Part 1: MogFest 2014

20141010

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The Experience

MogFest 2014 was scheduled for Calico, CA with the KOA in Calico being the base of operations.  We left San Diego on a beautiful day and drove north on I-15.  We did several fuel stops along our route up I-15.  We arrived in the early afternoon and kicked back and visited with the other moggers.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

Our trip north from San Diego we traveled on I-15 and typically see some odd things.  On this trip, we were passed by a trailer carrying huge mining tires.  These tires were a lane and a half wide.  I stopped a bit later at an exit for a bio-break and a sheriff's deputy pulled over to talk about Thor - that was a first.  We arrived at the KOA in the late afternoon and setup camp.  We purchased an awesome steak at the local meat market near our home and threw it on the BBQ.  It was awesome!

On Friday, Alan got all the 'wheelers assembled and we headed out toward Mule Canyon.  En-route to our rally point, we passed some old, crumbling mining infrastructure.

Alan's 406.  This rig has "been around" and has passed the roll-over test.

A nice 710 Pinz.

Jim's flat fender jeep.

A very nice conventional jeep.

Joe O's custom built rock crawler.  This rig has mog running gear with a custom tube frame.

John's VW "Thing".

Two ex-USMC "Mules".

This Mule has twin seats which is a bit rare.

Alan led us up Mule Canyon.  The canyon has interesting rock formations that are highly colored due to the heavy mineralization.

These folks were target shooting next to a tilted dike of intrusive lava.

The dikes were twisted and folded.

The intense folding is visible here.

Some areas had gentle warping rather than intense folding.

The mineralized areas produced bright colors.

We hit a dead end and the group had to turn around.

Joe prepares to assist one of the Pinzgauers that was having mechanical issues.

Happily for the Pinz owner, the problem seemed to go away later in the day.  To return later, in all likelihood, but at least the balance of the trail run was OK.

The tow was easy for Joe's rig.

The trail got quite steep and would have been challenging, if not impossible, for a conventional vehicle.

The Calico area gets strong winds most of the year.  The wind, combined with blowing sand, wears holes in the soft rock formations.  Note the small window created by the wind.

Another small but interesting wind cave.

I shot a photo out the rear window using the "point and pray "method.  The trail was quite steep at this point.



Some of the trails in the area are actually marked on BLM trail maps and were created in the distant past to support the mines in the Calico area.



The upper stretches of the trail provided great vistas of the valley beyond.



On our exit from Mule Canyon, we could see more warping in the bedding exposed by erosion.



Later, back at camp, a small front came through and was illuminated by the setting sun.

The trip back to camp was uneventful, but the group got separated and some of the guys got "disoriented" and took quite a bit longer to return than expected.  But since I was riding with Alan who was the leader, I arrived right on time, "by definition".

We had a pot luck dinner with tons of good food.  Joe and Tammy fried a whole turkey and Kathleen made a big pan of lasagna.  There were many other dishes as well including several large cakes.  Nobody went hungry.

Tomorrow, we do the another trail run.


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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.