Archived Newsletter

CONTENTS

	Mother Nature 1, FITS 1
	Run Safety Requirements

MA NATURE 1 FITS 1
BY RIC JONES

Last month we had to cancel the trip because of the weather, this month we weren’t about to let Ma nature win again, besides it’s been months since we’ve had a chance to 4 wheel, and we NEEDED to get out come hell or in this case, high water. Since we have never had to cancel a run after arriving at the meeting location I figured we had a better than even chance that it would be a go though the weather looked otherwise.

Four vehicles headed east from Costa Mesa/Fountain Valley, 3 Wranglers, 1 Cherokee, Dennis Sullivan, Tom Pastore, and guest Mark Miller. We fought the rain most of the way to Joshua Tree, at times we were down to about 55 mph. We stopped in Indio and got gas, then continued east to Joshua Tree, arriving at the Visitor's Center a little before 9. By then the rain had let up and it looked like it would be a go.

Surprisingly we were the first to arrive, with the rest, Bob & Pat Matula, Dave Felando and his cousin, and Jon and Dale Rice and Jane arriving in the next 10-15 minutes.

Dale wasn’t sure if I would provide any mud on this run so she brought her own, conveniently placed on the sides of her vehicle.

We paid our $10 to use the park and headed north.7 vehicles in total. Our first objective was to pick up Old Dale Rd. (Actual road name, not some made up name to bad mouth YOUNG Mrs. Rice) which goes almost due north into the Old Dale mining district. After a few miles we made our first stop, at a former ore processing site, this was just after our mud bogging adventure. We had to navigate a section of road about 100 yards long with water over 2 feet deep! No problem though we were a little apprehensive.

We followed Old Dale Road a few more miles north and picked up the Brooklyn Mine Jeep Trail which as the name indicates, goes to the Brooklyn mine. This trail must go 10 miles over wallet size rocks, a bit bumpy. It then took us into the mountains then a steep downhill into a wash just about 1/4 mile from the Brooklyn mine. There was an old cabin there which we checked out then headed back up the hill and back towards Old Dale Road, exploring a couple of side roads that went to old mines along the way.

At Old Dale Road. we continued north for about a mile and found another mine where we had lunch. I might add, the weather to this point was great, mostly sunny, with a few clouds. Just as we were finishing lunch it started to rain so we decided to get moving and head towards home. This part of Old Dale Road is a bit rougher, just the way we like it, just nice and bouncy and where you have to watch your line.

After about 5 -7 miles it dropped out of the mountains into the valley and the going got easier. We ended up making it to the highway at about 1:30, a short run.

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RUN SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

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