the Mojave desert.

[daepp]

50 miles off road is like an eternity. Hope you meant 5.

If you've never experienced it, the desert can be very deceiving. It is not intuitive just how easy it is to get lost.

Water and more water - and a compass.

[look 171]

It just goes on and on. Yep, 5 miles took a long time because you just crawl along at 20 mph. Faster at times, and when it got little rough, that slows way down.


this one cut across the valley and kept going. AS long as you keep going and have enough gas, the other end isn't too far before you come to a pave road. That one was a good hour +

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by look 171

It just goes on and on. Yep, 5 miles took a long time because you just crawl along at 20 mph. Faster at times, and when it got little rough, that slows way down.


this one cut across the valley and kept going. As long as you keep going and have enough gas, the other end isn't too far before you come to a pave road. That one was a good hour +

Great pics thanks. I would add a handheld gps as well in case you hike and in case your car does not have navigation. Learn how to use it as in saving present position and
knowing how to get back to your car. As mentioned above a compass is necessary.
Looks and sounds like fun.

[Radioactive]

Originally Posted by KNS

Joshua Tree is an excellent place to spend some time, check it out - you’ll be glad you did.

That was what Bill Ewasko thought!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

That was what Bill Ewasko thought!

AKA Waldo.

[vash]

Holy moly!

That place is beautiful! Super cold. It was 19deg one day when we were hiking around. Had to drink hot tea to get my core temp back up. Getting lost would have been death. Sleeping that night in a tent; interesting. I had to wear a down vest. A down jacket. Merino wool pant and shirt, and my pants. Fully dressed! Only thing I didn’t wear was my boots. Two sleeping bags. My water bottle froze in the tent.

We found an old mine claim. We couldn’t read the claim, since it would have disentgrated if we unfolded it. I put it back. No photos, my iPhone hated the cold.

I also found old native drawing. One I swear looked like a UFO.

[KFC911]

That's cool Vash...next time take some pics....of the thermometer .

....my uncle went on a hunting trip north of the Artic circle a couple of years ago...he didn't anticipate sleeping in a snow covered tent either....in August

[vash]

my tacoma..pisses me off. the thermometer is broken. i fixed it twice (had to re-solder that 510 resistor)..i gave it up years ago.

[sammyg2]

Back in my yoot I was going to meet a friend at El Mirage dry lake bed over thanksgiving weekend to ride motorcycles.

He had a dodge van and his friend had a huge motorhome so I loaded up my old datsun pickemup with the motorcycle and headed off to meet them.

Traffic was a zoo and it took forever to get there and it was getting dark by the time i pulled up.
I parked the truck and took off on the bike to find my buddy.
It was so cold that my hands froze to the grips and I couldn't straighten out my fingers.

I finally gave up and curled up in the cab with an old army blanket and two jackets I brought. They had sleeping bags and everything else I would need, including a heater. Lot of good it did me.

It was freezing and every time I almost drifted off to sleep, some A-hole with uncorked headers went by and woke me up.

Turns out the a-hole was my buddy and he uncorked his headers (opened up the lake pipes) thinking I would recognize the sound of his engine.

By about 4 am I said to hell with this and threw some gas on a bush and lit it on fire to keep warm.
Musta gone through half a dozen bushes by sunrise.

I didn't have much antifreeze in that old datsun cause the water in the block froze and blew two freeze plugs out. Had to roll it over the coals of them bushes to thaw it out.

It tool til around 9 am for it to thaw so I hammered the plugs back in, filled it up with drinking water, and drove home.
I had never been that cold, so cold I wondered if I would make it through the night.
Since then I never set foot in the desert without plenty of stuff to keep warm just in case.
Even if I'm just driving to Arizona I load up a case of drinking water, food, sleeping bags, blankets and a tarp or similar.

Wife thinks I'm nuts.

[sammyg2]

EL Mirage

[daepp]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Back in my yoot I was going to meet a friend at El Mirage dry lake bed over thanksgiving weekend to ride motorcycles.

He had a dodge van and his friend had a huge motorhome so I loaded up my old datsun pickemup with the motorcycle and headed off to meet them.

Traffic was a zoo and it took forever to get there and it was getting dark by the time i pulled up.
I parked the truck and took off on the bike to find my buddy.
It was so cold that my hands froze to the grips and I couldn't straighten out my fingers.

I finally gave up and curled up in the cab with an old army blanket and two jackets I brought. They had sleeping bags and everything else I would need, including a heater. Lot of good it did me.

It was freezing and every time I almost drifted off to sleep, some A-hole with uncorked headers went by and woke me up.

Turns out the a-hole was my buddy and he uncorked his headers (opened up the lake pipes) thinking I would recognize the sound of his engine.

By about 4 am I said to hell with this and threw some gas on a bush and lit it on fire to keep warm.
Musta gone through half a dozen bushes by sunrise.

I didn't have much antifreeze in that old datsun cause the water in the block froze and blew two freeze plugs out. Had to roll it over the coals of them bushes to thaw it out.

It tool til around 9 am for it to thaw so I hammered the plugs back in, filled it up with drinking water, and drove home.
I had never been that cold, so cold I wondered if I would make it through the night.
Since then I never set foot in the desert without plenty of stuff to keep warm just in case.
Even if I'm just driving to Arizona I load up a case of drinking water, food, sleeping bags, blankets and a tarp or similar.

Wife thinks I'm nuts.

Now THAT is an epic story!

[daepp]

LOVE DV!

Last time I was there the high was in 78 and the low was 20 - pretty big swings for So Cal







An actual waterfall in Panamint

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by daepp

Now THAT is an epic story!

LOL if epic means dumb teenager who went out in the desert unprepared, I agree!

[p911dad]

Mid April in DV after a few days of rain. Unusual conditions.

[aigel]

So, where is the story of the small game kills?

Tell me you at least kicked up some jackrabbits?

G

[Cajundaddy]

We were in Death Valley Feb 2016. The weather was perfect and a pretty big wildflower bloom was just kicking in. Every 10 years or so the desert floor lights up with flowers.

[vash]

Originally Posted by aigel

So, where is the story of the small game kills?

Tell me you at least kicked up some jackrabbits?

G

we got a lot of cottontail with shotties..then our britches got bigger and we all switched to rimfire. let's just say the cottontail collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief. we were pretty harmless at that point. and there is nothing dumber feeling than flushing a huge covey of quail while carrying a .22LR. hehe.

zero jackrabbits.