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Mojave Road Expedition New Year 2008 : 4 days off road in Land Rovers, 3 nights camping on 140 miles of the historic Mojave Road. This year we spent New Year’s Eve in a very different way than we ever had before. There we were. A group of 15 camped at 5,300 ft in the middle of the Mojave Desert in California. (For the benefit of readers in foreign countries, Mojave is pronounced moh-hah-vee). This was an AZLRO (Arizona Land Rover Owners) event to spend 3 nights and 4 days traversing the Mojave Road which runs East-West for about 140 miles through the Mojave National Preserve. The Mojave Road was an important route out to the West in the gold rush days of 1860 to 1890. It started in Prescott which was then made the capital of Arizona and headed West to Los Angeles. It followed an old path that had been made by the Mojave Indians who lived on the banks of the Colorado River and would go out West to trade with other tribes. The Federal government had built several forts along the way to ensure a supply of water for the travelers as well as protecting them from attacks by the Indians. The army also protected the mail service which was vital for communications. Our entourage consisted of six Land Rover Discoverys, a J**p Rubicon and two adventure motorcycles. When telling this story to others, I was getting quizzical looks at the mention of adventure motorcycles. They are not dirt bikes but full size, fully equipped motorcycles with racks and pannier bags to carry equipment and supplies. They are quite at home on an off-road trail as they are on the highway having tires with more aggressive tread for sand, mud and rock. We did not all start the trail together. The first group left the Phoenix area early on Tuesday morning, December 30th. My party had grown to seven people so we needed two vehicles. In my ‘03 Disco I took my son Eric and my daughter Kayleigh. The roof rack and rear cargo area were bulging with equipment and supplies. In Kathy’s van were her youngest daughter Kinsey, my eldest daughter Christina and her boyfriend Elliot and the rest of the supplies. Then there was Doug in his ’04 Disco with his son Cody. Luis who drove up from Tucson in his ’03 Disco and then Brenton in his ’01 Disco taking this trip as a “slight” detour back to San Francisco, after being in the Phoenix area visiting family for Christmas. The second group consisting of Jayson, Heather, RJ, Elle and Steve T were going to leave on the Tuesday evening and hotel it for the night in Laughlin. The plan and the tricky bit would be for them to catch us up on the trail on Wednesday (New Year’s Eve). We did not expect to be very far ahead, and hoped that we could make Ham radio contact and determine our relative positions. As a contingency plan we would find a camp site before dark and then place a large, brightly colored sign by the side of the trail with our GPS location posted on it. Our first stop was Lake Havasu where the plan was to pick up a rented J**p, transfer the stuff and leave the van in the parking lot until we returned. Look at the photos on the AZLRO web-site; I am caught ‘Red Handed’. Elliot and Christina drove the J**p and even with the rear seat folded down it did not give us enough cargo capacity, and others kindly carried our overflow items. Off road camping for seven people, that’s a lot of stuff! Seven sleeping bags, seven clothes bags, seven chairs, three tents, three air mattresses, several blankets, two tables, two stoves and fuel, full camp kitchen, food for three meals a day for four days plus some extra, 18 gallons of water, 20 gallons of gasoline, a fridge, two large ice chests, a portable charcoal grille and coals, lanterns, two bundles of firewood, tools, spare parts, recovery equipment, hi-lift jack, bow saw, two shovels an axe and a host of ancillary small stuff. Not to mention the very important supplies of beer, wine and Champagne as part of our necessary nutrition while on the trail. Did I hear somebody say “and a Partridge in a Pear Tree”? Next, was to try to find the start of the Mojave Road, or actually the point at which it crossed over route 95, about mile 3 of the trail. Since none of us had experience of this trail, I had bought a CD ROM from TrekNow, with a number of California trails already plotted, including the Mojave Road. Navigating a trail that you do not know is often not straightforward, but a GPS is a great help especially with pre-loaded data. While I still had cell phone service I called Jayson to see what their status was. They were on their way to Laughlin and planned to make an early start on Wednesday morning to catch us up. It was late Tuesday afternoon so we decided to follow the trail for a few miles until we ‘lost’ civilization and set up camp before dark. It was cold that first night, especially for me, since I had discovered that the sleeping bag I had packed, which I had not used for some time, had a totally broken zipper. The next two nights it was duct tape to the rescue, and a blanket on top. We were greeted with a beautiful morning. The air was cold and crisp which made a hot cup of tea or coffee thoroughly enjoyable and while we sipped we took in the wonderful views surrounding us. For once, not being in the usual hurry and taking time to make a cooked breakfast. The plan was to visit Fort Piute which was on a side trail approx 14 miles away. We were going to have lunch there and do some exploring. After packing up camp we set off and the going was fairly easy. This trail is not technically difficult and we were able to drive in high range most of the time, shifting to low range for the more technical sections. I had my Ham radio on to monitor any traffic from the second group. Well, well, well, the familiar voice of Steve T came through just as we were finishing lunch. It turned out that they had made good time and were less than an hour away, so we decided to wait for them. Two more Rovers, two adventure motorcycles and five more intrepid adventurers were added to the entourage. I couldn’t believe how well that worked out. Onward we went, the bikes speeding ahead to look for a suitable camp site. Tonight was the big celebration, New Year’s Eve. We were in Ham radio contact with the bikes as Jayson had his pocket sized transceiver with him but at some point we lost contact with them and it was not clear what our relative positions were. We stopped and worked the Ham radios trying to make contact again. We had three mobile units and we eventually picked them up. The handheld only has 5 watts of transmit power on the two meter band versus 50 watts on our mobile units. We were able to relay our GPS coordinates to them and in due course they found us. Somehow, it seems, we had taken a slightly different route and had unexpectedly gotten ahead of them. Ham radios and GPS to the rescue! We found ourselves on a wide, well graded dirt road. The map shows a number of these crisscrossing the preserve. An old boy in a pickup truck came down the road and told us about a proper campground just a few miles away. We looked at one of the maps in Dennis Casebier’s book, "Mojave Road Guide", and there it was, the “Mid Hills Campground". The book gives a mile by mile account and navigation of the trail as well as a lot of history and is well worth having. It was getting late, the sun was going down, and the temperature was dropping so we headed for the campground as speedily as we could. Our elevation was around 5,300 ft and there was still a fair amount of snow on the ground from a storm the previous week. This was going to be a rather unique and memorable New Year’s Eve. It was getting quite chilly and we all put on our warm jackets, hats and gloves, as we busied ourselves setting up camp. Sitting around a roaring campfire enjoying the additional warmth and crackling flames, it was time for dinner. Dinner that evening was a pot-luck affair with an array of different dishes which we all shared. For many of us, an important component for the New Year’s celebration is Champagne. Firewood and Champagne were must-brings on all parties’ packing lists. We had plenty of both and bottles were being opened and passed around the campfire. After dinner it was time for some entertainment. Christina and Elliot fired up their violin and guitar and sang some songs, played duets and solos which added to the merry-making atmosphere. Next, the serious business of making Smores! Many had brought chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows and we had a good number of telescoping toasting forks. We were very definitely in business! Many marshmallows were toasted and many Smores enjoyed. They are so good when camping, especially in colder weather, and around a roaring camp fire. Mmmmm....... For the uninitiated, a “Smore” is a sandwich of a toasted marshmallow between two pieces of chocolate and then sandwiched again between two pieces of graham cracker. The marshmallow is carefully toasted in the campfire on the end of a toasting fork. If you are not paying attention, your marshmallow may burst into flames prompting you to withdraw it and blow out them out. The graham cracker pieces are laid out side by side with a piece of chocolate bar on each. Then you place the hot marshmallow, still on the fork, onto one of the pieces of chocolate then pick up the other side and put it on top. Holding it together, withdraw the fork and enjoy. Mmmmm!! Then make s’more……(Get it ?) The next morning was chilly but bright. We were up early because we still had a long way to go and wanted to get an early start. After briskly going about our business of making, tea, coffee and something for breakfast, we packed up camp. We were getting quite good working as a team to pack everything up and load the Rover and J**p. The convoy moved off and got back on the trail. The scenery on this trip was nothing short of magnificent. Every few miles the scenery changed and we had wonderful vistas. We could see mountains and more mountains off in the distance. Along the way we passed an area of sand dunes and saw rugged areas of huge boulders and pieces of rock. We drove through a Joshua tree forest and a volcanic area with old volcanoes and cinder cones where the trail turned from sand to the very dark reddish color of lava. Our goal was to get to the edge of Soda Lake and camp there for the night and then cross it on Friday on our way back to civilization. Soda Lake is a dry lake but sometimes is impassable due to thick mud if it had rained recently. We stopped off for lunch and came upon three other travelers in an interesting vehicle called a 'Pinzgauer' (look it up on the web). We chatted with them and found out that they were from the Bay Area and were traveling the trail from West to East. They told us that Soda Lake was impassable and there were signs posted to warn people not to cross. This was somewhat of a disappointment as there is a huge cairn in the middle with a secret inscription. Nobody will tell you what it says; you have to go there and read it yourself. You are also encouraged to bring a rock from your home area and place it on the cairn. Despite that, the sections of trail we had traveled are captured in our memories and a lot of photos. We all had such a good time, enjoying the company, the camping and the varied scenery. The next place of interest was “The Mojave Road Mailbox” (at 4,530 ft elevation and at mile 73.8). On the side of the trail we came upon a flagpole flying the Stars and Stripes and a mailbox attached to the pole. The pole and mailbox were highly decorated with club and business stickers put there by previous travelers. Inside the mailbox was a sign-in guest book along with business cards and logos that people had left there. We all signed the book and left an AZLRO logo in the mailbox. We arrived at Soda Lake, took a trail around the edge a little way, and found a large flat area to set up camp. Adjacent to this was a hill which we drove up and enjoyed wonderful views of the lake and beyond as the sun was setting. Since we could not cross the lake, we studied the maps and GPS to look for some other trails we could do the next day and eventually end up close the 40 freeway to head back home. Now it was Friday and our last day on this trip. We were up early, and it was a frosty morning. After tea, and a breakfast of hot oatmeal we packed up camp, loaded the vehicles and were on our way. We following some interesting trails that day and ended up on a paved road which led to Kelso. Kelso was once a bustling community and a busy railroad station. The original Depot building has been restored and is now a museum and gift shop. A once popular feature was the lunch room consisting of a large four sided bar with soda-shop style seating all around. Everything is still there, but alas no longer serving food or drinks. After the usual sandwich-made-on-the-tailgate lunch we parted ways and headed home. Luis had already left on Thursday as he had to work on the Friday. Brenton headed back to San Francisco, Doug and Cody went to visit an old friend in Big Bear and my party headed home to Mesa, via Lake Havasu to return the J**p. Christina and Elliot were flying back to San Jose on the Saturday. Jayson and company elected to do some more off-roading and head home later. I feel indebted to Dennis Casebier and "The Friends of the Mojave Road" for their interest and diligence in documenting and maintaining this historic route so that those, such as us, can travel it and enjoy it. We did not get to drive across Soda Lake and experience the large cairn known as "Travelers Monument", which means that we have the perfect excuse to mount a Mojave Road expedition again. Steve

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Updated: Jan 18, 2009 7:01pm PST

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