Superstition Mountain Run
January 2012
How can you not love the Superstition Mountan Off Highway Vehicle area? Located roughly 15 miles northwest of El Centro, this 13,000 acre mecca of sand dunes, mud hills, rocks, canyons, mesas, dry lakes, badlands, and mountains offers everything we love about the desert. The San Diego 4 Wheelers hosted another great event at this desert playground with their 14th Annual Superstition Mountain Run.
After enduring the three mile washboard road to the event, our group had all arrived by Friday evening. We quickly went through tech inspection, registered, selected the trails with the highest carnage factor and geared up for Saturday's trail ride. One thing we weren't prepared for was Friday nights temperature drop. Despite well insulated motorhomes, we all commented on a cold nights sleep during morning coffee. My thermostat read 50 degrees inside the coach.
Our group chose Wishbone for Saturday's trail. San Diego 4 Wheelers rates this as a 4+ trail requiring 2 hard lockers and 33" tires minimum. The 8:45 start time worked well for our usual lollygagging style and after a brief drivers meeting, we were off. We crossed the desert floor, entered the sand dunes and quickly climbed a number of narrow ridges. Then the real fun began.
The Wishbone Trail winds through 4 or 5 canyons within Superstition Mountain. These are tight, twisty canyons with sheer rock walls and a sandy/rocky floor. Lots of tight turns and off-camber downhills kept our attention level high. Fortunately, our trail group suffered no breakdowns so the run kept a brisk pace. As usual, the Blue Angels put on a spectacular show for us with their practice runs.
At one point, the group split to allow some of the more experienced rigs (higher dent count) the opportunity to descend a steep waterfall. It was a great obstacle with one near rollover to keep us humble. We soon rejoined the rest of the group and ended up at the Sand Dam. The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing in the sand and on a few rock obstacles. We returned to camp just before dark and enjoyed a gourmet feast of hot dogs and beans.
On Sunday morning, we repaired a sheared leaf spring pin on Old School. After that we took off
for the dunes and ended up spending hours on a sand plateau running around in circles and seeing how much trouble we could get into in two wheel drive. It was a hilarious day of spinning and sliding and we were sorry to see it end mid-afternoon. We packed up, headed for pavement and planned our return to explore the countless canyons available in this area.
Attendees: Richard in "Old School", Bob in "The Purple Jeep", Ed in "Simple Green", Jimmy in "Sweden Sucks", Dennis in the Samurai, & Tom in "SuperCJ"
Tom
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