January 2001 Newsletter

SCHEDULED EVENTS

1/20 Red Rock Canyon
2/17 Acton to Glendale
3/24 Rattlesnake Canyon
4/21 Truckhaven
5/19 Cleghorn

For more trip information, see TRIPS.

CONTENTS

Trip Report
Internet Fun & Used Parts
Run Safety Requirements

Yes, I broke the first rule of offroading: never go with just one vehicle. Fortunately there wasn't any problem.

There is an area just north of Barstow that I visited on one of Harry Lewellyn's trips about 10 years ago. One of the places was a place called Inscription Canyon. It's a narrow canyon about 100 yards long, filled with Indian petroglyphs. I've wanted to find this place on my own, but every time I tried to put something together it fell through.

Another place in the area is called Coolgardie. I didn't know much about it, but when I was attending Four Play Jeep club meeting before joining FITS they went there every year and everyone got excited about it. So I wanted to see what that was all about. And one last place in the area that I had heard about was a place called Mud Hills.

So, since it's been months since I've been 4x4ing, I was getting the off-road hornies, I had to get out! Ok, let's see if we can find these places. I made a few calls, but everyone was either out of town or had other plans for the day after Christmas. Yeah, I know I should have called you, you were ready to go. So, my brother-in-law, Mike (aka. The Trouble Maker, a name given him by my wife since he got me back into dirtbikes), and I set out to see what we could find.

Since I thought it would be a pretty easy run, I decided to go in comfort and drive the Ranger instead of the Jeep. Time to see how it did in the desert. So with DeLorme and GPS in the hands of my novice navigator Mike, we set off. Mike was dying to play with the GPS, an instrument he had asked for for Christmas but had yet to receive.

Our first wrong turn involved me not following the directions I had to the Mud Hills. We were supposed to go through Barstow and pick up Irwin Road. I was sure there was an exit off the freeway. WRONG. So, had to backtrack and pickup highway 58. No big deal!

We went up Irwin Road to Copper City Road, a high speed graded road, and saw where the motorcycle club had camped for the run, but couldn't see anything of interest so we headed north and picked up the trail leading west to Inscription Canyon. After a couple of stops to check location and trail choice, we found the canyon. It was the first time Mike had seen petroglyphs and was very impressed. Just before we left, a couple of "dual sport" BMW motorcycles arrived, and we talked to them a little. They had started near Cuddeback road off of 395.

After leaving there, the trails got more interesting, and I wished I had another vehicle along. After a couple of wrong turns and a couple of turnarounds we found Opal Mountain Road. We took this south until we picked up Coolgardie road. Now we'll see what Coolgardie is all about.

We found the site of the ghost town of Coolgardie. It has a number of small mining claims in the area, and some old shafts that are fenced off.

We picked up a trail that we thought would take us over the elusive Mud hills, but after following it for a couple of miles it put us in the wrong direction so it was once again time to turn around. Too bad, it was a nice tight (read: desert pinstriping on my new truck) trail. I want to come back some time and see where it goes.

We got back on Coolgardie Road and were soon at the place where the motorcycle club camped. It was starting to get late so we left further searching for the elusive Mud Hills for another day, probably on bikes.

All in all, a great day of seeing some new country. There were a couple of trails that we took by mistake that looked interesting and I would like to see where they go. As Arnold would say "I will be back!"

Although buying these parts from someone you don't know does entail some risk. (Ask Andy, it's costing him his bachelorhood. -ed.) I have found the people to be honest, and I have saved a great deal of money this way. This month I found a hard top for my TJ. Other times I have found tires, wheels, hard tops, winches, a lift for my '88 YJ, and lots more. How do I find them?

My favorite place is Recycler.com. When you get their menu, click on "Auto Parts, Services & Accessories". When you receive the next menu, type Jeep into the box labeled "Keywords" and click on "Find It". Sometimes, I have found as many as 200 ads for various Jeep parts. Nearly everything can be found at one time or another. If you are looking only for a winch, type winch in the "keywords" then click on "Find it". Often there are as many as a dozen winches for sale.

If you have Jeep parts for sale you can list them here also. There is no charge, just follow their instructions for a new ad. I have had very good success selling things this way. I've made money and got a future son-in-law this way.

Archived Newsletter

RUN SAFETY REQUIREMENTS