Last Minute Mojave Fishing Trip

[Mr.BlueSky]

Trip Brief:

What: Scouting Trip for the Eastern Mojave Heritage Trail (EMHT)

When: Saturday, November 19th to Sunday, November 28th

Where: Eastern Mojave, Starting Point: Needles, CA Train Station

Why: I have been trying to get a scouting trip scheduled for the past two years in order to hopefully get a solid itinerary put together. The hope being that the Eastern Mojave Heritage Trail could be run as a club week-long overlanding trip. If the fishing goes well, the goal is to setup a week long club led event next year in the Spring or Fall.

____

What is the EMHT? (The Long History)

One cannot tell the story of the EMHT without invoking the name of Dennis Casebier. Dennis Casebier grew up in Topeka, Kansas eventually joining the U.S. Marin Corp in the Summer of 1953. He was stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA Marine Base and got his first real does of the desert. One could say this was the beginning of his addiction.

Casebier earned a BS in Mathematics and Physics and took a post with the Navy in Corona, CA working on guided missiles. During his time in Corona he stumbled across mention of the "Old Government Road" (now called the Mojave Road), however, he found few written recordings detailing the road, its route, or history. 

In the 1960s Casebier began spending a significant amount of time in Washington DC on business. While there, he spent time in the National Archives looking up anything he could find regarding the "Old Government Road." In 1975, Casebier hiked the entirety of the now called, Mojave Road.

Casebier had hoped to make the Mojave road a cross country hiking trail, but soon realized that the 130 mile trek through the desert was not all that appealing to the masses. Later in 1980, he was approached by a member of the "Associated Blazers of California 4x4 Club. The member proposed that Casebier guide them on the Mojave Road to share the histroy and re-establish the route. Initially Casebier declined, unwilling to take  vehicles onto the road for fear of environmental damage.

As he later puts it

"I should have known better. After all, these are established roads. If vehicles drive on them, they'll look more like roads, more like they looked in the old days. Also, a certain amount of use will prevent roads from disappearing altogether, as was happening in a few places with the Mojave Road.

"They [Associated Blazers of California] wanted me to show them over the Mojave Road; I cautiously consented. I rode in one of their vehicles. They were all equipped with CB radios. Beginning at the Colorado River, and continuing on for two days, 100 miles west to Soda Lake, I lectured on history, flora, fauna management, and other subjects almost continuously."

It was like magic. A classroom on wheels! No damage was done to the desert. No one was testing their machine. They were there to experience the wonders of the desert and to learn about it. I was thrilled by the experience and determined to try it again.

[Mr.BlueSky]

Soon after the "Friends of the Mojave Road" was formed and entered into a volunteer agreement with the BLM to develop and maintain the trail. In following years they published the "GUIDE TO THE MOJAVE ROAD" laid out in a format very much styled to his first trip providing information to the traveler about their surroundings as they traversed the road.

What is the EMHT? (The Short History)

Over time, and after the completion of the Mojave Road, there was concern that the usage of the Road may become unsustainable. Alternate routes needed to be found to provide travelers with additional options and to potentially lesson the environmental burden on the Mojave Road. Enter, Eastern Mojave Heritage Trail.

The EMHT, was Casebier's vision to enable a traveler to traverse North, South, East, and West in a massive loop about the Eastern Mojave. To provide the traveler with a rolling lecture hall. Enabling history lessons in the people that lived and worked in the Mojave from the Native Americans, to Military, to the settlers and miners. To share with the traveler the incredibly unique and diverse ecology and geology that can be found. But above all else to share a place that was as expansive as it is captive to wonder.

Two years of extensive desert exploration and research began. The Friends quickly realized that a massive undertaking (an estimated 650 mile loop) could not be completed and guide books written at once without more resources. So they split the route into four segments.

Segment 1 - Needles to Old Ivanpah - Guide book published on October 10th, 1987 - 0-171.6 mile

Segment 2 - Ivanpah to Rocky Ridge - Guide book published on October 8th 1988 - 171.6 - 350.3 mile

Segment 3 - Rocky Ridge to Fenner - Guide book published October 1989 - 350.3 - 508.3 mile

Segment 4 - Fenner to Needles - Guide book published November 1990 - 508.3 to 650

Of course, during this time, the politics machine was grinding away. Mention of a coming Wilderness Act was passed around but initial analysis of the entire proposed route was deemed to not qualify for any future Wilderness protections. But alas, in 1994 the California Desert Protection Act was signed into law by Bill Clinton splitting the route at least 13 places.

At this point, the Friends had raised, and spent the necessary funds to have each book published (Around $20,000 per book) and changes could not be made. Therefore, another expedition was held in order to re-route the trail around these protected areas. This expedition was led by Billy Creech in 2019.

In the end, the 650 mile loop was extended to roughly 724 miles in totality.

 

Dennis Casebier, passed away on February 11, 2021.

[Mr.BlueSky]

 

 

Super last minute, but I needed to be sure that I could take the time off before posting. 

Trip Planning & Rough Itinerary:

• Friday, November 19th - Depart at 12:00 noon, the goal is to make it to Needles, but dispersed camping near Barstow may suffice.
  • If a Rover fails Tehachapi is the destination, where Bob will host us and let us fix our junk until he talks our ear off about Dodge Challengers ; ).  
• Saturday, November 20th - Depart from Needles train station no later than 10:00 AM
• Monday - Saturday... traverse the trail, check out the highlights to build an itenerary, tag notable camp sites, record re-supply points.
• Sunday - head back up to the Bay Area

Vehicle Capability

• Rover must be in (as best it can be) top mechanical condition. A pre-inspection should be performed and any issues corrected before the trip.
• At least one locker or traction aide is recommended.
• Late model rovers are welcome, though body damage is possible.

I haven't run the trail, I only have what I can get from the internet and some 30 year old books ; ). So anything can happen and should be expected. But again, this is meant to be an overland trip, not a rock crawling trip. And as Casebier said, nobody is out here to test machines!

Amenities

• None

Gear

• 5 gallons of spare fuel
• Full Size Spare
• Recovery gear
• Tool Kit
• Camping Gear (check the weather, looks like highs of 80 and lows of 50)
• Food (there will be some re-supply stops, but plan ahead)

Resources:

Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association https://mdhca.org/

 

If anyone is interested please let me know and I can share any additional details.

[PaulD]

This has been on my radar for years...! I would LOVE to go, but just too close to the family/Thanksgiving thing... Ugh...! Great concept Miles...! I have a cool spot to camp just Wast of Needles, before you crest the grade and drop down into town, take the off-ramp at "Mountain Springs Road" and turn Left (North). Go just under a mile to 34.841158, -115.054082 and turn right. Follow trail to 34.847187, -115.041189... There is a fire ring there and great views to the West. I have lunched there a few times. Have fun...! With you in spirit...!

 

Here is a pic of the spot...

Cheers,

Paul

[Mr.BlueSky]

Paul,

That site looks perfect! If we can make good time Friday we just might aim to land there!

Thank you for the tip.

 

I have a few last minute preparations and we should be good to go.

Debating on if I should quick install the Harbor freight (locally available) light bar...

On the one hand, 1990 headlights are rather dim, and on the other, I really don't want to spend money on a lightbar that is "meh", but even a "meh" lightbar may be better than no lightbar at all....

Today's preparatory run - replacing the 2020 Rubicon special glass pak.

[PaulD]

More Info:

Getting to Tehachapi, you can either bomb up HWY 58 at Bako or, as I prefer, continue on I-5 to HWY 223 and go East to Arvin. Cheap gas there. Then up a cool 2-lane road to meet the 58 into Tehachapi. Truck stops there (Love's etc.) have cheap gas.

On the leg from Goffs North to Ivanpah, you'll be on the trail that takes you up to the Leiser-Ray mine. Nice, clean concrete pad to camp there, or, you can continue about 2 miles to 35.051367, -115.047820 -- turn right. It's a great camping spot with a fire ring.

Have fun...!

 

--Paul

[Mr.BlueSky]

Making good time so far.

Made it to Primm, NV for fuel. We will be completing Segment 1 and on to Segment 2 today.

So far it has been an awesome trip, will do a full report when we get back.

 

 

 

[Mr.BlueSky]

On 11/17/2021 at 11:11 AM, PaulD said:

More Info:

Getting to Tehachapi, you can either bomb up HWY 58 at Bako or, as I prefer, continue on I-5 to HWY 223 and go East to Arvin. Cheap gas there. Then up a cool 2-lane road to meet the 58 into Tehachapi. Truck stops there (Love's etc.) have cheap gas.

On the leg from Goffs North to Ivanpah, you'll be on the trail that takes you up to the Leiser-Ray mine. Nice, clean concrete pad to camp there, or, you can continue about 2 miles to 35.051367, -115.047820 -- turn right. It's a great camping spot with a fire ring.

Have fun..

 

 

 

We have been making fairly good time. Found a few good group sized camp sites right around Fort Piute that were not far off the route.

Today we are headed towards Ivanpah 

[PaulD]

Pics or it didn't happen ha ha...!

 

--Paul

[Mr.BlueSky]

I know - I know, I have been delinquent in responding!

We got back home around 6:15 PM Sunday. No major issues.

In my defense, I have only managed to get most of the laundry done and gear unloaded from the truck. The inches of Mojave dust have yet to be removed from everything I own...

Also, I've always wondered where the army got the tan canvas desert tarps... turns out, you just need to take a green one to the desert to "dye" it....!

 

[Mr.BlueSky]

Alrighty - laundry is done so time to focus on the trip report ; ).

Thursday November 18th

   I had spent at least the past several weeks going through Snowflake with a fine tooth comb, catching up on maintenance, replacing a few bushings here and there, fluids, seals, belts, hoses you name it to prepare for the trip.  In addition to the vehicle critical stuff I went ahead and added a few USB C charging slots, an additional 12v socket, and a RAM mount for the tablet I planned on using to display the PDF versions of the 7.5 minute maps I planned to use to navigate the EMHT. Everything was in ship shape, I had just gotten the alignment done and the crushed Rovicon II exhaust special replaced. The truck was running fantastic.

On Thursday morning I decided to drive the truck into work one more day before the trip....

 

Typical light traffic on Highway 17 as I headed down for a 7AM chiropractor appointment. The classic was doing everything as it should. Until I braked at Bear Creek exit.  The classic launched into the slow lane and I caught it before it got to close to the barrier... so that was fun.... the reminder of the drive proved that the issue was repeatable.

>yay<

After the chiropractor appointment, I drove over to Harbor Freight and picked up a cheap thermal scanner before driving over to Alvin's in Fremont. A quick scan of the front rotors showed:

• 250*F right front rotor
• 115*F left front rotor

This quickly led to a hasty diagnosis of a seized right front caliper. Normally, I would have done this work myself, but without parts and needing to get in a full day of work to enable a Friday departure I conceded in search of a Hail Mary.

Alvin's was a bust, they couldn't look at it until after Thanksgiving. They recommended Yip's next door.

Yip's effectively held a crucifix up and chased me and the Rover out (superstitious ninnies...)

   Across the street was ABW, these guys were incredibly receptive and bumped me to the head of the work list. The owner Kazi has a Land Cruiser and does a lot of overlanding and Moab trips. Since I was headed on a trip, I was priority. Amazingly, the only caliper in their parts network for a Classic in the Bay Area happened to be in Oakland - and a right front! Feeling pretty good, I caught a ride to work.

   By 7:00PM, I was a bit concerned and caught a ride over to ABW. They were struggling to get the right front side bled. The solenoid's in the ABS/Master Cylinder block >insert assumption< were detecting a pressure differential and locking fluid out. They though if they had a functioning power bleeder (theirs was broken and would not pressurize) they could get it bled and get Snowflake back on the road. Since Theresa was coming to pick me up, I had her grab my Jenk-O-Bleeder [TM]. I left it with them as well as the Classic bleeding procedure and headed home for the night.

 

Friday November 19th

By Friday at 9AM I still hadn't heard from them so drove down to the shop. All the wheels were back on... but no brakes. The pump was now running constantly, and they could not get the ABS block fully bled. It turned out that there was a blockage, or an ABS solenoid that prevented the trapped air to be purged. That, and the fact that when they did occasionally get air out, the right front would still lock up....

So, there was a flaw in either the ABS solenoids (most likely) or in ABS controller itself. So I drove Snowflake (carefully) home. At least it is uphill all the way!

 

 

 

 

[Mr.BlueSky]

Hoping they did not bleed the system correctly, I performed the procedure, but could not get successful results past step 6 out of 14...

• The right front would not bleed
• The pump would not quit running within the specified time (left to run they burn-up)
• Right front still locking up, but with a slow bleed-off of pressure.

According to the service manual - the ABS block (or as it is correctly known - Hydraulic Booster Unit) contains the following components:

1. Fluid reservoir
2. Power Valve 
3. Master Cylinder
4. ABS solenoid valves
5. and Servo cylinder,

is NOT serviceable. So I removed it and took it apart ; ).

Behold the 'noids

At this point, it was decided to try to blow out any blockages with a small shot of compressed air and then refit. 

That didn't go swimmingly... the first solenoid is apparently in the closed state when unpowered. Out it came tearing the circuit ribbon with it....

That was unfortunate.

With the cleaning and rebuild off to a bad start, and cut-off time reached. Plan B was in motion.

Snowflake was staying home and Eleven was off the bench.

>to be continued <

 

[PaulD]

OMG.. I had no idea...! What an adventure....! Staying TUNED...!

--Paul

[PaulD]

You know... with such a deep stable of RRC's, you might just want to consolidate and put all the good stuff on one of your LWB's... So that you can just turn the key and go in one. Then drop a 2.8 Cummins into the ex-MOD and you're golden...!😜

--PD

[Mr.BlueSky]

1 hour ago, PaulD said:

You know... with such a deep stable of RRC's, you might just want to consolidate and put all the good stuff on one of your LWB's... So that you can just turn the key and go in one. Then drop a 2.8 Cummins into the ex-MOD and you're golden...!😜

--PD

I hear you... but I think your solution is far too logical!

Eleven and Snowflake have been named... kind of the same situation where you avoid naming cows otherwise... well you know. 

I did look strongly at the 2.8 Cummons for the ex-MoD, but it really didn't make sense when compared against the LS3(in my opinion) - and the OM617 has been sitting at 92% completion for at least a year! ; ). Speaking of which, I bet Erin that if we ever launched an updated forum I'd port over the 110 progress thread....

>yay?<

[Mr.BlueSky]

Saturday/Sunday November 21/21

First up was to unload everything out of Snowflake into 11. 

The kittens were very confused as to why we were still home. And doubly confused as to why the silly humans would pile gear into one box only to move it to another box days later....

Without having the sleeping platform and the storage setup that Snowflake has a lot of reshuffling was needed in order to stow everything correctly. The fridge ended up going into Johann's D1 onto the rear seats so we did not have to pull it and set it outside each night in order to sleep.

As some may remember, Eleven snapped a shock in excitement at the annual event. The rear shocks from Snowflake were re-purposed. Of course, Snowflake has the pin-pin shock connection from the Gwyn Lewis long suspension kit... 

Luckily I had intended to install these components on Eleven after I bought longer travel shocks and had an extra long travel kit kicking around... so we also went ahead and installed the new Gwyn Lewis brackets to enable the pin-pin shocks from Snow. Once this was done, I quick slapped on the extended bumpstops.

Next up, front passenger seats were pulled from both Snowflake and 11. Out came the RAM tablet mount from Snowflake and in it went into Eleven. In retrospect, I am so glad we took the time to do this. Having the PDF versions of the 7.5 minute maps with all of the trip notes and route scribbles was invaluable.

Lastly, the spare from Snowflake was taken off and strapped onto the trailer.

By 1PM on Sunday we were off.... to O'Reilly's to pick up (another) trailer wiring kit for Eleven. After wiring Eleven for a 4-pin in the O'Reilly's parking lot we hit the road.

The trip was surprisingly uneventful. We pulled into Paul's campsite recommendation just around 11:30PM.

[PaulD]

EPIC...! Yokrieger has a D1 AND an LR-4...???

--PD

[yokrieger]

Not to knit pick but...it's a LR3 and yes I got both...for now

[Elherbinator]

So you guys catch any fish or what?

[Mr.BlueSky]

The next morning we got up and drove the 30 minutes or so into the bustling metropolis of Needles.

For breakfast we stopped off at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant (actually pretty good and cheap!) before getting gas (normal and not cheap). The Wagon Wheel sits on what was originally Route 66.

After gassing up we headed to the official start of the EMHT - The El Garces

The El Garces, in Needles, CA was a railroad depot built to serve the freight and passenger rail traffic coming through needles. (note the BNSF locomotive in the mid right). The El Garces opened in 1908 hosting a hotel, restaurant, and passenger depot. The depot is fittingly named after Father Francisco Garces, known as the first European to cross the Mojave Desert. El Garces, after passing through many hands, surviving a kitchen fire and partial demolition, has finally been bought by the city of Needles and is being transformed into a Route 66 Museum, Restaurant, and Hotel.

Leaving from this point we headed Southwest under the railroad tracks and a hard left onto a dirt maintenance road. It would be quite some time before we hit pavement again.

[Mr.BlueSky]

25 minutes ago, Elherbinator said:

So you guys catch any fish or what?

No fish... yet

[PaulD]

Yay..! The story is coming out...!

--Paul

[Mr.BlueSky]

Once under the railroad bridge, the dirt road meanders into a sizeable maze of criss-crossing "roads" where the locals play in what used to be the town dump. Lot's of jumps and whoops in the area. Eventually we found where the road headed out up towards Eagle Pass. The washboard road eventually became rocky and then from there entered a wash with average depth sand. This enabled a fairly good pace up and over Eagle Pass. 

If I recall correctly this area was the worst for tight corners and pinstripes.

Eventually we intersected and turned onto the 4 Corners Pipeline road. The 4 Corners pipeline was built in 1957 to carry crude oil from Red Mesa, UT to Long Beach, CA for refining. It is one of the many utilities that corridor through the Mojave Desert. The pipeline is 16" in diameter and is typically to the south  side of the road buried under 3ft of earth.

The Old Woman Mountains can be seen straight ahead.

The pipeline road also enable a rather brisk pace but forced slowdowns where the road dips into the washes. 

After a few more turns onto a transmission line road, then crossing another old abandoned alignment of Route 66, a sand airstrip, and then "Today's" Route 66 we turned due West onto another pipeline road.

This road services the Southern California Gas Company High Pressure crude oil transfer pipeline. This pipeline, built in 1964, is 34" in diameter and ships oil from the fields in Oklahoma and Texas to Los Angeles for refining. It was on this road that the first (and steepest) hill climb in Segments 1 and 2 was reached.

 

 

[PaulD]

Lovin' the vintage license plate on that old trailer... --)

--PD

[Gotrovr]

19 hours ago, PaulD said:

Lovin' the vintage license plate on that old trailer... --)

--PD

I'm just loving the trailer