Day 4: Basecamp 2 Dumont Dunes
Day 4: Dumont Dunes
I am totally in love with the area around Dumont Dunes. Starting out this morning, we finally got into some good precision & difficult driving. We decided to take the 4x4 X route trough Sperry Wash. Up until this point, we had missed the majority of the 4X4 X routes which are difficult driving and difficult navigation.
We adjusted our tactics for this day to see if we would have better time management. On checkpoints, we would allow ourselves 8 minutes maximum in looking for correct position. If we were not confident at the end of those 8 minutes we would either click or move onto the next one. The first few checkpoints we breezed through and started to feel great about this new construct to keep us on-time. It proved to help Adri stay focused and self doubt had less time to sneak in (which had been killing our vibe all week so far). We started nailing the route and working together. Sperry wash we super fun; the best driving so far. Off chamber, hills, rocks, sketchy shelfs, washed out trails… this is what I live for! We were in the pack too, other teams around us and we didn’t feel completely alone out there in the wilderness.
After the wash we hit the road and onto the mountains. Into the Excelsior Mine area, active mining, we hit some FSR that were steep and winding. We were making great time! We pulled over at one point to take a few headings and make sure we were on the right track. Adri got out with her map and compass and magnifier thingy and did all this scientific stuff then got back in the Jeep and we took off up an extremely steep climb. About a mile, in she realizes that she set her fancy magnifier on the hood of the Jeep and then forgot it before we drove away! DANG! We had just completed a huge hill climb where the Jeep performed well but the trans def got a little hot. I was looking forward to giving it a break… but no. We had to turn around and go -hope- find the magnifier. We sped down the mountain slowing down getting near the spot where we had stopped. Huge stroke of luck! The magnifier was sitting on the side of the road and somehow I spotted it from the driver’s seat. Back up the mountain we went! We were feeling lucky!
Down the other side and into the Mohave Preserve. This is an amazing area. Sandy roads, washes every which way, lots of vegetation but it’s sage brush and pokey things, cool rock formations, Joshua trees… we can hardly look around though we are so focused. We get to the beginning of a long looking trail; it is a power line road and it is whooped out and washboard. Like… the whole thing is washboard and it doesn’t stop. Constant whoops, never-ending washboard, sharp turns, sandy trail with washed out portions… it is a major bear. Super hard and we cant go fast. Finally I look at Adri and ask “how long is this again?!” And she says quietly… “30 kilometers.” {insert exploding head emoji} We had to start going faster. I was murdering my shocks. Jumping whoops and hitting the washboards, it was the roughest driving I have ever done.
We finally get to a green checkpoint at about 20 kilometers in… it had taken us forever and we were both so tired. At this point, we had two options… we could stay on the power line road or take a wash that went to the main road. I gambled and decided I couldn’t take the power line trail anymore. We hit the wash and were able to go faster but were dodging bushes, rocks, sink holes (!). It was a wild adventure.
Phew…. Next up a Jimmy Lewis precision enduro. Ha! We tried. It was a disaster and we wasted a lot of time on it. We had only about 20 minutes to hit a checkpoint that wasn’t too far away. We abandoned the mission.
Off to the checkpoint. We are driving on a road and looking for a way across the mile-ish long wash to the other side where the checkpoint is. We can see it. But there is no trail across. We are down to 16 minutes…. And I make the call, ok we are just gonna go straight there. We are in an open OHV area so driving through washes is legal. Adri is looking kinda worried cause of the walls of dirt in front of us… and she says point blank “we’re not gonna make it” and I replied with “I don’t like that kind of negativity (joking voice if you don’t know me)!” Down we go into the wash, again dodging bushes and rocks, we hit a wall that was probably 4 feet tall of dried river bank… -the Jeep was made for this- 4 low and we climbed right up. There was a few more harrowing moments as we sped across the wash and up the other side, straight to the checkpoint with less than 2 minutes to spare.
Done. Well kinda. We could be done… but we have about an hour left and there are some checkpoints in the dunes we could attempt. We decide to try and I am so happy we did. It was a great end to the day. You know you are on the right track when suddenly there are drones all around and media people pop out of no where. We find a swing set. So fun! Make some big successful climbs over super soft sand (hot afternoon sun) and find some friends too. A huge highlight of the day for me was we were trying to find a blue check point with a few other experienced teams and they decided to give up. They left us and Adri and I looked at each other and she was ready to call it too. The area the checkpoint was in was tall big dues. But we had made it all the way out there and there was a drone… so we had to be close! I said “let’s just look” and she agreed. We ventured around the big dune and over a few smaller ones and VOILA! There it was! We had trusted our plotting and our abilities! Nice way to end the day. Back to the perfect cushy base camp.
Side note, pulled into basecamp and got gas, went to the mechanics to do a once over (I do this every day basically) and yes. Rear shocks both melted the boots off and they were both completely blown. Ha! Need to figure out a better shock and bump set up for next year! The rest of the rally would be a wild ride for the Jeep’s rear end.
