roaniecowpony
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I'm thinking of running Pinyon Mountain Road (Borrego Springs, CA) this week, probably Wednesday/Thursday or Friday. Anyone interested in meeting up?
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Pinyon Mountain Road
- Thread starter roaniecowpony
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Ratbert
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Adding a note that this is in southern California so others don't have to try to figure that out.
Industrialwrench
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There’s a chance I’m available Friday… I’ve been wanting to run this again.
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roaniecowpony
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I'm going to have to run it Thursday. My wife says we have to go to Bakersfield for a family gathering so I'm unable to run it Friday.
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roaniecowpony
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No problem. There may be some other opportunities to meet up. I still have John Bull and Holcolm Creek on my list. Then Dusy and Rubicon.
Industrialwrench
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Driving to Bakersfield? Yuk…I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better excuse to get out of that than, “sorry babe, I’m stuck on the trail. Guess I’ll see you when you’re back in town”…death drive to Bakersfield avoided. Lol I’ll probably run it in a couple weeks if anyone wants to go around the 3rd weekend of June. Have fun on Thursday.
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roaniecowpony
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Unfortunately, Bakersfield was a compulsory activity which I had no practical say in... if peace around the house was desired.
I did get out to Pinyon Mtn trail and we just couldn't seem to be able to find a way through the squeeze without some serious damage. We scraped up a front fender a bit. This was with 37s and 3.5" backspace wheels. It was way too wide to fit, so climbing the left side was what we did. That put the right side against the rocks. After a couple hours of messing around, we called it a day.
Yesterday, we went back with the Jeep stripped of the roof, doors and fenders. It was quite a bit hotter out there. Seemed like I saw high 80s by noon at the squeeze. With the top, doors, and fenders off, It was much more fun. We made one attempt and it was looking grim. We just couldn't keep the B pillar off the rocks. I put one light scratch in the B pillar, then backed out and let my friend drive while I spotted. While doing that I finally realized that this was an obstacle that was twisting the suspension as the front right was dropping and the front left was rising/level, while the rear axle was pretty level, and it might benefit from disconnecting the front sway bar. I did that and it took literally 10 minutes to get through.
This is why we're doing local trails before tackling Dusy and Rubicon. We really don't have many hours on the trail as drivers or spotters on technical stuff and are building experience and confidence in my rig. Please forgive the amateurish video. It's raw and wasn't really meant for prime time.
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roaniecowpony
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We headed up the trail toward Back Window Rock and cleared it in my 4 door by about a foot to spare. The rock garden/waterfall area got a bit technical, but was easy on 37s/skids and about 300+ lbs lighter with all the parts we took off.
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roaniecowpony
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Heart Attack Hill was pretty scary looking to us with the deep ruts at the top and loose sand on hard ground and rock. My friend walked down it and up and was about to have a heart attack. I drove it and it was really uneventful other than my friend leaving my Nikon at the top. I stopped halfway down, got out and walked back up to get it.
The rest of the day was driving out. We started the trail at around 11:00 am, arriving at the Squeeze around 11:30, through the Pinyon Mtn trail, out Sandstone Canyon, through Fish Creek Canyon, and were out on the pavement, up on the road toward Ocotillo Wells by around 3:00 pm airing up. The temperature had risen to near 100F by the time we hit Sandstone and Fish Creek, so we were moving along at a good clip most of the time. We had parked my truck up at the Ocotillo Wells Ranger station after getting permission from one of the rangers. Very convenient place to leave a tow rig.
One thing we did right was putting an Okie sunshade on over the front seats. I looked in to some bikini tops and frankly forgot about it. Then the evening before going, after having stripped it down, I thought we should just cut a big sheet of cardboard I had from a TV I had bought a few months ago. We cut a piece to fit the front and blue taped it down after arriving at the ranger station and unhooking from the truck. That ended up being a lifesaver. I think we'd be fried lizards if we didn't have it. You get a glimpse of the TV box label as we descend the Squeeze. ? Unfortunately, we forgot to remove it at the ranger station and it didn't survive the drive home.
The rest of the day was driving out. We started the trail at around 11:00 am, arriving at the Squeeze around 11:30, through the Pinyon Mtn trail, out Sandstone Canyon, through Fish Creek Canyon, and were out on the pavement, up on the road toward Ocotillo Wells by around 3:00 pm airing up. The temperature had risen to near 100F by the time we hit Sandstone and Fish Creek, so we were moving along at a good clip most of the time. We had parked my truck up at the Ocotillo Wells Ranger station after getting permission from one of the rangers. Very convenient place to leave a tow rig.
One thing we did right was putting an Okie sunshade on over the front seats. I looked in to some bikini tops and frankly forgot about it. Then the evening before going, after having stripped it down, I thought we should just cut a big sheet of cardboard I had from a TV I had bought a few months ago. We cut a piece to fit the front and blue taped it down after arriving at the ranger station and unhooking from the truck. That ended up being a lifesaver. I think we'd be fried lizards if we didn't have it. You get a glimpse of the TV box label as we descend the Squeeze. ? Unfortunately, we forgot to remove it at the ranger station and it didn't survive the drive home.
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