After kicking around several great options for the 2007 WAQ Super Adventure, the group (consisting of Jason and Laura Schmidt, Ryan and Barb Reynolds, Rick Krause, and Al Lynch) decided on heading to Southern California for a 9-day quading and sightseeing trip. The main attraction would be Johnson Valley OHV area, home of the nationally known Hammer trails. We also planned on a day of riding up at Big Bear Lake, a day of sightseeing and a moderate 4-wheel drive trail in Joshua Tree National Park, and a day of riding in the canyons near the old Calico ghost town.
We left on Friday March 16th just after lunch and had to deal with the worst traffic of the entire 3000 mile journey (from Everett to Olympia). Our goal was to make it to the California border before stopping for the night, and we did by reaching Weed, CA.
Designed by Butterfly Digtial Design
Southern California
(Johnson Valley, Big Bear, & Calico)
March 16-25
After a good breakfast in Weed, we carried on planning to reach camp at Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley around late evening. The travels progressed well until the top of Tehachapi Pass just East of Bakersfield. As we were exiting the freeway for fuel, Ryan experienced a blowout on a rear truck tire. Thanks to a full size spare 35" tire tucked between the frame rails and the tools to change it, we were back on the road in about an hour. We met Ryan, Barb, and Rick's friend Tim Wright at Lucerne Valley, CA and he followed us the last 20 miles in to camp in his Miata (funny sight heading down the dirt road).
Sunday was the first day of riding. We planned to do Clawhammer trail first as it is supposed to be on the easier end of the difficulty spectrum for Johnson Valley trails. As it turns out, Clawhammer was about the perfect rock garden type trail for our group. There was only one big ledge that required the winch or strap to get the machines up. It was unfortunate that when we were at the start of the trail, Ryan noticed that his quad had a severely failed rear wheel bearing and we had to leave his quad at the start. He did what any good, hardcore quadding person would do- steal his spouses machine. A positive side effect of this was that Barb was able to shoot some really good pictures while walking the trail. Clawhammer took us about 2.5 hours and then we went back to the trailer for lunch and to plan the afternoon.
After reviewing some trip reports, we decided to do a trail called Outer Limits. It gets it name from being about the furthest trail out from camp. According to the trip report we read, it took a group of 3 rigs about 3 hours to complete so we figured it to be about right for the afternoon. We were wrong. The trail turned out to be incredibly hard. Once into the trail about ¼ mile, the boulders and ledges became quite large and required more spotting than riding. It didn't help matters that there was a perfect coating of fine sand and gravel over the rocks to minimize traction. About 6 hours later (2 hours in the dark), a broken winch, and 6 extremely worn out and tired riders we made it back to camp. I have ridden some of the most well known and hardcore trails in the Western US (Dusy, Rubicon, Moab, Colorado, etc.) and would say this trail was second only to Die Trying in Montrose for difficulty.
.jpg)
After such a hard and exhausting day on Sunday, our plans for Monday quickly changed to a rest day. I know, hard to believe that we needed a rest day after one day of riding, but trust me, we ALL did need it. The 90 degree heat combined with Sunday's riding whipped us good. We went out in Ryan's truck and retrieved his quad. This went well after airing down his tires and clearing boulders with the sheet metal by a mere 5 inches (good thing Barb wasn't with us). The rest of the day was spent resting and exploring the nearby desert. We also found another trip report about Outer Limits trail that painted a totally different picture. This report was another group of 3 well built rigs that took over 6 hours to do the trail and also finished well after dark. They said they couldn't imagine bringing a large group up that trail. Hmmm, I wonder if we had seen that trip report if it would have changed our minds….but, "it's all part of the adventure."
.jpg)
Tuesday brought much cooler weather and slightly overcast skies. Temperatures had dropped about 25 degrees and made for more pleasant riding. We decided to take on the most famous trail at Johnson Valley- Sledgehammer Trail. We were wondering what to expect since the much lesser known Outer Limits had totally kicked our butts. To our delight, this trail was very similar to Clawhammer in that it was the perfect difficulty for our group. It was so cool how the trail really was wedged in the bottom of the canyon and how so much of the trail was on only rock, no soil. Everybody had a great time and before we knew it, we had reached the famous mailbox. We spent about 20 minutes inspecting all the broken parts left at the base of the 'box and taking pictures.
Once we hit the trail again, we elected to stay in the canyon for the remaining length of trail rather than taking any of the bypasses and early outs. Once on top, we followed Charles Well's suggestion of running the mostly easy ridge all the way North for some incredible views of the desert below. Finally, we reached the main access by the Clawhammer and Outer Limit exits and high tailed it back to camp.
.jpg)
We decided to head up to Big Bear Lake on Wednesday. The drive wasn't all that far from camp (probably 40 miles), but what a change we experienced. Once past Lucerne Valley, the road flat out got with it. 10mph corners and 8-16% grades until we climbed to 6700 feet. Also, we went from classic Mojave desert country to beautiful forests, lakes, and SNOW. It was snowing on us while we were driving to the trailhead.
We had intended to run Dishpan Springs and/or Holcomb Creek from the Crab Flats Staging Area, but came across an awesome ATV-only trail that headed North for 8 miles to Big Pine Flat Campground. We all thought that sounded super cool, a most difficult, quad only trail for 8 miles one-way with no roads or other trails intersecting. And it was. We ran ridges, crossed creeks, flew up hill climbs, and picked our way through technical sections. I don't think there's a single 8 mile long most difficult ATV-only trail in all of Washington. Once at Big Pine Flat Campground, we opted to fly back on a green sticker road. What a blast! We kept it safe and under control, but boy did we rally down the mountain for miles. We stopped at the Holcomb Creek crossing where there is a 4wd rock garden and the Pacific Crest Trail also crosses. Laura, Barb, and Rick took the road all the way back to the truck while Ryan, Al, and I took the last 1.5 miles to the truck on the cut-off trail we came in on. Ryan, Al, and I rallied so hard that we literally could not go any faster. We actually beat Laura, Barb, and Rick back to the truck and were high fiving when they pulled in.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Thursday was a driving trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Laura and I had been to J- Tree twice before, for a week in December 1997 and again in 1998 for rock climbing vacations. Everybody really enjoyed seeing the unique and awesome rock formations. Everyone except for Barb as she was really sick- possibly from the not-so-impressive meal we had at Big Bear the evening before. Anyway, we were in my truck and had decided to exit the park via Berdoo Canyon, a moderate four wheel drive route. This was so fun and one obstacle even emptied the truck out of occupants before I was able to proceed.
.jpg)
The route ended up close to Indio and we had ordered a new tire for Ryan that was supposed to be in at Discount Tire. Well, somewhere in the modern computer age, the tire was lost or didn't exist or stayed on the truck or something but it wasn't at the store. So, a substitute tire was found and we found a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner.
.jpg)
After getting back to camp, we packed up and headed North to Doran and Odessa Canyons, near Barstow and Calico. It must have been getting close to midnight, but even so a real nice guy named Mike who was riding around in a totally tricked out Polaris Ranger helped us find a camping spot.
Friday's daylight displayed yet a totally different kind of terrain for us to see. This area had been mined quite heavily 100 years ago and all the tunnels and spoils made some wild formations in the valley bottom.
After playing tourist in the next canyon west at the authentic Calico ghost town, we began our long journey home. We made it to Bishop and spent the night in the parking lot of a Honda/Yamaha dealer.
.jpg)
The loop we did was up Doran Canyon and down Odessa Canyon. These two routes are now "most difficult" rated and some of the hardest in Charles Wells's book. It's hard to believe at one time they were paved mining roads. Some places we could even find some remaining pavement. The first obstacle of Doran was quite challenging. It took perfect execution to make it up the first ledge, but then each machine needed the hook to proceed up the second ledge. The third ledge had several different lines which we all made it up, even if one person, who will remain nameless, "dismounted" their quad in an unplanned rearward fashion. The rest of the loop was extremely fun and we stopped numerous times to observe old mining ruins and try and imagine what life would have been like back during these hard times.
.jpg)
As we woke up and stepped outside on Saturday morning, we could not believe how beautiful the snow capped mountains were just out of town. We were basically on the Eastern edge of Yosemite Park. The next couple hundred miles was, surprising to me, some extremely beautiful country. We went over passes higher than 8000 feet. The snowy, rocky Sierras were absolutely stunning. To me, the sights could have passed for scenes in Colorado or Wyoming rather than California. I anticipate driving this section of road again on future trips down South. Anyway, we made it to central Oregon and spent the night in a truck stop and got home on the afternoon on Sunday. What a wonderful and successful trip had by all.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Click the map to see the route we took...
Click the map to see the route we took...
Click the map to see the route we took...
Click the map to see the route we took...
Click the map to see the route we took...