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| Desert in bloom along the trail |
Not long after we gassed up in Bartsow we headed out to Joshua Tree National Park driving on county road 247 south through Lucerne Valley. Cutting east we arrived at Yucca Valley, from there it was about an hours drive to the town of Joshua Tree. But getting there was a thrill in it self, extremely hilly country with hilly roads to match. Our road was no different. We crested hills only to come speeding down the other side while gravity was losing us. Cruising into town about 4pm we slowed to take a look as we steered to the packed Joshua Tree Visitor Center. Trixie's mission was to run in get maps and camping info while I looked for a spot to park (lot Full). I settled into a waiting spot, engine running. Trixie came barreling out with what looked like maps and paper info in her hand. Cool! Almost, Trixie was jumping in waving the maps "we have to get going, all campsites full", having full campsites had happened more than twice and both times we found camping. Trixie and I knowing our track record, pointed at the parks west entrance saying "Let her buck" I knew once again we were on for another WeOverlander experience.
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| Well marked desert road |
Right turn out of the parking lot we climbed to the west entrance about 8 miles away, as we approached the
Joshua Tree National Park's west guard gate entrance, the sign read "campgrounds full." Showing our senior lifetime NPS park pass we rolled through a $35 gate charge feeling very hopeful. The park road twisted around as the visitor's traffic started to spread out . The
Joshua Tree National Park was stunning with its extra large rocks, boulders and desert foliage scattered like marbles from playful giants. The scale was note worthy as we traveled on this land of Joshua Trees and epic rock formations, Quail Springs and Hidden Valley, with plenty of rock climbers hanging on tops of gigantic boulders and scores of climbers hiking about with massive folding pads strapped to their backs, (better safe than sorry?). We continued to
Hidden Valley Campground and cruised the lot looking for any undetected sites- no such luck. With others campgrounds within the park we continued to search,
Ryan, Sheep Pass, Jumbo Rocks, Belle, and finally
White Tank. No such luck! All campgrounds were full. The night was falling and so were the temps with no campsite to call our own. Looking at the map we chose to drive out of the park and into
29 Palms to find a cheap motel.
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| Not so well marked desert canyon river bed road |
We would returned to the park the next morning and snagged the very first campsite we saw. It was Saturday night and what we experienced in the past was Sunday morning offered more opportunities for a vacancy. With that in our mind we exited the park with another stunning drive through the north entrance
Sky's The Limit. Heading into
29 Palms we checked a few hotels and asked around for any good Mexican food. After a while we found both a not so cheap hotel- very clean and large room-nearby some pretty darn good Carnitas tacos with guacamole and re-fried beans. Trixie had the Taco Salad from Hell. It was huge and filled a hungry traveler. Back at the hotel and up early I made coffee and we headed out to search for a spot to camp. With our pass in hand we drove through the north park entrance and climbed over 2000ft to about el. 4800ft. Our first campground to check was
Belle, a small campground on the list. It didn't have a vacant site, so we pressed on. We entered
White Tank Campground around 8:15am and maneuvered through the maze of rocks looking for a site and YES! a Sports Van packing up and heading out! Oh and look they left some fire wood behind- added bonus!! We promptly paid the campsite fee and marked our spot: locked bikes to the picnic table, spread out our table cloth, stacked our fire wood and put our stove on the table. Site secured we started to head out for a full day of 4-wheeling on
Geology Tour Road through
Pleasant Valley then through
Berdo Canyon Road dumping out on
Dillion Road (paved) then over to
Thermal Canyon and
Pinkham Canyon Road to end up at
Cottonwood Springs (paved road) north back to
White Tank campsite. Should be a full day of mixed roads around 45 miles on black top and 55 miles of desert dirt, gravel, sand, rock and hills NICE!!
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| Along the geological trail |
Driving on
Geology Tour Road was full of corrugations as we took in the Geological tour this road offered then passing through
Pleasant Valley. We 4-wheeled onward to
Berdo Canyon Road where the trail gets a little more technical and it beckoned my lack of rock crawling skills. With tyre air pressure dropped only about a quarter of what it should I proceeded with caution and was confidant with the performance. I felt there was no need to deflate any more thinking we have pavement ahead. Slow and easy our rig handled the terrain sure-footed as we negotiated rocks and drop offs. Arriving on the other side of the Canyon we started to see other 4-wheelers making there way in our direction.
Dillion Road was ahead of us as we exited this canyon and made our way to our next entry point but first a little lunch at a I-10 rest stop.
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| Dried up wells desert back country |
A couple miles east on I-10 we took a not-so used off-ramp to our entry point on
Thermal Canyon Road, a rough and bumpy primitive road to the trailhead. Catching a glimpse of a marker we pulled over and on to
Thermal Canyon Road. Heading north the GPS picked up the Canyon road where we immediately switched into 4WD. This proved to be dubious as the trail almost disappeared into the landscape! We had to choose our path traversing a sometime technical dry river bed bank until it resembled a trail which it did some 300ft down the washed out river bank. Some of the cactus were in bloom and we had our eyes on plant material as well as the twists and turns and reversing to find the trail again. Ever so often we would see a FS (Forest Service) marker. It became really tricky as you would find the markers or run them over with out knowing it. Rocks and sharp turns, we maneuvered the trail at a crawling pace keeping a look out for any of the many trail deviations. Almost 1 1/2 hours later, about 8.5 miles from the trailhead we drove in a sandy, rocky dry river bed with fallen large bush branches bent across boulders. I maneuvered in between a set of rocks, (not paying attention to the set of rocks), front wheels through, back wheels followed a little to the right and BAM HiSSS!
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| One spiked Tyre, with locking nut |
&^%#$%+_) I spiked a Tyre!! Hoping it wasn't real, I hopped out to see WTF...... Yup, I clipped a rock enough to puncture my sidewall with a downward large V cut. At first sight I knew it was too big of a sidewall cut to plug- Shoot plan A! Okay I went to plan B- change the tire with the spare. No worries- I have changed many tires and proceeded onward. Got the jack out, placed it under the axle, raised the vehicle, looked good, started removing the lug nuts before lifting the wheel off the ground. I started with the locking lug. I got leverage and began to put pressure on the keyed lug with a little reluctance it started to unwind or that's what I thought! Couldn't believe what I was thinking- is the key stripped? I checked it again and again and again and again. The key did not break free the locked lug nut - WHAT!! this was insane as we needed to get that 4*&^$@! locking lug off or we would not be able to change the tyre!!!
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| Me in my chonies setting the tyre jack |
A sense of helplessness started to creep in as I started digging into my kit looking for an answer. Each time I came up empty handed- channel locks, vise grip, hammer, heat, more hammer, chisel, more hammering. The lug would not budge. Frustrated and getting dark, Trixie went on a recon mission while I attempted to change the spare. Trixie was trying to get a phone signal- we were completely out of range!
N 33.75763 W 115.99279 about 10 miles north of the I-10 trailhead and 13 miles to our exit point
Cottonwood Visitors Center. We were dead in the water at this point! I was out of options and needed to think while we were stuck camping in this empty, dry river bed for the night. In the meantime, heroic Trixie set out with phone in hand and set a of coordinates to summon help while distant coyotes yipped and scattered bob-cat prints were noticed. As the darkness set fast I honked the horn rapidly to signal Trixie to make her way back. Looking positive Trixie returned with "b-a-d" news no-signal! However, we had plenty of supplies and were good with water and fuel for days. Darkness happened fast. We ate in silence and experienced a disconnect with the rest of the world- stuck in our dry desert river bed with big, flat tire.
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| Playing in the sand raising the vehicle |
Popping the
RTT we made our camp in our tracks, we had plenty of solar power available and felt confident about lasting for days if necessary. Tossing and turning trying to get some sleep after going over and over what about this or that, and the big thing was how did the key get stripped without me knowing and how would I know if it was stripped! The last known use of the key was put in the hands of a
local dealership where
I had a tire rotation and rear brake pads and rotors installed!.
Morning arrived, no coffee and no stove! I was back at it hoping for a fix! No Luck! Now what, we needed to continue thinking about a solution to our dilemma. I decided to walk up the canyon a couple of miles to see if we could get a cel connection while Trixie stayed with the vehicle in-case someone were to arrive. We saw no one on this trail and tyre tracks were not so recent. But first we decided since the punctured tyre was unfix-able maybe we could fill it with sand (through the puncture) and drive out hoping the sand filled the tyre enough to keep it from popping off the bead (rim), theory anyway! It was called "DESPERATION!"
So while I set out on foot Trixie was in charge of filling the tyre with sand (easier said than done), using the bed potty out of our kit for a sand funnel to speed up a tedious process. My mission was to walk up the canyon and get a phone signal or meet up with a fellow wheeler. With a can of water, a protein bar, handful of Advils, I set out to walk for an hour then back to the vehicle. No luck I was gone for almost 3 hours and no signal. Arriving back, Trixie was taking a break in the shade from sand duty. We were both tired and frustrated. After some coming together we pressed on with our tasks. I built a bonfire in a no-fire zone hoping to get a ticket while Trixie kept scooping and filling sand into the very flat tyre.
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| Haven't realized it yet that the lock-nut key is stripped |
We ate lunch, sipped beers and discussed our lost situation. We realized another night camping was inevitable. One last try to grip the slippery, stuck lug nut with any means possible, and still no luck. All our energy focused on filling the tire with sand, and make a plan to hobble out the next morning I started to collect my tools when I looked up and saw a white Tundra in the bushes, "Hey over here. I ran to cut them off!" (wildly but not too aggressively in my approach) "Hello we have a problem, PLEASE!!" There was no hesitation on our new found heroes,
Nevada residents
Jim and Doreen. Their help and ingenuity saved us from dire-straights, (a trail fix within hours). Slam on a 3/4" 16pt. socket over the locking lug nut with a BFH (big fucking hammer) until it fused to one another then use the 3/4" drive to turn it free! The lug started to turn, "Holy B-Jesus", carefully as not to break it off. YES! we started to pack it up, to get back on the trail heading out. We still faced one more hurdle, while changing the spare, (due to incompetence from what I believe to be the
local dealership) we sheared off two other lugs. So now we had to 4-wheel (in the dark) at least 8.5 miles on one heck of a tangled rocky canyon trail with only 3 lug nuts out of five on the rear.
Jim and Doreen followed us in the dark all the way out. They wouldn't dream of doing it any other way. We are so grateful for there efforts- we will always pass the kindness on to other travelers we encounter.
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| Dry well desert back country |
Finally on the rough primitive road leading back to I-10 it was hard to imagine that just mere hours ago we were castaways. The slow 2.5 hour crawl out of
Thermal Canyon was white knuckle to say the least. Now our mission in the middle of the night was to retrieve our bikes and stove at our last paid campsite,
White Tank Campground. Driving on 3 lug nuts was and is very dangerous as I drove carefully on a weaving, pitch black,
Pinto Basin Road up to
White Tank Campground some 33 miles away. We rolled into our once said campsite. A fire was burning as we saw it occupied by a couple of campers. Low and behold the bikes were still chained to the picnic table. Man, were we really lucky lately, or what! We said hello and asked for our bikes back as we explained our past dilemma. Nice as nice can be the camping couple helped us retrieve the bikes and returned our camp stove to us as we thanked them for everything. We got back in the rig with a big sigh of relief and a little worse for wear- we pointed our compass north limping back to
29 Palms to get a motel room, we know the drill!!
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| Back on the road in SoCal. Glendora Ridge Road, Merry Christmas! |
In the am after coffee we headed to the closest tire shop to have the broken lugs replaced and locking lugs from the other 3 wheels removed. Solid on all fores we traveled south west into
SoCal to be with family and friends for the holidays, while making plans to overland in
Mexico! (mid February)
Hope to see you on the Trail!!...
🚙,,,,......,,,,...
Authors note: Being stuck was mentally the hardest of all our adventures! Unfortunately we took very limited photos, also we made some adjustments to our kit and will have Satellite communications from this point forward....
