Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Don't suppose you were in Death Valley on the 12th were you? Passed a white on white Taco/FlipPac on our way down Saline from South Pass headed towards Panamint that afternoon.

 

Yep, that was me! Afternoon of the 12th I drove up from Ridgecrest via Trona and Panamint valley, had a late lunch at Panamint springs, stopped briefly at Father Crowley Point and then headed up Saline Valley Road to South Pass continuing to the crest of Hunter Mountain. Have to do that trip report once I get done with the Mojave Road trip report...

Remember passing a quicksand 2016 on Saline Valley Road between the 190 and South Pass. Think it was just south of Lee Flat near where the boxcar cabin is. I pointed you out to the friend that was riding with me and said "that's what the 2016 looks like". Pretty sure that must have been you.

Cheers!

 

Yup, that was us. Camped with the plebs at Furnace Creek and spent the day running to Ubehebe, Racetrack, Lippincott, Saline, Panamint and back. Pointed you out to my siblings who I was trying to explain a FlipPac to a day earlier. Hit Mojave two days later. Looked like this about the time you saw us:

 

Sounds like a long but great day! We camped up on the ridge north of Hunter Mountain that night. Next day Hidden Valley, Racetrack, down Lippencott and camped in a canyon on the west side of Saline Valley. Last day past the springs, over Steel Pass to Eureka Dunes and then headed out because it was getting really windy and didn't feel like camping next to sand dunes in the wind

Now that I see that picture I remember noticing the color matched shell too! Small world.

 

Great writeup. Telescope looks neat! Thanks.

 

As usual, Ken's photography is a cut above what I usually see on TW. Great report, looking forward to more.

 

How to UNSUCK photos embedded on Tacoma World

TL;DR - Don't embed HTTP image links, use HTTPS links if you care about image quality

OMFG, I can't believe it took me this long to figure this out. As some may have noticed I do take just a little time with my photography. Unfortunately it seemed that when posting images in this build thread the forum software was getting in the way and resizing the images with insanely high compression rendering my works of - well not art, but at least lots of effort - looking like ass.

I tried a bunch of seemingly sensible things to stop this from happening with no effect. Weird thing was I didn't remember it doing this sometime ago and also it seems some folks post images that look untouched and have a "Click this image..." pop-up to see the full size image. For the life of me couldn't figure out how to get this to work on my images. I gave up in frustration a few months ago and was meaning to email the mods to see just what was up. Today I realized this really can't be rocket science. No one would go out of their way to screw with images or cache them if there wasn't some necessary reason to do so. So I viewed the page source and Googled just a couple of things and learned of something new - to me at least - afoot on the web.

Forum Image Proxies
...or how making the web secure can rape over your images

So the web is wisely if slowly moving to default secure connections - meaning "https" at the start of URLs to ensure the connection between you and the web server is encrypted. The headache with this if you are going to tell people a connection is "secure" it would be wise to ensure they are connecting to the server they think they are. Along with HTTPS comes SSL Certificates which are a type of cryptologic signature a server can use to identify itself and which your web browser verifies against "trusted" SSL authorities. You've probably encountered cases in which this "breaks" and you get a "certificate error" trying to visit a site.

A big wrinkle though is what if not everything on the page goes through the secure connection? This could in theory allow malicious objects to appear on an otherwise "secure" page. As a result most web browsers now check for this kind of thing - namely an HTTPS page that includes elements that have regular old unsecure HTTP links or elements within them. Pretty sensible thing to do really. Problem is for forums it is users that post most of the content and so of course almost everything posted is going to be HTTP and the web browser will whine about this.

And so enter the proxy. The solution to the problem is for the forum software to scrape all the posts and where there is a link or content that is not secure to proxy it so the user's browser will be happy. For images this means rehosting a copy of the original image on a secure server controlled by the forum host. And of course space and bandwidth cost money so the resizing is optimized for file size and not quality (again makes perfect sense).

The problem for me is I host my images on Smugmug but do have my own domain. My domain is, however, not setup with an SSL certificate and the associated costs so if I link an image through my domain it is going to be plain old HTTP. And then the forum software will proxy it resulting in a compression artifact horror. On the other hand Smugmug itself of course has the dollars to have an SSL certificate and if I instead link through their domain instead of my own I can have an HTTPS link and the TW forums will actually embed the much higher quality content from Smugmug rather than a very compressed copy from the TW proxy.

Given I have a high resolution "retina" display the difference is striking but given how awful the proxy compression artifacts are I'm going to guess it is a visible difference to nearly everyone not viewing on a phone from 1999. Some examples:

Proxy Horror


Ahhh...
​

Note especially the horrific compression artifacts around the Tacoma badge on the door. Though of course I have since removed the badges so my door panels should look a lot smoother in proxied images these days

This has really, really, really been pissing me off because my approach to composition is often to have an important subject rather small in the larger scene. Few more examples, those of you with very high resolution displays should see a dramatic difference.

And now being able to embed even higher resolution version:







Again, even higher resolution:



​

Well, time to go back and edit every freaking post in my thread to fix this!

 

This is awesome and explains a lot! Unfortunately for some of us (myself) I am unable to see the pics you share from your host site because my work computer scrubs them as not part of the TW domain and blocks them. My home computer doesn't have great resolution either and my phone is so small that it's hard to tell anyway. So unfortunately for me I'm unable to see any of your high quality images.

Anyway, enough whining from me.......I've really enjoyed all your pics. Keep them coming!

 

I was wondering how come your photos are so much more vibrant than any other photos on TW; this explains it.

And @Mtnflyer a$$ smack sig is amazing in it's own right also

 

That is a tremendous difference! Smugmug works well for me as well.

 

Mojave Road - Day 2
April 2016

I woke up rather late in camp on the rim of Piute Gorge having been really tired at the start of the trip and up late the night before looking at stars. After breakfast and what not I finally rolled out of camp at just a bit before 10AM. Just south of camp, and just north of the Mojave Road, is an old cattle corral slowly weathering away. The light wasn't great but it seemed worth trying a photo.

There used to be a lot of ranching operations in the Mojave National Preserve area. If you have the most recent copy of the Mojave Road Guide you will probably have detected the author doesn't seem too happy with the end of ranching in the area and is especially annoyed by the removal of various corrals and windmills along the route.

Personally I think ranch leases on desert soils are now an idiotic anachronism. Indeed long ago the government in pursuit of manifest destiny created a variety of incentives to encourage development in the west. Like most government incentives some worked and some didn't. Some still make sense, others don't. Subsidies and incentive schemes are important tools but they shouldn't be permanent things. I fail to see how subsidizing a lifestyle choice for a few lease holders at the cost of a negative impact to a huge swath of environment ill suited to stomping and munching cattle really makes any sense. Yeah, I'm sure buggy whip makers really wanted their sons to enter the same profession too but time moves on. Count me as own quite happy that the BLM and NPS have been retiring leases throughout the Mojave over the past decades.

That said, ranching really is an important part of the history to the area along with mining and personally I think a lot of these corrals should stay to be slowly reclaimed by the desert rather than outright removal. Anywho, a picture of part of a corral.

How long will it remain?
​

Just south of the corral I rejoined the Mojave Road and encountered the first people on the trip. Two vehicles also headed west, they were stopping to take some photos so I pressed on ahead. I must say the suspension continues to just eat up roads that would have slowed me considerably in the past. I was now crossing the Lanfair Valley which is about as classic a high desert landscape as you can imagine. Lots of Joshua trees and distant vistas.

Crossing the Lanfair Valley
​

Eventually at around mile 40 on the road I took a detour to the north to see some petroglyphs and a well dug at the same site. The well was bone dry, but the petroglyphs were obvious and easy to find.

Petroglyphs at "Indian Well"
​

Returning to the road it isn't much further to the "penny can" the point and origin of which is less than clear. But worth a campy photo all the same.

The Penny Can
​

The Joshua trees and vegetation actually get quite dense as the road continues and so it is easy to see why there were a number of homesteaders in the Lanfair Valley at the start of the twentieth century. In the end it seems sort of cruel though, just barely enough water to tempt one into trying agriculture but not really enough to make a go of it.

At around mile fifty I reached Rock Spring, a very important watering point along the road. Just prior to the spring the road drops into a wash and this is definitely the roughest and most exciting part of the entire Mojave Road. Seems like a good place to perhaps lose a bumper if not being careful. I made it through without incident and walked just a few sections of it before driving it.

I decided to have a slow and pleasant lunch at Rock Spring as I really didn't have that much more road to log the rest of the day. I took a chair, my lunch and the Mojave Road Guide up to the spring and found a pleasantly cool spot away from the buzzing insects. I determined I really need to find a chair that is good for taking naps - mine have no decent head or neck support.

Lunch and a break at Rock Spring
​

I finally left Rock Spring at about 2PM. There are few other points of interest to stop at along the way and eventually the road becomes much easier as it merges with the more heavily traveled (but still dirt) Cedar Canyon Road. Here the road is high enough in elevation you really don't feel like you are in a desert anymore. Soon though the road descends into a valley which is classic Mojave Desert. Ahead you see Cima Dome and to the right the huge Kelso Dunes. The Mojave Road stretches out into the distance climbing once again.

Still a ways to go...
​

A bit before 3PM I was crossing Kelso-Cima road as well as the UP train tracks. It was definitely getting a bit warm. By 3:30 I arrived at my planned camp at mile 68.4 and was again quite exhausted. The weather forecast was for wind though at the moment it was relatively warm and still. I could have used a good breeze! This camp area has lots of rocks and is against a hill but given the expected wind direction actually provided little shelter. Nonetheless I chose the best spot I could given the forecast.

One nice aspect of the Flip Pac is that it is very well ventilated. I appreciated that greatly this afternoon. Temperature was in the low 90s and there was very little breeze. Opening the big windows in the Flip Pac made sure every breath of air did its most to keep things cool. I saw plenty of cirrus clouds coming in which would mean no star gazing, besides which strong winds are also no fun to observe in. The camp had a beautiful view of the Kelso Dunes. The group I had passed earlier in the day stopped to look but then moved on. Another group of about four vehicles did the same an hour later. There was actually plenty of space at the camp but I was happy to have the solitude.

As the sun dropped lower I was treated to a spectacular sunset given the clouds. It was one of those sunsets I know to just not try to bother with as far as photography goes. You just can't vacuum up that much sky and have a composition that works. So instead I setup the camera inside the Flip Pac to take a photo out the rear tent window. I left it there taking a photo every ten seconds while I went outside, found a nice big boulder and just enjoyed the twenty or so minutes of absolute serenity.

Rear Window
​

As the sky faded to darkness and the first stars and planets came out the wind started to pick up in a big way. I zipped up all the windows and cooked inside the Flip Pac. It was a very, very noisy night in the Flip Pac with all the wind. Small price to pay for all the fun so far though.

 

This thread has totally changed the way i thought i was going with my truck

 

Mojave Road - Day 3 (Marl Spring to Camp Cady)
April 2016

After a noisy windy night I woke up to a still very windy morning. A quick cold breakfast and I got things packed up so I was on the road at 8:30. I actually kind of appreciated the wind now that I was not trying to sleep. If you spend anytime in the Mojave you know wind is a big part of it and it wouldn't seem like a genuine Mojave Road journey without at least one day of roaring winds. Just down the road from my camp was Marl Spring, another important watering hole on the historic road.

Marl Spring
​

Not too much further along the road a nondescript rise marks the high point for this section of the road. This is actually a really great place to stop and explore with binoculars. You can easily pick out Cave Mountain 40 miles to the west that marks the entrance to Afton Canyon as well as parts of Soda Dry Lake before it. I shot some panoramas from the high point, but as is typical with such shots they don't capture anything like the experience of being there so I won't bother posting them. If you do drive the road be sure to stop and appreciate the vistas from this spot at mile 72.5.

Not much further along is the road log at the Mojave Mailbox. As mentioned Crom lead a group just a few days before me. I was surprised to discover that in the intervening three days there had been nearly forty other log entries! Apparently this time of year the Mojave Road gets quite crowded!

Mojave Mailbox
​

A bit further along the road I turned off at Aiken Cinder Mine Road to head up to the very cool lava tube not too far off the Mojave Road. I've been to this lava tube cave more than once before but it is always well worth the visit. Today I brought a tripod down with me thinking of working with the light beams that come in through a skylight. In the end I settled on the slightly campy...

The force is strong with this one...
​

Returning to the route of the Mojave Road things began to get quite sandy for a bit. I eventually crossed Kelbaker Road and made it to Seventeenmile Point at just about noon. Here I had cell signal again for the first time and made a quick check that nothing unexpected was happening at home. It was again getting quite warm and I had a snack deferring lunch to a bit later.

I crossed Jackass Rd. by 1PM and stopped for lunch. It was well over 90F at this point but with a very strong wind it was not bad at all. In these conditions I just point the front of the truck directly at the sun so that the back of the truck will provide as much shade as possible. I wouldn't want to deploy the shade awning on the side in this kind of wind. I had a pleasant lunch on the tailgate under the shade of the door to the shell.

Soon enough it was time to cross Soda Lake. This is a point that can require a detour if parts of the lake are still wet or muddy. I was greatly concerned this past fall that a spring trip would not work because of the El Nino forecast. In the end El Nino was an almost complete no show in southern CA while it did provide some moisture to northern CA. In fact every part of Soda Lake, even the parts the guide said almost always have some mud, were baked completely dry and dusty.

Crossing Soda Lake
​

Near the far western end I reached Traveler's Monument and I now know the secret words written upon the brass plaque.

Given the heat and relatively limited things to stop and see along this part of the road from Seventeen Mile Point to Afton Canyon I must admit it can become a bit of a slog. You really have to enjoy the journey itself and appreciate absorbing the scale and length of the road imagining doing it with a wagon or on foot leading a mule. Along this section I once again greatly appreciated the suspension work I'd done as it meant I could tackle this at some speed.

There is little to note until Afton Canyon except that the section west of Shaw Pass to the entrance of Afton Canyon is extremely sandy in parts and being extraordinarily dry when I did it really felt like it might be a problem if you decided to stop in parts. The route finding can be tricky at times so solo driving and trying to pay attention to the odometer, the guide and look for cairns or post marking the route was occasionally taxing. Soon enough though, I reached the mouth of Afton Canyon.

The original plan for my trip was to spend another nice night under dark skies with the new telescope here at the eastern end of Afton. I arrived at the railroad bridge at the mouth of Afton Canyon a bit before 3:30 and it was plenty hot. There was plenty of cirrus cloud cover on the way and the forecast was for thick cirrus all night. Even standing in the shade of the bridge it was a bit uncomfortable because the ferocious wind from the morning had by now completely disappeared leaving things relatively still and stifling. Technically you aren't allowed to camp anywhere in Afton Canyon itself except at the campground at the western end so it was either camp here or press on through the entire canyon.

Considering my options I did not feel like spending a hot afternoon just hanging around only to spend a night under clouds instead of stars. I actually had another trip to the Death Valley area planned the following week so I didn't feel like I needed to camp just to camp. In the heat visiting the cool shady confines of Spooky Canyon midway up Afton sounded good. So I altered the plan, I would stop by Spooky and try to press on to the end of the road today.

I must highlight though for anyone planning a Mojave Road trip that you should really leave the better part of a day just to explore things in Afton Canyon. Don't fly through it like me unless you've already been there before or plan on visiting again. As I had been to Afton years before and had been again just a week earlier with my daughter I felt fine just stopping at Spooky and otherwise motoring through Afton quickly.

Spooky Canyon is really something else. A real hidden gem of the Mojave and it isn't mentioned at all in the Mojave Road Guide. Be sure to stop and visit it. And definitely bring a flash light, you will have to stop and turn around if you don't have one. Headlamp better as there is some scrambling in pitch black. The previous week my daughter made a brave push with me into the dark - mostly because she was excited about her new headlamp - but our time was limited before she got too scared. Today I'd be able to spend more time exploring on my own.

Walking up Spooky Canyon


Twisted Skylight


Mouth of Spooky
​

I'll definitely be coming back to Spooky again some day, amazing place. From there it was a nice drive up Afton and coming to the water crossing near the campground this time I put it in 4LO with ATRAC and was able to just steam across perfectly following my bow wave. This was much better than my comedy of errors 2HI crossing the previous week...

And now I had a choice. Many folks bailout of the road after Afton. There is little to recommend the rest of the trail and it can get very sandy with some minor route finding issues along the way. It was just a bit before 5PM and there were 18 miles to Camp Cady from here. It just seemed like it would be a shame to not do the last little bit of the road, being in a wash I figured I'd make decent time.

Indeed the rest of the road is mostly in a wash and the character quite different from all that came before it. It feels very open in some sense with little to offer in the way of vistas. I did in fact make decent time, stopping for just two quick photos along the way I did finally reach the Camp Cady Monument at the end of the road just before 6PM.

Road's End
​

In some ways the end of the road is anticlimactic. You are eventually forced out of the wash due to private land holdings and follow a power line road and another road for the last four miles. You actually end at a monument and would need to walk to the barely distinguishable remains of the camp further along. It still felt really good to just complete all 140 miles of the road though!

From there I got back to pavement, aired up, stopped for gas in Barstow and dinner at Outback in Victorville. Late that night I made it back to my own bed - mercifully wind free.

Doing the Mojave Road had been a long goal and I was really glad to get it completed. I think I would have preferred to do it a bit slower in cooler weather but that wasn't in the cards this year. I would have liked to have stopped to explore a few more places along the way but in the end many of those places I had already explored and schedule dictated I keep moving along. I think this will be a great trip to do again maybe in five years or so when my daughter is older. It is really a special kind of trip and we are all deeply indebted to those who have gone to so much effort to document, protect and promote this amazing historical road.

 

If there was a vote for the BEST THREAD EVER!! I would cast my vote for this thread!!!

Seriously jealous of your travels!!!

 

Well done Ken. I hope we can get together one day. You're just down the 210 from me.

 

Seriously, would love to see your field camera in action too! I've got a half built Bender Photographic 4x5 in the basement along with a Graphlex Speed Graphic that I used occasionally in the late 90's.

 

What a fantastic thread, I'm so glad I stumbled onto it. We share the same needs in terms of suspension upgrades i.e. dirt private/backroads/"expo", not so much "rock crawling or hucking" as long all-day bumpy rocky roads. I often drive 16 miles a day on poorly maintained private road assoc. rds and require a modest, sensible, functional lift, capable of sustained performance.
Lots of good information here, told in a straightforward manner. And the photography and trip journals are great too. Thanks @DVexile this was, and I hope will continue to be, a fun and informative read.

 

Been busy and haven't updated in awhile. Happening recently:

• Second oil change and greased all the drive shaft zerks
• Took oil sample to send to Blackstone as a starting reference
• Driver side rear LCA cam has slipped a bit sometime during the last few trips. Will correct it when I remove all the cams for anti-seize in the coming weeks.
• Ordered All Pro rear aluminum bumper with side panels since they are having a free shipping sale this weekend - saves a bit over $100
• Replaced ugly greenish dome light with Philips version, looks better
• Still need to post another Death Valley trip report from April

Oh, and a teaser for that trip report I need to get around to posting:

 

Beautiful photo!

 

^^^^^^^^ Indeed!