Went out to Dumont Dunes (near Death Valley) for the weekend. If you ignore the wind and the horrible spider bite I got out there it was a great trip

As you can see the dunes we’re fairly large and what makes these uniquely difficult to drive on is that they are sharp on both sides. Places like Glamis, the dunes will have a rounded side and then one sharp drop off. These were sharp drop offs on both sides.

On Saturday night we did a few trails up near the old mines. The jeep does really well on these hard pack mountain goat type trails.

We did get stuck one time. Towards the end of the day on Saturday, I was getting tired and made the mistake of going over this dune too slow. The ironic thing is that I had just crossed this same dune not 5 minutes earlier with no problem.

Here is a shot of my little brother doing a jump on his CRF450. We bought a new camera for this trip and you can see the improvement in the quality of the images. Check out the Dumont Pictures in the Gallery.

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

My cousins buggy showing off for the camera.

And, yes you can compress all that suspension at one time

This was Wendy’s weekend to get some practice with driving in deep sand. Our roommate on his ATV also went with us.

On Saturday we found some rocky trails for Wendy to practice on as well.

Later that day she founds some really soft sand and decided to work on her jeep recovery skills.

Took us about 3 hours to dig her out.

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Convoying out on the 8. Had a great breakfast at Tyler’s Taste of Texas off of 2nd St in El Cajon.

Cruising down the fire roads to the rocks.

This drop off was very interesting. Since we didn’t have a suspension lift and did not disconnect our front sway bars we ended up with two tires off the ground as we walked down the face.

Wendy scraped her way across this obstacle on Sidewinder. We did get hung up and had to be dragged off. A simple lesson in physics. You have to have wheels touching the ground to move (the whole vehicle was resting on the skid plate).

The pictures are backwards. Below is the climb part way up Bronco Peak which is where we started the day. By the end of the day Wendy stopped freaking out whenever the skid plates or new rocker guards scraped on rocks.

The little jeep that could. We’ve only addded some protection for when we hit things, the rest of the vehicle is stock. I’m continously amazed at what a jeep can do.

Wendy twisting out the jeep. She doesn’t know the meaning of giving up

Nothing like a day on the rocks to make the rest of the world go away!

Wendy telling me I need to stop crying whenever she gets sideways on the trail.

After the Coyote Canyon run in Borrego (TDS 2008) we needed to get rocker guards to protect the sides of the jeep body. Above you can see them on the first trail we went on after installing. These were manufactured by A to Z Fabrications. Very well construction they are extremely functional as well as looking good.

Here’s the rocker guards before I put them on. As well as protecting the side of the jeep with both the step and the panels, they extend under the body of the jeep and protect you from that direction as well.

Here is a shot before we installed them.

You take off the side flare. Using a jack to line up the guards on the side you mark the body of the jeep for the holes that you will need to put in to hold the rocker guards on. After drilling the holes you then place the rocker guards back on the jeep and attach the bolts that are supplied. It took about an hour on each side, but I was by myself. With one or two guys helping you, it should only take an hour or so.

We headed out to Ocotillo Wells in the Anza Borrego State Park for the Tierra Del Sol weekend event. This yearly jeep event is one of the largest in Southern California.

One or two people showed up for the event. The “flatlands” below Blow Sand was wall to wall campers, jeeps and rock crawlers. We set up camp down on Wolfe Well Rd which was close enough to stop by and check out the activities but still allowed us almost peace and quiet at the camp. The main event was the Saturday run. From our camp we could see the line of jeeps and 4×4 vehicles leaving Main St. It took over 2 hours for all the vehicles to get out of camp.

We opted to do some baja style offroading on the east side of the state park away from the crowds. After a quick stop at the Gas Domes we headed to the badlands located to the east and found this series of canyons.

On Sunday we decided to do a day run out to Coyote Canyon to the west of Borrego Springs. The first major obstacle was this water passage. In Southern California we’re not used to running water passages so this was something new.

Here is the dent that I put in the side of the jeep when trying to do a “field removal” of the stock steps. Once I got home I ordered rocker guards to hide the dent and protect it from further damage.

I ordered a Smittybilt SRC Bumper the Sunday night we got back from Rasor Rd and picked it up from Fedex Freight on Wednesday.

Here is the original bumper. You can see how the driver’s side is bent in.

Removal of the old bumper was a snap. There are two bolts (55 Torx bit) where the hook is on top and a single bolt on the bottom for each side. Just remove those bolts and the bumper slides off. You can unbolt the fog lights to put on the new bumper, or since we’re going to get rid of the 55 watt fog lamps and go with 4 ea - 130 watt KC Hi-Lites I just snipped the wires (we’ll need to run new wiring for the larger wattage lights anyway).

Here is a shot of the bumper removed. The new bumper slid right over the frame. I lined up the holes and bolted it on. I put the tow hooks on the new bumper because the stock bolts were longer and I didn’t see a reason to buy new bolts.

Overall the project took about 15 - 20 minutes to remove the old bumper and put the new one on.

Here you can see the extra length the new bumper adds to the jeep. This space will be filled with a new winch next month. At the end of June we’re heading to Moab with a group of people (family and friends) so we are quickly chiseling away on our list of modifications to get ready for that trip.

After setting up camp Wendy and I headed down to Soda Dry Lake. This white dry lake is the final resting spot of the Mojave River and the run off from Big Bear mountain.

Since we’d had the recent rains the desert was in bloom. There were large areas covered under gorgeous white and purple flowers.

This was the edge of the reserve area. From this point on it was street legal vehicles only.

Wendy was behind the wheel for this outing.

The edge of the dry lake. It was weird driving across this wide field of pure white in the middle of the summer.

The trail across the dry lake was mark by kairns of rocks (small piles). It looked like this was the base pile that all those rocks came from. Just sitting in the middle of the dry lake. You had to be careful because if you left the trail you could easily find your self buried up to the frame of your jeep in the soft muck.

After driving across the dry lake we found these caves up on the rock face. Couldn’t tell for sure if they’d ever been used though.

Back closer to camp we found a goat trail that went along the top of the ridge. It looks like the trail was started by Rhino vehicles or quads, as they’re just a tad skinny for the jeep. There were a couple of spots that were very tight to navigate through. This trail relocated the drivers side stock step back about an inch or so (time for an upgrade ) and put some more dents in the skid plates.

A spotter came in handy during the real tight spots.

The next morning the whole group headed out to the Megaphone.

A shot from above of the group parked at the base of the megaphone.

My cousin lost a bolt on his buggy so we all headed back to camp from here so he could do some quick repairs.

That afternoon’s trip ended up at the sand dam. A huge mountain of sand that the buggys and quads raced across. Below you’ll see some videos (some are large so give them time to download).

On sunday we took a long trip out to Afton Canyon.

Taking a break at the tressel bridge.

Cruising up the “river” chasing the rhino and quad.

Some of the neat geological formations in the valley.

This is “The Cave”. It’s actually a break in the cliff face but once you get back inside of it the top closes up making “the cave”. You’ll need a flash light as it is completely dark inside. Towards the back there are a couple of small climbs and the last two rooms require that you climb the walls using ropes that are already in place. If you climb the second rope they say you can reach the top of the plateau but we stopped at the first chamber.

One of the girls climbing the rope into the first chamber. To be 10 again and able to just fly up the walls.

This fuzzy picture was a spot where you could see sunlight from above.

Everybody getting ready to climb back down the rope. Seems small girls are only brave when climbing up

The kit was simple and only had a few parts. The mount (found on the bottom of the picture), the extension and then the rack assembly itself.

First you remove the spare tire.

Then you’ll place the mount on the bolts for the spare. It’s a little difficult for a single person to hold the mount on, place and line up the spare tire but it can be done.

You then resecure the spair mount with the original lug nuts.

The extension goes on next. You secure this with a push pin through the pre-drilled holes.

Placing the rack assembly over the extension you then use set screws to secure it in place. I used blue lock-tite so that these set screws won’t rattle lose on the trail.

Overall I think the rack looks nice, doesn’t rattle and has little impact on driving or operating the tail gate. I wouldn’t put a lot of weight in the rack (it’s rated for 50 lbs) but it will be great for an ice chest and a small tool box. Easy to get to and won’t let the ice chest leak or open up all over the back of the jeep.

Wendy deciding what is cool and what we need to buy.

We have a nice little routine now. With the tent we got from REI and all the gear, we are completely self sufficient for a week at a time with everything fitting into the jeep.

Staying close to the wall like this means we missed most of the bad winds that came through on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Wendy spent the whole day climbing around the rocks and exploring.

A birds eye (or wendy’s eye) view of our camp and me being lazy. I got through 2 complete books this weekend and didn’t think about work at all.

Directions:

We got to Hawks Canyon, by heading east on 76 from the beach. As you near Ocotillo Wells, Butts Pass trail heads north (about 2 miles before Blow Sand). Take that until you find Goat Trail and make a right. Stay on the left as this trail Y’s and you’ll see another trail to the left that enters Hawks Canyon.