Trip Report 20120303
My mog buddy Mark
invited us to join him at his Borrego Springs home and attend the 2012
Tierra del Sol 4x4 event. We knew from another 4x4 buddy that
there were AT LEAST 1500 registered participants and we both felt that
was a lower bound. We joined Mark at his newly remodeled Borrego
house and then went on a trail run prior to going to TDS. First,
we went to Font's Point to catch the view.
The photos below are what we saw.
We
went to Font's Point because it had a great view of the Borrego
Valley. Above, you can see our 1017A ("Thor") in the parking lot
at the point. Visible in the distance is the Borrego Valley.
Looking
to the west from Font's, you get a good view of the Borrego Bad Lands.
Looking
to the southwest, you can see more of the badland hills.
Looking
east, the mud palisades presented a daunting view.
To
the south, in the distance, the sand hills of the Off Highway Vehicle
Park are visible.
The
city of Borrego was clearly visible against the mountains.
To
the north of our position, Clark Dry Lake was visible with the Santa
Rosa mountains in the distance.
Our
path from Font's Point gave us several nice views of the Santa Rosa
mountains.
Thor
is a great vehicle for this kind of duty and provides us not only
highly capable off-road ability but comfortable living quarters.
From
the Font's Point area, we traveled east on SR-22 to the Truckhaven
area. Mark was a registered participant, but still had to get
into the line for a technical and safety inspection.
The
tech guys were trying to figure out how his mog fit into the whole
scheme of things.
When
we finished with the registration actions, we headed over to find a
place to park to allow us to see the vendor area. I learned what
I already knew which is you better be in 4x4 BEFORE you need it, or you
risk digging big trenches. We were not stuck, but it did require
both diff-lock and low range for us to self-extract. Full tire
pressure insures that you dig deep trenches; we were too lazy to air
down.
In
the vendor area, there were all manner of diversions. Above is
the articulation ramp where you can demonstrate the articulation
ability of your vehicle. Thor would just crush his ramp, so we
did not try.
The
central vendor area was something like a carnival.
Like
a carnival, there were plenty of diversions for the attendees.
All manner of junk food was available including funnel cakes, burgers,
fish tacos, kettle corn and the like.
Some
of the vendor's rigs were very impressive. The rig in the photo
above was based on a Freightliner chassis.
To
the west of the vendor area was the obstacle course, and so-called
"training area". There were plenty of folks trying their luck and
testing their skills on the obstacles.
Some
of the obstacles were challenging and had steep slopes.
I
doubt that my 1300 would be able to do this obstacle and Thor would
definitely not be able to do it. We did not see anybody that
attempted it.
The
tire pit provided a tough challenge for any vehicle.
From
the chaos of the TDS area, we headed to the 17 Palm spring. I
counted the trees; there were more than 17 palms.
Our
host, Mark, heads off to look for the actual spring. I did not
take a photo of the spring, but it was a small muddy hole about a foot
in diameter and 18" deep next to a sign that says "water not fit for
consumption".
On
the way back to Borrego Springs, we passed some steel sculptures, the
most interesting being a dragon.
The
dragon had a long body that spanned the nearby road. Very cool.
We
enjoyed our visit to the TDS affair, but it was basically controlled
chaos. Tons of vehicles, tons of dust, lots of people. That
said, they did have adequate restroom facilities and that says a lot of
good things about the event planners. We did not go on the trail
runs, there were just too many vehicles. Instead, we went and did
our thing independent of the group.
Copyright Bill Caid 2012. All rights reserved.