Finally finished my version of a trail report.
Day One Trail Report
Lucerne Valley, California (Johnson Valley ORV) ![[Linked Image]](http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/2009%20February%20at%20Johnson%20Valley%20ORV/Entrance.jpg)
Before I start, I should tell a little about the place.
Johnson Valley ORV is located approx 2 and a half hours outside of Los Angeles California in the Mohave Desert, approximately half way to Vegas. The park is 189000 acres, is mostly desert terrain mixed with dry lake beds, sand dunes and some steep rocky hills and mountains.
The trails are mild to wild and fit all off roading styles.Attendees:
Ezlivin1186ArmyTrooper4x4GurlieCronkFor our event, we met up the Cafe' 247 located at the intersection of HWY 247 and Hwy 18. There were four of us on this trip. Two early Troopers (Cronk and 86ArmyTrooper), one 2wd Rodeo (Ezlivin11) and a late model Trooper (4x4Gurlie).
From our rondeview point, we took Hwy 247 to Camp Rock Road, we followed it to the park entrance. Entering the park, we saw a lot of older fellas sitting in a parling lot in their Jeeps. A few of them made a point to nudge each other and laugh at our little group.(see the picture above) Too bad we didn't meet them on the trail......Anyhow, we cruised around until we located a good trail that took us to our camp site near camp rock mine. (GPS coordinates N 34:39.052 W 116:40.848)
After setting up camp, we followed our first trail out of camp adjacent to the Rodman Mountains. We followed a dry stream bed through some deep crevasses until it opened up on the adjacent side. 4x4Gurlie broke in her passenger side nerf-bar on one of the rocky outcroppings. From this point, we followed the stream bed to some more open trails that were better suited for dune buggies and motocross bikes. We eventually found some steeper more mountainous terrain. Some of the grades were pretty steep and intermixed with loose shale. Ezlivin11 amazed us all by going down every path we followed (he was 2wd). We finally reached a point where the trail split. One path was the ridgline, the other the down slope bypass. Ezlivin and 4x4Girlie decided to do the bypass while 86ArmyTrooper and I took the ridge. The grade was pretty steep and narrow with some off camber turns. It went for about a half mile before reconnecting to the main trail. Before it reconnected, it opened into a rocky outcropping. Of course we couldn't resist the urge to play on some rocks. We eventually made our way down to Ezlivin11 and 4x4Gurlie. From there we followed EZlivin11 back towards camp along the other side of the Rodman Mountains. The path he choose turned steep with more loose shale mixed with bumpy eroded moguls and a few turns. Ezlivin11 took two attempts before cresting the top, catching a little air. 86Army Trooper powered right on up. 4x4Gurlie ascended easily but she encountered a bit of a problem. Her right rear tire snagged a sharp rock on her way up. A torn sidewall was the end result. I recall coming up to see a mist of tire air and sandy dust spurting out as she crept to level ground. After a little work with the 4way lug wrench and a
handy dandy exhaust jack, we had her tire changed in a jiffy. Back on the trail, we made our way back to camp via an easier route. when we reached the clearing to the camp, 86 Trooper and I stayed and played on some hills. Unfortunantly, I banged my skid plate on a large rock that caused my electrical system to short out. We ended up having to pull the rock out from under my truck then coasting my truck down to level ground. We had no luck diagnosing it in the field and radioed for help. A short while later, I was towed back to camp. After time to clear our heads and a few minutes of trouble shooting, we found the bad fusable link, made the repair and I was back in shape. I wasn't sure if it was my hood prop hitting my battery or my alternator wire getting pinched in the motor mount that caused the problem, so we fixed both of them. By then, it was late in the day so we called it a night.
Day Two Trail ReportDay two started off a bit fuzzy, perhaps from was too much beer........By the time I got up, Ezlivin was up and had a nice warm fire blazin. 86ArmyTrooper was up next. we brewed up some cowboy cofee and and cheff 86ArmyTrooper cooked up some grub.
For some reason, the LA crew didn't get up until much later...... (must be a big city thing)
We headed out in the opposite direction this time, hoping for a different type of trails. First off, we found a nice pavilion that'd be great for a large group meet. Next to it was a good sized hill with some good poser rocks.
1st photo op of the day later and we're off on a trail. That trail dead ended so we doubled back hoping to find our way to the mountain in the distance. This trail turned into a stream bed that eventually turned into scrub. Fearing for 4x4gurlies paint, we set off for the road in the near distance. Back on track, we found a path to an
old mine (Grand View Mine), following it to the top. There was an ATV trail off of it bit the narrowness, loose material and steep decent turned us off of it. Some exploration of the area revealed a large, not very well protected hole in the ground. Ezlivin11 lead us away to a nice powerline access road. 86ArmyTrooper and I took a nice steep accent up a hill while Ezlivin11 and 4x4gurlie went around. we met back up on top and followed the road further. Eventually, we came to a clearing where an elderly group on ATVs were milling about. The only vehicle in the group was a 1st gen Rodeo. Ezlivin went to flag the guy down while we waited for the ATVs to clear. By the time we reached a huge boulder on a pedestal of soil, Ezlivin was already off exploring the area. Eventually, we caught up to him by what looked like a large phallic rock. Once the rock was viewed straight on, it was the
perfect photo op. This particular area was was composed of granite material in various stages of decay. It gave fantastic grip and there were flex oportunities gallore! Many photos later, we made our way back out. By now it was early afternoon and we all had a drive ahead of us.
On our way out, my odometer was creeping to
a paculiar number, so I veered off the road for a good shot of my speedo. Eventually, we made our way back to the cafe where we had lunch. While waiting on my food, I aired back up. That is when I noticed that
we found a few cacti, at least it was that or I ran over tooth picks......
All in all, it was a fun trip and I got to meet some very cool people!
![[Linked Image]](http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/2009%20February%20at%20Johnson%20Valley%20ORV/ALIM2238.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/nomadic_isuzu/2009%20February%20at%20Johnson%20Valley%20ORV/ALIM2292.jpg)
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