Sidewinder participants:
 
Bernie Veinbergs–White P38
Matt & Bryson Milligan–Blue D1
Frank Gorcsan–White D90
Ivan Morelos–Yellow RR Classic
Kep Wadiak (Tactical Rovers)–Gold D1
Eric Holmquist (Tactical Rovers) Black D1
Kevin Tagle–Silver RR Sport
Marco Ayala–Green RR Classic
Peter Matusov–White D1
Rick Petersen–White D1
Jerry Sanfilippo–Blue LR3
Joseph Aiello

Our base camp for the weekend was the Juniper Springs Group camp, to the east of SR 38 in the Onyx summit area (over 7,000 feet elevation). The camp is 15 minutes off the main road, via 2N01. It accommodates 8 vehicles and up to 40 people. It is situated in some very large conifer trees and next to a large meadow.

We had eleven vehicles overall for the weekend. Five met Friday morning at the park and ride lot. These were Dan and Charlie Willibey, Jerry Sanfilippo, Ivan and Alan Morelos, Marco and Jessica Ayala, Dennis and Liz Yard and Steve Heinsohn, who met us by the Border Patrol check point on the way out. We drove up and arrived early afternoon defeating our first obstacle…commercial traffic on I-215.

After setting up camp, we left and drove to the Discovery Center to go canoeing. In this area they had some sprinkles prior to our arrival but it had cleared up nicely. On the water it was sunny and warm. The Center interns/guides were informative about the lake , town history and the local environment. We saw a Beaver Dam along with lots of birds including a Bald Eagle and it’s nest.

Back at camp everyone had some dinner and settled at the campfire to wind down our day. There were some clouds coming in but there was enough open sky to view the Milky Way and constellations. We could also see lightening from storms out over the desert to the north of us. The Peterson’s arrived as the fire was burning out and with a combat off load and tent setup we all turned in… wondering about Saturdays mining camp trail ride and more thunder storms in our forecast.

Saturday morning, Olaf Kilthau arrived along with and the McIntosh’s and their mechanic/friend Omar; all ready for the days adventure.

We set out about 10 AM to investigate an old mining camp not too far from our campsite. Jerry had intended for us to go there Memorial Day Weekend (Rattlesnake Canyon Trip) but we ran out of time.

We got there in bright and warm sun, but while we were having our lunch, the clouds rolled in, thunder was heard and we started seeing lightning. The storm seemed to be to our north but closing in. So we quickly finished lunch and got back across a small but deep dry wash to the main mesa trail. On the way back we ran right into the storm. The rain came down in buckets with the trails getting rock slides and small side gullies dumping their streams onto the trail. In spots the trail was side to side covered in a few inches of water. Quite the spectacle! We got back to camp all in one piece after splashing through some serious mud puddles. This was perfect Land Rover Weather! Back to camp for a pint!

Safely back at camp, it was our leisure time and we all split up to enjoy the afternoon. As some of our new club members headed home…Olaf talked Dan, Charlie and Jerry into driving back down SR 38 a short ways to see Olaf’s Unicamp that he is a board member of. The camp had some nice new features he wanted to show us for a possible Club event in the future. Liz and Dennis went with the McIntosh’s to see the Discovery Center and on their way out, ran into a group of firefighters working on
a tree top fire caused by the lightning . They were done and getting picked up by the time we came back to camp a couple hours later. Olaf monitored his hand held HAM radio to see if they might send us out.

Saturday night’s happy hour and dinner weren’t very dry…the rain picked up and we had a steady down poor for a couple of hours. Thanks to Olaf for bringing his Ez-Up! The Peterson’s prepared a warm and flavorful grilled sausage and mustard appetizer followed later by on-the-site fresh-baked brownies by Joann! Dan and Charlie shared their carne asada with everyone to spice up dinner.

Joining us for the evening were three new faces from Palm Springs in a red very lifted D1 (which looked just like Williams old ride) who asked to join our group camp for the night. They turned out to be really nice folks and we enjoyed their company through the evening.

Early Sunday morning about 4:30 AM another strong lightning storm came through and dropped lots of rain and nearby lightning strikes. The Yard’s tent got a little wet around the base and soaked some clothes. We got a break in the rain to make breakfast; while, the Peterson’s went into town for theirs before heading home.

Once we broke camp it started raining again. Jerry, Dan, Charlie, Dennis and Liz decided to see the Big Bear Zoo on the way out. The animals were out and about too! Enjoying the rain and studying us just as much as we were them. From there we headed home and got back about 3 PM.

Dennis said “it wasn’t quite as relaxing as I hoped it would be…but was memorable, at least”. As I write
this it seems as though it rained a lot, but for me it wasn’t a distraction because the temperatures were mild, the views were awesome and the company was enjoyable.

Dan Willibey, Trip leader. Co-Author, Dennis Yard.

Thanks to all who attended! Jerry Sanfilippo (LR3), Dan and Charlie Willibey (RRC), Olaf Kilthau (D1), Rick and Joann Peterson (D1), Dennis and Liz Yard (D-110), Ivan and Alan Morelos (new member RRC), Marco and Jessica (new member RRC), Wally and Gerry McIntosh (D1) , Steve Heinsohn (RR P38) and Omar (guest D1).

Click here to view the album of photos

Check out pictures of the trip here

Bilstein’s Shane Casad led an overland trail run for the Land Rover Club of San Diego in late March. The 3-day trip embarked from the North Shore of the Salton Sea. The first major trail was the Bradshaw Trail, a 70 mile (point to point) desert road that stretches from the Salton Sea to the outskirts of Blythe, CA. Most of the road is very smooth, fast, and fun. The Bradshaw Trail offers a few interesting side trips; Shane chose to take the group to explore Red Canyon and Augustine Pass along the way.

Bombs……A road side attraction on the Bradshaw.

After breaking camp on Sunday morning, the group finished the Bradshaw Trail and then turned north on dirt roads, towards the Palen Pass Trail. In a self-proclaimed “genius maneuver,” the group was able to cross 1-10 and fuel up, only touching a couple miles of pavement. The Palen Pass Trail is a junction off Midland-Rice Road, located about 15 miles north east of Blythe, CA. This is a very beautiful and desolate part of the desert. The trail travels through a wilderness corridor of pristine desert and is well marked. The ghost town of Midland, the Eagle’s Nest Mine, and Patton’s Cabin were some of the highlights along the way.


This chimney stack is just about the only landmark left in Midland, CA. Below are the smoke stack bases for a huge gypsum processing plant. The only thing left was a huge cement slab. The town of Midland was purposely burned down in the 1970’s as a Fire Department training exercise. It was very interesting to drive around Midland which is predominantly a huge collection of cement slabs and roadways.

Eagle’s Nest Mine

After breaking camp on Monday the group finished the Palen Pass Trail, ending on CA Hwy 177 about 10 miles north of Desert Center. All in all, it was a great excursion and everyone had a lot of fun. All of the vehicles were properly prepped and there were no mechanical malfunctions experienced over the 3 days.

To the right is the view from Patton’s Cabin from where troop exercises could be monitored down in the valley below.

Click here to view the entire gallery of photos.

With the adventurous holiday spirit in the air and what felt like summer again we met at the Chevron
station in Escondido across from North County Fair. I arrived five minutes early with my son Charlie and my appointed God daughter Dannielle only to be second to Olaf!…yes Olaf! our fearless, soon to be long term (going after Carol’s record) Club President and his faithful dog Sombra. Right on time,
Kevin and Karen pulled up and after a brief pulse check, new cup of coffee and learning that Jose and
son couldn’t make it,(next year!) we were on our way.

Our first stop was the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park on Highway 78. The monument and site honors the soldiers who fought in the battle between the U.S. and Californio forces on December 6th 1846 in the midst of the Mexican-American War. With both Generals Kearny and Pico claiming
victory; it is said, to be the bloodiest and most controversial battle of this war. We just missed the annual re-enactment of the battle by one week. Last year, we were told, there were over 700 people in
attendance! This was a very cool and informative State Historic Park with a lot of detailed information
about that period of our history. They also sell the best tasting bottle of sarsaparilla I ever had. On our
way out we saw several Turkey Vultures above the hill, all circling over something…maybe their lunch.

As we walked across the parking lot to our next destination which was the San Diego Archeological Center, Jerry called to say he was on his way to join us. At the center we guided ourselves through the museum and learned the story of how people lived in San Diego County for the past 10,000 years. We
also had time to enjoy the centers Holiday Family Workshop. This was where we could make our own Christmas cards and crafts out of clay and beads while enjoying their hot chocolate, apple cider, cake and slices of pie! Yea! Now that Jerry, Nicole, Allison and Andrew had caught up with us and had their fill of treats it was on to see Santa!

We continued east on Highway 78 past the Wild Animal Park winding our way towards Ramona. This
year I thought for variety we would try a different Christmas Tree Farm and after pre-scouting a few I chose Pine Tree Acres. When we arrived we noticed many families enjoying our summer in December
weather. The youngsters quickly took to the hay maze, air jumper, pony rides and small petting zoo while others sought out Santa who was in the shade resting for his up-coming big day. As we dispersed
to find the perfect tree, Jerry had the simple task of just asking “which is the tallest one you have?” but
with that he also had the most difficult task…loading it on his LR3 and later, setting it up at home.

So with our brains full of new knowledge, our sweet tooth satisfied, and a Christmas Tree atop our Rovers we headed off to the Filippi’s in Poway to meet up with Dennis and Liz (thanks guy’s for pre-ordering the salad and drinks to cut down on our wait!) and end our day as a group sharing some stories, pizza, salad and drinks.

Thanks for the fun year! Have a safe and happy holiday!

Click here to see the photo album of this trip.

LRCSD

I think the trip went very well; had our usual share of vehicle issues.

Dan’s truck wouldn’t start after dinner at Cracker Barrel in Yuma, so we’ve spent until half past midnight going over the fuel delivery stuff. Got it fixed (with Nick’s long-distance help), never had an issue with it again; I suspect Dan’s truck has some vacuum leaks, because the idle was iffy at lower elevations and bad at higher. Later, I had to tweak the throttle cable stop to rev it up a little.

On the first day in Colorado, Andy noticed a significant exhaust leak – turned out to be between exhaust manifold and the turbo, fixed with tightening up the nuts.

Next day, Dan busted a sidewall on his first day of wheeling – which turned out to be a bummer since no shop within fifty miles carried 33×12.5R15s. Not even used ones. It blows my mind – it’s one of the most visited 4-wheeling places in the nation! (Note: low-pressure, C-rated, wide-thread tires won’t do well on Colorado’s sharp rocks.)

So, on the next day Dan and Charlie rode with us in the Disco, having ordered a couple of tires in Montrose.

On Poughkeepsie, Frank’s truck decided to call it a day somewhere around 11kft. Turned out bad ignition lead from the coil to the distributor, fixed quickly and never had a problem again.

The weather was somewhat challenging. Hot everywhere below 8kft, cooling significantly to low 50s on mountain passes (12-13k). Monstrous thunderstorms every day – so every evening and morning we’ve been spending about 20min-an hour to dry out whatever got wet in the tent. At the same time, it kept the dust out on the trails.

On the way back we came by Mesa Verde (crazy crowded, so I doubt everyone was terribly impressed), Antelope Canyon was great, and Dan and us hit the Cottonwood Canyon Road – a 50-mile dirt road that had great mud puddles from the previous rainstorm. Came out completely blanketed with mud, and I feared that by the time we got to San Diego I’d have to chisel it off the truck. No worries – the rainstorm about 50mi N of Vegas (fiercest rainstorm I’ve ever seen – you couldn’t see the end of the hood!!!) took a good care of that. My Disco is clean even on the leeward side.

So, all in all, great trip. In four days in Colorado, we’ve been averaging 7 hours of off-pavement fun a day.

Click here for a link to all photos.
Peter

A big thanks goes out to Dan for bring his big table and Albertsons grill which allowed us to prep., cook and serve the entire group and Nick for providing the whole group with plates, bowls and eating utensils (corn and baked beans too:) )
Another big thanks for Joe for planning the harder groups day.

The easy group enjoy a nice outing through 3N16 to Jacoby trail first. Then it was off to Gold Mountain starting from Hwy. 18. We had 2 new people show ups. Kevin Tagle and his 13yr old daughter and her friend (newly joined member) with a beautiful silver Range Rover Sport and sliders and Eric Magpali from Murrieta (who will soon join) brought his 3yr old son Evan in their nice, black LR3. Great job guys! We wrap things up back at our old camp site around 4pm to set up camp and rendezvous with Joe and the Hardcore group. They started in Arrowhead and went on the Dishpan Creek trail. I am happy to report that we suffered no major mechanical problems other than Dan’s slashed sidewall passenger front tire back at camp and Jerry’s left rear top corner somehow was smashed by a tree putting a sizable DENT! . Don’t worry Jerry…I think we can push it back out.

The weekend ended this morning with Joe’s group venturing out to the challenging John Bull trail. How did it go? The rest of us call it a day and went into town for some fun blob sledding and lunch. I ended our day hanging out with my son Alexio in the Village and then dropped him off at Forest Home for summer camp. I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as we did and hopefully we can continue the new tradition of the potluck dinner in the future. Iron Chef baby!!

Those in attendance:
Easy Group / Rover
Eddie and Alexio Mah DI
Jerry, Alison, Andrew and LR3
Nicole Sanfillipo
Dan Willibey, Charlie, Katie Classic
Kevin Tagle, Sierra & Range Rover Sport
friend
Eric and Evan Magpali LR3

Hard Group / Rover
Joe Aiello Classic
Nick Markiw D90
Frank and Connie Gorscan D90
Bob Palmer P38
Peter Matusov and Mom DI

Link to photo album: http://www.lrcsd.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2269

Due to the state budget cuts, our anticipated furthermost western tour location, Border Fields State Park, was closed. So five sets of intrepid explorers set out from the BFSP locked gate, in Imperial Beach, to head east over Otay Mountain and along the border regions to eventually complete the tour east of Jacumba.

Participating in the tour were the five Land Rovers of Mark and Cathy Steele, Mark Bramson, Frank & Connie Gorcsan, Sathy Bhavan & Yonha Graves and Liz and Dennis Yard. Supporting cast members in this event were canines; White Shadow, Omega, Oliver and Rocky.

I promised to the group that I’d take them places they hadn’t been before, but weren’t sure about the infrastructure points of interest; such as the Tijuana River valley sewage treatment plant, SR-125 toll road terminus at SR-905, the Calpine 900 Megawatt electricity plant, Donavon State and SD County prisons. But these were just at the beginning of the tour route and soon the countryside was all we saw.

Once we got past the Otay Mesa/Brown Field industrial area and onto the mountain, we were able to enjoy the scenes of California coastal mountains, perhaps as they were generations ago. The hills still sported plenty of green foliage and wildflowers. Many different types of yellow flowers covered hillsides and valleys. Yes, we did across Border Patrol vehicles staking out prime surveillance spots and the antenna farm at the top of the mountain, but all in all, the views were mostly uncluttered. We saw west out to sea to south deep into Mexico from our mountain top vantage point. The border fence was quite striking in many areas, where it showed only vegetation growing on the north side, but extensive development on the south side.

Our timing over the mountain was good, as we didn’t have to stop for oncoming traffic up the mountain, particularly Border Patrol. At the top of the mountain, we stopped for pictures but didn’t stay too long as it was windy and cool. From Doghouse Junction it is all downhill and our gas mileage went up. We saw lots of spring wildflower with varieties of yellow being the dominant color.

Once down off the mountain, we exited the area on Marron Valley Road onto SR-94 at Engineer Springs. A quick 20 minutes later, we arrived at Potrero County Park for lunch.

Back on the road after a short lunch break, we headed east to Campo. We went through the scenic village of Campo, past the Southwest Train Museum, and the decaying/rusting truck museum at the old feldspar mill.

Then we headed south for the border again on Shockey Truck Trail. This dirt road took us within a quarter mile of the border, just private ranches on that side of the road up to the border. We saw that SDG&E was clear cutting the brush from underneath the high voltage power lines leaving a clean swath less susceptible to fire and a boon to the Border Patrol’s visual tracking.

After turning north on the back roads, we ended up on SR-94 again and completed our journey along the border through Manzanita and Jacumba. We ended up at the entrance to the Desert Towers view site where we said our goodbyes and set off for home. It was a smooth and efficient trip without breakdowns, getting lost or delays by construction or accidents.

Our Last Chance Canyon Run was well attended with 7 LRCSD members; Larry & Carol Samons, Dennis & Liz Yard, Rick Peterson, Dr. Joe Aiello, and myself. We had 2 SCLR members Scott Horsley and Tawfik Benabdeljalil, and one new member Kevin Tagle, and of course Nathan Woods who would lead us on our journey through Last Chance Canyon. We ended up with 9 Land Rovers and one Jeep Rubicon. There were three LR3, one RR Sport, one Disco 1, one Disco II, one D90, and one offroad trailer towed and Dennis and Liz Yard.

We all met up in the Old town of Randsburg at a 100+ year old Market which just happened to be a pretty good diner as well. This little town is just a couple of miles off US 395 on the northern side of the gold mining towns of Atolia, Red Mountain and Johannesburg. This whole area was the site of mineral mining for most of the 1900’s. Some areas are still active today. The Randsburg town is home to about 130 people with much of the area decaying back to wilderness. The area is littered with mining artifacts and decaying buildings, where once it was very prosperous with saloons, hotels and supporting services.

The group enjoyed a hearty breakfast and afterwards enjoyed some of the town’s museums and antique shops. This gave us a taste of the mining history in the area we were about to explore. After a quick driver’s meeting we gathered up and headed to the trailhead.
The weekend’s trail guide was our friend, Nathan Wood, well known to So Cal LR folks from Rover Rendezvous events and Mojave Desert trails. Nathan guided us through the trails and expertly navigated us through the more challenging obstacles. His expansive knowledge of the area gave us all a complete experience, putting the scenery into context of the life and times of the people, the mining activities and even local flora and fauna.

The first part of the trail was wide sand washes with the occasional small rock pile. As the trail went on it became quite narrow, and the rocks got bigger with some fun optional obstacles. Most of these obstacles were do-able by everyone until we hit the big V-notch. While most of us opted for the moderate bypass, Nathan, Larry & Carol, Dr. Joe and Rick went through the V-notch with little trouble. As we moved on we went over 2 or 3 more fun rock piles then the trail seemed to open up a bit and was pretty smooth for a while. The last obstacle of the day was a nice hill climb out of the canyon to a nice overlook. We viewed Bickel Camp and numerous hilltop viewpoints in the area. The weather was great; clear and just warm enough to be comfortable. From here we dropped down to EP15 and started heading towards our campsite. After a couple of attempts to find a vacant site we found a really cool one. It had a stone cabin and plenty of room to park and put up tents. The stone cabin at the site had no roof or windows and had a fire ring right in the middle of it, a perfect place to gather. After cooking our meals we met inside the cabin for a warm fire, some cold beverages and great conversations. About 11:30 the last of us finally turned in.

On day two we packed things up, had breakfast and were back on the trail around 8:30. Our first stop of the day was a place called Dutch Cleanser Mine. According to Nathan this mine was used to produce an abrasive powder which is used in household cleaning products such as Bon Ami, Comet, and Old Dutch Cleanser. The first thing you notice about this mine was it’s white marble palace appearance, gleaming and glowing from the sunlight with a thick layer of fine white powder on the ground. It seemed to have the consistency of chalk. A very cool place with large openings, and wide open caves. Our second stop of the day would take us to a talc mine similar to the first but with different colored dirt, not quite as big as the Dutch Cleanser Mine but fun to walk into anyway. Our third stop of the day was to Burro Schmidt tunnel. Supposedly William Henry Schmidt dug all 2087 feet of this tunnel through Copper Mountain himself. This tunnel looked to be solid rock throughout taking Schmidt 38 years to dig. We had a nice walk from one end of the tunnel to the other. While at the far end we enjoyed a nice view of the valley and some conversation as to why this guy spent his whole life digging a tunnel that was never used. After a few more interesting facts from Nathan, we headed back into the tunnel and back to our vehicles.

Our fourth and final stop would take us to an abandoned cabin high up on a hill, which looked to be well maintained compared to the others we had seen. It was equipped with a stove heater, a couch, chairs and an end table. It had old pictures hung on the walls and historical artifacts were displayed on the shelves. A great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. After leaving a club business card on the table, we left the lonely cabin and were on our way down towards the main road into the Garlock Valley where we would air up and head home.

Thanks to Nathan Woods for being our trail leader. All in all, a very fun trip, we covered a lot in less than 24 hrs. and thanks to all who participated.

Link to photos: http://www.lrcsd.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1929

Old Springs Open Space Preserve
Open to:
Non Motorized Use Only
No Overnight Camping
No Off-Roading Allowed
Off Road Activity Prohibited
County Ord 76.101a

So we skipped Inspiration Wash, and went to Fonts Point, Short Wash, stopped at Vista del Malpais for lunch, Palo Verde Wash to Cut-Across, stopped at some Palms, stopped at the Pumpkin Patch. A couple of OWSVRA rangers were manning an info booth at the Pumpkin Patch.

One of the rangers suggested the Tectonic Gorge, which is on the OWSVRA map but not on Lindsey. This starts at the Cross Over Trail in sight of S-22, and runs west exiting at S-22 at the county line (just across from the microwave tower). Then we went to Calcite mine, and then back to the normal camp site in Palo Verde Wash.

Everyone want to leave early Sunday, so we headed down Palo Verde to the Cut-Across trail, to Fault Wash, to San Felipe Wash, to Blowsand Canyon, to Goat Trail and Hwy 78. We were off the trail at about 10:00 AM.

Dennis wrote…
The Haywoods and Yards looked for you yesterday when we came down from the Grapevine Canyon entrance to the park. We came out of the Tamarisk area and went to the Butte Pass and Goat Trail entries to the park about 1 PM and had lunch. Called out on Ham and CB radio but didn’t hear any chatter. Then we circled around back to San Felipe wash north and west to the Borrego Springs road, then off to home about 2:30 ish. Did we miss you? We figured we would come in from the south and meet you on the way down. Saw reasonable degrees of wild flowers and LOTS of green hillsides, good for St Patrick’s Day week.
This was the 110’s maiden off road voyage and generally did well except that it died on the trail once. I think it was high under bonnet temperatures due to running the AC. But it was only 81 degrees out. Either the Mallory coil overheated or there was vapor lock. After a while it cooled down and started so we could finish the trip. Didn’t run the AC again on the trail. Ran just fine on the road.

So overall, a good shake down, but need to get the heat/AC/stoppage under control.

Link to photos: http://www.lrcsd.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1877