Mojave Trail? (before it gets hot again)

[roaniecowpony]

Cima road is going to be closed from the 15 to Cima for some time. Only a concern if you need to get gas there.

Zzyzx is closed. Kelso depot is closed. Neither a problem really.

The water crossing is Afton Canyon is now shallow. Due to one of the late summer rainstorms a lot of silt washed through and the road is actually above the wire fence in places.

I'm interested to see how far the York fire burnt and hopefully Caruthers Canyon is unburnt.

34.91844, -116.65249 would be the Western end of the trail.

There's only one cabin I know of between Afton and Soda lake.

Were you in Afton Canyon recently? I hadn't been there in maybe 15 years.

On the actual western end of the trail, it really isn't something I'm interested in running. Last I rode it in 1999 on horseback, I don't recall much intesting along the way until Afton. I wasn't actually trying to run it historically accurately, end to end.

Last fuel before Afton is Harvard Rd on I-15. A friend, Dion, used to have a gas station at Afton in the old Stuckey's. But that closed many years ago. The next fuel is at I-15 and Razor Rd, then Baker. Since Cima Rd is closed, if you need fuel at that point, you'd have to get on Aiken rd to the west and go up to the station at Cima and I-15. The next closest fuel along the way is at the I-40 exit for Fenner/Goffs/Essex. After that, you can get fuel Fort Mojave. If we say the trail is 130 miles from first fuel to the end, you would have to average 7.6 mpg to make it with 17 gallons. I really don't know if that's possible in my rig, in the conditions on the trail. I'll try to get some sample burn rates on my scouting trips.

You should have seen two cabins. They are about 1/4 mile apart on the trail, between Basin and Rasor rd. Both have been there since before I started going out there in the 80s. My friend's place was probably built in the 40s or 50s. The one to the west of his was newer, maybe from the 60s.

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[dstevens]

Were you in Afton Canyon recently? I hadn't been there in maybe 15 years.

I've been three times this year ... each time I introduce a new person to the area it's a run down Afton, Spooky, then perhaps the Megaphone or the interesting stuff above Afton.

We knew the most recent owner of the Stuckey's at Afton. Sadly his venture did no pan out.

And there is a lot to talk about those cabins, but perhaps another time.

Most of the road is 4H cruising. I get 12+ mpg, but it depends on how deep the sand is. Carrying extra fuel might be good but making a dash to Baker is probably the easiest thing to do.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I've been three times this year ... each time I introduce a new person to the area it's a run down Afton, Spooky, then perhaps the Megaphone or the interesting stuff above Afton.

We knew the most recent owner of the Stuckey's at Afton. Sadly his venture did no pan out.

And there is a lot to talk about those cabins, but perhaps another time.

Most of the road is 4H cruising. I get 12+ mpg, but it depends on how deep the sand is. Carrying extra fuel might be good but making a dash to Baker is probably the easiest thing to do.

The megaphone, or as we always called it; "the turboentabulator", is always fascinating. That had to be quite an effort to get that much steel up on that rock pile.

 

[titaniumrider]

Watching and interested

 

[bjm00se]

Following

 

[bjm00se]

The water crossing is Afton Canyon is now shallow. Due to one of the late summer rainstorms a lot of silt washed through and the road is actually above the wire fence in places.

Interesting. After watching some of the youtube vids of folks driving that, and knowing that conditions can always change, I was figuring I'd need to bring some chest waders and walk it, just to make sure it wasn't going to be too deep.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Interesting. After watching some of the youtube vids of folks driving that, and knowing that conditions can always change, I was figuring I'd need to bring some chest waders and walk it, just to make sure it wasn't going to be too deep.

There have been rain events where the railroad bed and train cars were washed away and crashes. My recollection is that there is at least one car still buried in the middle of the canyon. Found something about it here Buried train cars in Afton canyon. - California - ThumperTalk

Sometime in around the 80s or 90s, there was a massive flash flood that took out a long section of the rail. Somewhere I have some pictures, but I'm not likely to find them as they are printed and squirrel'd away.

This video shows how high the river bed has risen after a flood last year. 20 years ago it was maybe 10-12 feet from the river bed to the rail bridge.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I'm going to pre-run the trail this coming week. Friend an I will hop in my jeep and try to run it from Afton to Fort Mojave in a couple days, then spend the night at the Avi Casino. Hope the weather gods are kind.

 

[dstevens]

Interesting. After watching some of the youtube vids of folks driving that, and knowing that conditions can always change, I was figuring I'd need to bring some chest waders and walk it, just to make sure it wasn't going to be too deep.

It used to be to the bottom door hinge (JK, 35s, 2.5" lift so perhaps 28" deep). Then it got filled with fist sized rocks, apparently by the railway, and was perhaps 8" deep. Then the summer storms have washed silt down so it varies but is not deep currently.

I have not seen the buried box car for some time but remember that it was there about 5 years ago. Gaia claims they are at 35.03760, -116.31676

If you're going to the lava tubes then a little further is the cinder mine 35.23105, -115.72501.

 

[Blueliner3]

Interested and watching. ?

https://www.nps.gov/moja/road-conditions.htm

 

[TEAMSLO]

Im definitely interested, from Vegas, but have no issues heading out to CA to start the trail. Just depends on which days, would much prefer overlap with the weekend.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I'm heading out at O'dark thirty tomorrow to run Afton, the megaphone, the cabin my friend used to own, the old ranch on Rasor Rd and maybe across Soda Lake. I'll post a few pics.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I ran out to Afton yesterday, with a couple friends who also used to frequent the area back a few decades ago. It was more like a trip down memory lane than anything else.

We entered Afton Canyon off of I-15, through the campground. Water was just under my tierod.

Then a few more miles east of the mouth of Afton Canyon and a detour off the Mojave trail about 1/2 mile and we found the old miner's shack made from ties. 40 years ago, we named it "the Love Shack" for reasons unspecified here. Apparently the next generation has renamed it Sponge Bob Cabin.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Around the corner a mile are a couple cabins about 300 yards apart. A friend bought the eastern cabin with 40 acres over 40 years ago. We were out there almost every weekend for many years. The crowd that frequented there included people from all walks of life. He sold it long ago. The looting and damage was always a problem, as was the occasional ignorant off-roaders that would decide it was entertaining to make a race track out of his front yard even while we were there. The succeeding current owner decided it was enough and fenced the 40 acres plus the adjacent 40 he acquired and installed solar, satellite internet, and video surveillance.

Another detour off the Mojave Trail, southeast about 2 miles from the cabin, is the dunes. We snow skied these dunes, dirt bikes and even horse rode them.

A couple more miles southeast from the dunes is a place known as "the trees" by us. It's located at the intersection of Rasor Rd and Crucero Rd. It was the location of a cattle ranch in the first half of the 20th century. It was also a water stop for the locomotives of "Borax" Smith's Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad in the early 20th century. My friend got married here over 30 years ago. Honda Motor Co. valued his friendship so much that they erected a huge event tent and provided tables and chairs for the event. It was catered and had a DJ and a plywood dance floor under the trees, ice sculpture, etc. 2 RF-4 Phantoms flew low over the event and captured aerial photos, which he has in his house. The evening of the wedding a full on large fireworks show was put on.

Maybe 8 miles south on Crucero Rd and across the current railroad, is the oddity known as the Mojave Megaphone. I don't know when someone put this thing up on a pile of rocks about 100 yards. I first saw it around the 90s IIRC. Some energetic welder's idea of fun. It's about 8ft long, 1/4 steel, has about a mile of weld bead, and resembles a rifle scope, complete with crosshairs.

Back up Rasor Rd to I-15 ended our scouting trip. The gas station at Rasor used to be owned by a family we knew. The brothers would sit around the campfire at the cabin and listen to our airplane stories and decided to learn to fly. They bought a plane, graded a strip behind the station, and hired an instructor. When the instructor heard some of the stories, he told them it was all BS. I started using the strip regularly. One day I brought an aerobatic plane and the instructor was there. I offered him a ride and he accepted. I took off normally and built some speed, rolled inverted about 50 feet up and climbed out upside down. That instructor was pretty quiet later.

 

[wibornz]

I am hoping that this will fall sometime in mid to late January.

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