Day Trip: Landers—>Newberry Springs—>Yermo—>Hinkley—>Helendale—>Adelanto—>Cajon Junction

Turboyota

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We rang in 2021 with a healthy dose of dirt miles. Kevco Engineering’s family has a cabin in Landers that we used as a rally point.

Vehicles:
1. my Turboyota
2. @Motiracer38 ‘s Linked Toyota
3. KevcoEngineering’s (HDLaser) linked Mezzanine Bronco
4. Fatty Matty’s Solo Bronco
5. Fadi’s Bitchin’ street legal VW Buggy

Dirt Miles: 150

Planned Route:
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Route with approximate mileage:
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Arrived at the cabin fed, fueled, and fucking ready to rock at 6:45AM. My Turboyota was looking majestic. The sunrise was nice too, I suppose.
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@Motiracer38 rolled in a few minutes after us—his presence was preceded by the roaring of his Lexus V8 on the 34 degree dezert dawn.

Everyone else got a slow start, so we cozied up to the fire and I cracked a breakfast beer at 6:55AM.

Smashed across Boone rd to the mini dunes, then crushed a fuckton of whoops across Bessemer Mine rd, hit 90mph on Soggy Dry Lake, attacked more whoops, and waited at the Transmission line rd that connects Cougar Buttes to The Lavic Lake volcanic field.
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Had time for 3 beers while we waited. Hello AccidentSon.
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The previous 20 miles of whoops resulted in a nasty fucking mess in my ice chest.

Casualties were as follows:
Beers: 3
Applesauces: 2
Rice crispies treats: 2


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When Fatty Matty finally arrived, his forward progress came to a dusty and climactic halt in the silt beds.
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Kevco extricated him:
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Took Camp Rock rd North to Troy rd through some beautiful canyons. Passed a group of slow-moving “rigs” one of which was rocking 22” poverty wheels and low profile tires!! They were courteous and allowed all of us to blast past them.

Stopped at the gas line rd and admired the beauty.
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The intersection of Troy rd(NR8435) and the gas line Rd(NR8440) has a gnarly blind crest with a chicane at the bottom. Sadly, the spot has seen some significant carnage. There is a plaque on one of the large boulders for someone who obviously didn’t check up at the rise.

There were even some recent very deep panic deep skid mark ruts that ended in one of the huge boulders that appeared to be pushed forward by 10-15 feet. That was a day-ender for sure.
 
Continued!
——————

Skipped the Hercules Finger stop. I recommend checking it out if you haven’t been—whats cooler than climbing a giant rock phallus? It’s close to Anderson Dry Lake. Giannini and stayontop1 make it look much better than my truck would have anyway...(pic borrowed from terracrew)
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Fatty Matty announced on the radio and that there was a horrible grinding noise coming from his drivers rear wheel, so we all stopped, slammed a beer, and pit crewed his shit. Turns out, the shoe adjuster on his 8.8 drum brakes DNF’d. We removed the offending bits, left the shoes in so the cylinders wouldn’t pop out, and went on our merry way. Apparently we were too busy drinking beers and talking shit to take any pics of the fix. Everyone has muttered profanity as they gaze at drum brakes. This dezert scenery is much nicer than drum brakes anyway:
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Crossed Interstate 40 at Fort Cady Rd, and the railroad tracks at Newberry rd. North on Harvard Rd, then busted a West on the power line rd south of Harvard and stopped for more refreshments.
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Skipped Huell Howser’s Volcano house because we were behind schedule. Here is what it looks like:
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Topped fuel at Shell North of Minneola Rd. Another gas station on Interstate 40 that doesn’t sell fucking beer!! What the hell?!

**Gas stations to boycott based on my last two trips:
Ludlow Chevron—fuck them
Minneola/15FWY Shell—fuck those putos**

Had an awesome lunch at The Burger Den, which is apparently the site of the original Del Taco.
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I would highly recommend this place. Fantastic burgers, deliciously crispy crinkle cut fries, and friendly service. My son and I both got double pastrami cheeseburgers—they were fucking decadently delectable!!
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Since we were waaaaaaay behind schedule and had already skipped the planned stops of Hercules finger and The Volcano House, @Motiracer38 and I decided to part ways with the rest of the group, skip 12 miles through Calico, and jump back into the dirt off Irwin rd.

We made great time from Yermo to Hinkley and stopped to check out the Desert Lighthouse.
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Trails from Hinkley South into Helendale were fun and fast(light yellow and northern section of the purple trail.
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Once we got a little South of Helendale, the trails were narrow, curvy, and plagued with endless quad whoops. If you plan on doing this route, I can recommend a couple trails that would bypass all the shittiness.

Went past El Mirage and stopped in Adelanto to part ways. I had to use a crescent wrench to tighten a loose leaf spring bolt. First time I’ve ever had a Nylock nut loosen on me—I’m now going to join the “Stovers or nothing” camp. So I had to touch a tool. Fucking damnit.
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Motiracer38 took dirt on Rancho Rd West all the way to Sun Village, and I took Baldy Mesa(mostly dirt) all the way to the 15/138 junction in the Cajon Pass.


Pics that Kevco sent of their dirt miles after we parted ways:
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Screen grabs of Me & Motiracer38 passing Kevco between mini dunes and Bessemer mine:
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Times I missed the mapped trail and turned around through the bushes, sand, rocks, etc: 9

Tools touched: crescent wrench & floor jack

Kiddos: 3; ages 3 months, 8 months, and 4

Wives present: 3

Beers consumed by the group: many dozen Coors lights

Silent fist bumps between me & my son after catching air: 3

Music: Dropkick Murphys, House of Pain, Bloodhound Gang, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer
 
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