Quote: It took some doing, but here's a recreation of the route I took from Plush to Dust Devil and back to Hwy 395.
We studied the Garmin and paper maps first and decided not to approach from the North like your Google Maps route shows you did. We came in from the South, after going around the South End of Lake Abert.
Quote: Looks awesome. Are there other sites like that or is that the only one? And how would it be for a TT with shocks. I wouldn't want to beat it up. Obviously the TT would be covered with dust from following the truck. I can imagine the sky at night must be overwhelming.
Yes ... we saw a few more sites like that, but they were isolated very far apart from each other and off on just plain desert dirt roads with no gravel. In dry weather any RV could make it in there on the route/road(s) we used. The key is to DRIVE SLOW and, if in warm weather, close up everything in the TT tow vehicle and keep the A/C on "air re-circulation mode" in the tow vehicle. It will take some patience, but it can be done. The night sky was phenomenal.
Quote: It took some doing, but here's a recreation of the route I took from Plush to Dust Devil and back to Hwy 395.
We studied the Garmin and paper maps first and decided not to approach from the North like your Google Maps route shows you did. We came in from the South, after going around the South End of Lake Abert.
Yer reading the map backwards.
A is the spot we started at, which is Plush. D is where we got back onto the Highway again. If you get very far off of Hogback or Flagstaff the roads deteriorate really fast.
* This post was
edited 02/09/12 01:40pm by JoeChiOhki *
Follow me as I full-time the Redneck Way at The Journey of the Redneck Express CBChannel 17Redneck Express '1992Dodge W-250 "Dually" Power Wagon - Club Cab Long Bed 4x4 V8 5.9L gashog w/4.10 Geared axles '1974KIT Kamper 1106 - 11' Slide-in
We went into and out of Plush only from the South. All of our routes into the Sunstone and private mines area were as my road photo shows, but with obscene amounts of 7-10 MPH washboard on these graveled roads.
After we got to where we drycamped, many smaller high desert dirt roads went everywhere. These would actually have been less bone rattling (but bumpier) to travel on - in that there was very little washboarding on them.
The IDEAL SETUP back there for extensive exploring and/or rockhounding out from an RV base camp - that we have been drooling over - would have been to tow in one of these extraordinary 4X4 personal offroad vehicles:
Wow, that looks like a great place for star-watching -- according to the Dark Sky maps, that area is one of the least light-polluted places in the country. Are there any mosquitoes out there, or is it too dry? A couple of years ago, we camped further west of there (not far from Crater Lake), on the night of the Perseid Meteor Shower (Aug. 11 every year). Conditions were perfect: very dark sky, no moon, nobody around -- just me, DW, and a billion starving mosquitoes.
After 10 minutes of blood donation, we gave up and went back into our trailer.
Next time we watch for meteors, it'll be someplace really dry.
profdant139 wrote: Wow, that looks like a great place for star-watching -- according to the Dark Sky maps, that area is one of the least light-polluted places in the country. Are there any mosquitoes out there, or is it too dry? A couple of years ago, we camped further west of there (not far from Crater Lake), on the night of the Perseid Meteor Shower (Aug. 11 every year). Conditions were perfect: very dark sky, no moon, nobody around -- just me, DW, and a billion starving mosquitoes.
After 10 minutes of blood donation, we gave up and went back into our trailer.
Next time we watch for meteors, it'll be someplace really dry.
Depends on what time of year. Around the lakes in the hatch seasons (May-July) you can get eaten alive, but august, september on into the later months, they're fairly low.
There's actually a USFS/BLM camp off of 140 where it intersects 395 that is actually pretty nice too (Actually had signs talking about hang gliding camps), but its not open desert like the Hart Lake area.
pnichols wrote: We went into and out of Plush only from the South. All of our routes into the Sunstone and private mines area were as my road photo shows, but with obscene amounts of 7-10 MPH washboard on these graveled roads.
After we got to where we drycamped, many smaller high desert dirt roads went everywhere. These would actually have been less bone rattling (but bumpier) to travel on - in that there was very little washboarding on them.
The IDEAL SETUP back there for extensive exploring and/or rockhounding out from an RV base camp - that we have been drooling over - would have been to tow in one of these extraordinary 4X4 personal offroad vehicles:
If it was just washboard, it wouldn't have been as bad, because washboard can be smoothed out by simply going faster, which is what I did on the main roads around 35-45mph, you're moving fast enough that the tires are skipping from top to top instead of catching the valleys, partly why you saw a lot of people not driving at 25mph.
However, the northern roads turn into something more akin to a trail as they are washed out and torn up.
Quote: "...because washboard can be smoothed out by simply going faster..."
Theoretically true in any wheeled vehicle.
It wasn't practically true for our 11,800 lb. small Class C on a ton-and-a-half E450 chassis (translation - very stiff in the rear) vehicle.
We couldn't get it smooth without probably ruining the interior experimenting enough to find out. We prefer slow to minimize damage if we're going to travel where SUV's, PU's, and TC's have to go fast to minimize damage.
Sure is nice once you get way out there in a Class C, though. Good A/C comfort, comfortable beds, showers, pizza from the oven if you wish, Internet, movies and/or star gazing in the evenings. Worth every jolt to get there.
Quote: "...because washboard can be smoothed out by simply going faster..."
Theoretically true in any wheeled vehicle.
It wasn't practically true for our 11,800 lb. small Class C on a ton-and-a-half E450 chassis (translation - very stiff in the rear) vehicle.
We couldn't get it smooth without probably ruining the interior experimenting enough to find out. We prefer slow to minimize damage if we're going to travel where SUV's, PU's, and TC's have to go fast to minimize damage.
Sure is nice once you get way out there in a Class C, though. Good A/C comfort, comfortable beds, showers, pizza from the oven if you wish, Internet, movies and/or star gazing in the evenings. Worth every jolt to get there.
You just need a Kelderman Air ride for that rig . I weighted in at 10,900lbs when I went through there back in '09, but I had an air suspension on the rear (5000lb rated air springs running at 80PSI).
Until we slowed down, the ride was as smooth as silk, then it turned into a paint shaker.
BTW, going slow also kept the outside of our RV from getting so dusty. We like to have a rig not too camouflaged at the camp site so the jackrabbits don't accidentlly run into us.
(The interior never got dusty because we maintain positive interior air pressure when traveling offroad.)
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