Blue Star Hwy Santa Maria Mountains

[field Naturalist]

This Trail crosses Wilderness reserves and BLM land. It can be accessed from Hwy 177 just East of Desert Center, CA, At the BLM road head Display and makes for a fun yet at times a hard run due to monsoon weather near Blythe.
This section of trail has a memorial on the west side of Hwy 177. If you head East Via part of the Blue Star Hwy Used By our Military During WW II, you end up near Hwy 95, near Blythe and the I-10 Fwy.

Flashflood area

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Some portions of the trail become crawls.

Crawl space; glade Iam skinny.

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In various locations throughout the range, there are old ruins and mine areas and Geology that make for great photo sessions.

Old Mine Ruins are found through out the area.

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The trip it's self takes about 10 to 14 hours to travel safely and there is C-phone coverage from Hwy 177 to the pass West of the
Santa Maria Mountains, then it starts again near North of the town of Blythe to the East of the range.
Take extra fuel and Water and use your GPS and paper maps; one area looks like and another for a 20 mile section near the Black Jack Mine; 'Thats located on the North end of the Santa Maria Mtns'.

* "Google Earth" is a good starter for reserch of the area.
Other good maps can be found at USGS.gov.

Ham radio works on 440 Mhz and 2 Meter for repeaters in the Palm Springs and Blythe areas.
The two most hazardous things on the trip are "Sandtraps" and "crawl areas" where an unattentive driver could wreck or flip.
Best to drive slow and enjoy the vista.
Dave (kg6gia)

[raYGunn]

Nice pictures, wish they were bigger!

[toms]

Hi Dave,
Sounds like a great trail. I would like to scout it some time but I think another month or 2 since I don't have air conditioning. Do you know is this BLM land?

[field Naturalist]

Hi Dave,
Sounds like a great trail. I would like to scout it some time but I think another month or 2 since I don't have air conditioning. Do you know is this BLM land?

Yes Tom
Most of the trip is BLM land and the wilderness areas are to the sides of some of the trip...Meaning you need to stay on trail where posted as is the case with other areas you and I have most likely seen.

I lost My air conditioning sometime back as well. I would not say this to most, But the trip is doabale at night with a navagating person, for advanced 4WD people only.

It will cool down soon...Let's consider a run after Jan 1st 2009 ?

[field Naturalist]

Nice pictures, wish they were bigger!

Hey
Yah I wish I could post them as 51 inches, because the back country out there is way nice for an intermediate run.
Dave

[OLLIE]

Thanks for sharing this trip with us. I look forward to experiencing it yself someday.

[cruiserlarry]

Beautiful area - nice pics.

I like the idea of multi-day driving excursions. They are more relaxed and more "scenic" because you can make time to stop and check out the terrain.

Thanks for posting up the run - welcome to the site - look forward to doing that trail soon....