Mojave Road Trail

Has anyone done it, anything special or technical about road and to watch out for or be prepared? and any suggestions how many days and any good camp sites to stay during visit, coming all the way from CO in march and doing research to make sure i am set and prepared. Any technical sections etc, seen some videos seems mostly washboard with long stretches etc. but curiuos if anyone from here done it and any info greatly appreciated.

 

I did it during Thanksgiving. Nothing difficult during the entire trip. Only the water crossing on the West end at Afton Canyon. I'd suggest At least 4 days. You could knock out the entire route in 2 long days, but there are a ton of things to see around the route too.

 

If you run into this guy, things took a really bad turn...

 

is it deep as they say or manageable without snorkle? i assume if to deep u can always turn around and head out via other trail.

 

You just gave me a new summer destination, thanks!

Well maybe spring, lol...

 

This is a very fun trail. Not technical in the least bit, very fun for higher speeds. There are a ton of side excursions. My favorite is the cavern that has a hole allowing a single beam of day light through. There's lot of trail reports out there online and they are worth researching.

Here's my 2 cents:
- DO NOT CAMP IN THE SAND WASHES. These can easily flood even if its not raining right on top of you.

- The Afton Canyon water crossing should have quite a bit of water in it. I've never had issues with it, just be careful.

- I like to air down to the low 20's for ride comfort. I know the merits of this can be debated.

- I think 3-4 days is good. It could be ran straight through in a single day, but it's worth it to explore.

- March would be good, it is pretty awesome when the wild flowers start popping up.

- There's quite a few Mojave Greens out there. I like to wear boots for any hiking activities. Especially with the little ones. The smaller the snake, sometimes the more dangerous.

- Make sure you spare's in good shape and you have the ability to change it on the trail, I've seen a number of punctures out there usually caused by foreign material.

Good luck and post back once you've returned.

 

It's a pretty easy road. I've got a trip report with tons of photos coming up (likely next week) of running it east-to-west in early December (sounds like just after @PcBuilder14). Will try to remembe to post an update here when I start that report.

UPDATE: here's the first post of the trip report: Mojave Road Part 1 - We Head West

I agree, 4 days would be great for this. Frankly, you could probably spend 5 or more with various side trips, explorations of mines (etc), and hikes.

The water crossing is deep - 35" or so as of December 2018. I did it snorkel-less, but it was a tense few minutes. Turning around is an option, but it's a long way back to another trail out (essentially, somewhere around Zzyzx or so, I'd say).

The one other bit of the trail to be cognisant about is the "Dry" Soda Lake. If it's rained at all before your trip, you need to be really careful of getting stuck there because the mud can be crazy sticky. Best to do with two (or more) rigs for recoveries, or else to route around it (to the north, through Baker).

 

I did it a few weeks ago before the rains in a 3/4 day. Had to get to Vegas.

One day I'll do it again and take it slow

I did it all by myself too. Probably dumb but had lots of tools, water, blankets and a sat phone

 

Luckily if you choose not to go through the water crossing it's not too much of a backtrack to get to the highway. About 10 miles.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/35....-116.3360992,15311m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

 

Thanks for input, my plan was about 3 days and I have lava tubes on list to visit for sure. think there is also the bus, a fort and maybe some other side places, any specific sites to camp you would recommend? as far as gear i am in good shape, full spare, tools, lift jacks everything on board including air and propane tank for 2 weeks of cooking and food suplie and water for good 10 days easily, and portable toilet system

 

I've done it twice. Once in December 2016 and again in late March/early April 2018

I wouldn't do it any later than April, it was starting to get pretty warm during the day out there around then. In December it was nice and cool during the day, and freezing (literally) at night...first night was under 15 degrees F. It was 'effing cold lol.

Make sure you map out your route and have a GPS on you the entire time...the trail is hard to follow in many areas and branches off in countless directions in others. There are so many sights to check out that I recommend doing it over the course of at least 3 days, more if you can.

At the end is the water crossing (assuming you run it East --> West) and it can get pretty deep. There's no way around it unless you backtrack several miles and take a different way out. You can see where a lot of trucks have tried taking the mud pits around the crossing but that mud is gnarly and deep, no way I would attempt that.

I had about a 2.5" lift on 32s the last time I did it and the water was almost too deep for me to safely cross...had to ride the side of the water pit to keep my intake higher. Everyone else on 33s/35s got through it no problem down the middle. Got a snorkel now so I wouldn't hesitate to take the middle now...it's safer that way, when I rode the side of it last time I hit a rock or tree root and nearly flopped over into the water, would've been bad lol.

The trail is 2WD friendly as long as you do it when it's dry...if the weather turns then you'll need 4x4 for sure.

Both times I did it with a group, we had one or two 2WD trucks that were okay, it can get tricky in the sand dunes near the end of the CA side though. I would make sure you have at least one 4x4 in the group.

Make sure you pack all your tools, recovery gear, food and water, etc. No reception for most of the trail and it gets pretty remote.

 

There are countless abandoned ranches, mines and ranch homes out there...the sites you mention are some of the most popular ones but if you branch off the main trail you can find some of the other cool sites that are less visited. Some of the abandoned ranch and mining homes still have appliances and things in them from the ~1940s like they're frozen in time. It's pretty cool

 

Oh and bring extra fuel, you'll need it if you take more than a few days and get crappy MPGs like most of us. Plus it's good peace of mind just in case you happen to get lost or turned around.

 

always have a full 5.5 gal with me always on any trails.

u have any specific sites u liked alot for exploring? i have gaia gps for sure all mapped out but woulndnt mind branching out and exploring if u willing to share some cool spots.

 

Honestly I would, but both times I went we had a couple other guys in the group that had mapped the whole thing out and were leading the way to all the spots they wanted to see, I was just following

 

no prob ill google earth see if anything shows up interesting.

 

I'm sure if you search Mojave Rd sites online you'll find some maps people have shared, since it's such a popular trail out here

 

was it busy with all others traffic or pretty remote? like when i was traveling in maze district utah for example i saw one jeep in 4 days i was and it was ranger.

 

Both times we came across a few other rigs but the deeper you get toward the middle of the trail (1 or 2 days in) there wasn't really anyone else out there at the same time as us. Saw a Unimog on the first day last time, guy was from Germany and traveling across the US in his giant Unimog lol