Camping in Wheeler Gorge

Jessica and I took an RV trip up to the Wheeler Gorge campground near Ojai, California. We were the only ones in the campground and the weather was perfect. We spend the weekend goofing off and exploring. Click here to view the photos.

Labels: camping, off-road, vacation

Light Armored Vehicle Training at Camp Pendleton

Our friend Captain Ronny, USMC, invited us out to Camp Pendleton today to check out his LAV training facility before he leaves the Marines this week. Josh, Brian and I had a great time crawling through the LAV's and playing in the simulator. Go here to see some photos from Camp Pendleton

Labels: friends, off-road

A Very Short Glamis Trip

Last month, Jim and James and I made a quick trip to Glamis, and it turned out quite sucky for me. I crashed my Jeep into a ditch and messed up the suspension. I managed to make it home. That means it's time for some repairs (upgrade!). Here are a few pics that I took.

Labels: friends, off-road

Family Off-Road Adventure in the Desert

Dad took the whole family out to the desert for a weekend to watch the Mojave 250 race. It was fun. Go here to view the pictures.

Labels: family, off-road

Mojave Road Photos - 2008

I just got back from a 130 mile drive through the Mojave Desert along the Mojave Road. Our group was huge, with 22 vehicles and 40 people. I don't think we lost anyone along the way. Everyone had a good time. I didn't have enough time to take as many photos as I wanted too, but here's what I got:

Labels: family, friends, off-road

MLK 2008 in the Glamis Sand Dunes

We honored the great Martin Luther King Jr. by spending his holiday out in the dirty sand dunes of Glamis California. We had a really good time, but there were a lot of idiots out there. Go here to view the photos at Glamis.

Labels: friends, off-road

Photography

Labels: camping, family, friends, goldendoodle, off-road, orange county, vacation, wildlife

476 Miles in Death Valley

We made it. 476.8 miles of off-roading through Death Valley. It took 4 days, but we hit just about every trail that we planned. We had a few breakdowns, some of us made a side trip the the emergency room, and we got hit by a monster sand storm, but it all worked out in the end. We met some great people, got really dirty and saw some of God's most incredible creations. Here are the pics - all 154 of them.

Labels: friends, off-road

Off-Roading to Santiago Peak

Jessica wanted to test out the four-wheel drive on her new 4Runner, so we made a quick trip up to Santiago Peak via Bedford Road and then Main Divide Road. Here are some pics.

Labels: family, friends, off-road, orange county

Why I Avoid Car Dealers....

To replace a cracked front windshield on an 1999 Honda Accord:

Independent, Certified Windshield Installer - $208, Installed at your home

Buena Park Honda - $444 + Labor

In other words, never have your car repaired by the dealer, unless it's for warranty repair or serious electronic issues. Independent auto mechanics do better work for half the price. And they're nicer, too.

Labels: off-road

Off-Roading in Las Vegas

A few weeks ago, I took a business trip to Las Vegas for Networld Interop. One evening, after the show, my friend Julian of the 702 FJ Crew took me out for some Las Vegas off-road action in his Toyota FJ Cruiser.

We had a blast, exploring some desert canyons near Lake Mead, and then climbing up Frenchman Mountain for cool views of Las Vegas. Here are the pics.

Labels: friends, off-road

Big Bear Off-Road Trip

A couple of us made a serious rock crawling trip in Big Bear, California this weekend. We hit these trails: Dishpan Springs Trail to Holcomb Creek Trail to Gold Mountain to the John Bull Trail.

Labels: off-road

Black Star Canyon and Trabuco Creek Road

Jessica and I went for a hike up Black Star Canyon yesterday. There have been old rumors of strange things happening in this place, such as ghost sightings (blah) and armed land owners wrongly accusing people of trespassing and threatening them. We saw none of this wierdness, but the heavy cloudcover did make the trip kind of spooky.


Next we did a few minutes of off-roading up Trabuco Creek.


I declare Trabuco Creek to be the lamest off-road trail in Southern California.

Labels: off-road, orange county

Mojave 250 Desert Race

Six of us went out to watch the Mojave 250 desert race this weekend. The race was a blast and we had some good off-roading adventures of our own. Here are the pictures.

Labels: off-road

More Mojave Road Pics

Jim sent me some good pics from the Mojave Road, so I added them to my collection. They're mixed in and labeled "Jim's Pic" if you want to look at them.

Also, check out John's pics and Ron's pics.

Labels: friends, off-road

The Mojave Road, 2007

Three days and 138 miles of beautiful, untouched high desert that begins at the Colorado River and ends near Barstow California. We had a great trip this year with 20 guys in 13 vehicles. Nobody broke down, nobody got hurt and everyone got along. Can't ask for much more than that. Here are the pictures.

Labels: friends, off-road

Phil's Bronco is Finally Unleashed

Phil finally got his big orange Bronco working, and we made a quick shakedown run up Skyline Drive in the Cleveland National Forest. We had to make sure that everything was working before we hit the Mojave Road. Go here for some pics.

Labels: off-road, orange county

OC Register Off-Roads in Orange County

Here is a video of some OC journalists who just discovered off-roading in Orange County. There is also an article on today's Outdoor section in the back of the Sports page. They talked about off-roading on Main Divide Road in Cleveland National Forest.

They even mentioned Dirtopia.com in the print version :-)

Labels: off-road, orange county

Off-Road Cover Shots

I'm finally "published"! Three of my photos made the cover of San Diego Off-Road Magazine today. It's a popular monthly magazine for all Southern California off-roaders. The photos were from our recent trip to Glamis.

Labels: off-road

Motorcycle Show

I went to the International Motorcycle Show for a few hours last weekend. The highlight of the event was getting my picture taken with this Famous Flatbiller. I felt bad for the guy... nobody else wanted a picture with him. Kinda funny.

Labels: off-road

Big Bear Off-Road Trip

Phil and Sarah invited us to Big Bear with their family and friends for Thanksgiving weekend. While we were there, we made the obligatory off-road trip. This time we did the two roughest trails in Big Bear - the Gold Mountain Trail and the John Bull Trail. Go here for the pics.

Labels: off-road

Lake Elsinore Grand Prix Photos

I got to take some practice shots at the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix this weekend. Here are a bunch of photos from the race.

Labels: off-road

Glamis Trip, November 2006

We had a great trip to the Glamis Sand Dunes last weekend. There was a good crowd, our group was pretty large, but nobody broke down or got hurt. Here are the pics.

Labels: off-road

Off-Roading in Orange County

Jessica and I drove through the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County last weekend. We started on Skyline Drive in Corona, drove Main Divide Road across the range, and then took Maple Springs Road back into the city. It took about 3 hours.

Labels: off-road, orange county

Dirtopia Off-Road

It's time to show off my latest project. If you're into off-roading, you might like it.


Dirtopia is an online encyclopedia of off-road trails that anyone can edit, in the style of the successful Wikipedia.

Dirtopia was created because there is no universal source for off-road trails on the Internet. I got tired of digging through old books and online forums looking for off-road trails in Southern California, only to find incomplete and outdated information.

Myself and a few friends have begun writing about trails in California and Nevada over the last few weeks. We hope to attract additional contributors and eventually document every off road trail in the United States.

So if you're bored, come check it out.

Labels: off-road

10 Dumbest Things at the Off-Road Expo

Phil and I went to the 2006 Off-Road Expo in Pomona, where we saw a ton of bling. I hate bling. Here are the 10 Dumbest things at the Off-Road Expo.

Labels: off-road

Jeep Trip to Holcomb Valley, Big Bear

On Saturday, Scott invited us on a Jeep trip up around Holcomb Valley in Big Bear. We explored a bunch of trails and got a little lost. Here are the pictures.

Labels: off-road

2006 Elsinore Grand Prix Motocross Race

People are coming to my site looking for information on the upcoming 2006 Elsinore Grand Prix, and the official site is hard to find, so here it is: Register for the 2006 GFI Elsinore Grand Prix

If you've never been, the Elsinore Grand Prix is an incredible spectical. Thousands of people fill the streets of Lake Elsinore, CA for a weekend of dirty motorcycle racing through the hills and city streets. The race was made famous by the classic 1971 motocross film "On Any Sunday".

If you get bored, take a look at these pics from 2005.

Labels: off-road

Julian's FJ Cruiser Las Vegas

My friend Julian just uploaded a video of him off-roading his bright blue FJ Cruiser near Las Vegas. Looks like fun. Strange music.

Labels: friends, off-road

Off-Road Trip - Pilot Rock to Arrowhead

On Saturday, we tried to make a day trip from Silverwood Lake up to Big Bear, and then drive around a bunch of trails in Big Bear. Due to many unfortunate circumstances, we barely made it up to Arrowhead. It was still a fun trip, and we got pretty dirty. Go here for the pics.

Labels: off-road

Off-Roading on the Mojave Road

We just got back from a 3-day off-road trip across the Mojave Desert on the historic Mojave Road. We had a blast, and nobody broke down. Click here for the story along with the pictures:

Labels: off-road

Lytle Creek Off-Road

Scott, Brock, John and I made a spontaneous trip up to Lytle Creek for a few hours. It was Brock's virgin off road trip, so naturally he drove over everything as fast as possible. Good job Brock. It snowed too. Go here to see the pics.

Labels: off-road

Riding NF-3N24

Eric, Blane and I went dirt bike riding up on trial 3N24 up near Cajon Pass on Saturday. Here is a pic of this crazy hill that they call "The Widowmaker". That's Blane at the bottom.


Update: Eric put the rest of the pics up on his site.

Labels: off-road

Saudi Arabian Sand Dunes

Abdulla wrote me to show us that the Saudi Arabians have thier own version of Glamis' Oldsmobile Hill. Check out the sand toys that these guys have.




More pics at http://www.t63ys.com/vb/showthread.php?t=16629

Labels: off-road

Cookie the Dirt Bike Dog

Back when I took pictures of the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix motocross race, there was this guy who rode the race with his dog on his lap.

The guy found my site and wrote me. Apparently this is "Cookie the Dirt Bike Dog". Just thought you should know that.

Labels: off-road

Another Glamis Trip

We went out to Glamis on February 4th for some riding. By the end of the trip, we had broken two motorcycles, gotten an Xterra hopelessly stuck in the middle of nowhere, ran out of gas and watched a helicopter evade the police. It was definitely a good trip. Check out the pics

Labels: off-road

Anaheim Supercross pics

We went to the Anaheim Supercross tonight. What a blast! Check out the pics.

Labels: off-road, orange county

Off roading to Pilot Rock

We went on the Pilot Rock Truck Trail from Silverlake up to Lake Arrowhead. Click for pics.

Labels: off-road

For Sale - 1989 Yamaha Blaster

1989 Yamaha Blaster - runs great, good quad for kids. Sand paddles included. Click pictures for larger size. Email blaster@travsite.com for more info.

Labels: off-road

New Years in Big Bear

Jessica and I went up to Big Bear with Phil and Sarah for the New Years' weekend. We did some off roading, freaked out some snowboarders, threw sticks at dogs, broke a Hummer, and took alot of cheesy photos. Here are the pics

Labels: off-road

Jeeping up Cleghorn

Scott and I took the day and ran our Jeeps up Cleghorn ridge. Here are the pics.

Labels: off-road