Mojave Road and Preserve... some of it

AzTacoma

Adventurer
THIS trip has come and gone, and it had some highs and some lows. The good news is I'll be going out there again someday to complete the Mojave Road.

The four of us started out Wednesday morning and made the drive from Phoenix to just outside Barstow. We started the trail at Harvard Road running it "backwards" west-to-east. I must say everything was clicking pretty well. The weather was nice, company was excellent, and I was pleasantly surprised with the Mojave. Honestly, I had fairly low expectations. Perhaps because it seemed just like a long road through the desert, and I've been on lots of long roads in the desert. Perhaps because I'm a bit jaded after Death Valley, the San Juans, or Moab? Whatever the reason, the Mojave turned out to be a great area and a great trip... except for the mishap that send me limping home a day early.

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We started out at Camp Cady and took the Mojave Road all the way to the Kelso-Cima paved road. From there we deviated from the trail up to the Cima area, and then took it back down to Kelso Depot and the dunes. The plan was to take the Foshay Pass to Black Canyon Road and then back up to the Mojave Road. This southern detour would take us to some nice points of interest, add an extra 50 miles to the trip, and only miss a very small section of the actual Mojave Trail.

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While in Foshay pass, checking out an old mine, I heard a metal clanking noise. At first I thought it was a loose skid plate since it was loose with a couple bolts missing. I quickly fixed that but the noise continued and after a better look I quickly determined the problem. The driver side leaf spring was busted, as was the shock. Strange that such violent damage would occur on an otherwise easy 4x4 trip.

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Thanks to the help of others on this trip, we strapped the spring down in two spots as best we could and strapped the rear axle to the crossmember to keep it from moving backwards. It did the job keeping everything together as I carefully drove the 300 miles home. Andy and Mike pressed on and Brett escorted me back to Phx. Sorry Brett for cutting your trip early too. I'm still waiting to hear back from Andy and Mike to see how things finished up. Now it's time to get the Tacoma back up to speed and ready for the next big summer trip!

Took LOTS of pictures and uploaded about 20% of the keepers. Link to uploaded pictures
 

DRTYTOY

Observer
More Pics !

thanks again for the invite Chris, My dad and I had a blast and were disappointed you and Brett couldn't complete the trip with us. So here is some of what I got.

The "un-official" start


Going to check out a small canyon in Afton canyon.


Group poser shot :)


On soda lake


One of the many mines we checked out. Found some neat turquoize color rocks.


The frog pile at the mail box


Brett tail gunning it


Up near Foshay pass


And then an early end to half of the groups trip.


Piute canyon overlook.


And the others.........
http://s951.photobucket.com/user/Andy716/slideshow/Mojave%20Road%202014

Ill have to download some more when I get over to the parents house and download what my dad has.
 

Coma

New member
Very nice pictures guys.

For sure a well thought out trip with great company. Already told Chris we should finish this next year.
 

AzTacoma

Adventurer
Andy, I saw a picture of a cabin, was that the one on the topo? I couldn't judge from the pictures, but I assume you guys hit government holes well, and I'm not sure I saw any pictures of the actual Fort Piute ruins?
 

DRTYTOY

Observer
Andy, I saw a picture of a cabin, was that the one on the topo? I couldn't judge from the pictures, but I assume you guys hit government holes well, and I'm not sure I saw any pictures of the actual Fort Piute ruins?

Ya Chris that was the cabin on the map by the mine that was a little out of the way. We actually passed government holes and that mine by the rock house because my dads GPS lost signal for a while and once it got signal back we were miles past it and didn't feel like back tracking. Ya I totally forgot about taking pics of fort Piute or the canyon its in, I'm sure my dad did and ill post the pics when I get them. Besides you will see those things eventually when you conquer it next time :smiley_drive:
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Hopefully I get stationed back in Cali after Kodiak so I can be close to home again and all these awesome trails. Makes me so jelly
 

AzTacoma

Adventurer
Looking through the pics has me wondering if the leaf damage happened earlier, maybe much earlier, than when I finally heard the shock clanking down there. I figure the brunt of the damage happened on my previous trip, which was a 4x4 wash and maybe the most difficult trail I've been on. Horrible wash. Maybe I cracked the leaf there and the easy but mogul-ish Mojave finished it off. I can't help but wonder because it takes a fairly extreme hit to bust a leaf and shock like that, and no such thing happened on this trip.

I think I'm ditching the extended rear shackles and getting OME Dakars.
 

DRTYTOY

Observer
Well I'm sure running Elvis didn't help their condition, that is one of the hardest trails I have ran. I know broken leaves happen, I broke a stock leaf on the coke oven trial, my dad broke a stock one up in southern Utah. I'm a little puzzled on why your shock broke. I know you have the stock bumps on your truck, were the rancho's longer than stock? Mabey the shocks were bottoming out before the bumps had a chance to do their job. and if your leaves were going into a negitive arch, I know that shortens thier life dramtically. Just some things to think about. I'm suprised those leaves were not military wrapped like a lot are. My 3" All Pros are military wrapped and specifically bought them because they were, because I figured if I ever broke a main leaf again at least the axle wouldn't start moving backwards unless the other leave broke also.
 

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