woodwizard
Observer
[/ATTACH]ATTACH][/ATTACH]ATTACH]4563[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]View attachment 4561The exit plan was simple-- filter the Park speak for the Berdoo Canyon Road, find it and make it so. From everything that we heard at the Oasis Visitor Center the day before, my bone stock Ranger shouldn’t have any real issue. However given the amount of rain the area had and the road being part of the drainage, all bets could be off. We found the turn off, the Geology Road Tour, pulled over and checked everything one last time and headed south. The slowly up sloping dirt road was mild and relatively smooth. The creosote bushes and Joshua trees were gliding by. Again, there was no one back there; we continued to have this Park to ourselves. The road crested and continued through a ridge of granite boulders. We pulled over and stopped. The boulders blocked any cool breeze and made for a perfectly warm, sunny, comfortable lunch spot. Afterwards we descended into a valley with a large spur loop. The loop represented the completion of the Geology Road Tour and the end of car traffic. Berdoo Canyon Road continued beyond the loop. Entering the high valley, you could make out the entire loop. Again I pulled over. This time it was Scout’s turn to drive. Using the skills developed on the North Rim to Sublime Point and out through the “land of unmarked roads” along with the philosophy of “if some gas is good, more is better”, we were off. I encouraged her to stop before driving through a large mud hole. A thorough survey (2 seconds), we were through it and flinging mud everywhere. Once around the spur loop and through the mud again, we started down Berdoo Canyon. The descending road mainly consisted of a stream bed. In some areas the tracks were established, some washed out. That required Scout to pick lines between rock crawling and deep sand. The momentum needed to flow through deep sand and the finesse of rock crawling, caused Scout’s feet to move across the 3 pedals. There were steps, drop-offs and rock ledges. The lower in elevation we went the more the blooming desert erupted. True to herself, she dodged flowering Brittle Bush even if it meant picking a more difficult line. This went on until we approached the Park’s southern border. Leveling out and opening up, Berdoo Canyon Road empties you into an area that seems to have been used as an illegal dumping ground. Immediately outside of the Park boundary, the mattresses, abandon cars, shotgun shells and broken beer bottles was disheartening. Picking our way through the trash, this is where Scout’s ample throttle exposed all its benefits. Once back on the asphalt, we left that nightmare behind in a curtain of dust.
It didn’t take but a few seconds down the road to start reviewing our 1st trip in Joshua Tree. Approaching the wind farm and Desert Hot Springs, maybe we had time for a soak at the Living Waters Spa…….but that’s another story. (http://www.livingwatersspa.com)
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It didn’t take but a few seconds down the road to start reviewing our 1st trip in Joshua Tree. Approaching the wind farm and Desert Hot Springs, maybe we had time for a soak at the Living Waters Spa…….but that’s another story. (http://www.livingwatersspa.com)
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