mirowsky

FYI: I expect to be there both days, and to camp out Saturday night. I am finally getting a set of all-terrain tires on my LR4 (Toyo's) -- big excitement for me.
 
John M.

FYI: I expect to be there both days, and to camp out Saturday night. I am finally getting a set of all-terrain tires on my LR4 (Toyo's) -- big excitement for me.
 
John M.

FYI: I expect to be there both days, and to camp out Saturday night. I am finally getting a set of all-terrain tires on my LR4 (Toyo's) -- big excitement for me.
 
John M.

FYI: I expect to be there both days, and to camp out Saturday night. I am finally getting a set of all-terrain tires on my LR4 (Toyo's) -- big excitement for me.
 
John M.

FYI: I expect to be there both days, and to camp out Saturday night. I am finally getting a set of all-terrain tires on my LR4 (Toyo's) -- big excitement for me.
 
John M.

Hey y'all! The July MORG is coming up quickly!

Sorry everyone! Due to current and previous fires Big Sur roads are closed. Location has been updated to Corral Hollow.

When: July 17th and 18th

What: July MORG Corral Hollow - overnight camping optional.

Where: Corral Hollow
Meetup Location: Camp Connell General Store and Gas station ( https://g.page/campconnellgeneralstore?share ) Meeting Time: 10:00AM  Things to know:
Easy enough for stock trucks but more fun than just another fire road. This is a MORG - all Rover owners and all vehicle models are welcome to join! If you have a friend that is a rover-head and wants to get a taste for the NCLR club life this would be a good trip. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
The plan is to run Corral Hollow and Mattley Ridge on saturday. For those of you who plan to camp we will be camping about half way through Corral Hollow.
 
Weather will be in the 80's in the during the day and low 60s over night.

Nah, I still have the Series back in Spain, I may one day do an EV conversion on it, but going forward, I like the Bollinger the most, I saw it in person in the LA car show thing, and it is very practical and nice. I had a long chat with the Chief Engineer and it makes a lot of sense what they have done... the only problem, the price is too steep but they will figure it out once the Ravian, Tesla and Jamestown trucks are out... it's going to be a couple of exciting years for EV 4x4 vehicles, well, virus permitting of course.

Mr. B.
 
Life in San Francisco has gotten eerie. On the sidewalks, the ratio of citizens to derelicts has dropped to alarming levels. Sidewalk squatter camps are growing in some neighborhoods (including mine -- the Mission). Many restaurants and small businesses have nailed plywood over windows and doors. I called the city about an obstreperous squatter on my block who shouted obscene suggestions at two teenage girls walking by, and then shouted threats of violence at me. The city help line said to call 911 if I get victimized.
 
Still, I walk every day. I'm not about to hide indoors.
 
John M.

Mr. B.
 
Life in San Francisco has gotten eerie. On the sidewalks, the ratio of citizens to derelicts has dropped to alarming levels. Sidewalk squatter camps are growing in some neighborhoods (including mine -- the Mission). Many restaurants and small businesses have nailed plywood over windows and doors. I called the city about an obstreperous squatter on my block who shouted obscene suggestions at two teenage girls walking by, and then shouted threats of violence at me. The city help line said to call 911 if I get victimized.
 
Still, I walk every day. I'm not about to hide indoors.
 
John M.

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

Rovers:
 
Here is a PDF map of possible camping areas that you might find useful.
 
John M.
mojave-road-camping-map-2.pdf

Rovers:
 
Here is a PDF map of possible camping areas that you might find useful.
 
John M.
mojave-road-camping-map-2.pdf

Rovers:
 
Here is a PDF map of possible camping areas that you might find useful.
 
John M.
mojave-road-camping-map-2.pdf

Rovers:
 
Here is a PDF map of possible camping areas that you might find useful.
 
John M.
mojave-road-camping-map-2.pdf

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

\Sounds like it was a great trip. 
 
Thanks for the awesome write-up! A lot of good information here.
 
I will certainly be referencing it when we plan a Mojave trip.

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

This is some info from my 4-days in and around the Mojave Road and Preserve (3 nights camping) in a stock LR4.
 
MPG and MPH
 
Over 4 days I averaged 10 mpg and 10 to 12 mph, almost all on dirt. I filled the tank and a 5-gallon NATO can in Laughlin NV. I refilled the tank at the end of 4 off-road days, in Baker CA. I bought 15.2 gallons in Baker, so I used a total of 15.2 + 5 = 20.2 total, or about 5 gallons per day.  
 
Baker is a side-trip up the east side of Soda Lake. IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have crossed Soda Lake and taken Rasor Road up the west side to the Shell Station on I-15 at Rasor Road. That station was not on my maps. My fuel computer said I did not have the fuel to make it to Barstow, so I aborted before crossing Soda Lake. 
 
BEST MAP
 
Tom Harrison, by a clear margin. Why?
        (1) Codes 4 levels of dirt roads: graded, usually OK for street autos; high-clearance usually needed; rough, 4wd usually needed; extremely rough, 4wd required.
        (2) Covers more of the Mojave Road, from Nevada to west of Afton Canyon (Nat Geo Trails Illustrated cuts off on the EAST side of Soda Lake).
        (3) All on 1 page, easier to use.
 
The Nat Geo map has one main plus: it shows private land (which can be gated or posted, although this is rarely marked on either map).
 
BEST GUIDE BOOKS
 
For the Mojave Road and history of the Preserve area, Casebier's Mojave Road Guide is tops. For side-trails off the Mojave Road or nearby, Huegel's California Desert Byways and Massey, Wilson and Titus' California Trails: Desert Region both prove worth their prices. Huegel favors minimalist but sufficient summaries, maps and GPS coordinates, and has more trails.  Massey et al. has much greater detail on history, geography, maps, GPS coordinates, and turn-by-turn directions. Both cover the Mojave Road as well as some cross-trails. Massey et al. would work as a substitute for the full-blown detail of Casebier's coverage of the Mojave Road. 
 
DON'T TRUST THE MAPS, BOOKS AND GPS GADGETS ENTIRELY
 
Make no mistake, there are no complete and certain representations of places like this. In addition to the sources above, I had my Rover in-dash GPS and a TRX7 specialized off-road GPS. My Jeep friend also had an excellent Garmin GPS. We still managed to make wrong turns, find roads that were not mapped, mapped roads that no longer existed, and supposedly public roads that were chained and posted. ADVENTURE. Expect it. 
 
HOW HARD?
 
My stock LR4 with street tires (Toyo Open Country light-truck) had no trouble on the "extremely rough, 4wd required" parts. I did use the IID Tool to lift the reference (standard) height. This was useful going fast on sand or slow for rock crawling. Sand is by far the most common. The only rock crawling was a short optional stretch in Carruther's Canyon north of the campground. I made it almost as far as my friend in a lifted and locked wrangler with 33 inch tires. The only trouble I got into was later on a little-used, unmarked trail over a ridge of loose rock. I started to slide sideways down the edge, and needed to shore it up and back out.
 
I recommend wandering off on some of the side roads not in the books.  Sometimes we had to turn back. Sometimes we found trails that made us feel like pioneers or ranchers. Many of the best views were on these secondary trails.  
 
AIRING DOWN?
 
I doubt that airing down or zooming over sand is necessary east of Soda Lake. I did drop about 4 psi, and switched Terrain Response to sand mode in the soft areas. 
 
A few days after leaving the Mojave Preserve, I slashed a sidewall in Redrock Canyon State Park. I had dropped the psi some, and was zooming on soft sand when I encountered sharp rocks in the sand. Whoosh. Flat. So much for that day. I limped back fully inflated, with 60 psi in a hard-rubber spare. Never sank in once, and scrabbled over rock just fine. Airing down and "floatation" may be over-rated for stock Rovers.
 
PLACES RECOMMENDED
 
PIUTE GORGE.  From the Mojave Road, just north of Piute Corral and the Piute Springs hiking trails. Worth seeing this rent in the valley and range. Good for lunch, camping, or hiking. As a side-trip, better than the Fort. It is on the East Lanfair Valley trail that runs along the western foot of the Piute Range and then crosses the valley going up to the Castle Mountains. Be forewarned that roads across the south side of the Castle Mountains are blocked by renewed operation of the gold mine up there.
 
CARRUTHERS CANYON CAMP. Huge granite boulders in a canyon forest. The road up is fun. The rock crawl just north is short but worthy. The camp could get full for holidays or popular weekends. There is lots of private and group overflow space.  Its especially nice to have all to yourself.
 
ZIG-ZAG THE GOLD VALLEY.  Old ranch and mine roads criss-cross between Wild Horse and Black Canyon Roads, south of Round Valley and Midhills Campground and north of Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and visitors Center. For the best views run north to south. Feel like a pioneer rancher for half a day. For longer and slower views, walk the north-south hiking trail that is crossed by the 4wd roads at several points.
 
AIKEN CINDER MINE. Odds are you'll want to see the Lava Tubes on the Aiken Mine Road, near the intersection of Kelbaker and Mojave Roads. Go the extra mile and see the mine. The drive is fun, the views fabulous, and the abandoned machinery a photographer's dream.

I myself have never been down in the area, but looking at the Google satellite images it looks like there is at least enough traffic to maintain some semblance of a road.
 
You should go down and try it out as an adventure and report back to us on road conditions

OK. I got the Casebier Mj Rd guide book. Also the California Trails Desert Region (APC Publishing, Massey, Wilson and Titus). It covers many of the side trails off the main road. I hope to take parts of East Lanfair Road to Castle Mountains (western side of the Piute Range), Carruthers Canyon into the New York Mountains, Hole-in-the-Wall and Macedonia Canyon, and the Cima Dome trail to the Lava Tubes. I also have Louis L'Amour's novel Mojave Crossing. It weaves into the story all the water holes. I probably can't do all of this, but I'll see how much I can get to in 4 days.
 
I will definitely wade the deep water crossings before trying to drive them. I've made up a wading kit with quick-dry shorts, water sandals, and a folding wooden yardstick. I hope the water isn't too cold.
 
I got the IID tool and tried it out on the club run up to Bear Valley area. Don saved the day, helping me to get it fully registered so I could use the advanced functions. It is great. Now I wish I'd gotten one years ago.
 
Thanks all.
 
John 

Tom Harrison's map of Mojave NP shows a 4x4 trail from the Crucero site (south-east corner of Rasor OHV) all the way down to Ludlow on I-40. It looks like a valley running between the Cady and Bristol Mountains. None of my books describe the trail, but it looks interesting. Have you tried it? Is it worth taking? Warnings? Time estimate between Basin Road and Ludlow?
 
Appreciate any info.
 
John 

Make sure to check the water depth of the Mojave River crossing, especially if it has rained within the previous week.
 
I attempted to cross (solo) in February, 72 hours after it had rained, and the river was 40-48†deep. No bueno with a 2†lifted RRC.
 
Next time I’m going to wade across first to check the depth.
 
 
 
 
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Yes, the new section opened last year.  We ran it as part of the WNLRR at Bear Valley.  The new obstacles are on the north end and are very nasty; definitely not for stock trucks now!
 
We will be running this as our 'hard' trail for the Annual this year, so if anybody would like a chance to try it out be sure to sign up.  It's made the trail way more fun now!