Overland Expo 2009

April 2009 brought the first ever Overland Expo, and lucky for us it was close to home!

I was pretty interested in attending the first-ever Overland Expo, especially since it was just north of us in Prescott Valley, Az. I questioned the site chosen, but kept an open mind and headed north to enjoy mingling with other like-minded folks.

My friend Laurence joined me on the drive north in his Nissan Frontier. He had never taken the Senator Highway to Prescott before so we decided to take the dirt route. After picking up some last minute supplies in Prescott we heading in to the Fairgrounds and the Overland Expo. We checked out the cool new Adventure Trailer Teardrop, socialized and made camp for the night.
The following morning we woke up and, surprise! It was windy in Jackass Flats. I was happy to be sleeping in the truck. We packed up and wandered around the Expo talking with more friends and checking out some of the cool vehicles there.


Around noon we left to meetup with a group in Chino Valley to run Smiley Rock. This was the first big trail run I took the 4Runner on and it performed well! Good enough to pull that Nissan off a rock!

Our trip ended with a huge group campout and potluck near Potato Patch. We checked in quickly Sunday morning back at the Expo, grabbed lunch at the brewery in Prescott and returned to Phoenix.

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DV Day Five - March 2009

Saying goodbye to Death Valley.
We woke Friday to a windy morning. I had heard some tent flapping throughout the night but I generally sleep like a rock so I wasn't bothered much by it. Josh on the other had head every little thing and I thought for sure he was going to destroy the mish-mash windchimes hanging at the cabin!
We enjoyed some breakfast and did some exploring around the cabin now that it was light out. The views of the canyon were awesome and I can see why someone would want to live here like Russel did. The cabin itself looked like a shack with boards and corrugated steel hammered into place, but it was a perfect group cabin with several rooms, a fully stocked kitchen with icebox and even a solar shower. We signed the guestbook and decided to leave a can of veggie chili as payment for our stay. Spending the night at this cabin made us realize if it wasn't for the many volunteers who maintain this and other structures the Forest Service would just let them fall into nothingness.
Back on the road we headed back to the Geologist's Cabin to return the book Bob had lent us. He was long gone so we were able to spend some time there and it was clear this was the finest cabin of the bunch - and the most popular! I'm hoping on our next visit we get the chance to stay there.
Further down the trail we passed more wildflowers and varying landscapes. Suddenly a giant yellow square appeared from behind a rock - it was a sportsmobile - parked rather oddly between a rock wall and another boulder. It really would take some work to get this thing into this position, but after looking around and seeing the shades were up and it was locked up tight we carried on and hoped the people who belonged to it were ok and just out for a hike or something.
Soon we came upon another vehicle, but this time there was a person with it! A very nice BMW dual-sport and a friendly young man from Nevada who was sweating his ass off but having fun and enjoying the day regardless. Just around the corner from him was Warm Springs, an old mining camp from the 1940's. We were once again amazed by what we saw: the buildings were in great condition, surrounded by lush vegetation and a spring running down the hill. The main house even had a swimming pool with diving board! This was another area visitors were welcome to camp in.

After running around the springs for a bit we realized it was almost noon so we set out to finish the trail and find food. The remainder of the trail was smooth and fast; soon we were linked back up with the West Side Highway. We had planned to take the Harry Wade exit route out of the park but we'd had enough dirt - tired and ready to go home we aired up the tires and said goodbye to Death Valley.
We made our way to Shoshone, Ca and had lunch at the Crowbar. This place is awesome!! The food was excellent, we highly recommend the french fries!
We looked over the maps at lunch and decided we had enough time to split the trip up a bit and spend the night in Lake Havasu. We cut through the Mojave Preserve again, this time down a different road with a different view. Death Valley was certainly the most interesting and surprising place we have been in a long time if not ever, and I can't wait to go back and see all the things we missed!

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DV Day Four - March 2009

Snow in Death Valley and Helter Skelter!!

We had a decent nights sleep and woke up Thursday morning knowing our visit to DV was soon coming to an end. We took advantage of the showers at the campground, then went back across the street to the cafe for breakfast. After filling our bellies with grease we set out for the Wildrose campground with Linda and Pepper.
We had a few stops planned for the day, the first being Aguereberry Point which was chilly but had amazing views! Poor Linda had to stay behind because she didn't want to chance it down another dirt road and I don't blame her.

On our way back to meet her from the point, we also stopped by the Eureka Mine which was really cool. Many of the buildings were still there and in decent condition - its a shame the park service just doesn't take the time to maintain these areas anymore.
We left the mine after much exploration and picked up Linda again on the road to Wildrose. We were thinking about spending the night there but we arrived much earlier than we had planned. We fought the wind and stopped to have lunch at the campground, then wend down the road to checkout the Charcoal Kilns. These structures were truly awesome!! We still haven't seen the Coke Ovens in Arizona, but I have a feeling the Charcoal Kilns put them to shame. This is also where we saw snow in DV and it was close enough to stand in - madness!

At this point we had to say our goodbyes to Linda and Pepper. The Tiger just couldn't make it through rest of our journey and with so much more to see we had to move on. They ventured north back toward Stovepipe Wells to exit on the paved road south; we headed south toward Ballarat. We picked up a dirt road that was fast and smooth, running right next to the Panamint Range and into town. My intention was to run the Pleasant Canyon trail and camp halfway, but with the unknown steering issue on the truck we decided a 7-rated trail was probably not a good idea. We took some pictures as we entered Ballarat and I'm afraid to say we didn't really get out of the truck - we were too freaked out by the strange folk sitting on the porch of the General Store.
By this time it was about 330p and we had a ways to go before getting to the next planned camping spot. As we got further south, the road became more and more rough, slowing our pace a bit. We entered the canyon with its high, beautiful walls and spring flowers everywhere! Finally!! There were also some interesting mine remnants, including huge vehicles that had been left behind.

Eventually we made our way back into the park and soon found Barker Ranch. Josh was not too excited to be there at the old Manson Family home, but I had wanted to visit ever since reading Helter Skelter in high school...twisted I guess but I like history what can I say? A chill was certainly in the air and the area was really creepy. I had to work up a bit of courage to go inside, but Josh was content staying out. I read through the guestbook and signed it, took a few pictures and got the hell out of there. I still cannot believe this cabin was available for overnight stays, but it seems to get visitors. Just about a month or so after our visit, the cabin mysteriously burned down so I am grateful even more now that we got to see it.

When we were done getting our creep on we continued down Goler Canyon. It was getting pretty late at this point and we wanted to make it over Mengle Pass to find a place to camp. The trail became more and more rough, with large boulders and spotting was necessary at a couple of spots. Finally we made it to Mengles Grave, at the highest point on the trail, but didn't stay too long. The downhill portion of the trail was much like the uphill so I hopped out again to help Josh guide the FJ down.

Once we cleared the boulders we came down into a beautiful meadow and saw the first cabin, Stella's Place, far off on our left. Hoping to stay there for the night we looked through the binoculars and saw that a truck was already parked there. We moved on down the trail to the next cabin, the Geologist's, but that was taken too! We did notice there was another Fj parked there and a guy was standing ourside waving at us so we decided to stop in to see if it was someone we knew. It wasn't, but it was a pleasure to meet Bob who was a regular in DV and had a lot of information to share.


By this time it was almost dark and we needed to continue down the road to try and find another camp - but Bob told us about a third cabin we didn't see - Russel's Place. He wasn't sure if it was occupied or not but the sun was setting and the next camp was 10 miles away so we gave Russel's a shot. Bob sent us off with a fantastic data book he had put together with the promise we would return it to the Geologists Cabin on our way out the next day.
Russel's Place was hidden around a hillside rucked back into a small canyon and lucky us - it was empty! We had just enough light left to get a sense of our surroundings and set up the tent. Josh was a little creeped out by the cabin but I thought it was fantastic! We started a fire in a portable pit that had been left there, made dinner and settled in for the night.

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