< more recent | 15 – 26 January 2020 | older >
26 January 2020: Out on the trails with friends around Florence, AZ, on a beautiful day for wheeling. We hit Elvis and Box Canyon as well as a few optional side trips to see some interesting history in this area that is full of great places for Jeep fun…
25 January 2020: Decided to set up camp at Bulldog Canyon tonight to be closer to Florence where we are meeting for a day out on the trails there before making the rest of the drive to Yuma…
25 January 2020: The morning light was perfect and so decided to hit Broken Arrow again, for some shots on the trail with the vibrant colors in full force — and of course it is a favorite trail that never loses its magic…
24 January 2020: A nice afternoon wander around the red rock trails on foot was a great end to the week here and bonus sighting of what looked a lot like mountain lion tracks…
23 January 2020: Doing a bit of a shakedown run on Broken Arrow today, as it is the first time the new Jeep is out on a more “adventurous” trail since it has been lifted. And of course it was a perfect performance on this favorite fun trail…
22 January 2020: The sun came out today and Sedona’s red-rock-blue-sky landscape is back to normal. Always fun to just get out into the incredible natural beauty of this place…
21 January 2020: The first day in Sedona is a bit grey and wet, but the rest of the week promises to be a bit better…
20 January 2020: Left Nevada today, heading south via Laughlin and then Oatman in hopes of seeing the burros. Arrived into Oatman a little bit late, having forgotten about the time change between Nevada and Arizona. It was around 5pm and the town was getting ready to close up. Even the burros were grumpy. Leaving town via Sitgreaves pass there were some Jeep trails and folks out exploring, and further along there were some truly wild burros to be seen along the roadside…
19 January 2020: Spent some time hiking and exploring around Grapevine Canyon surrounded by mysterious petrogplyhs then set out to discover some more of the Spirit Mountain Wilderness area via the Christmas Tree Pass jeep trail…
18 January 2020: Back to base camp at Lake Mead National Recreation Area for a bit more Nevada exploration before heading south into Arizona …
THIS MONTH:
Advanced sand dune training with Barlow Adventures at the Imperial Sand Dunes in southern California. This three day driving and navigation program focuses on moving safely and effectively through large dunefields. Skills-building exercises are intended to improve pace, line choice and vehicle control, as well as developing precision map and compass navigation technique…
COMING UP SOON:
More southwest exploration with the original USnomads team taking some time to just appreciate the journey…
Tierra del Sol’s 58th annual Desert Safari at Ocotillo Wells from February 28th to March 1st. The event is one of the biggest Jeep events of its kind and the proceeds go towards the fight to keep Public Lands open. …
A short stop in Moab for some classic red rock trail time…
Roadtrip across the country from west to east back to New York…
Joining the Texas Rovers for their annual South Central Area Rover Rally (SCARR). SCARR is a four-day event geared towards Land Rover enthusiasts that attracts people from all over the globe. SCARR attendees get to experience the off-road capabilities of Land Rovers in the beautiful setting of the Barnwell Mountain Recreation Area. Texas Rovers has reserved the entire 1,850-acre BMRA off-road park located in Gilmer, Texas for activities that include guided trail runs, lectures and off-road training, the ladies-only Barbara Toy trail run and much more…
BROKEN ARROW JEEP TRAIL
The Broken Arrow Trail, easily reached just off Hwy 179 on the south side of Sedona, is a very popular jeep track an hiking trail, climbing gently up a wide valley, lined with amazing red rock formations that tower into the sky. It ends at Chicken point, a low pass which has good views south towards Oak Creek village, and north to Sedona and the high mountains beyond. Though heavily trafficked the trail offers a great introduction to Sedona’s famous red rock scenery, with a few optional fun obstacles along the way. The highlight of the drive is the “Staircase,” a steep and somewhat intimidating downhill drive over rock “steps” which is always exciting…
SEDONA, ARIZONA
Number one on USA Weekend’s “Most Beautiful Places in America list,” Sedona, AZ is surrounded by 1.8 million acres of national forest land, with great jeep trails that wind in and out of a rugged landscape defined by pinnacles, spires, buttes and domes. …
SPIRIT MOUNTAIN
Spirit Mountain, also known as Newberry Peak, is part of the Newberry Mountains in Nevada and the summit is the highest point in the Spirit Mountain Wilderness. The wilderness area is named for the imposing monolith of white granite that is an important site for native peoples of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. Yuman and Mojave people believe all life began on this mountain, which is visible for miles from Bullhead City in Arizona, and Laughlin, Cal-Nev-Ari, and Searchlight in Nevada. The Newberry Mountains rise to an elevation of about 5,600 feet and the area is strewn with granite boulders and steep canyons, with gentle bajadas and more rounded hills to the southeast…
ABOUT LAKE MEAD NRA
Lake Meade National Recreation Area encompasses 1.5 million acres of mountains, canyons, valleys and two vast lakes, straddling the Nevada-Arizona border. It also includes nine separate wilderness areas. Nine developed areas are spread along the shores of the lakes and there are plenty of opportunities to explore the backcountry, including 800 miles of dirt roads and Jeep trails presenting drivers with a variety of access and challenges. More than 6 million people visit the recreation area each year, making it the sixth most-visited unit of the National Park System. Created by Act of Congress in 1964 as the nation’s first national recreation area, Lake Mead NRA stretches along nearly 140 miles of the old Colorado River channel between Nevada and Arizona. It includes both Lake Mead, created by Hoover Dam, and Lake Mohave, created by Davis Dam. Three of America’s four desert ecosystems—the Mojave, the Great Basin and the Sonoran Deserts—meet in Lake Mead NRA. As a result, this seemingly barren area contains a surprising variety of plants and animals, some of which may be found nowhere else in the world. Lake Mead is home to desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, mountains lions, coyotes, kit fox, bobcat, ringtail cat, desert tortoise, numerous lizards and snakes, and a wealth of bird species. Archeological and historical sites and remnants are evidence of 12,000 to 13,000 years of human occupation. The park’s namesake, Lake Mead, is the largest reservoir in the United States in terms of water capacity, providing water to nearly 20 million people in the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. However, the lake has not reached full capacity since 1983 due to a combination of drought and increased water demand …
Nesconset | Paris | Danville PA | Akron OH | Toledo OH | South Bend IN | Oglesby IL | Davenport IA | Des Moines IA | Omaha NE | North Platte NE | Denver CO | Grand Junction CO | Moab UT | Hurricane UT | Mesquite NV | Valley of Fire NV | Lake Mead NV | Las Vegas NV | Death Valley CA | Trona CA | Laughlin NV | Sedona AZ | Phoenix AZ | Yuma AZ
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
1-14 January – Starting the New Year
24-31 December – Holidays on the Road
16-23 December – Cross-Country Drive
9-15 December – New York
1-8 December – Paris
16-30 November – Paris & Rennes
1-15 November – New York
14-31 October – Arizona
8-13 October – LON TOP TEN
1-7 October – Girl Gang Garage
16-30 September – Women’s Wheeling
1-15 September – Long Island
9-31 August – Serbia
1-8 August – #LONCON2019
16-31 July – Roadtrip to Atlanta
1-15 July – Cape Cod
15-30 June – Eastern Long Island
1-14 June – Bantam Jeep Festival
May – PA Trail cleanup
22-30 April – Minnesota
16-21 April – PA Trails
1-15 April – New Jeep
15-31 March – Paris
1-14 March – Arizona
15-28 February – San Antonio
1-14 February – Sedona and Glamis
January – Iran
December – Holiday Road Trip
Archive
REFLECTIONS
A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
