February 8th - Old Dale Mining District

[Ken Cooke]

February 8th -- Old Dale Mining District

I'd like to check out the Supply Mine, Carlsyle Mine, and surrounding mining trails between sun-up and sun-down. It should be interesting given all of the mines you can see on the topo maps of that area.

Don't forget your:

CB Radio - since communication is a must...
4WD - you'll need low range on some of these trails...
Skidplates - since DesertSpive can speak of all of the rocks he encountered!

Let me know whose interested in a day in the park!

 

[Felix]

Hey Ken let me know if you are still going to be making this trip. I may everything wraped up by then. If my truck is trailready by the 8th I would like to join you in the park.

 

[Ken Cooke]

I'll definitely be going on Saturday...Give me a couple of days, and I'll list the time and location where we will meet up.

-Ken

 

[Ken Cooke]

Meetup is at 10 a.m. this Saturday at the Joshua Tree National Park Rangers Station - East Entrance located in 29 Palms, CA. Let me know who is planning on attending, and I'll be looking for you this Saturday!

 

[jobunn]

Looks like fun. Wish I could make this one. Just be sure to get pics/video.

 

[Ken Cooke]

Joe,

We'll have to get out there next month as well. At any rate, I'll see everyone Saturday morning at the 29 Palms Ranger Station for Joshua Tree National Park. We'll enter the park at the Gold Crown Entrance, and take it from there. I'll see you all at 10 a.m. this Saturday.

-Ken

 

[Ken Cooke]

Here is my final response to this link before the run. My computer is dead and is being rebuilt by PC Club. If anyone wants to reach me up until the day of the run, my cell phone # is (909) 255-1589...


-Ken

 

[Felix]

Well, I am back from the trip to the mines. It was a very enjoyable day for all. As usual you have to forget something and that thing for me was again my camara (I dont even know why I bought one cause it always gets left behind).

It took us awhile to get things up to speed and head out for the trails, but when we finaly did hit the trails it was well worth it. I really didnt now that Joshua Tree Natinal Park had trails that technical.

Amazingly no one got stuck and no one broke anything. The rocks in that place are grusome and the noise they make when shifting under you tires is very errie. Well I cant say that no one broke anything, cause I ordered my new manual hubs just in time. My factory automatic hubs bit the dust this weekend. About half way thru the run I started hearing the really loud clunking noise and thought oh hell my hole front end is trashed. Then I remembered I didnt smash it or beat it and started asking Jerry questions about the noise. Sure enough he told me that his factories did the same thing.

Anyway we had a great time and if anyone wants to come up to Joshua Tree just email me. I live like 10 miles from the park.

Mark

 

[DB_1]

Hey Ken,
I passed you when you were going on your run Sat morning...you were on the 60 just before you go through the hills. I was gonna honk but with each of us doing 70, there's now way you'd know who the hell I was! lol. Anyways, glad you guys had fun...i'll be taking the ranger in next month to get fixed so i'll be able to go on runs again

 

[thunderhorse]

Back for days now

Ken Thanks for the invite to Saturdays run had a good time, and got to test the 4wheel system. Also some very interesting sites to see. Hard to imagine someome living out there in those little rock huts,
And, It was good to see you "better half" out for the trip. Glad she has gotten all under control and is felling well.
Thanks again and we'll do it again

 

[Ken Cooke]

Guys,

I enjoyed myself on this run as well. Sure, I wimped out on that technical desert wash section, but I vow to try it again sometime. Felix, this sure was a fun time. Remember the guy at the restaurant on Adobe? He was a freak! Anyway, something cool to make it through the week with...

-Ken

 

[brianness]

A few trip pics posted on ORR click here.

 

[Ken Cooke]

This was a great run! I *knew* this off-camber section was going to cause a stir! Thanks for posting the pictures Brian!

-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

****, didnt even see this thread till now. oh well, looks like you guys had a blast. Cant wait till I can get back out there and stuff

 

[Ken Cooke]

Josh,

Yep, you missed a fun run. We did plenty of driving/navigating in the dark which was a blast, 'cause I had to remember everything perfectly, and you can get turned around out there if you don't quite know your way around... Well, let us know how your truck is looking, and when you expect to return to the trail. I'm ordering my lights/lightbar and accessories this week. My buddy is also doing a buildup which is also exciting, and he wants to get back on the trail as soon as possible. I can't wait to see your truck on the trail!

-ken

 

[Josh S.]

yah dude, I finished puttin back together the truck last night in the rain, it now has extended heimed radius arms AND bent beams. I REAAAAAAALLY wanna get it back out on some 4by trails like no other. I did screw around in victorville 2 weeks ago and had it in 4wd low, didnt seem to have any negative effect on the gears(still different gear ratios) but I dont want to push it. I soooo want to test out my new **** and see how much more articulation I can get over those boulders!! I'm having some shock issues right now and am looking into the expense of coilovers and shock hoops right now. Still gotta regear it too. Will definitely be ready mid summer, cant really forsee the progress too far ahead. I have made some headway over the psat few months and have almost fully recovered from that trip to Glamis. just a few more months...So far its been 3 months and about $1800 and about 48hrs. labor. I'll keep you posted.

Josh

 

[Ken Cooke]

Josh,

Do keep me posted, 'cause I'm doing a 2 week run down to the Baja peninsula with Andrew and his wife Gretchen and my wife Suzanne. Andrew is an avid 4 wheeler who leads rigs on the 4+ trails in Moab each year, so, he's a real-deal 'wheeler. Andrew wants to camp out at Mike's Sky Ranch and do some day runs to Laguna Hanson. These are some rugged 4WD roads that are plenty of fun with some water crossings, etc. Then, we'll probably take off down to Malarrimo Beach for several days of camping and beach combing on the world's most famous beach-combing beach. You can see who Andrew is by checking out this link.

-Ken

 

[Josh S.]

Yah I checked out yours and his site. Looks really cool!! I wanna go on the beaches and to the coast and stuff and kick back, as well as do some massive wheeling! Dang that looks like a kickass trip man. I'll see what I can do to get my rig back on track man. When were you thinking of doing that?

 

[Ken Cooke]

This summer

The 2nd week of July, I'll be showing Suzanne's friends from Finland what a NIGHT RUN is all about - hence, the KC Daylighters I plan on buying. We'll be showing them the desert terrain after dark. It'll be so hot, that they'll get sick from the heat since they've never felt real heat before.

Our trip to Laguna Hanson and Mike's Sky Ranch - just north of the Sierra San Pedro Martir park will be in mid-August. That'll be a fun camping trip that the Ned Bacon at FOURWHEELER explained in one of their back issues. He got his rig (w/dual ARB Airlockers) stuck on that beach, but they pulled/winched it out of the quicksand/mud and lived to talk about it. This should be a killer trip!

-Ken