Old Dale/Joshua Tree [view flood damage] Sept. 13th.

[Ken Cooke]

The flash floods allegedly carved up portions of the Pinto Basin, and sections of the Joshua Tree NP. I would like to examine this next Saturday (Sept. 13th) weather permiting. If anyone is interested in going, please leave a reply showing interest, and we'll talk about a meeting location (probably Snow Creek Road on Hwy 111)...
-Ken

P.S. - Travel should be attempted at your own risk.
Joshua Tree Flood Damage Bulletin

 

[Felix]

Hey Ken,

Depending on what day you want to make that run I maybe able to join you. I am suposed to take Annie to SeaWorld that weekend, but a trip to JTNP is very do able for me. Let me know what day you are thinking about doing this.

Mark

 

[Ken Cooke]

This Saturday will be the day. The weather seemed to clear up a bit, and hopefully it will be cooler than it has been lately...

-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

OK Ken, we'll see you there at 10am ok? Make sure that Rub!con is flexing out on that sand berm when I roll up

 

[Ken Cooke]

Yep, 10 a.m. I'll be sitting on the sand berm in the Rubicon (Bright Silver) w/Suzanne, Frida and Desert Dan -- yep, it'll be a full house!
-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

Wow, what a great time!! I hadn't been out there in almost a year, so it was a really good trip. I just wish we could have camped out there. I almost couldn't leave the place when we were hanging out at Brooklyn Mine, I just wanted to camp out and hang out in that remote canyon all night. Anyways, KEN, we really have to establish a firm date for our annual weekend camping/wheeling trip out there OK? I can't wait.

We hit a few trails, including the trail that passes Golden Egg mine and also the Brooklyn Mine Trail. We saw some pretty good evidence of stormage in the area, but most of it didn't effect our passage. The South entrance was closed to get in, so we couldn't exit to the 10, and had to backtrack to the 62. This worked out well cuz we got to hit Denny's in 29 Palms on the way back home. We did make a stop at the "Bowl" on the way to Brooklyn, which had a nice pond in the middle of it. Me and Ken had a lot of fun tearing through the muc bog that was in the center, and I was impressed on how well his Jeep did out there. He really didn't hold back much out there, and everybody was proud of him for taking his brand new truck out to the desert and really giving it a workout as he said. Our ride-along photographers were able to get some nice shots of Ken and myself ripping around through the bog. Ken's truck looked more like he gave it a wash than went bogging , due to his nice pretty factory wax job, and his beefy fender wells, that did a nice job of keepin the soupy stuff off the sides.

We also met some nice campers/wheelers that were tooling around in their 98 Toyota Tacoma. Dan and Ken's expertise with the area led them right up to a great camping spot adjacent to the old Brooklyn Mine, which, if I might add, is a Primo spot in the park. Well, after shootin the S with them for a while, we headed out and cruised it on back home, tired as hell, but definitely appreciating the great experiences that never fail to satisfy us in Joshua Tree.

Here's a link to TDG's pics, its a bigass zip file...for those of you that don't want to DL the 28mB file, I will post some later on in the week.

 

[Ken Cooke]

Josh,

My Rub!con did much better w/o the lift and measly 31's than I had expected. 3+ hours were spent getting most (not all) of the muc grime out of the engine compartment, wheel wells, etc. Some of that mud actually *stained* the soft windows on my soft top! It was definitely worth it. I pushed the Rub!con hard, pounded it around in the rocks, on the sand, in the mud, and I was pretty darn comfortable with its performance overall. As for Brooklyn Mine J!*p trail, it was much more damaged from storm activity than I had expected. Definitely a 3+ (out of possible 5) in my opinion. I propose the 1st weekend of November as being our annual campout trip. However, I'd like to examine the other trails before this date, since I can't stay away from the rocky trails this place is famous for...
-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

OK man, lets try to plan on that and let me know when you wanna go back out and scout out the trails some more. Man, I was so tired on the way home...we ended up gettin back home at about 145am.

 

[Ken Cooke]

For anyone wanting a sneak peek - here's some pics to download... J.T. .jpgs and .movs

Josh,
I'm talking to this one guy (who also pilots a Heep TJ) into prerunning Black Eagle Mine and the rest of the Old Dale/New Dale regions w/us. He's cool, and his rig is seriously built. I've also got this great picture of my passenger-side wheel hanging high in the air if you want to post it here for everyone to see!

-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

yah email it to me man! I'll head out there again anytime. That was a blast!!

Man, TDG really did a great job with those pics and vids. Some of those are really nice!

 

[Josh S.]

climbin up a little waterfall

 

[Josh S.]

Ken with some nice flex in the rear

 

[Ken Cooke]

Josh,
I gotta send you the pic that Desert Dan took of me when I was going up that waterfall and my front wheel was hanging 2 ft in the air - who needs droop and stuff when you've got photo op material like that!! Also, I want to see what the washes in the Black Eagle Mine trail look like now. They're probably worse off than the Brooklyn Mine trail were. And, was the Brooklyn Mine trail worse than the road to the trailhead or vice versa? That place got turned upside down since the last time we went out there!
-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

send it when you get a chance...

I think the road in seemed to have more damage than the Brooklyn Mine trail. I didn't see the Brooklyn Trail as being too much more difficult than last time. My truck was flying all over the place, but thats what happens everytime on that trail.

On the fast way out to the 62, we almost flew into that one hole in the middle of the road. We came so dang close that it was crazy! We were going like 40 and zoning out, then all of a sudden I see this bigass hole in front of me so I swerved and just baaarrrrrely missed going into it. That was some close stuff.

 

[jobunn]

Hey Ken, I can't open the pics link.

Looks like a fun spot, you guys sure get out to the desert a lot. I will join you one of these times.

Ken, do you miss the Ranger at all with that Rubicon?

 

[Josh S.]

I was messing with it a few minutes ago and it wouldn't work anymore for me either. It was working before though. When its operational again, try this link for the gallery, so you don't have to DL everything.

http://www.hex240.com/trails/jtree091303.htm

 

[Premier]

GREAT PICS!!!

 

[Ken Cooke]

Originally posted by jobunn
Ken, do you miss the Ranger at all with that Rubicon?

The Ranger is still in my driveway, all cleaned up, ready to sell. Suz and I are taking it to Mexico to buy planters for the garden, and I have to haul some stuff to my parents, so, yes -- I'll miss having it bigtime. It is in my wedding pictures, pictures of my first time visiting the national parks w/Suzanne from Ontario, Canada to Death Valley to Cabo San Lucas, etc. So, I have plenty of good memories with this pickup...

Notice to Josh - clear your email basket so I can upload a 2MB .jpg alright????
-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

Jesus man, 2mB?? ok, I'll clear it

 

[Ken Cooke]

Josh,

The file is still too large. I'll have to MODIFY it, and send it later, dude...BTW - you're wrong about Brooklyn Mine Trail being just as easy - it was a mild dirt road with tight squeezes between a few rocks and bushes on either side of your vehicle. Now, those areas are completely washed out, with rocks littering where you would otherwise travel when the trail was more mild...The path leading to the trailhead is seriously messed up now, and that too wasn't much work to travel on. Maybe during the 1st weekend of Oct. we can return and see how messed up the rest of the trails are, and then a weekend or two later we can see what the Carlysle Mine trail is all about...
-Ken