Mojave Rd

We stayed the night at the Avi casino on Thursday, March 9th 2017, and headed out in the morning. We attempted to start from the river, but became confused by the farming areas near it. We opted to start from the needles highway.

 We aired down just off the highway ... for my SMB, 25 rear, and 20 front worked great. I did bob a bunch on some of the terrain, but it was neccesary for some of the washboard sections.

Heading up the road, it was very beautiful with purple cactus against green. This part was really fun, a bit of gnar here and there.

After this section we topped out into another area, I believe which was the picture canyon area. We unfortunately ran into an area where some awesome folks dumped a bunch of asbestos. We drove around it in the attempt to avoid nails and what not.

After this section we made our way up the hill past a road closure sign. I believe this was the point which we officially entered the preserve. Whether the road was really closed or not I wasn't sure. As we wound our way up the road, there was a  couple sections where 4x4 was used.

We came to this section below which was freaky. It doesn't seem too bad from the picture, but it was an off camber section that made you feel you might slip down the washed out portion. We laid some rocks down and hoped for the best and went for it.

We did survive and continued on climbing the hill into lanfair valley. Again, a couple sections where 4x4 was a good idea. This whole climb was rougher then I expected.

Entering lanfair valley .. this was one of my favorite parts of the trip, tight, smooth roads with cholla cactus, and joshua trees all around.

Stopping off at the bus section. The kids enjoyed this part.

A blooming joshua tree.

continuing on through lanfair valley

Gorgeous outside, temps were absolutely amazing. We had a light wind, and ahhhh just very enjoyable.

Now we come to watson wash. This section didn't look doable to me at first glance. I was convinced to go around, but my good buddy Eric said it was doable. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's pretty steep, and full of huge potholes. Eric guided me down, what a thrill.

SMB getting a bit flexy!

The SMB was definitely creaking down this stretch.

Done with watson wash and we camped near the cool cabin (Bert Smiths Rock House) at mile 51.

We walked down toward rock spring and it was fun. Lots of granite, the kids dug it.

The rock house.

Sweet sunset that night.

And we had an almost full moon too!

We packed up and headed out. We headed towards hole-in-the-wall camp, where we took the kids down the rings. We all had a blast. Definitely worth the quick 10 mile trip off the mojave road.

We even brought the dog down the rings :)

All kinds of cool holes to play in. Here are some moki steps.

Back out on the road.

Stopped at the mailbox to drop off a frog and add to the growing collection!

Hey there is a gnome shrine too, as well as a bobble head doll shrine that I didn't take a pic of.

The mailbox had some interesting thing inside, like a old pack of smokes, bag of mostly eaten jerky, and others.

We added our entry in the journal and threw up some stickers on the mailbox.

From there we got back on the road and continued on. We made a quick detour towards the lava tube. Boy we were happy we did it. We must have arrived at the ideal time because the light inside was amazing. There are three holes where the sun creates a cool beam of light. Kinda reminded me of a Indiana Jones episode.

Back on the road from there, we entered into some rough road. This was at around mile 79, from the lava area to soda lake. Slow going as the road was very wash boarded.

We found a nice and QUIET, camp probably 2 miles from soda lake. The kids had a blast climbing a nearby sanddune while i had a few brews and tossed the frisbee. Again, very quiet here, I had this much quiet to myself in a long time. I took a walk off from camp to pick flowers and climb a rocky hill. Listened to birds flap by, and even a hummingbird. Seriously the only thing to be heard was the jets passing by.

We thought this was the best smelling flower we've possibly ever smelled. If you see one, give it a smell. I don't know what its called, but it's awesome.

It was time for much whiskey and beer, and a very nice sunset again.

La luna rising.

The bats came out along with the first star, I believe it was venus.

Packing up for the last day, our dog was hiding. She didn't want to leave. Truth be told, she doesn't like the van much. The big bad diesel sounds, along with some rough 4x4'n has made her unfortunately get nervous. But she wouldn't pass up being with her family for anything and reluctantly hops in.

On to soda lake. This past Monday someone got stuck out here and we the park service said it was impassable. We were worried it may not be passable ... but it was!

Cruising across, man it is wild out there. We were cautious to stay on the driven path.

Made it to the travelers monument and read the caption on the monument. We brought three rocks to contribute.

Entering afton canyon, getting close to the end. Turned out to have some water in the canyon. It was a fun drive crossing back and forth. Nothing to worry about, just getting the tires wet.

Caught a pic with the passing train.

You come out right next to the railroad!

Taking a look at the river crossing at the end of the road.

Buddy driving his land cruiser through first.

Here we go, I've never taken the van through this much water.

Van did fine!

The trip was awesome, very glad we did it. I wasn't sure whether the kids would have fun, but there was plenty of cool things along the way to keep them interested! We got a kick out of all of the great sites, history, and scenery along the way.

My van had just over a 1/2 tank of gas at the end. We brought 25 gallons of water for the wife, two kids, dog and I. We still had about 10 gallons left at the end. We left with smiles, and some extra desert pin striping. Heres a hot tip, fold the mirrors in during the tight sections!

Get out there, enjoy, and Take it in!