California Adventure 2023

[ecidiego]

I I will state here I'm as pro-2A as they come but the "shooting range" at the bottom of the canyon was a shit show in four dimensions. Safety and range protocols? Nope. And then there's the massive amount of trash EVERYWHERE. I don't have an issue with broken glass because it will eventually go back to being sand again but come on people-pick up your trash. If anything it was a melting pot of survivalists, rednecks, gang bangers, and hooligans with a few normal people just trying to put a hole in the paper...

We could have been shot going through there. It was insane.

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[fourfa]

New idria is filled with asbestos dust

Worse than that, it was also a mercury mine and there is toxic-looking orange leachings, tailings, and runoff all over the place. I've driven through on the way to explore the areas south of there, but I kept my windows up and recirc on. I wouldn't camp anywhere near there, either upstream or downstream. I guess for some reason it's not technically a Superfund site but I wouldn't walk around there without a gas mask and a change of clothes

Nice driving in the roads south of there though. It's BLM, it's technically open to the public but there are locked gates EVERYWHERE. Apparently you're expected to call the BLM manager, wait for an in-person call back, tell them the exact route you want to drive, then they give you the gate codes. Voila, open to the public. I spent a whole day driving all over trying to find an ungated route from Panoche over the mountain to I-5. Never succeeded and had to backtrack all the way back to New Idria

 

[Free2roam]

Worse than that, it was also a mercury mine and there is toxic-looking orange leachings, tailings, and runoff all over the place. I've driven through on the way to explore the areas south of there, but I kept my windows up and recirc on. I wouldn't camp anywhere near there, either upstream or downstream. I guess for some reason it's not technically a Superfund site but I wouldn't walk around there without a gas mask and a change of clothes

Nice driving in the roads south of there though. It's BLM, it's technically open to the public but there are locked gates EVERYWHERE. Apparently you're expected to call the BLM manager, wait for an in-person call back, tell them the exact route you want to drive, then they give you the gate codes. Voila, open to the public. I spent a whole day driving all over trying to find an ungated route from Panoche over the mountain to I-5. Never succeeded and had to backtrack all the way back to New Idria

Nice yeah and it's the only place in the world where you can find benitoite. Cali state gem. Probably also part of the leaching too. But it is iridescent so black light at night to find it. Just don't end on a mining claim. You'll end up buried out there. There is actually a spot called little Panoche Rd that goes over to I-5. Been on it many of times.
It is south of where I grew up.

 

[fourfa]

Yep, I was on the hunt for an unpaved route from Little Panoche Rd south, past New Idria, into San Benito Mtn, then SE maybe through to Coalinga. There are a thousand trails back there. Maybe if I go on a different day, different sets of gates will be open and closed, who knows

(sorry for thread hijack)

 

[Silverator]

Thanks for a nice write-up. Being in AZ now, I kinda miss the So Cal dez, but we have our own unique brand of desert over here. Equally cool, but a lot more rocky. The So Cal dez is awesome for dirt bike riding. Miss it....

 

[TheOpa]

Great thread and nice write up, amazing trip. And happy belated birthday! Is this your usual celebration or was it a milestone birthday? I’m usually happy when my birthday falls on a Friday so I get a bonus weekend out of it. Sheesh, I need to level up.

 

[BourbonRunner]

New idria is filled with asbestos dust. Never made up to Tahoe huh? We've got to much snow! Over 600" I believe 670"

Well then... With the tires on the JT being worn, I didn't want to bury it in mud with all the rain they'd had and have to use the JLU to haul it out.

And no, for the same reasons as above: The tires on that thing weren't going to do me any favors in snow. Had a full set of chains but I wasn't really trying to do anything stupid and it was too much risk with all the avalanche warnings on CA50 and US395. And with the Saline Valley being socked in, it just didn't make sense to drive down 395 to go to the southern part of DV. I would have liked to have seen Furnace Creek and Badwater but we just didn't have the time. In a couple years we may try to replicate the original route and go from there.

We could have been shot going through there. It was insane.

No shit. We had stopped for a pic further up the canyon and thought we'd heard gun shots. Then we go closer and its a full on shit show. Again, no issue with folks exercising their 2A rights but don't be stupid about gun safety- IE: Never aim at anything you don't intend to kill and keep your booger hook off the bang switch, and most importantly: Know your bullet's trajectory and have a backstop. None of that was in play and we GTFO there ASAP. Was definitely not worth even considering heading up the ridge to camp for fear of strays and ricochets.

Worse than that, it was also a mercury mine and there is toxic-looking orange leachings, tailings, and runoff all over the place. I've driven through on the way to explore the areas south of there, but I kept my windows up and recirc on. I wouldn't camp anywhere near there, either upstream or downstream. I guess for some reason it's not technically a Superfund site but I wouldn't walk around there without a gas mask and a change of clothes

Ya'll are really selling it! I think OTG may want to remove their adventure route from the page if its that dangerous, or at least throw some big warnings in.

Nice driving in the roads south of there though. It's BLM, it's technically open to the public but there are locked gates EVERYWHERE. Apparently you're expected to call the BLM manager, wait for an in-person call back, tell them the exact route you want to drive, then they give you the gate codes. Voila, open to the public. I spent a whole day driving all over trying to find an ungated route from Panoche over the mountain to I-5. Never succeeded and had to backtrack all the way back to New Idria

Because our plans were more fluid than that level of planning we would have definitely hit a few snags if that's the case. Good thing we didn't, apparently.

Nice yeah and it's the only place in the world where you can find benitoite. Cali state gem. Probably also part of the leaching too. But it is iridescent so black light at night to find it. Just don't end on a mining claim. You'll end up buried out there. There is actually a spot called little Panoche Rd that goes over to I-5. Been on it many of times.
It is south of where I grew up.

That was my understanding but last thing I'd want to do is wind up on somebody's claim by accident.

Yep, I was on the hunt for an unpaved route from Little Panoche Rd south, past New Idria, into San Benito Mtn, then SE maybe through to Coalinga. There are a thousand trails back there. Maybe if I go on a different day, different sets of gates will be open and closed, who knows

(sorry for thread hijack)

No worries. The funny thing is we were totally seat of the pants on this trip after the marathon. By the time we got down south of the Bay area we were concerned with running out of daylight and having a place to camp for the night. Made the call to do the KOA instead that night so we could discuss and regroup. We literally decided by the fire to skip New Adria and get up early and hightail it to Joshua Tree. Glad we did especially with what everyone is saying about New Idria. Plus the weather was not doing us any favors.

Thanks for a nice write-up. Being in AZ now, I kinda miss the So Cal dez, but we have our own unique brand of desert over here. Equally cool, but a lot more rocky. The So Cal dez is awesome for dirt bike riding. Miss it....

AZ is next on my list.

Great thread and nice write up, amazing trip. And happy belated birthday! Is this your usual celebration or was it a milestone birthday? I’m usually happy when my birthday falls on a Friday so I get a bonus weekend out of it. Sheesh, I need to level up.

Thanks.

Not a milestone, just #43. For her 40th last year we flew out to Napa and I surprised her by flying her sis out to surprise her. She suggested when we got back going on a trip for mine. I had told her I'd love to rent an overlanding rig and see what its all about. That's how I wound up with Cypress.

We started doing the research and come to find out the Napa Marathon was around the same time (3/5). She has been talking about wanted to run the race for 10 years. She had her ACL done in Feb 22 and wanted to do the half to prove she could. Our friends and I all decided we may as well do it too. Unfortunately in training I shredded my meniscus and am having it operated on in a couple months but she and our friend's wife ran the race. He and I nursed our hangovers while they ran and the rest fell into place.

I work my ass off and we live relatively simply (excepting the stupid amount of bourbon and wine I've collected) so our vacations tend to be more on the epic side than not.

 

[ecidiego]

No shit. We had stopped for a pic further up the canyon and thought we'd heard gun shots. Then we go closer and its a full on shit show. Again, no issue with folks exercising their 2A rights but don't be stupid about gun safety- IE: Never aim at anything you don't intend to kill and keep your booger hook off the bang switch, and most importantly: Know your bullet's trajectory and have a backstop. None of that was in play and we GTFO there ASAP. Was definitely not worth even considering heading up the ridge to camp for fear of strays and ricochets.

Spot on assessment and matches mine. Glad we both survived.

It's only a matter of time until someone gets killed there.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Spot on assessment and matches mine. Glad we both survived.

It's only a matter of time until someone gets killed there.

And that’s why we can’t have nice things. Because some people are just dumbfucks, no matter what “society” does to “fix” it.

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