure Trailer
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:

Tentative:
1. Ron

[BajaTaco]

Sign me up. Sounds great

[McVick]

Scott,
I would also like to attend.
Those dates look good for me
so please sign me up!

Sounds like a great trip and some fun driving, I can only imagine the scenery!

[awalter]

Scott,

Please add my name to the list. It's been a few years since I've been in that area.

[whitethaiger]

Please sign us up also.
I've been to the State park a couple of times and always wondered about those mountains...

[goodtimes]

How "good" of a 4wd challenge? Would it be "dodge friendly"?

[flyingwil]

can get place on the tentative list?

[expeditionswest]

Originally Posted by goodtimes

How "good" of a 4wd challenge? Would it be "dodge friendly"?

A three on difficulty. Within the ability of all stock, high clearance SUV's and truck's.

It would be a great trail for the Dodge!

[goodtimes]

Pencil me in for this one. I should be unemployed by then......

[awalter]

Black Mountain Trail going in from the south is a bit more demanding, steep & very loose. A piece of cake going in from the north.