Monthly So Cal Off-Road Run

Just curious here, what kind of conditions are you driving that you need chains?

 

I spent 2 weeks in Montana every Xmas/New Years for 15+ years. We always had them for the drive up and back as a just in case. The only time I actually used them was in the Imperial Valley to get in and out of our duck club once when the mud was so bad I had zero traction.

 

Interesting! I never thought of them for mud use!

 

The mud in the Imperial Valley by the salton sea is like nothing else I've ever seen. It clogs the lugs and is super sticky clay. It's way worse than ice when it's wet down there. The chains definitely helped but we were still all over the place.

 

All salty too, that stuff will rust a vehicle super quick if it gets stuck and left out there for any length of time

 

Ouch! I can't even imagine having to deal with that.

 

I've spent what felt like hours under the truck trying to wash all the mud off after trips duck hunting when it's muddy. Never fails that in the middle of summer a 4-5lb hunk of adobe will fall out from somewhere under the truck in the middle of my driveway that I clearly didn't see. The stuff was clearly created by the devil himself.

 

That pace is crazy now man. Look at some recent videos. It's not safe there anymore man. Not even the pigs give a fuck, there just there to make sure no guns are going off

 

Agreed

 

Anyone been down Mojave Road recently? Thinking about doing a solo trip with the pup in mid April. Seems pretty tame as long as the water crossing isn’t too deep and Soda Lake isn’t muddy. I’d be heading out from the Santa Cruz area.

 

Soda lake is closed right now, probably for awhile. Due to the rains. Have to detour around it, there was a post/photo about it in another thread yesterday, maybe the Death Valley thread.

 

Thanks for that info! I will look for that other post.

 

Its weird I can't find it using the search feature, but TW's search feature is notoriously inaccurate. It's not surprising it's closed though, that lake bed is likely an enormous sticky mud bath right now and would be impossible for anyone to make it across. Not to mention it would get real torn up so it's probably going to be closed until late spring

The detour pictured involved going around it on the 15, but I imagine there are ways around it via trails too

 

Thanks for the insight! I didn’t have any luck finding the image either, but I will look at options for an alternate route around that area.

 

Yeah definitely check with the official website/s for it because there could be other closures too, with all this crazy weather. Would suck to get all the way out there and realize you can't follow the route you had planned

 

@LeFreakyBone here ya go

https://www.nps.gov/moja/road-conditions.htm

 

Thanks again!

 

I’d imagine that water crossing is real sketchy right now after all these storms we’ve been getting. I did it in December and it was just low enough for me to do and there hadn’t been many storms by that point

Wait they finally fixed Kellbaker?

 

Giant Geoff just ran it with a group. I know he was talking about avoiding Soda and Afton Crossing... few photos here.

https://forum.badlinesgoodtimes.com/threads/mojave-rd-trip-plan.406/page-7#post-7279

We've got a good size group running this weekend. Same thread.

I'm sure it will be prime time in a few weeks.

 

I imagine Soda Lake will still be a mess and closed come mid April, the weather forecaster I follow is saying we've likely got another big storm at the end of March and then at least one more in April before this wet weather is behind us