Raptor Run 5 - Afton Canyon/Rasor OHV Area - 2010-09-18 & 19

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MagicMtnDan

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Raptor Run 5 was a really good trip that had a little bit of everything - great people, fantastic Raptors, awesome desert trails and some adventure (and adversity).

We're anxious for the "desert season" and this pre-season trip was a great way to kick-start what promises to be even better than last year which was the first in Raptors.

Friday night we met up at a Union 76 gas station in Yermo, California, just off the 15 freeway. Brian arrived on time and the rest of us got there later due to traffic.

Ryan (Wbimota) arrived next in his black Raptor (with dealer plates and mudflaps in the pictures). Tim (XJRguy) and I drove out from LA together and met the two of them at the gas station. A little while later Rob (RBrady) arrived in his black Raptor.

We met MarkT in his orange Raptor early Saturday morning at the Shell gas station at Basin Road (up until two weeks ago it was a Beacon). With Mark we had 6 Raptors and crew.

Friday night we left our meeting point and drove north on the 15 exiting the freeway and venturing offroad running the Afton Canyon trails in the dark. RBrady and Wbimota relied on their stock lighting and they had no issues running the trail as we all followed Brian. We did a water crossing and ran the trails and drove for about an hour when we found an area we'd use as our campsite for two nights.


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Links:

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/barstow/rasor.html

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/barstow/afton.html

http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/jan/stories/afton.html

http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/mojave/
 
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MagicMtnDan

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Most of us set up our tents - a couple guys just set up chairs and got the adult beverages flowing. They were going to "rough it" sleeping in a Raptor bed (you want to be in a tent or up off the ground in the desert - we did see a Sidewinder rattler on this trip).

I woke up early Saturday morning by a very noisy bee flying around our tent. And then there were two bees flying around checking out the area. I didn't think much of it as I left the camp site riding shotgun with Brian as he drove to meet Mark. We met Mark and he followed Brian back on the trails for about 1/2 an hour and we got back to our camp site. Upon our arrival I heard from Tim, "we have a major ****ing problem." Bees.

Swarms of bees were very attracted to our water. Water and colors seemed to get them together. Sadie's water dish which we left out overnight was the hotspot and it was filled with many bees as they swarmed her water. We had bees buzzing all over our camp site as they were quite happy to have found water which meant they were our unvited guests. We managed to not provoke them and thankfully no one was stung (some in our group said that if one of them were to sting us then it would be likely that other bees would do the same). There was even talk of "killer bees" but these were thirsty bees happy with our water and water containers.

We made a bee-line out of there and started on the trails. Southern California got a lot (unusually high amount) of rain this winter and it deposited soft sand on the trails. But the trails will become harder once vehicles run them and the winds move the sand around. This promises to be a good desert season but every year the trails change due to the weather.

We ran the trails and it was decided that we'd try to see how the dunes were. Well, they were soft. And deep. And not Raptor-friendly. We knew to air down. We knew to keep the speeds up as much as possible because once the speeds drop the soft sand starts to swallow Raptors. This sand was soft, fine and deep. A few of us got stuck and for the most part we got out but by then it was too late. We were driving from a standstill and the sand wasn't Raptor friendly. 5 of 6 Raptors got stuck. Only Tim didn't and once he saw us stuck he put his Raptor in reverse and slowly (at first) then quickly backed down the dune hill we were to more firm sandy ground. Brian got stuck but was able to get his Raptor out and his became the tow vehicle. Mark got stuck but wasn't in too deep so we got behind his truck and pushed like hell and we got him out while a couple of us (me and Rob) breathed a good amount of angry-Raptor exhaust. Good thing it was "only" 85 degrees not the 105 degrees we saw later that day!

We dug my truck out - it was up to the rails (frame) and spare tire and front skid plate. We hooked up Brian's Raptor and got it pulled out (hallelujah!) and moved on the Rob's Raptor which was also buried. We did less digging and again, with Brian's help (and using Mark's bed mat - a very good tool in such a situation), we were able to get Rob's Raptor out. We moved down to Ryan's Raptor which was stuck at the bottom of the sand dune (he got off the dune only to get mired in up to his rails too). His was perhaps the worst stuck but we were experts in Raptor extraction and it didn't take us long (and not too much digging) to tow him out.

Here's most of the dune crew (L-to-R): Mark, Brian, Tim, Brad (Rob's passenger), and Rob

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Mark's stuck truck (Rob's in the background):

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Rob's Raptor in the sand:

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I'm posting some of Ryan's pics here since he got the best pics of our dune mis-adventure.

This is a pic prior to us getting seriously stuck on the top of this dune. The was a very steep drop-off that we could have gone down but it would've been very risky (could have buried the nose at the bottom or gotten stuck in what looked to be very deep and soft sand - that location would've been far worse).

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Here you can see us looking down the drop-off - it was more impressive in person than in these pics:

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Here's a picture of our "tow truck" - Brian's newly modified (nice ADD bumper!) Raptor:

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MagicMtnDan

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Afton Canyon (Sunday, 2010-09-19) - some of the best trails on the trip:

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This guy'd never seen a Raptor before. He came out of his shell to see us.

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Following the leader (Brian)

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BigJ

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^^Hey I've been there!

(Can't wait for the pics guys. Sounds like it was a blast)
 

ChadB

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I wish I was able to make it on that trip. I may not be able to go on the Death Valley trip either, but Ill keep you posted as it gets closer, which I know is only a few weeks away.
 

bradyh20

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The trip was a blast!! Even digging out the Raptors was fun. I'm planning on making these trips a higher priority in the future.
 
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