Return from the Mojave Desert - 2013

[Rick]

Something's wrong here... You eat better on the trail than we do at home

Great pics!!

 

[Brian1]

Happy birthday Ritsui! Im glad you could make it out. Still lots more to see the next time we all get together in the Mojave.

Something's wrong here... You eat better on the trail than we do at home

That's my specialty dish! Grilled chicken on a bed of fire grilled peppers/onions with queso blanco and seasoned potatoes. Just as good on the trail as it is at home.

 

[Tbars4]

..and this is what got him to bounce out of his tent each morning..:

...While I am loading up a bunch more pictures from this trip..


..I stumbled across this website with lot's of information on the Mojave Desert and I found these two quotes describing the Desert itself..
http://mojavedesert.net/

"A land of lost rivers, with little in it to love; yet a land that once visited must be come back to inevitably. If it were not so there would be little told of it."
~ Mary Austin, Land of Little Rain

... where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.

 

[Tbars4]

..Stand back as here comes a bunch more pictures..

..An old picture tacked up in Riley's Cabin of someone's second Gen Explorer..

..Which ws next to a picture of Riley himself and one of his friends..

 

[Tbars4]

..and some more...

..From a Desert photo..

..To what could have been an offroad advertisement of the Explorer from Ford or Warn Winches, era 1991-1992..

 

[Tbars4]

..And the last pics for today..

..Nevermind the silhouette shadow..

..Can you spot the Notorious Photo Bomber?

 

[Paul]

What an awesome trip - - kicking myself, but couldn't make it work . . . at least living vicariously through you guys. This is exactly the stuff I'm interested in doing - - besides, need to a reason to get one of those 12V Fridge/Freezer combos...

Great write-up and pictures, both you and Brian.

Paul
'91 Sport

P.S. You guys are no slouches on the grub ! !

 

[Tbars4]

..We'll have a similar trip in the same area next March...Be there or be Square..

P.S. You guys are no slouches on the grub ! !

...My meal was a little more simpler...

..Fillet Mignon wrapped in in a single piece of thick Bacon then served with Baby Dutch Yellow Potato's..

 

[mjmcdowell]

Ted/Brian's trip 2013......

I am drooling right now, remembering my first trip out west with you guy's..... I would do the Mojave and or DV in a heartbeat again....... in the future..... I hope with all the folks from the first trip I went on plus some new people. Great photos you two! of a great trip, stay safe Say hello to your dad Brian. Michael

 

[RockRanger]

So on these desert adventures how often are you using low range? IE how limited on these type of runs will I be before I swap a 4406 into my 01? I need to start doing some of these runs.

 

[Brian1]

Matt, I used low range in 3 spots IIRC, each for less than 20' of trail. I ran most of the trail in 2wd but did use 4hi in several of the really sandy sections. You would be fine without the case swap for this type of run.

Say hello to your dad Brian. Michael

Will do Michael!

 

[Tbars4]

...This year the Mojave Desert is abnormally dry..

..We noticed this as there was no water on the Lake bed at Zyzzyx where there is always a standing marsh...I'm not sure if it was also the cause of why the great fountain there was not running either..

...The dry Desert roads this year really took a toll on the tires and I noticed both of our vehicle front tires had really rounded off their edges due to the rocks sticking up thru the powdered dirt..

..We may have also witnessed a rare event this trip as Scientist are scrambling to investigate the cause and effect of the ultra rare Joshua Tree Bloom in the Mojave Desert this year..

..There is a video by ABC to watch in this link about this mystery..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/joshua-trees-bloom-video_n_3070822.html#slide=802030

Something mysterious is happening in the Mojave Desert's Joshua Tree National Park. The reason may be grim but the effect is beautiful.

"It's more than interesting, it's probably unprecedented in anybody's recent memory anyway," Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist at the University of California, Riverside, told ABC.

Some biologists think the blooms are a stress response by the trees to climate change -- specifically, to much less rain. Joshua Tree national park typically receives between two to five inches of rain a year but this year only received 7/10 of an inch, the Los Angeles Times reports.

 

[turboexplorer]

Awesome run! Looks fun.

 

[Rick]

..We may have also witnessed a rare event this trip as Scientist are scrambling to investigate the cause and effect of the ultra rare Joshua Tree Bloom in the Mojave Desert this year..

Our Saguaro bloomed very strongly the year before it died It was a last ditch effort to reproduce itself.

 

[Tbars4]

..It's possible that all the Joshua Tree's in the Southwest may just lay over and die in the next year or so if they don't get some rain...

..7/10's of an inch of rain in one year ain't gonna cut it..

 

[Ritsui]

Sorry it took so long to get these uploaded:
http://www.ritualsuicide.com/Mojave032013/

Bonus no-tripod panorama shots:
http://www.ritualsuicide.com/Mojave032013/MR_0213_sm.jpg
http://www.ritualsuicide.com/Mojave032013/MR_0276_sm.jpg
http://www.ritualsuicide.com/Mojave032013/MR_0168_sm.jpg

 

[Tbars4]

..That last one brings to mind the Title, "A Million Miles from Nowhere"..

..and my truck is dirty in this one..

 

[Brian1]

Nice pics, I like the panoramas!