yokrieger

Day 3: New York Mountains to Nipton
The next morning, while breakfast was being made, and camp packed up, an opportunity to better explore the campsite in the daylight was taken advantage of.
The campsite turned out to be an old homestead site just up the hill from where we camped with ruins of corrals, water infrastructure, cabin, and a few collapsed outbuildings.


What was a decent sized campsite was found to be able to hold quite a few vehicles!
We climbed up and over the New York Mountains and dropped back down into the Big Tiger wash for a re-route to avoid Wilderness Areas. A lot of active mining in this area made for some nicely maintained roads a quick pace.



After passing through the active mining areas, we dropped onto blacktop briefly in order to continue around the Wilderness Area.
Once back on dirt, the going became incredibly slow. Following the powerlines, the badly rutted road dipped down and into steep washes only to rise back out within a few feet. The trailer tongue spent a good bit of its time carving channels into the road on this bit.

Turning away from the powerline road the small community of Nipton can be seen in the distance. Beyond that, I-15 and the controversial Ivanpah Solar Concentration installations.

As we neared Nipton, we passed through the old dump site with tin cans strewn about and it soon became clear that Nipton was going to be yet another colorful desert town. 
Shopping cart art:

When Santa's gotta go, he goes:

Deserted blacktop through Nipton: 


 

Typically we sleep in the classic. Snowflake has an actual sleeping platform (plywood test version 1.0 that has worked so well we just left it) whereas the backup Rover just has the 2nd row seats removed and we just toss the camping boxes in.
I will say the extra length in the long wheel base makes it feel like a Marriot.
Occasionally depending on the trip we'll toss the tent in for backup.

Booked 241 next to Robert for Friday through Monday.  Not sure if we can do all three nights.  Planning on bringing the Russian Bear hot tent!  Anyone gets too frosty come on in and warm up by the stove.
Should we coordinate on food?

I think I'll be couch surfing at your place!

The snow run went well. It was a lot fun as most snow runs are and was very pretty with all the fresh, pristine white snow. Even with all the fresh snow within the last week, the trail was decently tracked and made it pretty user friendly for mildly built vehicles. 
We met up in Auburn at 10 and left with a caravan of 5 vehicles (JR in his D2, Robert in his D2, Oliver and Mark in their D2, Sasha in LR3, and myself in THE D2 😉). Along Highway 49 we had Nick in his Series join us. We met up with Mike in his 110 at the Washington Hotel and had our full group of 7 vehicles.
Snow was present a pretty low elevations, so we aired up not far past downtown Washington. We were making steady progress and enjoying the drive for a while. After maybe 5 or 6 miles without having any issues we ran into our first obstacle in the form of a brown Toyota 4Runner, loaded up with all the overland goodies, helplessly stuck in the snow. We had been driving steadily for a while, so we used this opportunity to take a rest and relax and have some lunch.
The 4runner was with another similarity kitted 4runner and another late model Toyota I believe. They clearly were a little out of their element (had a nice Warn Zein winch but no remote and neglected to turn their locker on), so we offered some advice and leant them a couple kinetic ropes to use. The unstuck 4runner was having trouble committing to the speed needed to fully utilize the kinetic ropes and pull his friend out of the hole he has gotten himself in, so I determined it would be easier for me get around the stuck 4runner and pull him out myself. With some spotting help from Mike and Robert, I was able to widen the trail a bit and get around. With 2 kinetic ropes attached to each other, I got up to a pretty good yanking speed and was able to get him out with the first try. I then proceeded to pull him up the hill. Unfortunately his steering or the offset nature of pull sent him plowing into a snowbank to the side of the trail. Luckily it was the high side and not the one that could have sent him down the side of the mountain. It was actually kind of funny if you got see it happen considering there wasn’t any damage to anything. Robert then pulled up behind him and pulled him back out of the snow bank and he was able to make it up to the turn around spot his friends were parked at.
 
After getting by the Toyotas, we were cruising again at a nice steady pace without issue. Unfortunately that didn’t last very long. We again came across a couple of stuck vehicles who were seemingly biting off more than they were equipped to chew. This time it was a JK or JL Rubicon with big tires (37?) and a D5. For some inexplicable reason, the D5 was in front of the Jeep and was totally bogged down in soft snow. He had chains on his very mild all terrain tires in the rear, but he was going no where. Another Jeep showed up ahead of the D5 and tried to pull him up and out. The D5 didn’t move, the Jeep got stuck. The whole ordeal took a long time, but I basically ended up up driving around the first Jeep and D5 and then winching out the stuck Jeep that came down to help.
Since we had to widen the trail to get around the stuck vehicles, we ended up having to drive through some deeper, softer snow to the side of the original snow. This soft and deep snow ended up sinking JR’s tires and getting him stuck beyond what his open diffs could handle. Nick and JR decided that this would be a good time to turn around since it was starting to get late and the snow was getting deeper and softer and we progressed. The campers passed on the high side of JR and we continued on our way while Nick and JR freed his stuck D2 and headed down the mountain. 
Not much farther up the mountain the trail became untracked and we decided to make camp rather than attempt to struggle forward to the lake. It was close to 4 and starting to get darker and colder, so it seemed like the prudent choice. Had we not ran into the other parties and saved a couple hours we likely would have tried to get farther, but that was not the case.
Part of the decision to not go further was the fact that the end of the tracked up snow was adjacent to a really nice, flat, open area that we could comfortably camp. So Robert and I drove around for a bit to pack down the area and then we all set up camp under the last remnants of the dwindling sun. 
We had plenty of wood and sustained a good fire that night. It didn’t get too cold during the night and we even had a full (or full enough) moon that kept the camp pretty lit, so everyone had a good sleep. Oliver and Mark were even bold enough to sleep under the stars and neither of them lost any extremities as far as I know. 
Everybody slept in pretty good the next morning and things didn’t really start going around camp until about 9. We started a morning fire and while everyone was getting their breakfast together we started to get the sxs crowd rolling up. One guy got stuck apparently and they all just sort of parked on the trail like 15 yards from our camp. They were super obnoxious in nearly every imaginable way and stayed for what seemed like a couple hours. Between their blaring music, yelling, and reving, we pretty much were ready to get out of there by the time we had all eaten and packed. We had contemplated trying to get to the lake, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it, especially if we would be running into the huge group of sxs’s at the lake again.
It was smooth sailing all the way the trail. We had to pass a few groups of sxs’s (must have been a big club run), but nothing really held us up. We ended up taking a break in a clearing a maybe 30 minutes to take a group photo and allow a Robert to hunt himself a Christmas tree. After that we headed down the hill. Sasha, Mark, and Oliver headed home while Mike, Robert, Jason, Merlyn, and myself headed to brewery for some food and drink in Grass Valley.
The adventure wasn’t over however. While heading south on 80 through Sacramento, my rear diff gave out. It made a terrible noise so I pulled off the nearest exit. It was clear I would not be driving home. We ended up getting AAA to tow the rover home and we got a ride from Robert home. We were very happy to have Robert following behind when this happened. Hopefully I can get the parts for the repair soon and still make the most out the winter. All in all a great trip even with the carnage.
 










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Yay for the 18th.  Hmm... bring the Porsche or Land Rover.  Ok this is a LR event.  Lol.  The D2!

Thanks for coming out to the brewery. Seb and Vivian had lots of fun climbing Rovers.  

Thanks for hosting Paul!  Good to see Chris and the others! Looking forward to joining a few trips next year 2022!
I picked a few for the 49ers game tomorrow! 
 

That sounds like fun.  What to do?  Just a heads up we also have this coming weekend on the 18th a DitD at East Brother Brewery.

Thanks, I've loaded my pictures!

Haha... Apparently this noob has to start all over again.  LOL.  I figured I'd at least be a contributor... explorer... apprentice?  No?  Not even a Rookie?  🤣

Day 2
We left camp around 8AM,. I scribbled a note that there were petroglyphs in the area, but we gave up the search after about an hour of searching. There would be more opportunities as we went on.
We crossed over the Piute Range on the Mojave Road - or Old Government Road as it is depicted on the maps and dropped into the Lanfair Valley. Joshua trees were numerous. We stayed on the Mojave Road for a good while until we turned off for a second chance at petroglyph hunting. This time, they were easy to find. 

We never did find a fish for @Elherbinator but I did find a etching of a squid - I think

And so many more...

We backtracked to the Majove Road and continued on to drop some change into the Penny Can tree. There we met not one - but TWO PEOPLE. Up until this point we  hadn't seen anyone at all. They were running the Mojave Road and were interested to hear about the EMHT. After chatting for a while we headed on our way, making decent westward progress.
Eventually we turned off the Mojave Road and passed by an old stone cabin and a memorial for Chris Fry. Apparently there is a rather active Southern California XTerra club.


We continued North for a bit until reaching the mouth of Caruthers Canyon - If I recall, I think those that went on the Mojave Road trip earlier in the year camped up there?
As we still had plently of daylight left, we took the left turn to head back East towards Maruba, the old OX cattle company headquarters. Maruba was also the site of an old WWII rope factory - they were harvesting the Yucca Fibers. A good number of buildings remain, including good (for the desert) fences and signage, so we stayed out and moved on.
It wasn't long before we found a not so well kept up OX corral.


 
Note the number of railroad ties in that fence! As soon as the Tonopah and Tidewater line was closed, it didn't take long for the resourceful ranchers to repurpose the ties.
Once we passed through here the road became barely a road at all and started criss-crossing a narrow wash. The Lanfair Valley had once been home to a good number of homesteaders, but now all that remained was the occasional fence and desolation. Eventually we dropped into open valley. The Castle Mountains can be seen off in the distance.

As we went North we began to be "squeezed" from the East buy the Piute Range and from the West by the Castle Mountains. Scenery and elevation changed quickly. Eventually we ended up in a narrow valley with Petroglyphs on rocks found on both sides of the road. 
We stopped for lunch at a rock formation known as the Walrus and the Carpenter - it takes some imagination.


Eventually we finished the climb up to the Lewis prospecting Holes at the California  / Nevada Border. 

After Lewis holes, the going gets slow as you start climbing in and out of a tight narrow wash. Then all of a sudden you pop over a short rise and right there is the first Mailbox! >woo<

A quick sign in, and we were on our way again. Not a whole lot of folks came through - we were only the 2nd sign in since October.
And we were back on our way - down into the narrow wash.

As we worked our way down the wash widened out and it become a 25mph slot car track for a few miles until we hit the Barnwell and Searchlight Railroad Berm. The berm goes perfectly straight down into the Piute Valley to the town of Searchlight, had we needed fuel or provisions that would have been our stop, as it is only about 6 miles out of the way. 
Not needing anything, we proceeded to find camp - which turned out to not be the easiest. The road became two tire tracks with zero pullouts to the sides as we worked our way West towards the New York Mountains.
Eventually once we had climbed well out of the Piute Valley (and the sun had set) we found a pullout. It was barely a road around a big grove of bushes. But it led straight to a fantastic campsite. Relatively flat, and protected from the wind on all sides. The fire pit was practically a crude pizza oven.

Landing in the New York Mountains for the night meant we were well within striking distance for the completion of Segment 1 tomorrow.

This is a fun read I'm sad I missed out on going it looks like a killer fun trip. It makes me want to build a model t compressor cart just to hear the noises and see how well it would work.

It would be pretty cool to have seen it actually function... then again, I bet we could scrounge up to D1s or RRCs and do something similar! :-0

I

With all this snow falling in the next several days, I’m getting the itch for some snow wheeling. I’m thinking of getting in a run next weekend. It should be good quality snow with this storm being a cold one. I was thinking Bald Mountain or Bowman. I’d be open for whatever though. Who is interested?

Good eye! It was a 1970s era Jeep Gladiator (you know, before they spit on the name : )
The bars on the rear that hold up the RTT are really tall! They even had a cargo web strapped to the underside of the RTT - it held a small child's tricycle.
It was pretty rad ; ).

Was that a JEEP Comanche back at Goffs with an RTT on top? Kinky!
--Paul

Heading North out of Goffs around 2 PM we veered off the blacktop into the Sacremento wash and passed through a Joshua tree forest towards the Lieser Ray Mine.

The Lieser Ray Mine was dug to extract silver and other precious metals out of metamorphosed rock, initially the primary extractions were silver with gold as an accessory. However production shifted to Vanadium during WWI, the mine producing roughly 40 tons. There is one major deep vertical shaft with several other shafts, prospecting holes, and cuttings in the area. Stamp mill foundations are also present.
Just as Paul mentioned there are a good number of concrete pads to make camp on, however as it was early in the day, we spent some time checking out the shafts and prospect holes and went on our way.
 
Looking down the vertical shaft at Lieser Ray Mine

Looking to the East

As we still had plenty of daylight, we made for Fort Piute where we would make camp nearby.

 

Day 1 - At the Hill Climb and Beyond
We rolled into Goffs somewhere around the noon hour. 
Depending on what time we rolled into Goffs, I had hoped that we might be able to stop off and eat at the Goffs General Store. Supposedly there was a small restaurant with great food, gas, water, and some provisions available. It had been built in 1946 and was often frequented by Route 66 travelers.

However, that was written 1987. Time has a funny way with things...
We did not locate the General Store, only after we got back, it was discovered that the store had been closed for at least 20 years... and that the general store ceased to exist in June of 2021....  https://www.route66news.com/2021/06/11/fire-goffs-general-store/
(At least we weren't relying on Goffs for fuel ; )

We resigned to the Goffs Schoolhouse to make sandwiches.
Goffs is quite a unique place, with only a few unique people left. Most of those folks are involved with Dennis Casebier and MDHCA crowd.
The MDHCA now maintains the original Goffs Schoolhouse, a huge number of interesting exhibits, and a Mojave Desert Archive center. The Center holds over 100,000 historical photographs, 5,000 early maps and thousands of historical newspaper clippings.
When we arrived the groundskeeper came out from one of the onsite travel trailers and unlocked the schoolhouse so we could tour the inside exhibits.

After touring the schoolhouse, we headed back outside to make sandwiches. Johann was finally able to put his new tailgate table to use, it did not disappoint. 
With lunch packed away, we went ahead and toured the grounds. Here are some of the fun exhibits that caught my eye:
1. Miner Engineering 
Two model T's welded together - First motor drives the second motor converted to a compressor to power pneumatic drills and other equipment. 

2. Salvaged mining carts and rails for a little display

3. The little trailer's older sibling!

 
Last, I didn't get any photos of them, but there is a functional 2 stamp Stott's Mill and a 10 stamp American Boy Mill onsite.  Sadly, we didn't get to see either in operation on this trip.
 

Day 1 - At the Hill Climb and Beyond
As we traveled through the bajada towards Piute Mountains it could be seen that the road for all intents and purposes just went straight up and over the pass. According to the book, the hill climb is roughly a 20 degree grade with a vertical climb of about 400ft. (so basically a gravel version of my driveway ;-0)
The hill climb was more fun than challenging, I hit it with some speed and quickly found that it was just deep scrabbly rock. Eleven being effectively stock (limited slip center differential only) scrambled up with much ado in the way of dust and dirt tossing, but dragged the trailer up just fine.
Johann ambled up after. Once the center diff lock was engaged, the hill climb posed no issue. 

Once at the top of the pass, there are petroglyphs in the area as well intaglios but we missed those here on this trip. As we crested and began the westward ascent fantastic views of the Providence Mountains can be had. 
Dropping down into the Fenner Valley, we continued on our way to the town of Goffs for lunch.
 

Day 1 continued - before the hill climb
Sometime early into the trip, just after the washes and well into the washboard roads, the occasionally banging was heard.
>not really a-typical of an old classic<
Banging intensified and frequency increased - but disappears in sand... hmmm
Eventually we pulled over and I crawled under the truck to take a peek. It wasn't long before the culprit was identified.

The incredibly well "professionally installed" exhaust on Eleven (a previous owner special formed out of pipe and routed directly into the suspension travel path of the driver side rear link..... ) decided to tear itself away from the mid and rear exhaust hangers.
Rear - fixed with baling wire.

Mid - fixed with baling wire.

 
With that taken care of, the banging subsided to a dull tap : ).
The best part of all of this, is that I now have impetus to get this in and have the exhaust routed correctly ! 
 
Status of Johann's D1 - Functional, Happy, Content.

You and me both! ; )

No fish... yet

So you guys catch any fish or what?