Joshua Tree NP - Info requested

[RC Pilot Jim]

A small group of us did the "Bradshaw trail" near Palm springs last Christmas vacation. This year lets go explore Joshua Tree.

I was thinking about limiting it to ATC and FWCampers......maybe a Flip Pac or two..(I still have a soft-spot for them.)

Taking "camel-racers" lead we will restrict the number to 15 vehicles. I know date is 4 month off and current temp at my house is 85* and my a/c is running.....winter IS coming (such as it is in the south-west)

I have never been there. Was reading about "Old Dale Road"
See "MAP" of park.. On the map "old Dale" is directly north of the "Cottonwood Visitor Center.

Checking with the Ranger she advises the BLM section has a lot of washouts so doesn't believe it would be a safe route for FWCampers. She hasn't seen them.though.

Ranger advises we stick to exploring "Pinkham canyon" and "Geology tour"

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[OSUFlyer]

I think you should be fine, except for one area it is relatively easy driving. I flew into Palm Springs with a friend and rented a Nissan Frontier pickup and toured Joshua Tree. We camped in the park one night and did Geology Tour Rd. in an evening. Geology Tour Rd. is very scenic but passenger car passable, did not do Pinkham Rd.

Next we drove up to 29 Palms and drove south on Gold Crown Road down to Old Dale road, then back into the park. The road is fairly decent for a old mine road until your final push down out of the mountains just north of the park boundary. There is moderate to severe rutting and a few washouts. It was passable in a rental Frontier without issue. If you go slow and take your time you shouldn't have an issue. Or come from the north and do an out and back.....

Get yourself a National Geographic Joshua Tree Map. It has much more detail and shows many of the side roads and mines that NPS has deleted from their map. The old mining history north of the park is worth the effort in my opinion. The Old Dale Rd from the park boundary south to the blacktop is fairly unimpressive, however once you get north of the park there is lots of cool stuff.

PM me if you have any questions, I will try and post up some pics and some highlights of the Nat Geo map.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Thanks OSU That is the information I was looking for. We planned on doing the "Old Dale Road" from the south. We may have a lot of "newbies" that have never used their 4 wheel drive. I wanted to give them a "taste" then encourage them to go out more and explore in smaller groups.

 

[hoyden]

Ooooh! You should go to this so I can live vicariously through you! :-D

2016 Night Sky Festival: October 28-30

https://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/night-sky-festival.htm

 

[Alley-Kat]

Have you found this...

Old Dale Road / Gold Crown Road

And, this...

Excursion on Old Dale Road

Both of the above are "dated", however, you'll get the idea of how the road should be "normally". It looked that way in 2014 when I went through there.

Check the turn buckles before going over the pass and after completing the pass.

Once there flag down a Park Ranger in a truck, instead of one in the visitors center, they usually have driven roads and know the conditions, at least that's my experience. This works with FS and BLM staff as well. And, if the person in the truck doesn't know, (s)he can radio or call on a cell phone to someone that does know the condition of the road.

 

[knoxswift]

I live in the area. Rainy season is about to begin. Ask about road conditions in another month. LOL! If we get a lot of monsoon downpours it will change things dramatically.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Thanks Knox and all.

We decided to push this trip back to December/January. We were considering this trip instead of a "static" camping trip for the Four Wheel campers owners club, After much discussion we decided to stick with the "static" destination as trying to "herd" 30 vehicles was beyond our ability.

If you have a Four Wheel camper and would be interested in "hanging out" with a nice group of people, check out the "5th annual FWC owners rally" the last weekend in October just south of San Clemente, California.

Those of us that want to do an offroad trip are joining camel racer on the Randsburg Rally in early October

 

[knoxswift]

IF you do your trip in Dec/Jan to JT and want some company from a fellow FWC, PM me.
I'm doing a trip to AK and using up all my vacation right now, but would have enough to do some days in DEC/JAN.
That's a fun time to be in JT, especially if we have a slight snow dusting, desert with a layer of snow is just incredible to see.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

OK Knox ,

How is your time the last week of December . Dates 12-26 - 12-29-16?