Weekend Adventures 4-6 hrs from South Orange County

billwilson · 01-31-2010, 06:05 AM

Folks
Mrs Wilson and i Just got back from 3 weeks in Thailand
(will post some wedding pics

fyi: married LAST year at the court house for the Green Card
this trip was to get married in my wifes Village with the Monks and all the trimmings
fun, exotic and a real hoot

Looking for some weekend suggestions

Have been to Anza and Joshua tree

Mrs. Wilson want to try something new

Requirements:
@ 4-6 hour drive time from South Orange County
Few People, Dog friendly

We are self contained, 4x4, water, heater, generator and build in hat rack

Let me know

ps
yes i am lazy to but will get out the books too

surfgeek33 · 01-31-2010, 10:44 AM

Rob,

Just started a new thread for ya! Since Keith is from the Bay Area and I would like to get suggestions as well closer to So Cal.

BTW: Congrats

Ray

webbmac · 01-31-2010, 11:52 AM

We really liked Mojave National Preserve and plan to explore it more. It would be good for a weekend trip from So Cal. There are a lot of nice 4x4 trails, beautiful Joshua trees, and really interesting geological formations. We really didn't see anyone else, too. We've driven by it so many times on the way to Vegas and admired it, and it is even better than we imagined once off the 15. A really nice variety of scenery for the desert, including nice lava flows a la Hawaii.

We tried unsuccessfully to find the Caruthers Canyon campground as we arrived late at night, but we plan to try again in a few weeks. It's about an hour off the freeway. The roadside camping by Teutonia Peak Trail was nice, especially as a place to stop on the way north as it's only about 15 min off the freeway. There were really sheltered spots with large rocks around them a ways off of Cima road.

http://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/r ... amping.htm

Congrats on the nuptuals, and I can't think of a more relaxing place to honeymoon than Thailand. I'm envious, what a place!

billwilson · 01-31-2010, 02:18 PM

webbmac

thanx for the suggestion
from our house to baker it is 3 hours
good time frame

my NY resolution is to cut down to 3 days a week work
well 4, monday for reasearch and paperwork, clients tues, wed & thurs

that means i can escape Thurs nite or Dark Thirty Friday morn
plan is to go out 2 weekends+ a month

any pics of your stay?

how would you compare to Joshua Tree Natl park?

will do some more homework

any other suggestions Gents

(fyi- thanx for moving the thread, i think a usefull deal for us SoCal Weekend Warriors!)

**BroncoHauler** · 01-31-2010, 02:27 PM

I think the Alabama Hills off 395 are spectacular.

Herb

webbmac · 01-31-2010, 08:16 PM

BW-

http://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/u ... JAmap1.pdf

We've not been to Joshua Tree yet, but my sense is there's a lot more freedom to roam, especially 4x4, in Mojave. If you look at the above map and zoom in, it shows all kinds of 4x4 roads crisscrossing. Also, if you look at the habitat legend in the lower left of the map, it kind of gives you a sense of the big variety of sights and settings in the preserve. If you compare them side by side on a map, Mojave is about twice as large, and I'm sure gets no more than a tenth of the visitors of JTNP, which is fine by me. It took us at least an hour to drive from the north to south ends of the park, going from Joshua tree woodlands, past a lava flow, past one of the largest sand dunes on the continent, then finally past some really cool rock outcroppings by where Kelbaker Road meets the 40. Mojave has much more variation in altitude, too, with mountains up past 7k feet (and cold in winter!).

I'll post some pics once I can find where my wife stored them.

Following up on what Herb added, Alabama Hills are really nice, haven't been thru there in a long time. If you're going to push it out that far from So Cal, I would add Sequoia NP, and especially the Mineral King area. Very nice. Again, I will try to post photos when I can find them.

Best-
Steve

charlie56 · 01-31-2010, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by webbmac

We tried unsuccessfully to find the Caruthers Canyon campground as we arrived late at night, but we plan to try again in a few weeks.

Just curious if you were using the directions from the "subscriber" campsite locations thread. It should be on to within a 10th of a mile for the turnoffs. 8.7 miles East on New York Mtn Road from it intersects Ivanpah Road.

Directions
Located in the New York mountains of MNP. From Baker take I-15 towards Las Vegas (39.7 mi). Turn right on Nipton Road (3.4 mi). Right turn on Ivanpah Road (24.3 mi). Turn right at the water tanks on (dirt) New York Mountain Road (8.7 mi). Turn right on (dirt) Caruthers Canyon Road (2 mi +-).

webbmac · 02-01-2010, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlie56

Just curious if you were using the directions from the "subscriber" campsite locations thread. It should be on to within a 10th of a mile for the turnoffs. 8.7 miles East on New York Mtn Road from it intersects Ivanpah Road.

Charlie-

I did try to use them, but it was so late I couldn't find the turnoff at 8.7 miles on NY Mtn Road from Ivanpah. I don't have hi-liters on my van yet, so it was hard to find turns as there were a few roads we could go up. We tried a few but got nowhere. I also got confused because the preserve's web site it showed a campsites 5.5 miles from Ivanpah on NY Mtn. It was about 10pm when we were looking and I started questioning both sets of directions, so I decided to just pull off NY Mtn Rd and camp for the night. But, like MacArthur said, "I shall return." I plan to use your directions and follow them to a T in 2-3 weeks, because that spot looks really nice and we really like Mojave. It's really great as a place to stop on the way to or from SoCal.

Best-
Steve