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2019 Socal Desert Rendezvous

Location: Somewhere in the California Desert

With the coordinates dispatched to those who were in the know, the stage was set for the 9th Annual Desert Rendezvous presented by American Adventurist.

Day 00:

Local weather reports had been giving out mixed readings regarding rain, and our team needed to meet early at the Rendezvous site in the desert and get set up for the large gathering to come during the weekend. Staff members Cris Mateski, Doug Robertson, and Stuart Mc Williams headed down Wednesday afternoon amidst a mixture of weather. It was a constant on and off rain, with peeks of sunshine and then more rain. Rain in the desert is always amazing. And messy. In the meantime, Brett and I would arrive to meet them the next day.

Day 01:

On Thursday camp was setup by the time Brett and I arrived on site. The weather we encountered was a steady on/off rain all the way from Los Angeles to Anza Borrego State Park. The roads were wet and so was the fire road on the way in. It was a bit muddy but nothing to deter us from getting to where we needed to go. American Adventurist had provided a cord of wood on site again this year, and there were a few Adventurists already setup around the main fire ring getting settled in. The spotty rain continued throughout the day, but the reports stated the rest of the weekend would be clear and cool. This was definitely something we had not had for quite sometime at Desert Rendezvous as we were used to heat, wind and dryness.

This day was an arrival day for Adventurists, so we kicked back and relaxed the entire day as there was nothing scheduled. It was perfect.

At American Adventurist we have an enduring commitment to give back to the local community at every Rendezvous event we host, and in previous years we’ve conducted a desert cleanup with the Bureau of Land Management where we removed about 4 tons of trash from public lands each year at Desert Rendezvous. This changed in 2019 with the government shutdown and it’s effects on the Bureau of Land Management.

This year we shifted gears to support CORVA, the California Off Road Vehicle Association with some of the proceeds from this event. They’ve been working at all levels of government for off-road interests since 1969, and CORVA was the first organization to file for intervenor status in the lawsuit filed against off road recreation at Ocotillo Wells SVRA in California. It took 4 years, and despite the odds they prevailed in court and kept Ocotillo Wells open. Take a moment to pause and think about your OHV land access and consider supporting CORVA.

“We advocate on behalf of our membership to promote, protect and preserve off-road recreation and automotive access on public lands throughout California. CORVA’s main purpose is to work with the land managers for responsible off-highway vehicular access and recreation opportunities. Secondarily, we educate our membership on the constantly changing rules and regulations and promote clean-up and trail maintenance projects.”

Day 02:

Friday morning we awoke to a brisk and cool morning with partly cloudy skies and no rain. The sun was barely peering over the horizon so I was able to snag a few photos of our campground before the hustle & bustle of the morning’s happenings. The increasing brightness revealed a number of new, very muddy rigs that had arrived the previous night, plowing through the muddy desert in 4WD to get here. Daylight also revealed a stunning view of snow covered mountains off in the distance. If you’ve never been to the desert in California, you really must go.

As the sun began to warm our campsite, the rest of us began to rise and prepare for the day’s events, starting with coffee and breakfast. Or at least coffee. Looking around, it’s always nice to see the smiling faces and wagging tails at a Rendezvous event. These are the ones who made it, escaping the grind and the “real world” to get outside and do what they dream about all day while they’re slaving away at their day jobs. Time to Travel. Time to Explore. Time to Live.

The main event on Friday was a trail run to Superstition Mountain OHV area, which was to be led by one of our Adventurists: @Yumafolks. Those who wanted to partake in the trail run prepped and arrived at the main fire pit at 0830 for a driver’s safety brief, map reconnaissance, comm check, and planning. It was a great turn out for this trail run as experience levels ranged from first-timers to very experienced drivers. Thanks to Yumafolks and everyone who made this run such a great success! Although I wasn’t able to join in on the run, we did hear that the group were able to get front row seats for the Navy’s Blue Angels, who were flying around our area all weekend long. From camp, we were able to see the demos from a distance and hear the roar of the Navy’s F-18’s engines.

The remainder of the day on Friday was left for check-ins, relaxing, and socializing. The weather was fully cooperative and everyone was enjoying themselves out in the desert. As the day progressed, other Adventurists began to arrive and our campsite soon began to resemble a small town.

With the sun setting and evening just around the corner, Erika LeFiell began prepping a big round of S’mores for the kids, and even the adults. The menu was provided by American Adventurist (thanks Erika!) and consisted of a variety of different types of S’mores, so customization could be done to your hearts content. While the S’mores were happening, the fire pit was being prepped to accommodate the large group. This turned out to be a delicious hit, and we even caught Brett stealing them from the kids and eating them so the peanuts came out. If you know you know.

Right after the S’mores roasting, the BBQ Social would commence, which was graciously sponsored this year by Goose Gear. BIG THANKS to Brian at Goose Gear for hosting this year’s BBQ Social! The team quickly started cooking up the burger patties on Tembo Tusk Skottles (headlamp time!), and folks soon began lining up to fill their plates. One thing we know how to do right at a Rendezvous is cook, and Friday night with Goose Gear was another great example of teamwork making the dream work.

Once our bellies were full, we all convened around the warmth of the fire and socialized until the moon rose and the fire burned down to a smolder.

Day 03

Saturday would typically be our morning desert cleanup but this time around, we mostly had the day to ourselves. There were a number of activities planned, including a few trail runs of 4×4’s and ADV moto’s, the kids scavenger hunt, and the famous American Adventurist Camp Cooking Competition hosted by Tembo Tusk. Other than those milestones, the day was for yourself and whatever you wanted to do, or not do. Sitting back and enjoying your time here is always nice with so many amazing vehicles to see and so much awesome gear on display. You can learn a lot at a Rendezvous just by seeing how others travel.

 

The first event on Saturday was the morning trail run to Canyon Sin Nombre and Arroyo Seco Del Diablo. Thank you to Adventurist @Sage Bromax for organizing and leading this run. This run was a little more advanced than the previous mornings’ run to the Superstition Mountains, but that didn’t stop this even larger group from going. New people are always welcome at a Rendezvous event, and runs like this help the new people learn from our experienced “old hats”.

 

Once the trail run group headed off into the hills, it was business as usual around camp. Kicking tires, telling stories, playing with toys, taking naps.

At around mid-morning, a small group of adventure moto riders had assembled to coordinate a trail ride. Clearly, they were having fun and one of these days I’ll have to join them.

 

The afternoon sun marked the start of the Camp Cooking Competition sponsored by Tembo Tusk.  Whether you decided to cook with coals on a Dutch Oven, or over your camp stove, whatever the modality, it must be cooked within the confines of camp. Dishes must be completed and presented on the serving table to be qualified for the competition, Those who weren’t participating in the competition were welcomed to participate in the Community Potluck, which we highly encourage. This year, we received a large variety of delicious dishes, ranging from salads to main dishes and desserts. A big thank you to all the Adventurists who participated in this feast; YOU who make this event what it is!

The tables were set for the dish arrivals as the competitors and potluck participants began finishing their dishes. The fire pit was cleaned out and an even larger fire pit was created to make room for the many hungry people to come! Once the cutoff time was hit, dishes began arriving and the tables quickly became crowded from all the food. Another delicious sight to see with many smiling and hungry faces.

 

We all gathered around the campfire, with plates full and beverages in hand. This is a classic part of any Rendezvous event and is what really makes it special. You can see everyone interacting with each other whether it’s their first event or if they are long time members. The whole scene unfolding before me would give any outsider a warm, welcoming feeling like it’s one big extended family reunion. With the temperature dropping, the fire was expanded to Viking Longfire status which made more room for chairs and really kept everyone around it nice and toasty. Winners of the Camp Cooking Competition were announced, prizes were handed out by Tembo Tusk, and the socializing continued further into another clear and crisp night.

Winners of the Camp Cook-off Competition:

Congratulations and a HUGE thank you to all those that cooked and competed in our 9th Annual Camp Cookoff sponsored by TEMBO TUSK!!! The community voted, and the competitive spirit was great. After much deliberation (and seconds just to be sure) the winners were decided:

1st Place – Bald Taco winning a Tembo Tusk Adventure Skottle Kit w/burner and Tembo Tusk apron.

2nd Place – Tim R. winning a Tembo Tusk prize pack with Wine Tote, official Cookbook, and Buzzy Wax

3rd Place – Dave Pike winning a Tembo Tusk prize pack with official Cookbook and Buzzy Wax

Day 04:

Sunday was the last day of the 2019 SoCal Desert Rendezvous. A few Adventurists had left early in the morning with long road trips home in front of them, but many had remained for the last event of the weekend. Although it was the last day, this was what many were waiting for, their big chance to win at the raffle. While everyone packed up their campsites, the American Adventurist staff began organizing the enormous amount of prizes and gathering everyone in the camp for one last hurrah.

SO MANY WINNERS and so many smiling faces at the end of a long weekend – must be present to win!

And finally, the group photo. We can’t leave without one last shot of the weekend. A huge thank you to all the Adventurists who came down to support CORVA, and for keeping the American Adventurist Desert Rendezvous going year after year!

Also another huge thank you to all our sponsors for your steadfast and continuing support for American Adventurist!

 

We’ll see you all at the next Rendezvous!

A special note from the Editor: These events don’t happen in a vacuum, and at the end of the day 3 groups of people make it happen. The Members (thank you!), the Sponsors (thank you again!) and last but not least, the STAFF at American Adventurist. BIG thanks to Cris, Brett, Stuart, Richard, Doug, and Erika for busting their butts to make this happen way out in the desert! You guys ROCK! – Dave Bennett

 

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Utah Winter Adventure – Part II of III

It was a seriously cold morning when we woke up, the dog water bowls had frozen overnight and I found a surprise ice bowl sitting on my stove thanks to Andy. At some point, Brett’s kids had found a few random skeletons of long deceased animals and had relocated them next to their tent as a joke. Jacki seemed to find it particularly disturbing amusing. We had some laughs and enjoyed a nice leisurely morning, packing up and getting Brian settled in and updated on the trip.

Day 05: Coffee in Kanab and Breaking Down

The group decided to hit the town of Kanab again for some breakfast and coffee and get some tips from the local coffee shop/supply store: Willow Canyon Outdoor. It’s a pretty cool shop considering they had your essentials outdoor gear and also had a coffee shop with some very knowledgeable staff. We asked for their recommendation on potential routes and campsites on our route and they gave us a nice road in which we should hit on our way up to Capitol Reef NP.

(If you’re just catching up, part I of III can be found HERE )

After our short visit, we decided to run some last-minute stops before we hit the road. We hit Highway 89 eastbound and hunkered down for the haul to our offshoot to Cottonwood Canyon Road. We were on the highway with Cris at point and myself as tailgunner. Next thing I know every vehicle swerved to avoid something on the road, with Cris on comms stating he’s lost power steering. The convoy pulled off the road and Cris mentioning he had probably lost his power steering belt. Dodge problems. Being tail-gunner, I reversed to retrieve the belt but doing so, I didn’t notice the roadside reflector markers. One of them took out my passenger side mirror as I reversed but I was able to retrieve the belt successfully. The group gathered around Cris’s wounded Power Wagon as we began to troubleshoot the problem. After some pointing and grunting, we all agreed he needed a new truck idler pulley.

We were a little skeptical in terms of finding a part way out here but we did find an auto parts store in Kanab. It was just a matter of if they had it in stock or not. So Brian jumped in his Taco and jammed over to the store to find the part Cris needed to get his rig up and running again. In the meantime, the group made lunch and awaited Brian’s return. While waiting, I utilized some of Andy’s engineering tape to get my mirror back onto the Xterra. It was done in a very expedient and professional manner. About an hour later, Brian returned with the pulley in hand, and in a matter of minutes, we had the part installed and the Power Wagon roared back to life. We were back on the road.

We hit Cottonwood Canyon Road, which turns out is an entrance to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is a nicely graded road with some turnoffs that branch off into other fireroads into the canyon. It winds itself along the Paria River, and then transitions to wind along Cottonwood Creek.

 

It was along Cottonwood Creek in which we found a perfect campsite: lots of tree cover, lots of flat clear ground, and right next to a creek. We arrived in the afternoon, with enough time to setup and relax before the sun began to set. We relaxed the remainder of the day until night fell and we hit the sack.

Day 06

Making Time To Make The Ferry

The next morning as we’re packing up and getting ready to roll out, we get an early morning buzz by two F-35’s slicing through the canyon at low altitude. Quite the sight and a deafening roar as they screamed by.

Today’s route involved continuing up Cottonwood Canyon Road northbound all the way to Cannonville. The road was well-maintained, quite scenic, and a blast to drive on. We did stop at a turnout to regroup as the convoy began to separate over the long distance of fireroads. There we snapped some photos, Jaxx found a leg of a deer to chew on, we got some stretching in, and then hit the road to Cannonville, where we’d air-up and hit the pavement. Once aired up, the group pointed east and took Highway 12 all the way north to Capitol Reef NP.

Highway 12 is quite the scenic drive, with gains and drops in elevation, but mostly, the views do not disappoint even though we were on pavement the entire time. As we traveled along, we hit Escalante and decided to do a logistics and lunch stop. We filled up our gas tanks, restocked our fridges and coolers, made some lunch and then decided what our route would be taking from there.

Our dilemma was that we had a specific time to be at the ferry crossing from Bullfrog to Halls Crossing and we needed to figure out a route that would get us to that location. We opted for additional travel and exploration, so we picked a route that shot us straight up to Capitol Reef NP on hardball, and then shoot south on the Norton Bullfrog Basin Road, camp somewhere along the road, and then the following morning continue the rest of the way down to Bullfrog to catch our ferry.

After a few quick stops to take in the beautiful scenery along the road, we barreled down on Capitol Reef NP and we decided to check out Goosenecks Overlook where the Sulphur Creek zig-zags along the canyon. It was nearing sunset as we took in this awesome point. The way the sun hit the canyon walls, displaying dynamic shadows really made for a stunning sight. A few of the group had split off to the Visitor Center just down the road to snag some patches and swag. We regrouped on Highway 24 and continued on to Norton Bullfrog Basin Road.

The sun was almost set as we hit the dirt. I had stopped at Orientation Pullout at the intersection of the Norton Bullfrog Basin Road to snap a few shots. The group continued on as we’d be on that road for quite a while, but I had taken a few stops for photo ops as the sun set and became distanced from the group. I booked it down the well maintained and very wide dirt road to catch up. With all my LED lights on, it was easy blasting down the dark, chilly 25 degree road solo. It wasn’t until the main group had stopped to find a campsite that I finally caught up. At this point it was already dark and we needed to find camp as soon as possible. The group had decided to find a spot at an offshoot to Halls Overlook. It was a nice flat spot with 180 degree cover with small rocky hills. With the tents set up, fire going, dinner cooked and eaten, we then enjoyed the full moon and slight cloud covered night until we turned in for the night.

Day 07

Ferry to the Moki and Camping Among the Gods

Another beautiful sunrise greeted the rested convoy as we got coffee and breakfast rolling. I had gotten up a bit earlier to do my usual roaming and sniping around the campsite. The views and lighting from the rising sun with the slight cloud cover were amazing. With the group up and ready to roll, we convened to decide the days’ route and schedule since we had a ferry to catch. There was some time to spare and also some spectacular places to visit before we found out campsite for the night.

We hit the dirt yet again, but before we made the haul to the ferry, we stopped at Halls Creek Overlook to take in the sights. It was a very deep canyon in which a dried riverbed passes through, but held a dramatic view of what was literally right over the next ridgeline from where we camped the previous night. Saddling up, we hit the dirt again towards Highway 276 south to Bullfrog.

The convoy arrived at the Charles Hall Ferry crossing with some time to spare. We staged up at the slipway and awaited the ferry to arrive to pick us up. Once the ferry arrived, we loaded up and enjoyed the short ferry ride to Halls Crossing. It was a pretty cool experience since we literally had the ferry all to ourselves.

Once the ferry deposited us on the other side of the shore, we continued on Highway 276 to Highway 95 East. Stuart had brought up that he’d really like to drive the Moki Dugway, and being that I’ve never been on it, nor had others of the group had, we voted to take this route instead of remaining on pure highway. Our consensus of the night’s campsite was Valley of the Gods, so we hit Highway 261 South to the Moki. It was an overall basic highway drive until we hit the entrance of the dirt road.

 

The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 and “is a staggering, graded dirt switchback road carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa. It consists of 3 miles of steep unpaved, but well graded switchbacks at 11%, which wind 1,200ft from Cedar Mesa to the valley floor near Valley of the Gods… The state of Utah recommends that only vehicles less than 28ft in length and 10,000 pounds in weight attempt to negotiate this steep, narrow, and winding road… The term ‘mokee’ is derived from the Spanish word Moqui, which was a general term used by the 18th century Spanish explorers and settlers in this region to describe the Pueblo Indians they encountered, and the vanished culture that had left behind the numerous ruins they discovered during their travels… The dugway was constructed in the 50’s to provide a way to haul ore from the Happy Jack Mine on Cedar Mesa to the mill in Halchita, near Mexican Hat.” (www.dangerousroads.org). Checking weather on or before hitting the Dugway is highly recommended as conditions may be treacherous.

It was a beautiful day and had been so for the week, so we had no worries traversing the Dugway. The sheer cliff right along the roadside was quite intimidating but with the width of the road being a bit generous, and with light traffic in both directions, it was a breeze. We were worried about Cris’s Dodge Yacht Wagon but of course he showed us how to drive properly in such a large vehicle without dying.

The convoy rallied at the base of the Dugway, just at the entrance to the Valley of the Gods. The sun was beginning to set as we entered the Valley so we decided to find a place along the dirt road to call it for the day. We found a perfect site just off the main road with rock monuments entirely surrounding us. We were definitely in quite a spot and picked up quickly why this place has such a name. As usual, we setup quickly and hunkered down for the night.

 Continued in Part III HERE

 

 

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