So Cal Jeep Trail Recomendstions

Mark proclaimed:

Sitting inside a vehicle in the desert will literally bake you. As for passersby, those tend to be measured in millicoyotes per millenium. And if you get way out of the typical tracks in a canyon somewhere, rescuers could be within half a mile of you and you'd be lucky to know it.

I've seen what happens to alleged professionals caught outside without shade or water. Not pretty.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III proclaimed:

I might suggest exiting your vehicle using the *door* feature and finding (or creating) a shady spot should be the first order of business. And getting "way out of the typical tracks in a canyon" alone without being specific in your trip plan is asking for trouble; staying on popular trails means passersby is a real possibility.

Concerning rescuers, you're thinking two dimensionally. Unlike forested terrain, the desert is open and visibility is usually excellent, rescuers could be a half a mile *above* you, and you'd know it by seeing and hearing their CAP airplane. Forgot to mention a signal mirror and international orange tarp should be in your emergency kit; become as visible as possible.

You and Bill (bless his heart) are setting up a strawman, I don't deny a complete nitwit is at risk of dying in a stuck vehicle incident, I'm just saying that a modicum of common sense reduces it to an unpleasant experience.

This thread is starting to take on a life of its own, maybe even entertaining.

Thanks, Bill. The picture were taken near Lake Arrowhead by my sister. Where did you get the elevation? I don't see that in the exif data.

Here is the thread containing a link to my DV pics:

DV pics are here:

Well, you're wrong. The elevation was 4,862 feet (according to my GPS). :)

I am duly impressed.

You would think so, a tantalizing idea, but very risky. Summer temps in the desert are brutal. A father and son died in Anza Borrego two years ago when trying to walk out (with carried water) from a disabled vehicle, only a couple of miles. Dead border crossers number in the hundreds each year. Walking in the heat of the day, even with adequate water, could result in heat stroke. If you're walking, you're not in the shade, you're transpiring greater amounts of water than you can carry for a day, and you're heating up. Walking in the heat of the day, even with adequate water, could result in heat stroke, which is fatal if not taken care of quickly. And if you start having symptoms, you're screwed, you're half way between the safety of your vehicle and the assumed help you'll find at the road.

Much better is to stay with the vehicle and your 5+ gallons of water, in the shade, relaxing and staying cool. OTOH, if a travelled road was only a mile or less away, I might make a run for it, but only after my water supply was running out, chance of rescue becoming slim, and only in early morning, or pre-dawn if the moon's out.

Just try it for a wakeup call. Do a little hiking (with air-conditioned indoors nearby) in 120 degree weather, in proper clothing and with adequate water. It's amazing how quickly the first signs of heat exhaustion (precursor to heat stroke) appear, and how little progress you can make after a while.

Mark proclaimed:

Well, if you have any bright ideas on where one might find shade in Death Valley, you're doing better than folks who have been there and observed that there isn't a hell of a lot, and when the true shade air temperature is 120 to 130 degrees [130 is somehat unusual, 120+ has been known to happen for over a month worth of consecutive days] the shade really doesn't do you a lot of good. Then you discover the humidity and just how much moisture a human body can lose just breathing ultra dry air at 120 degrees.

As for staying on "popular trails" and expecting passersby, I can now pretty much conclude you've never been within thousands of miles of the nevada area where only the freeway or highway 95 or 395 tends to have those. Get west of Beatty much and the concept of passersby is a bit optimistic.

Oddly enough the desert is NOT open, but if you'd care to go out there by youself with all of your confidence, go ahead.

A mirror? Sure. But if you are trying to signal air craft, the one pre-requisite is that there be some flying over at low enough altitude to see you. Or that you haven't already literally baked your brain enough you don't mistake the air craft for a buzzard or flying dinosaur.

You have apparently never been there. Be my guest.

I'd be willing to bet money not even on the one freeway across the southern portion... or never looked out the window enough to realize just how much up and down terrain there is or how many roads, other vehicles, or air craft there aren't. Either that or been there and wandered a bit too far west or north in the Mojave and got hit by a sonic boom from some flyboy.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III proclaimed:

Apparently you're unable to read for comprehension. It irks me to have to lead you through this. Once you've escaped certain death by using the *door* feature of your vehicle, you'll discover that *wow*, you're standing next to a vehicle, which, if you're prepared, should have a tarp or fly, along with a lot of other useful stuff in it. Please look up the meaning of the word "create."

Your conclusion is wrong, but no matter. You're building a strawman again. I said "popular trails", not the Saline Valley for god's sake! Of course Nevada (it's a state, please capitalize it) has vast areas of remote terrain. If wheeling alone, wheel on well travelled trails, which, on weekends, have several dozen visitors. Or, I guess, wheel on highway 95 or 395 to be certain.

What is your problem? Please look *upward* to find where *open* is in the desert, try it in Death Valley, for example. Agreed there's slot canyons, etc., but you're not wheelin' alone in those, are you? And I'm not talking about Alaskan Airlines, it's a Search and Rescue plane looking for *you*, because you filed a trip plan, or activated a PLB. They'll be flying at the proper altitude. They won't see you first, they'll see your vehicle (because you stayed with it), orange rescue tarp, or mirror, etc.

When did this turn into an aimless solo trek into desolate areas of the Mohave desert? That's a stupid thing to do.

Mark proclaimed:

Apparently you have never been in death valley or similar conditions. You are welcome to go visit with all of your confidence and somewhat loose grasp of the concepts.

What you are saying is that you have not a single clue about the great basin area and it is pretty obvious by your paragraph above. Go visit, the buzzards need food too. The concept of well travelled trails barely applies to the major US highways...much less once you get onto the secondary state or county highways and even vanishingly more less as you leave pavement.

Lovely place for offroading, lose a few overconfident newbies every year out there.

My problem? I've been there. Your problem? You obviously havent and think waving your hands in the air constitutes thought.

Oh, search and rescue planes? From where? Oh yeah, orange rescue tarp? Hopefully it stands out from the surrounding terrain. There are better answers and materials, say aluminized mylar which has a tad of a benefit in reflecting SOME of the sun off you. Which helps for a few hours only as the incredibly low humidity and brain baking heat near the ground dessicates you fatally. Working A/C is a survival tool.

By jove I think he's beginning to get a nano-clue. Next you'll get a map and look up the topography and maybe someday head out there and count the number of vehicles per week once you get away from any major highway.

*Read* the header for this thread again, nitwit: "So Cal Jeep Trail Recommendations." Get out a map and look up the topography, maybe someday head down here and count the number of vehicles per *day* on the trails. You obviously have no clue what *I'm* talking about, wheelin' in the desert solo with safety in mind, where a breakdown does not equal death. *Not* somewhere out in the middle of the Great Basin. How many times do I have to agree that's defacto stupid before you'll comprehend?