Sept 7 and 8th Joshua Tree National Park

[E63]

Final message

So it looks on Sat we will have 3 Raptors and 1, ahem, Chevy, I know, I know. This is my very good friend Noah who has been out with me on several expeditions in the Raptor and a couple times following me in his truck. Only time he is not on my ass is through the whoops. He is very accomplished, and that Chevy has gotten through some crazy stuff. If he didn't have a Chevy tattoo on his arm, he would have converted...

Raptors:
Jackrook - Jack and his GF
Dirtyfun - John Palmero
Debordj - Justin + Wife and kids
E63 - Gordon with son Jared

On Sunday Fignamy - Greg is suppose to join us. we will post up a meeting spot and Time Sat night in this thread, and I will also PM all attendees with my cell phone #.

There may be others, all are welcome

The plan is to spend Sat night in Palm Desert, we will just cruise in as a group and negotiate a group rate. Ain't many staying out there in this heat right now.

Here are the directions from the Sat morning meet up place to the Trail Head - Berdoo Canyon. It is less than an hour from Banning.

The goal is to leave the restaurant at 8:30

Patsy's Country Kitchen
300 S Highland Springs Ave
Banning, CA 92220
11. Head north on S Highland Springs Ave toward E 2nd St/2nd Street Marketplace
0.2 mi
12. Turn right onto the Interstate 10 E ramp to Indio
0.3 mi
13. Merge onto I-10 E
19.4 mi
14. Exit onto CA-62 E/29 Palms Hwy/Twentynine Palms Highway toward 29 Palms/Yucca Valley
1.4 mi

I will be looking for a place to top off around here.

15. Turn right onto Dillon Rd
26.5 mi
47.9 mi – about 51 mins

Look for Berdoo Canyon Road on left. We will air down, sync radios etc.

Speaking of which I am bring 4 portable radios, if any one else has any please bring for back ups.

Personal Stuff to bring

Lots of Water, duh! Beverages etc
Sunscreen,
Hat
Sunglasses
I suggest shoes and not sandals, but totally up to you. I learned my lesson the hard way.
Bathing suit
Snacks and Lunch for both days
Change of clothes, toiletries etc.

 

[jackrook]

Woo hoo!!!!


We are ready!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

 

[E63]

Me too!
Don't forget Cell phone charger, I had to buy one on the last trip...

 

[Bigg50]

Would love to make this run Gordon as it looks like a blast. Have fun and looking forward to the recap.

 

[RangerRob]

Wish I was home to make this trip. I've wanted to do something like this for quite a while.

Gordon, any plans for another similar trip after the new year maybe?

-Rob

 

[E63]

Great day. Will post up pics upon return. Staying at Indian Wells Resort Hotel. awesome rooms

Plan on leaving around 9 tomorrow. Let me know of you are planning to join for day 2






Sim

 

[figjamy]

We are out. Stayed out way too late last night.

 

[E63]

Post Expedition Write Up - Day 1

Here are some pics and comments from our trip. We started in Berdoo Canyon


Pretty rough road, completed washed out in spots and a little bit of tight fit for our big trucks. We made it through ok, I got a little ding in the bottom of my sliders, no biggie.





John Palmero, our guide in Joshua got his first flat in a Raptor, time for a beer break as we all watch him change it! Noah and I helped a little as we admired his self designed bed rack. It was fun teasing John who is a very accomplished off-roader, with many hours of Rock Crawling experience.


A beautiful day



Jack and GF Tiffany. Tiffany a crack drifting driver, got her first chance behind the wheel of jack's rig, did some high speed drifting in the Raptor and is now hooked



John with the little Raptor, had some fun with during breaks


Our only injury belonged to Noah who got a little over zealous recovering the Little Raptor on one spectacular jump. Noah tried hopping over a Cholla, bad move. Cholla's are known for their barbed, very strong splines. I removed with pliers leaving a couple dozen bloody holes. Nasty, luckily all splines were removed with one quick pull


Skull Rock area


Jared, my son and John


Waiting for the others to catch up. Downpour in background. The afternoon had us dodging thunderstorms




Stopped at abandoned mine operation - always weird stuff to look at

Helo pad



Tank was filled with dirt



Driving out of the park was a blast, a little river crossed the road in a half dozen places that washed off our trucks very nicely.





---------- Post added at 03:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:52 PM ----------

Bradshaw Trail

This was my second time on this multidimensional road. Calling it a road now is somewhat of a stretch. Completely different from what I remember from last year. It was trashed from the rains, without my map in my Lowrance, I doubt I could have navigated it. The trail is a combination of sweeping high speed dirt turns and a long stretch in a wide open wash.

The is the wash portion under the railroad trestle







This was what most of the road was like before the rains


If you zoom in on the pic you will see John shredding the trail


Yours truly demonstrating proper thumb position





Here is a picture of an un-named member's build, just passed Slab City and right before Salvation Mountain


Inside Salvation Mountain




From the top - "Whats that smell?"



At the Bubbling Mud pits, the roads were swamps and we ended up getting ridiculously dirty. It was too muddy to even get to the site.



Comparison of Mud Flaps functionality. I lost my left one. Here is right side protecting


Left side - no protection. my door handle for example filled with mud


I pressure washed the truck once home, and shoveled enough mud to half fill a 5 Gal bucket, the rest went to the ducks.



Here is a short video, my son hand held. That is him letting out a squeal as we went weightless around the bend. Turn vol up all the way. Hard to hear but I am manually shifting, drifting the rear and getting after it.

 

[GBrown1867]

Cool pictures. Been on them roads many times and never seen mud. I wish I could of made this run. Oh well next time.

 

[Bigg50]

Looks like a blast! Great recap.