Off Roading Hungry Valley, CA

[JGheen]

Just wondering if anyone goes up there very much. I try to make it just about every other weekend to tear the trails up and run my dogs in the sand. Living in Castaic makes the trip only 20 minutes up the I-5 for me, maybe a little longer for those of you who live in Palmdale or Lancaster.

Anyone ever want to play follow the leader up there with me, let me know. Most of you guys should be able to keep up since my truck is a dually and I take the wider trails. But just cuz they are wide doesn't mean that they are easy to drive. Oo.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone wants to meet up there some morning for a trail ride. I usually try to go around 7-8 AM and leave before noon since it gets hotter that hell up there towards noon and afternoon. Obviously I am up there a lot longer when good 'ol winter comes along.



Well, let me know if any you guys are interested.



Joe

 

[cummins_crewcab]

I've been looking into going there lately... I usually run harder rocks and trails but I'm at peace anytime I'm wheelin so I'll try anything . I'm in Bakersfield so it's about 45 minutes or so for me and I'll be towing my trail rig up there. Does it matter if the trail rig is not a dodge

 

[JGheen]

Of course not, I was up there this morning playin' with a jeep. He sure was amazed at where I was going. I am game to play follow the leader with anyone. As long as they don't lead me into a trail that I can't get out of. If you know of Vic's Cat Trail up there then that is probably the narrowest of trails I'll be taking. It's a black diamond trail so it has a few tough obsticles. Let me know next time your up there and I'll look for ya.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

Cool, I'll talk to my buddy who is in my 4x4 club and see when he's available, he's wanted to go for a while... Neither him or I have been there so I have no idea what trail that is . I essentially wheel a crew cab long bed chevy so I'm almost as big as you, not as wide though, but mine has a few mods... We are headed up to Hollister OHV at the end of the month to run a few trails for a day as well. Just got back from there a few weeks ago but didn't get a chance to run the Tank Trap and want to hit it up.



Heres a pic from a couple weeks back:



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[JGheen]

Your gonna try and take that on the Tank Trap!! :--) You have balls bigger than me if your gonna try that trail up there. I am from Salinas, so Hollister hills trips used to be just about every weekend for me. I would never try that Tank Trap though after seeing a couple of friends get completely burried up there. Those ruts and water holes are a bit too deep for me, but if I was running 44"s then I wouldn't hesitate for a minute about taking that trail.

Your rig looks like it would be a fun one to follow. Oo. Looking forward to when you can get to HV. Let me know and I'll meet ya there.



Joe

 

[cummins_crewcab]

It won't be a problem, I've ran it in the past. The Jungle trail there and the one next to it is tighter and twistier than the trap and it's not a problem

 

[JGheen]

Maybe they just "tune" it up for big events like that Four Wheeler TTC. After seeing my friends get stuck in it, watching even some of the baddest rigs get stuck in it and myself almost getting stuck in it from just hiking the trail, I'll pass on it and watch others have their fun. Take some pics or video when you go.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

Of course! Always do Our clubs annual run, Blazer Fest, is the week after TTC is held so all the water and mud is still there. The frame twister is really interesting, I was the only one to get through it this year. I didn't run the trap because of the water. I don't mind the mud but the 4 feet of water on top really kills trucks. Guy in our club lives in Hollister and he says the water is already gone and the mud is only left in 2 spots, but there about 3 feet deep still I have a winch so I'm not too worried about the mud. Heres a pic of the guy that ran it at Blazerfest with us this year, he was the only one to try



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Should be fun

 

[JGheen]

Well, good luck and looking forward to your pics and/or video. Now that you mention the water lever at the Trap, it doesn't seem like it would be that hard. Winches always help though, glad I got one too.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

Just drove by Hungry Valley yesterday. Had to tow a fellow club members burban to his house in Murietta, it broke down in Bako on his way home:



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[JGheen]

Damn, Jason, that's a nice set-up you have there. How long is that trailer? I used to have a 16' beaver tail Featherlite to tow around my toy, but had to sell it and the toy.

Is that Burb going to play follow the leader, too? What happened to it? Engine? Suspension?



Where is Murietta and Bako?

 

[cummins_crewcab]

Trailer is a 20 foot deck with a 5 foot dovetail, just picked it up about 3-4 weeks ago or so... Lovin it



The burb is down and out for a while so it won't be headed up to HV for a while. At Blazerfest it started spewing transmission fluid, twisted a rear axle tube, bent the rear axle, and bent a leaf spring.



Murietta is located right where the 215 and the 15 intersect. Bakersfield is just north of you about 45 minutes.

 

[JGheen]

Yeah, I know where Bakersfield is, I just didn't understand the slang term for that city.

I can't believe all that happened to that Burb. What does it have for an engine? Did your buddy break all that stuff from just wheelin' or did the engine power have something to do with it? It isn't a 14-bolt axle is it? I have only seen one 14-bolt break and that was due to over 600 HP being thrown at it everyday in my old '71 Chevy that I used to have. Broke the Detroit locker and the ring gear!

Anyway, now that I am thinking about it, the next time I will be up at HV might be for a couple hours in the morning on Saturday or Sunday this weekend. And I probably won't be able to get up there again until the weekend of the 24th and 25th. Gonna be hittin' up the Festival in the Foothills next weekend, you gonna go? Should be a whole lotta fun with all the things going on and vendor appearances. If your gonna go I'll look for ya. I should be easy to spot since I am probably going to have the biggest truck there since not many other Dodge duallies are lifted around here, or at least that I have heard. Gotta get my right side fog light fixed though if I plan on getting some attention of the show and shine voters.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

Yeah he runs a 14 bolt rear and a dana 60 in the front. He only runs a TBI 350. He just got wedged pretty good with all the weight on the right rear tire and some crazy stuff happened



I've broken one 14 bolt but that was the spindle melting off due to a bad wheel bearing



What are the details on the Festival in the Foothills?

 

[JGheen]

Go to www.socalrattlinrams.org and look under Events.

It should be an awesome event. I can't wait to see what everyone else runs up close and personal.

If you don't have anything going on that weekend, you should make it down there for it. The more people the merrier as the guy putting it on is relying on as many people as possible to attend to please the popular vendors that are attending. So register on that website and hope to see ya there.

 

[cannongeorge]

JGheen: Re: socalrattlinrams.org event, I hope to make it, I'll look for you. There are a couple of oil pipelines that cross Hungry Valley, on ocassion I will "ride" these lines and have ocassion to stop over in HV. A few years ago we had a survey job through there with lots of snakes.

 

[cArNiVaLwOrKeR]

Originally posted by cummins_crewcab

Yeah he runs a 14 bolt rear and a dana 60 in the front. He only runs a TBI 350. He just got wedged pretty good with all the weight on the right rear tire and some crazy stuff happened



I've broken one 14 bolt but that was the spindle melting off due to a bad wheel bearing



What are the details on the Festival in the Foothills?

Damn, you have a 03 w/82k how??? Run it on a tread mill?

We will all be a the foothils event, its gonna be a blast, look for kevin or The cArNiVaLwOrKeR

 

[JGheen]

Originally posted by cannongeorge

There are a couple of oil pipelines that cross Hungry Valley, on ocassion I will "ride" these lines and have ocassion to stop over in HV. A few years ago we had a survey job through there with lots of snakes.

Where are these pipeline in relation to the park? South side by Smokey Bear Rd. or North side by Gorman? I was just up there this past weekend and saw a couple of decent sized Rattlesnakes. You gotta watch out up there cuz they sure are camoflauged pretty good. I thought the second one I saw was a branch that broke off a tree.

BTW, how often are you up there? What do you ride or are you just a truck/wheelin' guy like me?

 

[cannongeorge]

JGHeen: Closer to Gorman. I will try to see if I can't private e-mail some maps to you.



I am strictly stock. I used to drive a 2WD Mazda wagon, (carried shovels) and passed stuck 4WD jeeps all the time. Kind of a forced training program.



Snakes are BIG this year. But I'm told that the baby snakes are just as, if not more lethal, than the adult snakes. (Upon biting, they can't control the amount of vemon they inject. ) Be Aware!

 

[JGheen]

Thanks for the advice on the rattlers! I usually take my dogs up there about every other weekend and they would not know what to do around a snake, except probably try and bite it, so I have to scout the area I run them at before I let them out of the truck.



Let me knwo when your heading up there next... . post it here or PM me and we'll have to meet up. I prefer to go early in the morning as it gets way too hot up there past 10:00 am.