Monthly So Cal Off-Road Run

Right on dude. Gave ya follow on the gram. @badlinesgoodtimes is me.

How is it up there? You guys gotta be just getting hammered with this storm.. we are supposed to get 3 inches in Moorpark just today ( that's what she said )

 

Yeah we’re getting hammered pretty good. Some parts of town are at the 4 foot mark I think. Lots of ice and accidents

 

Dang... and think the flatlanders arent even up there yet!

Damn you @desertjunkie760 (shakes fist) hahah

Be careful out there boys!

 

That actually reminds me @desertjunkie760 if you haven’t gotten chains yet definitely go pick some up. I’m not sure of current road conditions, but I know all of yesterday the entire mountain was R3 conditions (ALL vehicles including 4wd need chains) and it was a huge mess. I think some of the roads going up were closed too. You definitely want them to come up in this storm

 

I barrowed a set from a buddy but they technically don't have my tire size listed. Going to try and test fit today.

 

They aren't cheap. I gave mine to the guy that bought my F-250 (35x12.5x18) and I know he was never going to use them. I had to buy mine when I was in Montana as the cost and shipping was ridiculous locally at the time. You might be able to get a set delivered to a local O-reillys. That's where I bought mine when up north.

 

Went up to Palomar yesterday. Pretty decent snow cover and visibility wasn't too bad until the evening fog rolled in

 

Welll?? @desertjunkie760

 

Coxey Road was a nightmare yesterday going up into Big Bear, we turned around after a couple miles. Conditions were such that it went from fire road to a truly technical 4wd trail in some spots, and there were all kinds of vehicles going up/down that had no business doing so....including a 2wd 5th gen 4runner that was stuck bad in the deep snow and blocking tons of trucks. Total mess

 

The snow brings out the best in folks... people are rdarded... my last experience a few weeks back up at mt Pinos with a light dusting of snow. The fail was off the charts..... 3 hr traffic jam


We set up the lawn chairs and fired up some hot chocolate for the gremlins..


Basically the equivalent of watching the boat ramp.

 

We made it! Headed up Saturday via Burns Canyon. Snow level was lower than I’ve ever seen it. Basically snow just outside of Pioneertown.

Made it to our cabin at about 4-5PM and spent over an hour shoveling snow to just get the truck into the driveway. Even then I was only able to park it using both lockers. We didn’t drive in town too much, just to grab and drop off our snow gear.

The trail wasn’t bad IMO. There was a decent amount of traffic on Saturday but I can’t say how many made the climb. A few vehicles had no business being there, most had 4x with open/open diffs and struggled. I personally hooked up to 4 rigs to pull them out and told them to turn around. We continued on due to running out of daylight so I can’t say if anyone was able to follow.

The only road open as of today is the 18 heading to Lucerne. They’ll let you leave but will only let you on the mountain if you’re a resident. I tried to sweet talk my way past the Ranger who was managing the road closure on the 38 so we could hit 2N01 but he wasn’t having it. His facial expression was priceless when he said Burns was “impassible” and I responded I came up that way.

We headed back down into Pioneertown to get off the mountain just today. The trail is nasty now with a mixture of slush. Found a solo Jeep Rubicon buried to the frame in the snow off the trail. Gave them a tug and sent them on their way. They claimed they had been stuck for a few hours trying to dig it out.

For perspective, my truck is double locked on 35” tires. We aired down to 18 psi before we even started. Never used the chains but we did have a pair.

 

A Jeep we found off 2N02 today. Looks like they pulled off the side of the trail not realizing the trench was there, and made it worst the more they tried to get unstuck. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It wasn’t far from falling off the edge. We left this one alone. Nobody was around to drive it out of the way if I did pull it back onto the trail.

 

I can imagine that route was bad. It started to get crowded up Burns on Saturday and I heard there was a traffic jam later in the evening. I’m imagining it was shortly after we went though.

The first truck I pulled out was a 2nd Gen Prerunner with chains. Some younger kids who had ambitions to go up the mountain.

 

Yeah I don't understand what would possess a person to attempt routes like those with a 2wd vehicle, like any hope you might have would rely entirely on non stop momentum and with all the traffic (particularly on Coxey) there was absolutely no way to maintain any sort of momentum

Glad to hear you guys made it up!

 

Just idiots. I honestly don’t know. I get it to an extent. Nobody wants to miss out on fresh powder but those poor decisions create so many issues for everyone else.

Thanks! I am also stoked we made it. Bear Summit was dead yesterday because nobody could get on the mountain. Such a great time.

 

Going back to Palomar Mountain tomorrow, if anyone wants to caravan with me you're welcome to do so

 

Mike I am heading out to TDS area friday morning.... Guess I did not check the date in the thread.... is anyone heading over to TDS or Anza Borrego in general this weekend

 

Holy cow. How you come across a quote from 3 years ago? I won't be out there this year.

 

The search bar....lol

 

Shit, I wish I could go. I haven’t been to TDS in four years. With the current snow situation, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get back home once I leave