The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

If you want FOXs pm me. I have a set of their extended ones with resis that I have an RMA on for Wheelers.

 

Do you have a HAM?

 

Yes. 2-meter and 440.

 

They do make custom length shafts, housings, etc... only thing is it can take months. They do have 'off the shelf' items too. Their catalog doesn't list them all but look around and maybe call Fox.

This is off Wheelers:

Non Resi:
These measure 14.95″ collapsed X 23.55″ extended (980-24-675). They are good for 0″-2″ lift. - See more at: Resi:
These are available for 2″-2.5″ lift (14.7″ x 23.8″, part #985-24-117) and 2.5″-3.5″ lift (15.2″ x 24.8″, part #985-24-118). - See more at: The ones I have in my possession right now are the ones for the 2.5-3.5" lift but I never installed them.

 

Hey Crom! I thought I'd let you know that I FINALLY saw some big horn sheep on a hike. I was hiking Mt. Baldy during the week one morning and ended up seeing three pretty good sized ones! I was so stoked. I was the only one out there at the time so we crossed paths before they evacuated the area. I wasn't able to grab any good photos. I was too busy keeping my eyes on them since they were within 25-35 meters before they booked it.

 

That is excellent news! I'm so happy for you! Thanks for sharing.

 

@Chux - do you mind sharing how you mounted your ARB compressor? Maybe some detail on location and the fab'd mounting bracket? Thanks.

 

The Death Valley Express ran again. Dec 27-31, 2015. Four days and four nights, solo, about 250 miles of dirt and rocks. It was glorious adventure.

Here is a short video with some interesting pics from my travels.

https://youtu.be/k1zwri0MKMA

Images from:

Ibex Hills
Ibex Dunes
Ibex Spring
Ibex Mine
Saratoga springs
Saratoga Mine
Owlshead Mountains
Owlshead Radio Ralay Station
Harry Wade Road
West Side Road
Queen of Sheba Mine
Devil's Golf Course
Echo Canyon

It will take me time, but I plan to tell my story in detail over several posts. Truck performed really well. My drivers side mirror took a nasty hit, but is intact. I lost a lot of paint on my sliders, my u-bolts, my rear axle housing, chipped paint on rockers and I broke a GPS mount.

 

This looks great. Thank you for sharing.

 

That was an awesome video Nick! Great photos telling a great story of your adventures. Heres to more exploring and safe travels in 2016!

 

Very nice, looks like you had a great time man!

 

I understand the solo stuff but I don't particularly like to promote it. Survival skills are great to have. Many could argue that my 98 lb better-half makes me a solo explorer (5 of the 7 days of our 'Search for Three Wise Men' annual tour). Anyway, there are many folks that would love to go and by no means do I want to drag 10 folks that have a different 'filing cabinet' of beliefs of how the place is to be preserved/experienced/traveled, so I get it. I have invited many - but as you know, aligning schedules is a tough task for these ventures. ...getting folks that align with you is an even tougher task sometimes. Safe travels.

 

It was! Thank you. You're welcome.

Much appreciated!

Thank you.

Thanks. I still have to get final okay from wife, but earmark the last weekend in March for a Mojave run!

Solitude is incredibly rare for me. I can count on one hand the number of days per calendar year I actually experience it. Yet, I feel it is absolutely necessary for my spiritual health.

This is a photograph of a quote, posted in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor center. I think it's very apropos to how I feel about my DV trips.

Yessir! It will give you mounting options, and that is good!

 

Mojave Road is a wonderful place! We just got back from a visit last week. It was very cold in the evening (~15 F) and the trails and Soda Dry Lake were surprisingly dry. Can't wait to go back

 

Death Valley Part 1 of 6

I prepped the truck for my adventure by loading the usual off-road gear and camping supplies.

• Removed rear seat bottom cushions and made sleeping platform.
• Checked and loaded the following items:
  • Taco toolkit: wrenches, sockets, ratchets, impact gun, misc tools,
  • Checked and loaded my Tire repair kit,
  • Spare tire check,
    
  • Spare parts, and fluids,
    
  • Recovery gear,
    
  • Air compressors,
  • Hi-Lift, plus misc parts and accessories
    
  • ARB fridge,
  • Water, 7-gallons
    
  • Food,
  • Maps,
  • Boots, gaiters, and clothing duffel with cold gear,
    
  • Shovel,
  • sleeping pad, bag, pillows,

Pre-departure check

• I proceeded to check all fluids in the truck,
• Retorque all bolts on the truck that have been wrenched on in the last year, including lug nuts,
  
• Make new match marks on all bolts/nuts with a red paint pen.
  
• Performed a comprehensive check of all my comms gear and made sure everything was in working order.

I then drove over to Costo food court and got one of these... I ate some and divided and packed the rest into the ARB cooler.


The traffic up I-15 was fine for a Sunday afternoon up until about 5-miles before Barstow, CA. I took surface streets through Barstow, which helped a lot, then back onto I-15, and it was the worst traffic jam ever. All the Christmas holiday traffic was exiting California to Nevada/Utah/Colorado/ Etc. It was pretty horrendous. I got on the radio, and called out on 146.520 and talked to another radio operator trapped in traffic and we had a nice conversation helping pass the time.



When I got to Baker, CA the world was there. It was worse than Disneyland. Everybody was there! Fortunately, all I really needed was gas, so I refueled and continued onto CA-127, and about 30 minutes later I entered the most Southeastern corner of Death Valley National Park. The promised land!

Before entering the dirt, I pulled over on CA-127 and captured the moon in the clouds.


My entrance into Death Valley was at the Begining/End of Harry Wade Road. This is where I aired down to 20 PSI before continuing on.

I made my way into the Ibex Hills before settling down for the night. The propane fire pit was the bomb! I loved having that thing with me.

 

Death Valley Part 2 of 6

After waking, to a crisp 36°F morning, I noticed the moon was still out, so I snapped this pic. An interesting note about moon dust. Since there is no wind and water to erode the rocks there, all the moon dust is like shards of glass and super abrasive.



I made my way about six miles over to the Ibex Spring and photographed the mining ruins there which have been adopted and are under custodial care by The Mojave River Valley Museum in Barstow, CA. They allow exploration of the area but ask that nothing be disturbed.

The Ibex mine was established in 1882, and included a 5-stamp mill. It has a fascinating history which you can read online here.

This was a neat site to explore, lots of artifacts, and you will not find any tourists here, as it is very remote from the busy sections of the park.

There are at least three distinct mining sites that occurred in the Ibex Hills pictured below. The palms above are in this this photo, lower left.

There are some fun washouts to traverse to get out there. This was the biggest one.



A view looking back at the washout.

 

Death Valley Part 3 of 6

After exploring for about an hour, I headed south passing the Ibex Dunes. It's about 1 mile hike to them from the closest trail. I hiked them last year and decided to admire them from afar as I had long range trail plans on this day.

Next I revisited Saratoga Springs.

Then I hiked to the Saratoga Mine. Artifacts galore, everywhere. I love seeing this stuff.

Back at the springs, I found this bird. There is a ton of wildlife at the springs, being the only water source for miles and miles.

I returned to my truck and cleaned up. I spoke to another explorer in a Subaru who wanted information regarding trail conditions to the Ibex dunes. I gladly told him what he needed to know. He was worried about deep sand, but I assured him to stick to the hard pack and he would have no issues.

I took Harry Wade Road to Owl Hole Springs Road, where I found this sign:

This is good. So I proceeded ahead.

If you look at a map of Death Valley NP, you will see that Fort Irwin Military reservation nearly borders the southern boundary of the park, and just to the East of Fort Irwin is China Lake Naval Weapons Center. For whatever reason, the military does a shit load of logistical operations by proxy through U.S. Gov. Contractors that extensively use Harry Wade Road. They use class "A" tractor trailers and haul over seas containers to and fro, like crazy. I had the opportunity to talk to one of the contractors (Utah Plates), he was courteous and friendly, and despite my credentials, he wouldn't budge when I pressed him on what they were doing out there. However, I think it has something to do with Laser targeting systems, as the site was signed for Class 4 Laser radiation.

Here is a view of the contractors compound / U.S. Gov. property

I continued on, pressing further and further into the Owlshead Mountains. My destination lay 19.5 miles away at the end of the trail.




There were two prizes for me at the end of the trail. One was a legacy long haul microwave communication repeater site, and the other was an attempt to get a look at Wingate Pass.

This is the Owlshead Mountain repeater site. These towers were used extensively prior to the rise of fiber optic cabling.

Here is a good article about the sites:

The Abandoned Microwave Towers That Once Linked the US

ATT sold the Owlshead site to American Tower Corp, probably some time around 1999 and it appears unused at the present time.

This repeater site has antennas facing the Slate range to the East and Ibex to the North West. About 30 miles in each direction.

This is a map of the microwave repeater sites in Southern California and Nevada.


Wingate Pass, is a site that can only be reached by foot, and there was no way I was going to go there on this trip. Wingate Pass is significant because, 20,000 years ago, this is the spot where water filled into Death Valley Proper and made Lake Manly (90 miles long, 6 to 11 miles wide and up to 600 feet deep.)

After taking in all the views, the clouds were rolling in and it was time to go.

I made it about 5 miles away from the radio tower before deciding I should find a suitable camp site.




I cooked myself a yummy hot dinner.




This turned out to be the darkest night.

I shut down at 4:30 and found this nice wash to back into in the Owlshead mountains. It's seldom traveled route, Owl Hole Springs Road, leads 25 miles into the Owlshead mountains with a dead end. I was the only one out there, and I traveled all 25 miles and saw no other vehicles or persons. Anyways, I enjoy my fire pit, ate dinner, played music, looked at maps, got ready for bed... Turned off the fire pit, then looked around, can't see shit! There are no stars (overcast clouded sky), there is no moon. It's pitch black! I can't even see my hand in front of my face! lol! Let's just say I found my headlamp in a hurry and got into the truck for the night.

 

Loving this report, as usual.

 

Great report so far!