Raptor Run 1 - Anza-Borrego Desert State Park 2010-01-30

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MagicMtnDan

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5 Raptors conquered Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA) on Saturday.

This was perhaps the largest gathering of Raptors and owners in the vehicle's brief history.

The participants:
  1. Oxford White Raptor: BStoner59 (Brian) & Kyle
  2. Molten Orange Raptor with graphics: MarkT (drove from Las Vegas)
  3. Blue Flame Raptor with graphics: SVTCali (Justin & Lisa - drove from San Jose)
  4. Molten Orange Raptor without graphics: Morse147 (George & his father Wayne)
  5. Tuxedo Black Raptor: MagicMtnDan, Denise & Sadie
We had hoped for at least two more Raptors but they were no-shows.

Three Raptors and their owners spent Friday night under the stars at the Borrego Palm Canyon campground and it was a balmy, beautiful, 15/16 moon-lit night. :D

Mark from Las Vegas had a new tent-cot that he slept in in the back of his Raptor's bed.

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Pictures of the Raptors after sun rise at the campground in Borrego Springs, CA:

Below: MMD's Tuxedo Black Raptor
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Below: Brian's (BStoner59) Oxford White Raptor
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Below: MarkT's Molten Orange Raptor
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Brian's navigator Kyle is a Chevy owner who is quickly learning why it's important to keep an open mind in the Ford vs. Chevy vs. Dodge (vs. Toyota vs. Nissan) war. He likes to call our trucks "Craptors" but I know he does it to hide his love of the Raptor and help him hide his Raptor envy. :i_rolleyes:

Below: Here's Kyle (lounging) and Brian (playing Barista) in their campsite up against the mountain at Borrego Palm Canyon campground.
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Brian took Kyle out Friday night for a run through San Felipe wash in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. They ran into less than ideal (muddy) conditions and one of the two had to get out and do some manual labor to extricate the Raptor from what Brian called "mud like pudding".

Below: The nighttime expedition resutled in pudding coated pants, socks and Uggs boots:
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MagicMtnDan

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Brian, with Kyle's help and support from a local fabricator, created his own light bar which he mounted to the front tow loops. They did a really nice job designing, cuttting, fabricating and mounting the lightbar on Brian's Raptor.

Below: Brian's Oxford White Raptor with custom made light bar and HID lights. You can see Sadie looking on in approval.
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Below: Here you can see the lightbar head-on.
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Rumor has it that Brian received a ticket from a very enthusiastic police officer who wrote him up for having too many uncovered lights. It's reported that the LEO was very interested in Brian's Raptor but still felt the need to write up the citation. :i_redface:

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MagicMtnDan

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The plan was for all of us to meet at my campsite Saturday morning at 9AM and we would leave by 9;30AM.

The first to arrive was George (Morse147) and his father, Wayne, in their Molten Orange with graphics. Their Raptor had only 500 miles on it and was nearly a ****** :D (it had never been off-road). Their Raptor has the exhaust bypass and once the console-mounted button is switched, the Raptor has an even angrier, throatier sound.

The next to arrive was Justin (SVTCali) with his girlfriend Lisa, in his Blue Flame Raptor. Justin drove down from San Jose and this was his first trip into the desert. Justin's Raptor has the exhaust bypass and I believe he was the first Raptor owner to do this mod.

Justin brought with him his brand new GoPro HID video camera that he just purchased. He mounted it to his windshield and the video camera in its housing stayed firmly in place all day long. We're looking forward to Justin posting his videos from our expedition.

Below: Here's the GoPro kit.
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MagicMtnDan

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Our first stop was the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center to purchase the park maps which show the major trails.

Below: We parked the Raptors in a lineup and took some pictures of these beauties all in a row (all four of the colors were represented).
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MagicMtnDan

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Our next stop was the metal sculptures along the highway just past Christmas Circle in Borego Springs.

The sculptures were commissioned by part-time Borrego Springs resident ("Borregan") Dennis Avery, and sit on land he owns and allows the public to use called Galletta Meadows. Avery's dream is to have the sculptures enhance Borrego Springs, which is where these animals lived many, many years ago.

Avery has asked Ricardo A. Breceda of Perris, California, a former construction welder who created his first metal dinosaur 10 years ago, to sculpt camelops, sloth, turtles and other creatures that once roamed Anza-Borrego.

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You can learn more about the sculptures and see pictures of them here:
[url]http://www.galletameadows.com/gallery/[/URL]
 
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MagicMtnDan

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We continued on through the Texas Dip, a natural depression (sort of like a crater) and drove to Fish Creek where we went off-road.

Fish Creek is a beautiful wash (trail) in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with diverse natural beauty. The wash takes you past Wind Caves (where you can get out and hike a mile to the caves).

We continued driving out Fish Creek wash moving a moderate rate of speed (which would have been too much for most any other stock vehicle). The Raptor loves to run the washes in Anza-Borrego and it's an incredible experience to see the area while blasting through the washes in Raptor's very comfortable cab with great seats, A/C, satellite radio with its amazing suspension soaking up the bumps that would hammer any other stock truck.

We turned off Fish Creek and headed for Diablo Drop-off which is up a very challenging and tight trail. This was a rocky, tight, technical trail and it required patience and guidance and Kyle did a great job of spotting for us guiding us throught the rocks enabling us to get through "Broken Shaft Gulch" with nary a scratch.

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Below: It's a very tight fit for our W-I-D-E Raptors but we all made it through and it was a pleasure to pilot the Raptors throught the canyon. Here's Justin squeezing through with Kyle looking on.
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Below: Here's MarkT driving his Raptor through the "Gulch". Mark had a great time tearing up the washes and trails. He got his Raptor sideways quite often :smileup:
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Below: Here's Kyle doing his excellent spotting work for Mark.
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Below: Raptor drivers and passengers (Lisa) checkout the terrain.
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Below: George and Wayne power through the canyon.
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Below: Brian and his Raptor lead the way with Kyle spotting.
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Below: Tight!
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Below: Someone's :D beautiful Tuxedo Black Raptor squeezes through the tight spots.
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Below: Justin negotiates the tight, rocky canyon while Lisa observes.
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Once through the tight canyon the terrain opened up some as we started the climb up to Diablo Drop-off. This drop-off is noted on the map as a one-way route downhill. I wanted to climb it but wasn't sure the others would be up to it. We watched Brian pick his way up the steep hill and we followed him up to the summit. It was a fun climb (in 4-low) and it was very satisfying cresting the hill and parking the Raptors at the top where we had lunch.

Below: Brian chugs up Diablo Drop-off determined to summit.
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Below: Mark stops near the summit. He had to back down some and then he blasted up to the top.
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Below: Wayne and George power up Diablo Drop-off.
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