Saturday’s run to Nightmare Gulch in Red Rock Canyon was terrific event. We had a huge turnout for this challenging run, 15 trucks total. Most of the participants were members that I had met on the past few Cleghorn “New Member Orientation” runs and other recent events. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Our new members are really great, passionate people and I look forward to watching them help shape the future of the club.
I knew it was going to be a great day as soon as we got out of LA. It rained solid from Orange County to Valencia, but as we passed through Lancaster, the clouds disappeared, the sun came out, and Mojave unfolded before us in beautiful color and amazing clarity. I have never seen Mojave look more beautiful.
The next pleasant surprise was that everyone got to the staging area at Jawbone Station on time! We left promptly at 10 after a bit of preamble and pep-talk, where we went over spotting do’s and don’ts, TreadLightly parameters, etc.. We regrouped at the Nightmare Gulch trail head, aired down, and hit the dirt at 10:30. As soon as we got the mouth of the Canyon, we ran into a few other groups of off roaders. Since we were such a large group, I elected to let them through. In order for us to make room, we had Rovers stashed into every nook and cranny of that tight part of the canyon. It was chaos, but pretty cool at the same time.
As a side note to future trip leaders, I was greatly assisted by having some of our more experienced members to the rear of the group. Without them (Frank, Conal, Steve), I would have had a difficult time running such a large group. Because of how long our truck line was, it was essential to be able to hand off spotting duties for the last few trucks to these veterans, while I scrambled back up to the front to get the head moving again. Thanks guys! You made my day much easier!
Our group was making good time and was really working together well. I was impressed at how smoothly everyone stepped in to help each other and keep up a playful banter throughout the day. We made it to the water crossing, which to our surprise was totally dry, but made for a great lunch spot. We then promptly made it the Exit Hill spot about at 1:30pm. In fact, we made it so fast, Frank Buddenbrock, who’d done this trail a dozen times or more, completely missed it, thinking we hadn’t gone far enough yet
As promised, we pressed on and continued for the far end of the full Nightmare Gulch trail. I’m reasonably sure we are the first big group of Rovers to ever attempt it. It did not disappoint!
The second half of Nightmare is spectacular, with tight canyons and tighter “pinch rocks” throughout. These spots are made even more interesting by low overhangs that restrict the line you can take to make it through the pinch rocks. And there are a couple of ledges that you have to climb up. The largest ledge is about 24” tall, and is tilted, with the passenger side being the high side, and the lower drivers side closed in by 75 foot tall wall of rock.
I made it up, then my friend Chris, and then Tawfik made his approach as I was running back to help. He got his rear wheels up, and I just had time to yell, Look at your Side! When his street tires slid laterally and his LR3 slid into the rock wall, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of glass breaking.
This was a tough spot. He wasn’t stuck, but he could not move forward or backward without thrashing his sheet metal. Because of the narrow canyon, and the tilted slab of rock he was on, there was no easy way to rig a winch, pulley, or towline to get him away from the rock wall safely. Then the magic of traveling in a group kicked in and we had lots of help and lots of great ideas. Scott happened to have a brand new hand winch/come-along tool that looks awesome and works great. We put a strap on Tawfit from the front the next car up in the line to prevent him from rolling back. Then we pulled Kep’s truck up as close as possible and then use the come-along to pull Tawfik sideways a bit as 5 or 6 guys heaved on his truck and moved it a few feet over, enough the clear the obstacle and let him drive through.
It took a bit of time, but it was an awesome experience. The group worked together superbly, with everyone being a part of its success. I was really impressed. I did very little other than keep an eye on safety and communicate with Tawfik, who remained cool and in good humor throughout. Before I could suggest it, Mark and others had a bag out and were collecting the shards of glass to leave no trash on the trail. Awesome.
While waiting for the rest of the group to make their way over the ledge, a few of us found a cool little slot canyon carved into the canyon walls. Not sure how far it went, but the first hundred feet or so were pretty cool!
After that, we exited the canyon without any other adventures, but enjoying the transition of the geology as we reached Opal Canyon. There we stopped for a group photo and I pointed out a few opal stones laying about that gave this spot its name. At that point we were essentially only at the halfway point of the trip. It was 4:30 and rapidly getting dark. I asked the group if anyone needed to head out for home because it was promising to be a late night. Though I should have expected it by now with this terrific group, everyone one of them said that they wanted to keep going, and the prospect of a night run sounded great. Awesome!
We dropped down into Last Chance Canyon at Camp Cudahy, talked a bit about the local history, then headed down into the wash, which, unlike Nightmare, had flowing water and offered a bit of fun. Not far from the rock garden, we met an older couple in an XTerra coming up the canyon, who asked if we knew the way out! They had gone down first, saw the rocks, and turned back, but had already spent most of the day looking for the exit and were a bit anxious. I handed them a radio and invited them to join our group, and we got them out safely.
Last Chance proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Apparently there had been several large groups of Jeeps through it that day (over 80 rigs from one report), and it was TORN UP! Rocks every where. It scarcely resembled the trail I had pre-run the weekend before. However, we made it through in good shape, though the temps started to drop and our aired down tires got a little squishy. Frank managed to unseat the bead on one tire, but quickly changed it and we made our way on.
We ended the trip in good spirits, round about 7:30pm or so. Everyone aired up and made for home, with some stopping in Mojave to grab some dinner before the journey back.
I had a great time, and Wow was I tired at the end of the day. Thanks everyone!
