Old Woman Mountains, Mojave, CA 2/20-21

[cruiserlarry]

Joe De Kehoe, the author of "The Silence and The Sun", has an extraordinary passion for the history of the Eastern Mojave and the culture that has run through it. Joe graciously offered to give me a tour of the Old Woman Mountains area of the Mojave, with it's generous supply of ghost towns, mining claims, and beautiful scenery. So, along with some of our OAUSA members, and a few new recruits, I headed out for Ludlow, CA Friday night to camp out and meet up in town on Saturday to begin our drive through the desert.

Nikos (sunnygrill), his friends Chad and Mark, Ben, Chazz (chazzlayne) and his wife Dani, Jon (BruisedFJ), his paramour Pam, friends Adam and John, Jon W and his fiance Ercilia, Joe De Kehoe, and I toured the "towns" of Ludlow, Klondike, Siberia, Amboy, Danby, Old Danby, Chambless, Chubbock, Siam, and Cadiz. Joe's detailed knowledge of the history and the remaining artifacts of these settlements made for a fascinating drive through time.

Our campsite on Saturday night was nothing short of spectacular, with the rainy weather on Friday night leaving a clear sky and bright contrasts in the colors of the desert.

As is usually the case, there was no shortage of fine grub - from tri-tip, to racks of ribs, pork chops, baked potatoes, salads and more, no one was left wanting for food.

On a personal note, I used this trip to try out the ARB Simpson III roof top tent I've had waiting for me for about 3 months. Well, it was the best sleep I've ever had camping - from it's ability to block the wind and cold, to the amazing amount of space for a long-limbed explorer like myself, to it's ease of set-up and take-down,it'll be hard to use a ground tent after this trip.

Waking up Sunday to the clear sunny sky and hot coffee doesn't get any better then in the desert - and we were off again to continue our sightseeing - finally wandering our way through Skeleton Pass and back to Cadiz were we parted to head back to civilization...a fantastic weekend for all.

Joe has kindly offered to take us back for more detailed explorations of some of his favorite mine sites and hiking areas....so I'm looking forward to learning more about about this amazing area.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Joe De Kehoe "The Man"

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Old Woman rock formation for which the mountain range is named

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"Hotel One Crazy FJ" at camp on Saturday night

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Modern hieroglyphics at the Chubbock limestone processing plant

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The whole gang

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The endless road that is the Mojave Desert

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[BorregoWrangler]

Nice write-up and trip report, Larry. Looks like the whole gang there had a pretty good time in the Mojave. I'm looking forward to getting on out there again myself.

[photojeeper]

That is on what we FOMR's (Friends Of the Mojave Road) call the 4th Segment of the East Mojave Heritage Trail. Really beautiful area, so is the whole Mojave.

JJ

[Chazz Layne]

I had a great time, thanks for pulling this together. We had about 1300 pictures between us, so I'm working on gettting that to a manageable number and will have them up soon.



The Discovery is going to need a shake-down cruise in mid-March... (hint-hint...)

[unwiredadventures]

That is on what we FOMR's (Friends Of the Mojave Road) call the 4th Segment of the East Mojave Heritage Trail. Really beautiful area, so is the whole Mojave.

Where did you camp in Ludlow?

Looks like a great trip. The cemetery in Ludlow and Bagdad are very interesting.

It's too bad that the East Mojave Heritage Trail was broken up from the Desert Protection Act.

[photojeeper]

It's too bad that the East Mojave Heritage Trail was broken up from the Desert Protection Act.

Well the First only got a little bit near the end; not anything to worry about. The Second has some; the one that stops you as your are to enter Kingston wash is stupid, the bypass is okay. The part on the Second that makes me mad is when you leave Bembry's Camp and cross the paved road; that section was fun to drive and the view of Clark Mtn. was great. Now you have to do a 7 mile bypass. The Third Segment is cut in a few small places. The Forth got the most, the mailbox is in the Wilderness area now. It is a three mile hike one way to it. Oh well.

JJ

[Chazz Layne]

The pics are up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chazzlayne ... 497352564/



Does anyone else think the FJ Cruisers look like bug-eyed beetles? Our little Ranger being chased through the desert by a swarm of the angry beetles...

[unwiredadventures]

The pics are up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chazzlayne ... 497352564/

I just looked at the whole set. I especially like the view from camp in the morning!

[OLLIE]

Looks like a great trip. I'm very sorry I missed this. Looks like some good history and a fun crowd to hang with.

[toms]

Does anyone know what a set of the 4 books for the East Mojave Heritage Trail in excellent conditon would be worth? Is there a web site that show the approx. route of teh trail?