smritte
Well-known member
I didn’t take many pictures, sorry. The ones I did take, I will place in order at the end.
Saturday morning, I attended a run to Black Canyon. This was the first trip in my Tacoma. I upgraded the suspension a few months ago. It’s not going to be my main rig but one I could take out on quick day runs.
The group wanted me to lead it, but I managed to guilt one of the other guys into leading it instead. This would be his first trip leading, and he only got lost once. Not too bad. I took rear position in the group.
The weather was cold (37 degrees UGH), clear with no wind. The group consisted of 15 rigs and a mix of experience with a few, this being their first off-road trip.
The first stop was Rainbow Basin. This is a one-way narrow route surrounded by colored rock. I have been coming here for years and have never been able to get any good pictures of the colors or formations. In the center, there is a large parking spot which is great for hiking around. We stopped there for about an hour and let people explore a bit.
Moving on we had about an hour of moderate dirt road to the next stop. Being in the back let me play with my Tacoma some, feeling out the suspension. I dropped back about half a mile and decided to see how the truck handled at high speed. The road was heavy wash board with some pretty good dips. 2WD was good to 40mph with it getting a bit loose the closer I got to 50mph. Slowing to 40, I engaged 4wd and accelerated. Nice and smooth to 60. I think that was the limit on my shocks because it started to loosen up as I went faster (and I caught up with the group again). Back to 23.6 mph. Then I heard a “Thump…Thump…” Sigh. Pulled off and I seem to have lost a rear lower shock bolt. Let’s not talk about me not checking the NEW suspension bolts after street driving it for a few months. This not being my primary off-road vehicle, I had no spare bolts, so I just removed it for the day. No more going fast.
Back to the trip.
We turned into Black Mountain. This is a heavy volcanic area with quite a few Opal mines scattered about. It would take us about an hour to cross this. The route runs through a corridor, in a preserve with a few trails leading off. I’m not going to say its scenic, but the scenery is pretty good. Up the canyon and down the other side, brings us to Scouts Cove. Our stop here is at an Opel mine that was operated by Tiffany jewelry in the early 1900’s. The mine has been collapsed but the area around it you can find small pieces of Fire Opel. Arriving here we stopped for lunch. Another cool thing about this area is the Tufa. Real soft rock that’s easy to cut. When there’s a big enough section above ground, people carve out the inside and live in it. Around the corner from the mine is what we call the “Tufa House”. Inside it’s about 10X10 with a fireplace carved in the back including a chimney.
Time is now around 1pm and we head out to our next stop, Inscription Canyon. It should take us about half an hour to get there.
Inscription Canyon is a narrow canyon covered in Petroglyphs. I have been going here for years. In that time, I have heard several reasons for the canyon, the most common being the writing predates the indigenous tribes. The most bizarre story came from someone I met who claimed to spend his entire life studying the canyon and the areas around it. He said he has not only deciphered the pictures but has proof of what its purpose is. His claim is it’s kind of a memorial about a battle that was fought in the area, 7000 years ago. I can say this, I spent some time doing my own research and tried to prove him wrong but the small bits of evidence sort of align with what he said. I also managed to talk with someone in charge of a local archaeological site. Not mentioning the other guy but just talking about the people who lived there 7-10k years ago. His timeline lined up with the other.
Leaving there about 3pm, our next stop was a place I had never been but had heard rumor of “Tonka Town”
Tonka Town is (was) a few buildings in the middle of nowhere. Someone set up a display of trucks. Next, people started adding more then people started adding in buildings. Now we have a bunch of toys and a small city. I had been told; it was fairly large.
The only one in the group who had a route here was our lead. He had never been but had an idea where to go. After driving down some dead ends and coming to a locked gate, we parked and walked about a quarter mile to the site.
The first thing I noticed was it was an abandoned mine site. The second thing I noticed was it was clean, too clean (very unusual to be clean). The third thing was, no Tonka Town. It appears the BLM cleaned up the place and removed all the trucks and small buildings. They also added a gate and blocked some of the trails into the area. Last month on my Mojave road trip, the same thing happened to the Gnome and Frog shrines. We did get to explore around. The mine shafts were gated over and I’m guessing by the type of rock, it was another opal mine.
About now it was getting dark, and the temp was down below 40 degrees. We headed out to our last stop in the trip. Some of the guys wanted to have a big bon fire. No one was staying the night so, kick back by a fire for a bit, air back up and head out.
Fire was great (for the short time I enjoyed it) and I hit the pavement about 5:30. Myself and a few others decided to head home instead of sitting by the fire.
Over all it was a great trip with the only issue being my shock (figures)
Pics below, im hoping someone sends me some more.
Airing down on the road in. My Tacoma at the end.
Scouts cove. The Fire Opal mine is in the lower right. Just outside the picture where you see the white rock. In the foreground is Black Mountain.
Heres a few from Inscription Canyon. The left pic looks like someone "Enhanced" it with a red outline. That wasn't there before.
Group pic
Saturday morning, I attended a run to Black Canyon. This was the first trip in my Tacoma. I upgraded the suspension a few months ago. It’s not going to be my main rig but one I could take out on quick day runs.
The group wanted me to lead it, but I managed to guilt one of the other guys into leading it instead. This would be his first trip leading, and he only got lost once. Not too bad. I took rear position in the group.
The weather was cold (37 degrees UGH), clear with no wind. The group consisted of 15 rigs and a mix of experience with a few, this being their first off-road trip.
The first stop was Rainbow Basin. This is a one-way narrow route surrounded by colored rock. I have been coming here for years and have never been able to get any good pictures of the colors or formations. In the center, there is a large parking spot which is great for hiking around. We stopped there for about an hour and let people explore a bit.
Moving on we had about an hour of moderate dirt road to the next stop. Being in the back let me play with my Tacoma some, feeling out the suspension. I dropped back about half a mile and decided to see how the truck handled at high speed. The road was heavy wash board with some pretty good dips. 2WD was good to 40mph with it getting a bit loose the closer I got to 50mph. Slowing to 40, I engaged 4wd and accelerated. Nice and smooth to 60. I think that was the limit on my shocks because it started to loosen up as I went faster (and I caught up with the group again). Back to 23.6 mph. Then I heard a “Thump…Thump…” Sigh. Pulled off and I seem to have lost a rear lower shock bolt. Let’s not talk about me not checking the NEW suspension bolts after street driving it for a few months. This not being my primary off-road vehicle, I had no spare bolts, so I just removed it for the day. No more going fast.
Back to the trip.
We turned into Black Mountain. This is a heavy volcanic area with quite a few Opal mines scattered about. It would take us about an hour to cross this. The route runs through a corridor, in a preserve with a few trails leading off. I’m not going to say its scenic, but the scenery is pretty good. Up the canyon and down the other side, brings us to Scouts Cove. Our stop here is at an Opel mine that was operated by Tiffany jewelry in the early 1900’s. The mine has been collapsed but the area around it you can find small pieces of Fire Opel. Arriving here we stopped for lunch. Another cool thing about this area is the Tufa. Real soft rock that’s easy to cut. When there’s a big enough section above ground, people carve out the inside and live in it. Around the corner from the mine is what we call the “Tufa House”. Inside it’s about 10X10 with a fireplace carved in the back including a chimney.
Time is now around 1pm and we head out to our next stop, Inscription Canyon. It should take us about half an hour to get there.
Inscription Canyon is a narrow canyon covered in Petroglyphs. I have been going here for years. In that time, I have heard several reasons for the canyon, the most common being the writing predates the indigenous tribes. The most bizarre story came from someone I met who claimed to spend his entire life studying the canyon and the areas around it. He said he has not only deciphered the pictures but has proof of what its purpose is. His claim is it’s kind of a memorial about a battle that was fought in the area, 7000 years ago. I can say this, I spent some time doing my own research and tried to prove him wrong but the small bits of evidence sort of align with what he said. I also managed to talk with someone in charge of a local archaeological site. Not mentioning the other guy but just talking about the people who lived there 7-10k years ago. His timeline lined up with the other.
Leaving there about 3pm, our next stop was a place I had never been but had heard rumor of “Tonka Town”
Tonka Town is (was) a few buildings in the middle of nowhere. Someone set up a display of trucks. Next, people started adding more then people started adding in buildings. Now we have a bunch of toys and a small city. I had been told; it was fairly large.
The only one in the group who had a route here was our lead. He had never been but had an idea where to go. After driving down some dead ends and coming to a locked gate, we parked and walked about a quarter mile to the site.
The first thing I noticed was it was an abandoned mine site. The second thing I noticed was it was clean, too clean (very unusual to be clean). The third thing was, no Tonka Town. It appears the BLM cleaned up the place and removed all the trucks and small buildings. They also added a gate and blocked some of the trails into the area. Last month on my Mojave road trip, the same thing happened to the Gnome and Frog shrines. We did get to explore around. The mine shafts were gated over and I’m guessing by the type of rock, it was another opal mine.
About now it was getting dark, and the temp was down below 40 degrees. We headed out to our last stop in the trip. Some of the guys wanted to have a big bon fire. No one was staying the night so, kick back by a fire for a bit, air back up and head out.
Fire was great (for the short time I enjoyed it) and I hit the pavement about 5:30. Myself and a few others decided to head home instead of sitting by the fire.
Over all it was a great trip with the only issue being my shock (figures)
Pics below, im hoping someone sends me some more.
Airing down on the road in. My Tacoma at the end.
Scouts cove. The Fire Opal mine is in the lower right. Just outside the picture where you see the white rock. In the foreground is Black Mountain.
Heres a few from Inscription Canyon. The left pic looks like someone "Enhanced" it with a red outline. That wasn't there before.
Group pic
