Bigg50
FRF Addict
Don't forget to give us a follow on fb @ www.facebook.com/expeditionxoffroad
Updated 5/1:
I was recently blessed with a couple weeks off between jobs. With this time I knew I had to do something special, something I ordinarily couldn’t do. I thought about Baja but a solo trip wouldn’t be something the wife would sign off on. Next on my wish list was a Utah and Arizona trip. With inspiration from a couple trip reports by WhiteH20 and xpdishn on Expedition Portal, I put together a route I thought would be amazing. Just how amazing was yet to be determined since I’d never spent any time in either of these areas. Living in California, there’s plenty to explore so I couldn’t ever justify burning the extra 2 days travel time needed to do a trip like this.
Once the plan was set in my head I went about securing a signed permission slip from the wife. I really wanted for her to come along on this trip and she did as well. Unfortunately, she recently had a college intern placed with her at work. If she were to miss a week, it could delay the interns graduation so she just couldn’t go. So, it looked like it would be a solo trip since none of my usual cohorts could make the trip.
I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about doing this solo. I was prepared however. Gordon (my prepared friend) was kind enough to loan me his spot locator and sat phone. Armed with these and my normal preparations, I felt comfortable enough moving forward with the trip as planned.
I spent a couple days prepping the truck with Gordon’s help. There were a few things that needed to be done like swapping out the uni balls in the upper control arms. I also installed Gobi’s new stealth rack for the F150’s.
With only a few days until go time, my buddy Andrew was somehow able to talk his wife into letting him go with me. This was a relief as I’d have someone else along with me in case of trouble. Most importantly, I’d have a good friend with me to share in what was going to be an epic adventure.
Day 1
It was finally go time. We set off the Monday after Easter at 5am. Our destination was Mesquite Nevada. We made great time and reached Mesquite at 2pm. Nearly 2 hours faster than Google Maps had estimated. We topped off our tanks and headed for the trail head. The goal was to reel off somewhere between 30-50 miles then find a good spot to camp for the night.
Once we aired down, we began booking it down the trail. Within 10 minutes we were treated to a great view. We pulled over for a couple shots. We would end up doing this a lot during the trip.
We began moving again. We were taking in the views so the pace was slower than usual. Eventually the trail crested and we were treated to this.
We began moving again, but couldn't stop from pulling over for shots like this
and this
After 2 hours or so we decided it would be a good idea to find a camping spot. I noticed a faint goat trail branching off from the main trail. I decided to scout it out while Andrew scouted out the main trail. I eventually stumbled onto this.
At first, I wasn’t sure what it was. Just seemed like a man made bowl. After the old brain had a second to process everything, it became clear that it was a watering whole. They had a pipe leading in from the stream to fill it. However, it was bone dry. Since winds were blowing between 20-30mph, it was a perfect spot set up camp. I called out over the 50 watt vhf to Andrew that I’d found our camp spot. I grabbed this cool shot of him as he made his way back across the dry stream bed.
We grabbed our chairs and set them on the edge of the bowl to take in it all in as the sun set.
We then fired up the grill and threw some carne asada. After drinking numerous adult beverages we attempted to get some night shots. We are by no means photographers so they didn’t quit turn out as good as we’d hoped.
Eventually we passed out for the night.
Day 2
In spite of staying up late, we woke up around 6am. It must be something about camping but I just can’t sleep in. We decided to skip making breakfast and just down some energy bars. A good decision as it was going to be a long day.
Once we got moving we were greeted by epic views immediately.
read the rest of the report here: expedition-x-offroad
Last edited:
