Any offroaders (ing) in Ridgecrest

[96XJ9705]

I will be moving to Ridgecrest in a few weeks and I was wondering how much offroading and how much of an interest there is for offroading in Ridgecrest. My XJ is pretty much stock, though that will change along with my income . Anyways, is there a lot of areas there to drive?
Thanks

 

[XJfer4]

Endless...... Absolutely endless. We have some property there. Just to have a spot to camp when we go there. It is a great place to go Wheeling, Motorcycling, or take the kids for a quad ride.

 

[Bryan C.]

Check out Panamint Valley. Only about an hour away from Ridgecrest. We have a couple of members in that area.

Oh, and welcome!

 

[96XJ9705]

Its starting to worry me that noone actually lives and offroads in Ridgecrest. Well, guess I can be the first. Glad to hear that there are areas around there to go. I am just trying to finish up the last of my additions/mods to my xj. As my DD I have tried to steer away from large changes for now.

 

[Gary E]

Andy and Lisa are awesome people and they live in Ridgecrest and could tell you where to go, We just visited them a couple of weeks ago and they took us on a 4 star guided tour of the panamints.


You are also not far from JV, the question is not if there is much wheeling around there, the question is is your junk up to it?

Photos courtesy of Andy

 

[96XJ9705]

I need to add a front tow point before doing anything too serious . That is one of the things I am saving up for. Either a new front bumper, or a welder to build my own. I am leaning towards the welder so I can also fab up a rear bumper/tire carrier the way I want. Anyways, I will have to look them up when I get moved down in 2 weeks. Thanks

 

[Letterman]

the "Snake Bait" trail is in Ridgecrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfYVzHWZY8M

 

[96XJ9705]

-3 points for winching . Ok, so it will be a few years before I would be willing to attempt that, not to mention before my xj would even be up to it.

 

[Letterman]

-3 points for winching

If it was -3 for winching, I was at a -12 or even -15 for the day!

That is one of the hardist trails I have ever tryed to drive!

Photos do not show how nasty it realy is:

 

[96XJ9705]

I noticed two things in the video, the first I've already mentioned, the second was that it seemed everyone had coats on. Do you mainly wheel during the colder months when (I am assuming this happens there) the snakes go into hibernation? Only water snakes up where I am at, but I grew up in southern Idaho where rattle snakes were an expected encounter during the summer. BTW, that looks plenty nasty, even in the pictures .

 

[Porch Puppy]

Here is some from Defense...








Isham.....



Snake Bait....



And a lot more..........

 

[Letterman]

the second was that it seemed everyone had coats on. Do you mainly wheel during the colder months when (I am assuming this happens there) the snakes go into hibernation? Only water snakes up where I am at, but I grew up in southern Idaho where rattle snakes were an expected encounter during the summer. BTW, that looks plenty nasty, even in the pictures .

That was just on a cool over cast February morning, the big coat was the only one I had for that trip.

Less then one hour later I was in a t-shirt:

Photo by B.C.

And a lot more..........

Lots more to wheel in that area!!!

Some Video I think most have already seen, from Defence Mine in Panamint Valley:
Andy
Jes
Me

 

[Letterman]

A new one of B.C. in Snake Bait:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r9yiPV6-EY

 

[Capt. Nemo]

the "Snake Bait" trail is in Ridgecrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfYVzHWZY8M

Well, I guess we all know what mod Jes is going to be doing next...

 

[96XJ9705]

Well, after a 3 day drive, I finally made it down here and I have noticed that the AC just isn't going to help much this summer . Also picked up a welder from my brother so I need to find some metal to start practicing on. Is there a local welding/ metal supply shop with decent prices? Just checking, most of the ones back home had a minimum order or cut fee.
Thanks, I am hoping to complete a new set of bumpers this summer.

 

[Goatman]

The Gear Grinders 4x4 club is in Ridgecrest, try to look them up.