Last Chance Canyon

Apologies for the random out of order photos from Saturday. I’m tech challenged and impatient.

After the storms some roads are washed out in the area. On the trail itself some of the bypasses are covered in rocks and some of the extra credit lines are partially filled in. We had a Jeep break it’s shifter linkage before we hit the trail and it had to be rigged to get it in park to get it started, then so he could shift into drive. They bailed. At the end of the day and FJ lost its fuel pump so I got them home and they went back with a trailer to get it that night.

Someone invited a Raptor bro which started out kind of amusing. I was following and he would hang back and then gun it at the beginning of the wash areas. But as the day went on, not so much. Lots of rock stacking and winching. The guy was actually pretty chill and thought it was going to be sandy washes that he would broraptor through. Once he was partway though and has no way to get out other than continuing every scrape was traumatic. Someone even asked as we aired down “How much do you love those side steps” and offered to take them off for him. I must have said for fucks sake several dozen times throughout the day before hopping out to stack rocks.

But even though it is less impressive filled in with sand I did the V-notch for the first time. No excuses from now on @SadRobot I’ve seen the stuff you wheel and if a newbie like me can do it with a good spotter, even though you have an extra pedal, so can you.. Maybe it’s the spotters you don’t trust. With the slow pace it was 4:30 before had “lunch“ at TK Pizza in Tehachapi which was really good.

Terrymo said:

But even though it is less impressive filled in with sand I did the V-notch for the first time. No excuses from now on @SadRobot I’ve seen the stuff you wheel and if a newbie like me can do it with a good spotter, even though you have an extra pedal, so can you.. Maybe it’s the spotters you don’t trust.

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The last V notch I attempted I almost flipped the Jeep over backwards. I'm just not good and keeping the hood level. One of the reasons I didn't do Hell's Gate.

Looks like you had a fun time out there! Great pics.

Last time I did Last Chance it was very easy. I did not choose to do the V notch etc.

We did some trails in Panamint Valley in October, and there it seemed there was enough rain to re-arrange all the gravel river beds with deep wash outs and no trace of the original trail.

I went to Johnson Valley over the weekend and my feeling is that the sandy parts of trails had been washed out considerably. Certainly the end of 'fissue mountain' was nothing like the photos from trailsoffroad, with 5' deep steep sided washouts and enough of a drop from the rocky section to probably flip a Jeep end to end.

I believe it was the rain we had in mid September and mid November.

For the mall crawlers on this forum and I consider myself one, off-road pictures are great to see and will help motivate me to try more difficult trails, so thanks for posting

Great photos! I only went in a couple miles back in Nov'23 before turning around (was by myself) and heading over to Bickel's.

SadRobot said:

The last V notch I attempted I almost flipped the Jeep over backwards. I'm just not good and keeping the hood level. One of the reasons I didn't do Hell's Gate.

Looks like you had a fun time out there! Great pics.

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Darn it I was just hoping to tease you and pressure you into it.
i only did it because I trust the spotter and did exactly what I was told.…for once. Plus I didn’t have a passenger also spotting me from inside the Jeep.

BobW said:

Great photos! I only went in a couple miles back in Nov'23 before turning around (was by myself) and heading over to Bickel's.

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Bickels Camp is cool. We went last year and I thought, oh look a bunch of rusted farm equipment and a pile of 300 rusty coffee cans. Once you figure out how ingenious the guy was by designing things from old equipment to live off the grid, it’s pretty amazing.

dstevens said:

Last time I did Last Chance it was very easy. I did not choose to do the V notch etc.

We did some trails in Panamint Valley in October, and there it seemed there was enough rain to re-arrange all the gravel river beds with deep wash outs and no trace of the original trail.

I went to Johnson Valley over the weekend and my feeling is that the sandy parts of trails had been washed out considerably. Certainly the end of 'fissue mountain' was nothing like the photos from trailsoffroad, with 5' deep steep sided washouts and enough of a drop from the rocky section to probably flip a Jeep end to end.

I believe it was the rain we had in mid September and mid November.

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We did Last Chance last Thanksgiving and you could bypass almost everything through sandy washes which is what we did. The V notch looked like it was 100 yards long and two stories deep to me at the time. Obviously it’s not. Lots more exposed rocks throughout the trail this time. Here’s a recent video…kind of long in some spots.

Terrymo said:

Bickels Camp is cool. We went last year and I thought, oh look a bunch of rusted farm equipment and a pile of 300 rusty coffee cans. Once you figure out how ingenious the guy was by designing things from old equipment to live off the grid, it’s pretty amazing.

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The caretaker/docent told my kids, hey get a small rock and come over here.
He moved a lid and had them drop it down the bore hole---one, two, three, splooosh! Pretty cool.

I bet the Raptor guy was stressed. By the looks of the pictures, it does not loot raptor friendly. A good spotter is worth their weight in gold. A poor spotter can get your rig damaged to or the people in the rig injured or worse. A good spotter keeps you safe and damage free. they will also warn you like hey you can make it, but expect yada yada yada. So that you can make informed decisions and proper risk assessments.

I have done a lot of spotting. When I am spotting someone over difficult obstacles, I will talk with them first and tell and show them what each hand sign means. If they are not following instructions, I will stop them and tell them the problem. If they continue to not listen, I will re explaine the danger of their actions and tell them, if they will not listen, they will need a different spotter. I have had to yell at people and tell them, to stop or they're going to flip their Jeep over because they are not following instructions. So far, I am batting 100% for no damage to a vehicle I am spotting and nobody hurt.

I'm glad everyone had a good time. It looks like a pretty tough trail. Nice job.

wibornz said:

I bet the Raptor guy was stressed. By the looks of the pictures, it does not loot raptor friendly. A good spotter is worth their weight in gold. A poor spotter can get your rig damaged to or the people in the rig injured or worse. A good spotter keeps you safe and damage free. they will also warn you like hey you can make it, but expect yada yada yada. So that you can make informed decisions and proper risk assessments.

I have done a lot of spotting. When I am spotting someone over difficult obstacles, I will talk with them first and tell and show them what each hand sign means. If they are not following instructions, I will stop them and tell them the problem. If they continue to not listen, I will re explaine the danger of their actions and tell them, if they will not listen, they will need a different spotter. I have had to yell at people and tell them, to stop or they're going to flip their Jeep over because they are not following instructions. So far, I am batting 100% for no damage to a vehicle I am spotting and nobody hurt.

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One of the potentially most stupid, worst spotter/ground guide incidents I ever saw was in a military motor pool. I was doing my SrNCO thing, walking around and motivating Soldiers. I came around a corner and saw this.

Two old career E5s - both with a reputation for being idiots - were trying to maneuver a 5-ton truck in very tight quarters. One was driving. The other was spotting.

Here’s the bad part. When I came around the corner, the idiot spotter had his hand up directing the 5-ton forward. He was standing in front of the 5-ton, his fat belly mere inches from the front bumper, his back was up against the bumper of a vehicle parked behind him, and he was directing the big truck TOWARDS HIMSELF. He was literally only a few inches from being crushed to death.

Needless to say, I had a good ol’ crusty SFC/E7 controlled meltdown. With my very loud ”command voice,” cursing, and arm-waving, I stopped the truck, got the idiot out of harm’s way, got the moronic driver out of the truck, and ten minutes later, they each had a brand-new orifice that they could chose to defecate out of.

Thank you! I've been waiting for a good trip report on this trail since the rains

wibornz said:

I bet the Raptor guy was stressed. By the looks of the pictures, it does not loot raptor friendly. A good spotter is worth their weight in gold. A poor spotter can get your rig damaged to or the people in the rig injured or worse. A good spotter keeps you safe and damage free. they will also warn you like hey you can make it, but expect yada yada yada. So that you can make informed decisions and proper risk assessments.

I have done a lot of spotting. When I am spotting someone over difficult obstacles, I will talk with them first and tell and show them what each hand sign means. If they are not following instructions, I will stop them and tell them the problem. If they continue to not listen, I will re explaine the danger of their actions and tell them, if they will not listen, they will need a different spotter. I have had to yell at people and tell them, to stop or they're going to flip their Jeep over because they are not following instructions. So far, I am batting 100% for no damage to a vehicle I am spotting and nobody hurt.

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I chuckle every time I see a Raptor in a Jeep post. I wonder how that Bronco Raptor might do tho.
Spotters are all-too-often underrated by the "I got this" crowd. They keep the group moving and minimize delays at the obstacles. Spotters need to be identified at the start, and if more than one, make sure only ONE of them is directing the driver. Ride rules should always include "Obey your spotter or go home".

Well done. And I agree the Raptor guy should have received plenty of clear warnings, but who knows what he was thinking at the start. I was with a group of well-modified Wranglers who talked their friend with an "overland" JT on 35s to come do Dishpan Springs. Told him "Don't worry, we'll get you through anything." At the end, I'm not sure they were still friends.

The red bold trail below shows the relative position of Last Chance Canyon trail.