PLANNING: Anza/Borrego flower viewing run - March 5-7, 2010

[The Roadie]

Supposed to be spectacular this year due to substantial rains. Will get better reports by Monday of this weekend's viewing, but next weekend should be within 7-10 days of the absolute peak. But it's a large desert, and different regions peak at different times and it's all variable and quite unpredictable within the month of March.

Anyway, going out with a friend with a trailer on Friday night. Most likely setting up with him on Rockhouse Canyon Road, between the Borrego-Salton Seaway and Clark Dry Lake bed. Will post a SPOT beacon URL before we go.

Any interest in meeting us out there for the weekend, a day trip, or Saturday night camping? Wives are coming, so leave the girlfriends home.

[Philberto]

I may be able to go, depending on if I have somebody to watch the dogs (girlfriend is supposed to be going to Vegas that weekend to visit her brother and new nephew). Will probably only be for Saturday night camping, maybe earlier Saturday to do some wheeling. CB channel for meetup? No need for FRS now

[Zero]

Hmmmmm another cross country drive??? ahahahaha

[Philberto]

Hmmmmm another cross country drive??? ahahahaha

DOOO ITTT!

[Zero]

O man dont tempt me!!! Although the next time I go out there I would like to go for a week long trip out in the wilderness.

I learned a lot from hitting the trails with Roadie, and I know there are some trails we didnt have time for. Even if I dont make it out for this trip, I will be trying to make it a yearly thing at least.

I am looking forward to hearing something about tecore this year too. If I miss that again Im gona kick my own ass.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Be fully assured there were trails that Roadie has run that you did not get to. You will need far more than a week as well.

Keep wheelin and you will learn every trip. It is really nice when you get someone like roadie to take you out and help you learn the ropes. Just remember to bring him a couple 6 packs of good stuff for the knowledge.

[Zero]

o ya dont worry I am well aware. I made sure to bring 3 kinds of beer when I met with him. And some Jack Daniels. All was well.

[Philberto]

I brought 3 kinds of beer as well, and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label... Gotta plan accordingly

[The Roadie]

You guys did indeed rock. Pleasure to take you out. At one point I had Zero park and ride shotgun with me on a pretty challenging section after a 20" water crossing - sorry we didn't have time on the earlier meet. It was also where I left Teebes at the bottom when he was close to stock, and said - ride with me and see if you can RESIST getting obsessed with conquering this trail. That's Coyote Canyon.

Right now after recent rains it's almost 30" in that third water crossing. Ummmm, no.

I gotta get me a Hero camera now.

[irishboy02]

30" and your worried?

Im consistanty hittin depths upto the the headlights and over the hood and i dont even have the body lift. As long as you initially nose in and keep the airpocket over the hood youl be good. Have no fear roadie, go for it!

[The Roadie]

30" and your worried?

Intensely worried. I cracked an exhaust manifold here once, I have no wheel well liners up front so my water dynamics are different, plus the bumper "bow effect" is different with and without the angled skid plate installed, and it's presently uninstalled for Neil to modify after the body lift. Yes, I'm chicken, especially after seeing reports of a couple of engines destroyed by water on the OS. Oh, but I don't mind at all being called chicken about mud and water. I've paid my dues on rocks and sand.

[foosh]

Very true, Brendan and i have seen mud and water, and i don't think he's seen any rock or too bad of sand... oh wait yes he did (sand is his enemy).

[The Roadie]

Have to slide this to the next weekend due to wifely scheduling problems and two days of rain forecast for the weekend. There are some canyons I don't go in if there's building clouds anywhere on the horizon, let alone active rain. The flash flood visible levels on the slot walls can be 12 feet up.

Oh, is this an old pic - and the slot is blocked off before this point now.

[Philberto]

Unfortunately, next weekend is my "on" weekend, so I won't be able to make it then. If you are also going the weekend after, I may be able to go, if we just wanna do some wheeling... Our 4x4 trails are closed off up here due to the wet weather and the snow, and Angeles Crest Highway got washed away, so I'm itching to do something.

[bgwolfpack]

Roadie, is Collins in the same area? Is this pic of a trail or is it also a dry basin?

[The Roadie]

That pic *is* also called the Coyote Canyon Bypass Road, and it indeed goes to Collins Valley. It's called the bypass because until about 18 years ago, you got to Collins Valley for hiking and camping by driving IN the river bed for 1/2 mile, but it raised a LOT of silt and killed fish and frogs, etc. So now you have to go around the water, which is the ONLY year-round source of free-flowing water in the entire region. It's THE trail that got me obsessed. You go perpendicular to the creek three times, and that's the one that's currently running over 24" deep.



Red line is my GPS bread crumb trail from one camping trip, but not the day trip where Teebes and I helped rescue some dehydrated bikers up there.

[Philberto]

Speaking of Coyote Canyon, would you say that it would be foolish to attempt that trail with 31.55" tires?

[HARDTRAILZ]

Speaking of Coyote Canyon, would you say that it would be foolish to attempt that trail with 31.55" tires?

Tire size is generally not the issue, driver skill, tire placement, and knowing your rig is the big issue. I have seen people with 31s go where 35s and 37s cant because the driver knew where to put his tires and weight and when to be on the gas and off.

If you are worried about the tire size, you need more wheel time and to get out there with someone like Roadie to help teach you.

There is no substitute for experience.

[The Roadie]

I first did that trail on 31.5" Wrangler Silent Armor ATs, not even aired down (I didn't know better then, but I needed every mm of ground clearance anyway). Took an hour and a half to go 1/2 mile. Except part of that was stopping to take off my plastic rocker panel covers and strapping them on the roof. Then the roof rack started to slide around on the rails because I was outfitting a weekend campout in Collins Valley for some hiking co-workers and it was my first time out with an inadequate mounting solution to my Surco. So I had to open my rear windows and ratchet strap the rack to the vehicle. And I had to stop every 3-4 feet and check my line and every 20-30 feet I was stacking some rocks and I still scraped the bejesus out of the frame (no rock sliders yet). And every steep section was filled with locker activity and drama. Wrung me out to do it that way, but it had to be done. Obsession is a real bitch.

The park rangers were going up a couple of times a day on patrol in a mildly lifted old Cherokee, but their experience doing exactly the right line showed. But the road was deteriorating after every rain, and finally got to the point of being an employee safety issue for the state park service, so they dragged a rock grinder up there and defanged the trail a bit. Still the toughest out there, but with aired down 33's and some experience, it's easier to pick a line where your frame doesn't scrape, the locker hardly ever engages, and I can get up it now in 15 minutes. Ask Zero. He didn't feel like taking his EXT up there, but can confirm it wasn't full of drama anymore. I could guide you with 31.5"s.

[Philberto]

Groovy. It's not so much a issue of me not being able to pick lines, more an issue of getting feedback on the overall difficulty of the trail, because the toughest trail I would say we did during the trip would probably be Calcite Mine.