Offroad and on the Trails

Mountain Rendezvous 2014 Road Trip – Part One

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When the clock radio alarm went off at 0600, it was still dark and I really wanted to go back to sleep. But I knew it was pointless to resist, and that I needed to get moving. There was a long day ahead, and hopefully my trip planning was going to work out properly.

And although this was my third Mountain Rendezvous, the planning had been more challenging than usual. For one thing, Plan A (starting with some offroad trails in the Angeles National Forest) had to be scrapped due to wildfires closing the area I had planned to drive and camp. This would be my daughter’s first overlanding event, so I had to take her needs into account in addition to my own. Also, my mother was in town staying with us for almost a week just before the trip. All this led to a last-minute scramble for a Plan B, researching new options, and so on.

After identifying a potential new trail to run in a different (and non-burning) area, I contacted my SoCal trail guru, Cris Mateski, to get his opinion. I wanted him to confirm I was making a good choice. It needed to be an appropriate trail for the long-and-wide Land Cruiser, not too scary for my kid, and not something with a high chance of breaking something or getting stuck, since we’d be running it solo.

Cris confirmed that the Cleghorn Trail was a good choice. He’d run it again just a week earlier, so he was very familiar with the current conditions. I also had a follow-up trail selected, but Cris suggested Pilot Rock trail instead, and it sounded good to me. With his help I located GPX track files as references, made my calculations and everything looked set. With any luck we’d have enough time to reach a yellow post campsite in the Holcomb Valley before it got dark.

Thus the need for that ugly 6am wake up. I had almost exactly 400 miles to drive just to reach the western trailhead for the Cleghorn trail. After that, there were the two trails to run, and I didn’t have a good idea of how long they might take. Again, Plans B and C loomed large and we might need to adapt and improvise along the way as reality raised its ugly head.

My wife Carrie unfortunately was staying behind as she had an intensive week-long audit underway at her work. Allison and I bid her goodbye after loading up the last-minute items into the Land Cruiser, and headed out on our 400-mile drive to the first trailhead. And it was a pretty boring drive, as always, mostly down I-5 as the day rapidly warmed up. We stopped at a 24-hour trucker diner for a sit-down lunch, which gave me a bit of a break, but otherwise I kept us moving along with just a few restroom breaks.

Eventually we reached the LA basin and headed east towards the trailhead, northeast of San Bernadino. The area was very desert-like, with mostly scrub brush in evidence. After many hours of driving, we exited the freeway and were immediately at the gate for the Cleghorn trail. We were excited to have finally reached dirt. Now the real adventure would begin!

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Cleghorn did not disappoint. The trail began with a long and easy climb up to the ridge top, the views becoming more expansive and amazing as we went. The trail was easy and generally wide, with interesting geology and terrain. We marveled at the views, the striking rock formations, and the mild, breezy weather. It took us about an hour and a quarter to complete the trail, stopping here and there to enjoy the sights and take photos. There were many side trails that beckoned with slightly greater challenges, but Allison was eager for me to stay on the main (and easiest) trail, which was rather bumpy and exciting enough for her.

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After reaching the eastern terminus of the Cleghorn trail, we had a brief highway drive over to Silverwood Lake, and the start of the Pilot Rock trail. Pilot Rock trail to me felt more deceptive than Cleghown. It seemed like it would turn into a normal sort of Forest Service type of road at any time, yet it remained stubbornly rocky and with a seemingly endless number of semi-concealed whoopdy-doos, always waiting to catch the unwary. I frequently had to resist the urge to speed up, and quickly jump on the brakes to prevent another suspension-slamming bounce… It seemed like a lot more work than Cleghorn, so I didn’t enjoy it quite as much, but there were still wonderful views along the way.

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Wrapping up Pilot Rock trail when we reached pavement (by a tucked-away sewage treatment plant – yuck!) I knew sunset was rapidly approaching. I made the best time I could towards our planned Holcomb Valley yellow post site, but it was clear we weren’t going to reach it before dark. Rather than push things, I eased into another Plan B option. We’d camp in the same place I’d camped the night before MR last  year. Or more precisely, just across the road where Hans and Bente had been parked in their 70-series Land cruiser when I’d met them. Sure enough, the spot was deserted and we had a half hour to set up camp and get dinner going before the sun dropped below the horizon in a show of burnt orange color…

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Dinner was a simple dehydrated meal, made needing only hot water from my JetBoil stove, which minimized prep and cleanup. After dinner and some cookies, we lounged in our camp chairs for a bit, took some photos, and then the rapidly-dropping temperatures encouraged us to climb into our tent for the night. And thanks to our long day, we slept very well indeed. The first day of our road trip had been a very busy one, and the next day promised more trails and exploration before we hopefully pulled into MR14 intact and at a somewhat reasonable time.

MR14 Road Trip Day One Photo Gallery

September 26th, 2014 at 5:05 pm


2 Responses to “Mountain Rendezvous 2014 Road Trip – Part One”

  1. Snuva Says:

    When I was a few years younger than Allison I was invited to go sailing with some friends. I’d spent most of my childhood on the water, in my boat or just bumming around the wide estuary we lived on, so I thought I’d love it. Getting out in the wind and suddenly being parallel to the surface of the water as that stupid sailboat leaned on its side was an revoltingly frightening experience. I suspect I’d feel the same about your mountain trails. I love seeing the photos you capture while you’re out, but seeing Allison clinging to the door reminded me that I might not like the reality!

  2. David Says:

    She’s been on plenty of rugged trails over the years, but I think this was her first time in the front passenger seat, so there was a new perspective perhaps. Also, there were some really long bumpy trail sections and even I was happy to be back on smooth tarmac for a bit.

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