all messages by user

There are lots of great places in the southern part of ABDSP to see. If you haven't been up through Indian Gorge into Indian Valley, you should definitely try that. I saw a bighorn ram in the gorge last year and they lurk all around there. Once in Indian Valley there are some nice old trails to the palm groves to the south toward Mountain Palm Spring. If you want to do some climbing, the climb up Sombrero Peak is wonderful with great views the whole way up from Indian Valley. There are morteros, caves, and artwork around the Indian Valley area too, not to mention wonderful campsites scattered all about. It is much better to primitive camp than stay in campgrounds, just my opinion.

I second that! Indian Gorge is one of my favorite places. Just camp 1 night out there and you will be hooked on primitive camping!

Very nice campsite at the end of North fork Trail


and cool boulder scrambling

South Fork (Trail to Sombrero Peak)

worlds greatest playground, campsite in the distance at the trailhead to the palm groves just passed Torete Canyon

I am going to have seven days and debating whether or not to spend it at ABDSP or making the trek to death valley. I have never been to death Valley national park. Just curious to all those reading this what you would do.

I am impressed by how you took your vehicle with the huge camper on those trails.
You have got be thinking about picking up a camper for my wife's Tacoma at some point
I like these but they are very expensive.
Bob




anutami wrote:

Definitely will be going back! We did not make it to the bottom of the crater, we just stopped by for lunch before heading out to the Racetrack.
The Racetrack proved to destroy my front shocks on my truck. With the camper on top I did not feel comfortable driving over 30mph over the washboard road and was only able to go approx 20-25mph, which proved to blow out my stock front shocks. I needed to upgrade my shocks anyway.

Curious how much you air down your tires on the rough washboard?
We aired down our Landcruiser to 10psi on the washboard roads down in Baja and that made a huge difference.
Otherwise it felt like every bolt in the truck was rattling loose


anutami wrote:

Definitely will be going back! We did not make it to the bottom of the crater, we just stopped by for lunch before heading out to the Racetrack.
The Racetrack proved to destroy my front shocks on my truck. With the camper on top I did not feel comfortable driving over 30mph over the washboard road and was only able to go approx 20-25mph, which proved to blow out my stock front shocks. I needed to upgrade my shocks anyway.

Did you guys add a teakettle and toys??? What is the plastic ziploc??

I love the pictures of your kids out there, brings back memories for me with my kids...so much fun...thanks!

anutami your boy and vehicle (at a distance) look so much like my boy and vehicle that the photos look like they could be from me a couple years ago.

What is the vehicle and does it have a rack? I have Silver 4Runner Trail with Gobi rack and ladder.

My boy is a little bigger now (9 years old) but he still looks a lot like the picture and still loves his camoflage outfits.

I am at least 3 trip reports behind that I want to find time to post. If I post my Utah dessert trip there will be a photo of my vehicle as it got covered from top to bottom in mud (still dropping mud over a week after returning).

If I do not post this weekend it will not happen for a while as I am going to Death Valley the following weekend (going to try a winter summit of Telescope Peak and my boy has not seen the DV sites - he loves ghost towns, hiking, hot springs, it will be tough to choose what to see in a weekend where one day will be spent entirely hiking Telescope).

I got a Daystar level kit for my 2004 Dadge Ram for Christmas. I also got Rancho 5000 shocks to replace the origanal shocks that had about 105,000 miles on them. What a difference. I just got back from the maiden off road voyage with the new lift and it was nice to be off road with the new shocks and the new tires and rims I put on late last year. I did drive the truck to the Sierra and visited Tuolumne Meadow and Bodie right after New Years but this was the first real off road trip. We did about 150 miles off pavement and it was successful. Here is a pic of my truck with the front leveled. I am on the Soda Dry Lake near the west end of the Mojave Road.


Where is your truck camper looks like you have the happi jacks on your truck

You will have no problem on the jeep trails around Dos Cabezas / Jojoba Wash.
There are a couple places, depending on your route that you probably should avoid, but both have alternate routes.

There are some great camp sites in that area.



Pretty much my favorite area to camp
edited by surfponto on 1/23/2012

Looking to explore the area this weekend and have never been. Looks like many of you guys frequent this section of the park. I am looking to check out Indian hill with my kids and camp in jojoba wash. Am I able to get my truck and camper through these trails? I will usually scout things out before getting my camper in a place I can't get out of.

My iPhone (AT&T) usually works pretty good around Mortero Wash.
Carrizo Gorge on the other hand, not so good.

anutami wrote:

anutami wrote:

Looking to explore the area this weekend and have never been. Looks like many of you guys frequent this section of the park. I am looking to check out Indian hill with my kids and camp in jojoba wash. Am I able to get my truck and camper through these trails? I will usually scout things out before getting my camper in a place I can't get out of.

Also, does anyone know if there is cell coverage in the area? I have AT&T. Thanks

Looking to explore the area this weekend and have never been. Looks like many of you guys frequent this section of the park. I am looking to check out Indian hill with my kids and camp in jojoba wash. Am I able to get my truck and camper through these trails? I will usually scout things out before getting my camper in a place I can't get out of.

Took some not so good pics of a home built camper/truck that we usually see on the way out of Ocotillo. Not sure if it is the one mentioned in this forum, but it is definitely unique.
Nice craftsmanship and you gotta love the fullsize "Whirlybird" roof vent on it. Looks like it has a lot of underneath storage and a porch of some sort on the back. I have never seen it moving though, it is always parked when we see it.
Here are a couple of crummy pics, I didn't want to creep around the front of their house too long. You can see much more detail if you download them full size.
link

Yeah, that's not the wagon wheel, it looks like it could be some sort of calendrical or orientation marker. Does it seem the linear rocks are pointed in any particular direction? The large amount of pottery in the circle is strange too. Awesome find!

I enjoyed the tour very much. I like your solar set up. Next to my Sun-lite pop up your camper looks like a class A. I have been thinking about switching my interior lights to LED. What kind did you go with? Are you happy with the color? I love showing off my camper. Whenever anyone comes into camp and shows the least bit of interest I offer them the full tour.
David

surfponto wrote:

It kind of caught us by surprise also. I think it was more of some type of tour train but I am not totally sure.
The area is very rugged and tends to get visitors from south of the border as was evidenced b the water bottles, clothes and backpacks littered around.

That's the first leg of the new California high-speed rail project... but seriously, nice trip report Bob and Daren. I'm amazed at the vividness of the pictographs, makes me wonder what types of dye / coloring agents the natives used back in the day.

damn mylar balloons..we will rid the desert of them one-by-one...
i do not recognize some of those canyons, do you have a map of where you went exactly? i was out in the canyons a couple years ago but is was more on the west side of the calcite mine road.

damn mylar balloons..we will rid the desert of them one-by-one...
i do not recognize some of those canyons, do you have a map of where you went exactly? i was out in the canyons a couple years ago but is was more on the west side of the calcite mine road.

anutami wrote:

*just updated more pics for the rest of the sections

Great pictures! You sure get around a lot. You should create your own web site sometime with pictures, maps, and descriptions of all the places you've travelled to in AB park. That would be awesome! I've been going to the park for 8 years now, but looking at your reports shows me some new sections I need to explore.

Very cool how you get truck into some of those areas. In the pic of the side rail I also noticed your shovel, looks like you had to do some digging!

Great pictures as always. How close were you to that rattler?

The Fishhook Cactus looked interesting. I have never seen the buds like that.

Daren, did you try to eat the fishhook cactus fruit? It is supposed to taste very good.
I have always wanted to try it

Nice pics. I especially like the last one. Great light on the badlands!
David

Very sad indeed, and a reminder to anyone (many of us!) that may go exploring in remote areas alone. I thought of this young man while I was checking out the gold mines near Banner this past weekend. If something had happened, it would have been a long time before I was found, even though I told people where I was going and stayed near a well-traveled road.

RIP Guillermo

A big WOW! I would go back and check on it from time to time being 10 years ago. Maybe contact the state museum for a retreval of such a outstanding find!
Could you get your hand inside it? Anything inside? Usually held water right? How far from a flat camping spot was it?

This is what I usually come across during cross country treks across the ABDSP. Some times in the strangest places. Sorry for the lousy cell phone pic. Sunglasses for scale. As you said please leave for others to enjoy!

Yeah I need to get back out there and check it out, but it is pretty remote and it will be very difficult to find again. I did not have a GPS back then and have no idea of any coordinates. I found this before kids and there is no way they would be able to make it out there. The opening is very large enough to fit two hands in. Also, the bottom of the olla is cracked, and there are little repair holes drilled out along the crack, like they put some kind of twine through it to try an patch it up. I really do not want it to be removed and put in a museum. I think it is much better out there for others to one day find.

Very nice, that looks like maybe a film photo you had printed and then photographed to share with us? I have heard reports of recent olla finds so they are still there.

Wow, planning 9 months out. Drinking only water for 2 days for a bachelor party? Oh man, how about doing a ABDSP trip in Nov.-March and doing
the bachelor party in Vegas!
If you insist on going in May, here is my 2c
Plan A) Hot weather: Do the San Jac hike as mentioned

Plan B) Cooler weather ( For me, that would be below 80F for desert back packing. OK, I was not a Navy Seal. I'm not worthy! )
How about a Cactus spring trail hike from hwy 74 down to hwy 86. You will be hiking on a 1000+ year old native american trail route.
Hike from the top to the spring day 1 ( water fill up at horse thief spring) Day 2 down Auga alta or Martiniz canyon with a stop
at Jack Miller 1925 rock house and on down. I know this is just out side of the ABDSP but close enough for me.

btw Bring food! Two days of back packing make anyone very Hungry!