Updated: Movie done
Had some time off and wanted to get out to the south west edge of the state to enjoy the fine weather. Daytime temperatures were in the upper 60's and nighttime lows in the upper 40's. Just a touch of wind on Monday and just a trace of rain that night, no wind to speak of after sunset.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
First leg of the trip was out of Chiriaco Summit where the General George S. Patton Museum is.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Headed south and east though Red Canyon which is a very stock friendly trip up along the ridge of the canyon before dropping down into the sandy bottom of the canyon. Along the way we ran into a group of lost quad riders who didn't know their north from their south so we pointed them in the right direction and headed off.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Red Canyon trail ends up on the Bradshaw Trail. From there we headed east along the rail road tracks out out across the northern edge of the Chocolate Mountain bombing range. The Bradshaw is a very smooth gravel road and allowed for some high-speed crossing of distance. Paused to visit the pile-of-bombs.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
And then into the Augustine Pass. The Augustine is the middle pass between the Dumont and Graham Passes and is a nice tight challenging few miles of twists and turns. Nothing too technical but certainly more exciting than Red Canyon and the Bradshaw. As we were climbing the pass we ran into a group of quads and some really wide dune buggies who were not going to be able to squeeze through some parts of the Augustine. One buggy was broke down right in the middle of the trail and they sort of took offense that after ten minutes of waiting for them to get it running again we offered to tow them out of the way. They pushed it to one side and let us pass. We crossed over the Chuckwalla Mountains and hooked around back to the south into the Chuckwalla Spring area. We camped there for the night.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Come morning we made our way further south along the two forks of the Spring trail, the western fork was fairly short and ended up in a box canyon too tight to get a motorcycle through. The eastern fork was rewarding with some nice waterfalls to climb and some old mining ruins.
Not all trucks made it out.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
This arch had a night tight squeeze or a pretty fun climb to by-pass it.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Further up the canyon allowed for some climbing action.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
There was lots of green rock - copper ore I think - out in the open. Noon spent a half an hour collecting some beautiful rocks for the garden including some round bead-sized stones.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Since we were so "close" to the Palen Pass I wanted to roll out there and check it out - 25 miles at 45 miles an hour later ... we made it to the start of the Palen Pass trail off the 177 north of Desert Center. It looked much closer on the maps so we didn't air up and just maintained a slower speed. At the start of the trail is a memorial to the armies who trained here - including George Patton's - prior to heading off to fight the Nazi Germans and Fascist Italians (according the the plaque).
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
The trail is laser straight and pretty smooth but as it approaches the Palen Mountains becomes a bit more fun. Up in the pass itself there are some stone ruins from improvements made by the visiting armies back in the early 1940's. Along the hillsides you can find machine gun nests where the soldiers piled up rocks to protect them from incoming fire. Empty cartridges and "K-rations" litter the ground and an occasional training mine is still buried in the sand.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
Made for a really long day and one tired driver.
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
And for a very tired dog!
Red Canyon, Bradshaw Trail, Augustine Pass, Chuckwalla Spring and Palen Pass
I shot a bunch of video and hope to get around to doing some editing this time ...
