COMPLETED: McCain Valley and Elliot Mine areas - Feb 2007

[The Roadie]

Still sore from a hike we took 1/4 mile from the Mexican border. I'll allow Teebes to explain why that was necessary.

First trail was to the Sacatone Overlook off McCain Valley Road in Jacumba, CA. The Sacatone Overlook gives great views all the way to the Salton Sea, about 40 miles away, on a good day, and into Carrizo Gorge, where a rail line clings to the side of the gorge. A side trip to a hill that overlooks the overlook thwarted me a couple of years ago with stock tires, and I had vowed to return. This was about a 33 degree climb - with gravel and a few sharp rocks embedded in just dust. No traction to speak of - no choice but to spin all four tires and try to get some momentum going. In a video of this climp, I get a couple of inches of air under both front tires at once.

Second trail was to the Elliot Mine and a few side trails, ending up 1/4 mile from the Mexican border. Time to be careful in that area. Teebes has already been "interviewed" by the Border Patrol for suspicion of inappropriate offroading.

Anyway, on to the pics!

Looking east towards the Borrego desert


Rail line clinging on for dear life


New graphics by Customsense.biz. THANKS, CHAD! (More pics to come in the Appearance Forum)


Sequence of Teebes coming down over a ledge. No scrapage on the frame with his 33"s. It's all in picking the optimum line.












The dusty hillclimb ahead

[The Roadie]

Got to the top of the dusty part! Both of us!


I climbed higher to look down on the world. Greg likes to stay in the car. Turns out his policy would have been a good one to follow later.


Bit of an off-camber tilt here, eh?


At the bottom of a great rutty hill - the video of this (in the process of being uploaded to Youtube) shows some amazing tire-in-the-air action!


Rocks


More rocks


Parked at the tip of the toughest part of the Elliot Mine trail


Valley of the Moon. You used to be able to drive this, now it's protected wilderness.


Rocks that look like a monkey and a bird. You can probably find more hidden.


End of the day - found the cars again. Whew.

[The Roadie]

Lots of wheel in the air action.

Anyway, here's some stills from the video. Ooops, noticed I bashed one of the tow loops on the Curt 31055 front receiver even more than it was bashed up before. They're there to be skid shields, so they did their jobs. :rolleyes: