overland

Trona Desert Trail

Hello,

This past December we had the chance to explore the Trona Desert Trail. The goal of the trip was to explore some new trails and end up in a dark sky location to watch the Geminids Meteor shower and practice some astro-photography. We planned the trip with some friends and decided to do the Trona Desert Trail given it was a new area for all of us to explore. Due to time constraints we decided to forgo the Jawbone portion. We chose to meet the first day at Fossil Falls given it was only about an hour or so from the Redrock Trail head, and Fossil Falls was a great spot for the kids (and adults) to explore on the first day. It got down to 20 degrees the first night which was a fun way to jolt the group up in the morning to make hot coffee!


Day 1
We got a little bit of a later start so some of the folks that got in late the day before could check out the falls. But after spending some time climbing around we hit the road. The Redrock Trail head was about 1 hour away. We pulled into the entrance which kind of felt like an amphitheater and aired down before leaving pavement. The beginning was a nice scenic, twisty drive through Redrock with some really cool cliffs. The trail picked up some intensity about a 1/2 hour in as we started going through Black Rock Canyon, but we took our time to get across the few technical sections with just the occasional spotter. Unfortunately, we came to a stop an hour in to the route that left us staring up at an obstacle - I had watched some videos and done some research on the main obstacle and it was pretty accurate to what I saw EXCEPT I didn't realize there was a second portion to the obstacle that would have likely cause vehicle damage to one of the rigs in our group (no lift). This, I believed, looked more intimidating than it actually was. We decided to discuss the plan and stopped for lunch at the base. As a group, we decided that with one of the vehicles not comfortable with the obstacle due to low hanging bumpers etc., we would turn around. It ended up not being a big deal as there was a bypass not far up that got us onto the freeway and we entered back in the park via Opal Canyon. And this is where we were able to make up some time - it was some really fun sand washes and were able to push the pedal a bit. After awhile we connected back on the trail right on the other side of the black Rock Canyon obstacle. We plugged along as fast as we could to get to a camp before sunset. The trail from there was a mix of sandy washes, light shelf roads, and some cool ridge roads. We found a nice (large) dispersed site with a fire pit just outside of the park in BLM land just past the Holly Ash Mine. Weather this night was great, and got a very nice sunset.

Day 2
Unfortunately, two of the vehicles had to bail at this point, the remaining two vehicles continued on. We went by Jon and Jenni's Shack, another little shack (nameless?) and made the stop at the Burro Schmidt Tunnel. This was a really cool spot. I can't believe this guy dug this out himself over the course of 38 years (1902-1940). We hiked the entirety of the tunnel. Super fun. After that, we continued driving the route and it was a pretty long day. Good mix of some desert roads and some slower bumpy rocky sections. Not boulders but it was rocky in areas where we had to take our time and occasionally jump out to spot each other. After a few hours, we made it out the other side and onto the 395. Next stop Trona Pinnacles! First we filled up on gas and and water in Ridgecrest. We wanted to explore the Pinnacles a bit so we decided to take the 178 there instead of backtracking to the Pinnacle Road. When we pulled into the Pinnacles it was a total Martian landscape. Especially at dusk and dawn. We had the whole park to ourselves that night. All the day visitors left and it was just us out there which made it even more unearthly. Found a nice spot in one of the pinnacles and had a good night and got to see a lot of meteors and worked on some night photography.

Day 3
Sunrise was incredible. We couldn't have asked for more. We took some nice photos packed up and headed onward. Drove north and then headed east along the route. This trail was my favorite of the route - it takes you over the mountain and drops you into valley at the entrance of Goler Wash. The views coming up over the pass were absolutely amazing. And the winding road down the mountain was a lot of fun in our rig. Once we got to the valley, it was annoyingly rocky. Not boulders, but a bunch of say 1' rocks that made it very bumpy and slow going, but it wasn't too bad after the free car massage. Our plan was to visit Barker Ranch. Unfortunately, there was an engine light issue with one of the rigs when we got into Goler Wash so we decided to turn around and drive out with them to the freeway by Ballarat. Finally had some cell reception, and learned that a big rainstorm was on the forecast so we decided to not finish the route into Death Valley, but we did do the 1-1/2" each way drive to World Beater Mine and to the viewpoint at the top of the mountain. When we got to the top, the clouds had moved in and we couldn't get much of a view so we headed back out, decided to call it a trip due to the coming weather. At the bottom of the trail we said our farewells to some friendly burros. Turned out to be a good call as it was absolutely dumping rain and windy on the drive back.

Overall this is a great route. Definitely not a beginner route and a lifted vehicle is recommended with AT tires. I would have like to explore the mines and cabins more and will go through Barker Ranch and Mengal Pass in the future, but we had to fit in a decently long route with some slower sections into a short trip.

Will post photos soon.
 
Last edited:

KRJ

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Joined
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KRJ

Trail Grom
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14
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