Some of the group decided to extend the east Mojave trip an extra day and I couldn't stay , so these are a few photos from the first two days of the trip. For some reason I really didn't take too many on this trip, but I'm sure that Toad and the WOLs will have lots more to post.


On the way out we stopped to explore some abandoned buildings along Route 66



Jeeps lined up and ready to hit the trail



Our first stop was Amboy Crater. Unfortunately the trail was closed, but we hiked out near the crater...not enough time to hike all the way to the top. We were surprised to find the wildflowers in full bloom this early in the year.



Desert sunflowers, a.k.a. Desert Gold



We had a lot of distance to cover and we were racing the light, so no time for photos on the trail. I caught one shot of the last light on the mountains.



We set up camp in the dark at Lost Arch Inn, an old abandoned prospector's cabin. I decided to take play around with some light painting



In this one I even caught the ghost of a photographer



We did a little hiking to explore the mine shafts in the area the next morning.



Even the barrel cactus showed signs of lots of new growth, so it looks like we might have a good bloom this spring if we get a little more rain



Gotta watch where you put your hands when you're climbing on the rocks!



Back at camp we did some cleanup because it had been a little abused and we always want to leave things better than we found them. I cleaned up the spent ammo casings...this was my collection early on...in total I collected 5.5 pounds from the campsite!!



After breaking camp we drove to the trailhead for Mohawk Spring, a nice little hike to a natural spring on the side of the mountain. Seen along the way:

We figured this was marking a mine claim. It's hard to read in the small compressed jpeg, but it says N. End Center, Mohawk #1







Stopped for lunch along the trail




Sorry no wheeling pics from me, but I know that the WOL family got a lot of shots, and we can always count on Toad to post more great pics.

 

Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing. Excellent job with the casings!

 

As usual, nice pics! Wish I was there!

 

I enjoyed the great pictures, thank you for sharing. I wish I was there with you folks. It is supposed to get down to about 20 below tonight and I really wish I was somewhere else right now. It looks like you had a lot of fun.

 

Nice shots Lori, I especially like the two of the building's with the lighting.

 

Was Eddie driving his TJ or was someone else?

 

Should've known someone would catch that! We had a surprise guest on this run - Patrick from Full Traction and his son Kenny. Patrick is building his rig (yes, a JK!), so Eddie gave him the TJ to drive. They were a lot of fun, and it was great to meet the face behind the name.

We also had the Doojer's, Team Toad and their friends Team Mazzman driving their brand new stock rubi. The WOLs, Doojer's, and Mazzman's continued for another day after the rest of us left.

And Gravel Gertie, it gets into the +20s on the overnight in the desert - that's cold enough for us SoCal peeps! It was a little warmer on this trip, at least my water didn't freeze this time.

 

Great Pictures and thanks for the clean-up effort. We make a big point of that with the Scouts to always leave a campsite cleaner than you found it and do as much "Leave No Trace" camping as possible.

 

Wow, great pictures!!! You're quite the photographer. You should send a few of those into Nat Geo.

 

Did I miss the naked bush women! As I kid, I always made sure to check out the latest issue of National Geographic. I guess that was sort of our internet!