Red Rock, El Paso Wilderness via Last Chance Canyon
08-16-2009, 01:20 PM
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Red Rock, El Paso Wilderness via Last Chance Canyon
I've seen a few posts about trips through this are but the trip was quite different from what I expected. As a qualifier this was my first real trip with the 4runner and my old 85' P/U only saw fire roads and a hand full of trips up Drinkwater flats.
Myself with the 93' 4runner and a buddy with an 07 Xterra set off hoping to clear Last Chance Canyon and get into the El Paso/Bickel Camp area to camp just after sun set. We ended up not pulling off of the pavement until just before sun down and virtually the entire trip through Last Chance Canyon was at night. Based on a book I have been reading "Southern California SUV Trails:Volume I,The Western Mojave" by Mitchell the route seemed no worse than a sandy wash road with a handful of obstacles.
As it turns out we ended up going a walking pace for a majority of the time during the first 3 miles. The 4runner did much better than I had expected with old tires. I never got hung up for long. The XTerra had issues with travel and clearance issues in a few areas. The biggest issue in this canyon is choosing the route that your rig is capable of passing, and this is very difficult in a pitch black canyon. I think this canyon is great for noobs like myself and is probably a bit easier in the day. You will get some challenges and a fun hill in the middle of the trail. I think it was roughly 11 miles from the entrance of Last Chance to the Bickle camp area. My friend took some awesome pics. Here is a sampling.
Myself with the 93' 4runner and a buddy with an 07 Xterra set off hoping to clear Last Chance Canyon and get into the El Paso/Bickel Camp area to camp just after sun set. We ended up not pulling off of the pavement until just before sun down and virtually the entire trip through Last Chance Canyon was at night. Based on a book I have been reading "Southern California SUV Trails:Volume I,The Western Mojave" by Mitchell the route seemed no worse than a sandy wash road with a handful of obstacles.
As it turns out we ended up going a walking pace for a majority of the time during the first 3 miles. The 4runner did much better than I had expected with old tires. I never got hung up for long. The XTerra had issues with travel and clearance issues in a few areas. The biggest issue in this canyon is choosing the route that your rig is capable of passing, and this is very difficult in a pitch black canyon. I think this canyon is great for noobs like myself and is probably a bit easier in the day. You will get some challenges and a fun hill in the middle of the trail. I think it was roughly 11 miles from the entrance of Last Chance to the Bickle camp area. My friend took some awesome pics. Here is a sampling.
Last edited by cory8926; 08-16-2009 at 01:42 PM.
08-26-2009, 01:06 PM
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I don't know if many people use Picasa and Google Photos online but it has a useful tool to put your photos on a map. So often you see pics of off road trails and know the general location but not exactly. I've mapped out some of the images (see the link below), when you get to the gallery there will be an option on the right side to see on maps or Google Earth.
http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelc...eat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelc...eat=directlink
08-26-2009, 01:53 PM
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I put my truck in the caves first!!! Seriously, how did you like the Narrows at night? Im up in ridgecrest, that WHOLE area is our weekend play area. You guys meet the bickle camp curator? Cool guy with some amazing stories. Next time you are up here let me know, I will show you some other places of interest out there, plus a very knarly trail, less than 400 feet where you came through the Narrows. check out my pics running through there in the day time, friday night heading out there.
08-26-2009, 02:11 PM
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Is Last Chance the "Narrows"? How is Goller Gulch?
The Canyon was a blast at night. It took a long time but well worth it. We want to go back during the day to see where we actually were. There was no moon light and we couldn't see a thing except for what our lights lit. Bats everywhere. There are a bunch of alternate routes which are difficult to identify at night, in other words I couldn't tell if my truck could make it over certain obstacles until I was right up on it. Great time overall.
Curator at Bickle was interesting - I don't know how he lives out there all the time.
I had some great pics at holly but accidentally deleted them.
The Canyon was a blast at night. It took a long time but well worth it. We want to go back during the day to see where we actually were. There was no moon light and we couldn't see a thing except for what our lights lit. Bats everywhere. There are a bunch of alternate routes which are difficult to identify at night, in other words I couldn't tell if my truck could make it over certain obstacles until I was right up on it. Great time overall.
Curator at Bickle was interesting - I don't know how he lives out there all the time.
I had some great pics at holly but accidentally deleted them.
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08-26-2009, 05:06 PM
#8
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Is Last Chance the "Narrows"? How is Goller Gulch?
The Canyon was a blast at night. It took a long time but well worth it. We want to go back during the day to see where we actually were. There was no moon light and we couldn't see a thing except for what our lights lit. Bats everywhere. There are a bunch of alternate routes which are difficult to identify at night, in other words I couldn't tell if my truck could make it over certain obstacles until I was right up on it. Great time overall.
Curator at Bickle was interesting - I don't know how he lives out there all the time.
I had some great pics at holly but accidentally deleted them.
The Canyon was a blast at night. It took a long time but well worth it. We want to go back during the day to see where we actually were. There was no moon light and we couldn't see a thing except for what our lights lit. Bats everywhere. There are a bunch of alternate routes which are difficult to identify at night, in other words I couldn't tell if my truck could make it over certain obstacles until I was right up on it. Great time overall.
Curator at Bickle was interesting - I don't know how he lives out there all the time.
I had some great pics at holly but accidentally deleted them.
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