Saturday the whole family went out to Red Rock State Park. The park is North of Mojave and NorthEast of Jawbone Station. We drove up some dirt roads to see Schmidt Tunnel. The daughters took turns with the 4Runner scooting up some of these roads. There was little danger and much traction and I wanted them to get their feet wet in the new truck. I must admit I felt fine with each of the teens behind the wheel of my favorite possession, and they each did a fine job of handling the truck.

We arrived at Schmidt Tunnel and took the ˝ mile walk through the tunnel to the other side of the mountain. It was kind of creepy, but I had the girls there to hold my hand…


Then we went to the old talc mines…


There was some beautiful scenery on this cold high desert day…


We decided to go down Last Chance Canyon. This was pretty easy riverbed trail with occasional large rocks to navigate. Notice the yotatech.com sticker…


Finally about a mile from the end of the trail we were unable to continue because of the low clearance of the stock running boards, suspension and tires on my 2000 4wd 4Runner. The rocks at one corner were nasty and since this is my daily driver and cherry truck I did not want to do the kind of damage that it looked like we were in for. So… we turned around and had only one real obstacle on the way back. It was a loose and steep climb with a one foot rock ledge about 2/3 of the way up. On the first attempt I lost traction at the ledge. The stock tires just could not get a bite on the climb enough to pull me over the ledge. I just had to back down. This is the scariest thing I have done in the 4Runner so far. Half way down the truck actually stalled (due to low gas and steep angle??) and I had a hard time without the power brakes keeping it under control. The second time I went to the left of the ledge, but that meant having to deal a bit with a side hill as I turned to the right above the ledge, which was scary but went okay. There was a Rubicon that was on the trail too and I followed him up that climb. Here it is…


Overall the day was fun and airing up again (16 stock tire fill-ups from 18 # to 32psi on the first CO2 Tank so far) was a breeze. I need to get those running boards off, add some sliders, lift the suspension a bit and acquire some more aggressive tires to make this trail to the end. I would highly recommend this trail to anyone!

 

Somebody in my club showed me a trick for backing down an obstacle...use the E-brake (a couple clicks) in conjuction with the normal brakes to help stay in control. It's soooo much better.

 

I will remember that next time Steve.

Thanks!

 

It is no fun backing down and having your front start to slide. It also equals no steering! Looks like some fun stuff out there.

 

That's for sure.
I never started to slide during the back-down. But, without the power to the brakes, a ton of pressure was required to get anything out of them at all. Also, there was a ditch about 4 feet off the bottom of the climb. There was no runout, so if I could not get it stopped I was going to be in much bigger trouble. Everything worked out fine, just a bit jittery for about 5 seconds.

 

Couldn't you re-start the engine before backing down? I wasn't aware that gravity had any affect on our abilty to start.

 

I don't know what caused it to stall.
I was halfway back down before it stalled.

 

Well what a difference tires, lift and sliders make.
Today Nina and I went the length of Last Chance Canyon in the opposite direction. I ran accross a Jeep Wrangler with 35" tires and plenty of lift with dual lockers. We went up the canyon together. He was shocked at how well my mild 4Runner handled the obsticals. He kept looking down at the truck saying " I didn't think you could handle that last one..."

We have to get together and do a group trip out there...

 

Can you give us directions to this trail/park? I been there once 1 years ago with a Chevy Cavalier rental (before i got the 4runner and after I wrecked my expedition). Anyways, I plan on heading up to that area this month, and would like some place to haed to.

 

Sure.
It is about 1.5 hours north of the 118 & 5 intersection.
From LA head north on 5, then north on 14.
Continue through Mojave on 14.
Stop at Jawbone station to see if Mr. Bob (the desert tortoise) is out of his hole and sign the guestbook. They have a great map of the area there by Friends of Jawbone for only $2. Buy the map and ask the lady at the desk (same woman there about the last 20 times in the place) how to get to Last Chance Canyon.
You go about 1 mile north of Jawbone on 14 and turn Right at the Randsburg-Red Rock Road. It will be the second right (there is an intersection just north of Jawbone)
Continue on Randsburg-Red Rock Road about 6 miles to the half-hidden canyon entrance on the left. (GPS N35° 21.70' W117° 53.86' -NAD 1927-Coordinates Page 207 of Backcountry Adventures of So Cal)
Turn left up the Canyon.
You will need some lift to clear rocks in the canyon, and sliders are preferred, but perhaps not necessary. Mainly, running boards will get torn off unless you do bypasses on much of the rocky areas. There is much to do up there if you don't have the clearance, but for Last Chance I would recommend it.

 

Hey Goerge, my club ( www.SonsofThunder4x4.com ) and I were in the desert too, about 5 miles east of Barstow. We were in Calico. Lift that thing up and join us for other runs.

 

Thanks for the link.
I have been looking for a Christian 4X4 Club. The site has some useful info. It is a bit far for me (living in the North end of the San Fernando Valley) but it is much closer than anything else. Seems like a great group of folks! I will be getting in touch with them by e-mail.

 

Cool. I've been with them for over three yrs now. We never leave anyone behind. We've tow vehicle out through rough trails with two vehicles before. There's member who live down in Escondido that comes to our meeting but you don't have to show up all the time. We have a Yahoo group that keeps member informed of the trips and stuff.

Look forward to meeting you sometime.