On weekend Oct 27-28 we were exploring the El Paso mountains in SoCal. This is the southern edge of Sierra. The mountains are dry and low, with relatively shallow canyons. This is a very large area, with many OHV trails around. There is no water in dry season. The plants are small and rare. Technically, this is a part of Mojave large desert area. This is a good place to escape the office culture and the fires in South California.

The trails are mostly easy, but there are some little challenges. The most interesting challenge is The Narrows, where the canyon narrows to almost car width, with very uneven surface. An average stock vehicle would damage the rocker panels or the side steps, and the long-wheel-base vehicles can suffer some body panels damage if the driver is not careful. But for a modest lifted SUV there is nothing difficult in the Narrows.

The pictures are below:

Airing down the tires before the trail:



Rare view: two Axioms together on a trail !




A local affordable housing project:



Alex (the doggy) inspects the vehicles. The Jeep Liberty did not pass the inspection, and they had to turn around.




The group before the Narrows:



Lena is checking the Narrows:




The main obstacle:




Brad is applying his driving skills to the Narrows:



Brad's done:



Vlad squeezing his Trooper into the canyon. The guy behind the Trooper is Jason: we met him on the trail, he has a nice trail-beaten Land Cruiser in 100 or 120 body. He gave me a good book about the local historical places and trails.



Tippy Trooper:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image11.jpg[/img]

Native folks of Goler Gulch:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image12.jpg[/img]

El Paso mountains:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image13.jpg[/img]

Oxana & Alex: lost in space:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image14.jpg[/img]

The campsite:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image15.jpg[/img]

Lena is trying to shoot something eatable for the dinner:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image16.jpg[/img]

Vlad is a Ukrainian, this explains a lot:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image17.jpg[/img]

The canyon and the camp:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image18.jpg[/img]

Canyon:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image19.jpg[/img]

Canyon in the early morning, the moon is still visible:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image20.jpg[/img]

Morning:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image21.jpg[/img]

Camp in the morning:

[img]http://www.geocities.com/olegmoskalenko/GolerGulch2007/Image22.jpg[/img]