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.
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.
Previous Adventure | ||
Trip Home Page |
Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.