RawHyde’s Mojave Magic Adventure
As a motorcyclist on a tour one of the things that happens all too frequently is what we call “ A race through the Museum”. How many times have you said to yourself as you ride… “Wow… this place is great, but I can’t stay long…I gotta come back someday.” We’ve all done it and rarely do we ever go back, thus we have this nagging thought in our mind of “I really do need to go back there someday”
So – Let me introduce you to our Mojave Desert immersion tour for which we use the acronym of MMA. The majestic and magical Mojave Desert is an amazing world renowned destination which also contains one of the largest off road playgrounds in the United States and RawHyde strategically bought and built an awesome Adventure focused facility near the western edge! We call it ZAKAR and it sits on a hundred acres near the namesake town of Mojave, California and is our “gateway to adventure” in this incredible desert!
There is so much to see and explore in the Mojave, Joshua tree forests, Ghost Towns, old mining sites with fabulous relics of the past, AND Death Valley which is Americas second largest National Park and the crown jewel of the Mojave.
We’ll spend a week exploring not only Death Valley, but also a myriad of other fabulous places as we show you the best of the best of the Mojave. This tour is NOT a race through the museum, but a full immersion in the grandeur of the desert. When you’re done with this trip you will still want to come back, not because you missed anything, but simply because you’ve fallen in love with the desert!
Here's the day by day schedule beginning with a half day of “off-road refresher” training.
RawHyde’s Mojave Magic Adventure schedule:
Arrival at RawHyde
Arrive at RawHyde any time between 10:00 AM and 12:00 Noon. Since this tour is largely “off-road” we are adding a half day refresher class to the experience. We’ll have lunch for you and then you can begin your refresher training just after lunch from 1 pm to 4:30 and get rid of whatever “rust” you’ve collected since the last time you were riding out in the back country. This refresher will focus mainly on the type of riding that you’ll be doing on the tour. Then on Sunday evening we’ll have dinner followed by a briefing to bring everyone up to speed on our plans for the week.
RawHyde Ranch to Zakar via local mountains and the site of the 1913 St. Francis Dam disaster.
There is a great old 1 lane road (nearly abandoned) leading from our ranch out toward the area where the dam used to be … first we’ll visit the dam site, and then head up high in the local mountains on some moderately challenging dirt trails which will take us through Lunch. After lunch we’ll drop down to the desert and head to Zakar. Here’s a link to learn more about the dam disaster.
Zakar to Beatty, Nevada via Death Valley.
We’ll depart from Zakar around 9:00 AM and head for Death Valley which is about 150 miles away. You’ll have several options for things to visit along the way… below you’ll find some of the possibilities for the days ride and we’ll determine on the day what you actually choose to see and the rest can be saved for the return trip to Zakar.
Options:
1. Randsburg Ghost Town
2. The Charcoal Kilns
3. Agueberry Point
4. Ballarat Ghost Town
5. The Artists palette – in Death Valley
Depart from your motel in Beatty and head for Titus Canyon.
Its only a few miles from Beatty and it’s a one way & one lane road that leads back into Death Valley through an absolutely spectacular route. Titus Canyon is unquestionably the crown jewel of things to do in Death Valley… here’s a link. After we’re done with Titus Canyon we’ll head back toward Zakar visiting the things we missed from the list above.
Zakar to Sequoia National Park and Chimney Peak scenic byway.
Oddly enough Sequoia National Park borders the Mojave Desert and the view from 6000 feet as you overlook the desert is nothing short of spectacular. The Chimney Peak scenic byway hosts a series of spectacular views over the desert and leads to one of the greatest paved roads in Californiai. Nine Mile Canyon rd. is a twisty single lane road leading from the top of the mountains back to the desert valley floor and its just amazing. Once we reach the base of the mountains we’ll head back to Zakar for the night along an awesome dirt road that affords a continuous view over the desert.
We’ll spend the Morning exploring the El Paso Mountain mining district. There is a ton of technical riding in the El Pasos and you’ll visit Burro Schmidts tunnel along with a few other relics of the mining past. The scenery is spectacular and there is a ton of cool old mining lore to check out, We’ll have a picnic lunch at the ghost town of Randsburg and then we’ll head out to visit a sacred motorcycle site in the absolute middle of now where … Its called the Husky Monument and it’s a memorial site for the desert moto community. motorcylists. Its more like an “art installation” and the ride to and from the monument is just epic, you’ll ride a dry lake, cross over some low lying mountains and breath the essence of the desert. All in all it will be a fabulous day of desert riding.
We will have a leisurely breakfast and pack up for the return to RawHyde Ranch – or if you’re on your own bike you can head for home from Zakar if you wish, but we’ll still have some fun riding to do as we head back to the ranch. Its about a 3 – 5 hour ride back to the ranch from Zakar (depending on our route) and at that point our adventure will be complete. However it will have been a long week, and many folks don’t want to get off the bike and immediately head to the airport or home… if you’d like to stay one last night to reminisce about the week dinner and lodging is included tonight.
Departure
We sadly part company and head for home with knowledge that there are lots of other adventures still to be had. RawHyde will help with shipping arrangements, shuttles to the airport or whatever other tasks need to be accomplished to help you on your way.
