Everyone was so excited that we devoted about 4 hours to getting to our camp location on a busy Friday night. Traffic was a nightmare (now i remember why i never leave on Friday nights!!!). It was terrible, felt like forever.
Anyways, after a quick stop in Barstow for dinner we arrived at camp in the dark around 8-9pm. It was going to be a windy night, but i already knew that. I had checked the weather and it said 23-25mph winds for the night. Dixie was trying to figure out why we hopped in the car and decided to stop in the middle of no where.
She was nice and warm in her dog blanket that she never leaves home without. I swear, she's so spoiled! I guess we now need to buy a 3rd chair just for her. I spent half the time standing on this trip. It was fine with me, i sit all day driving.After relaxing with a few dark beers we headed for bed. Needless to say the wind never stopped and actually got worse as the night went on. I must have got out of the tent 4 times making sure everything was secure, rearranging the rain cover on the tent and so on. After getting up so many times and realizing it would be morning soon, i got up. I was tired of hearing the tent flap around. I watched the sun come up , it was truly beautiful.
Somehow, while watching the sunrise and not having nearly enough sleep... i fell back asleep at the campfire. James snapped a pic of me snoring away around 7am. I must have been up since 4-5am.
We kept camp pretty simple for the first night. One of our goals was to attempt to park near a wall of the canyon to block the wind. Never really worked. When we arrived at camp we didn't really need to setup anything because we already had eaten and it was windy, so we didn't really feel like chasing tables around.
After a cup of joe and great breakfast that Yosh created we were on our way. With our stomachs full and our heads alert we proceeded the air down process of our tires. I began explaining what PSI everyone should be at and how it would benefit them for offroad travel.
VIdeo Clip: Heading out Mule Canyon
Our first stop was the Doran and Odessa canyon. I wanted to show the guys what true rockcrawling was and just how hard it can get. So i showed them the "Gate Keeper" We also found the Doran Arches and mine shafts that were located in the small canyon.
Above: James new WJ on a 2" Skyjacker lift and 31" BFG's. Below: Bryans new F150 on a 6" Fabtech lift and 35" BFG's. Both of them had just purchased 4 wheel drives and only weeks ago lifts for them. This was their first time out and man were they having fun!
James in a mine located just south of the gate keeper entrance to Doran.
We then headed up to the bypass for the gate keeper that takes you on the side of a large drop off. You really need to pay attention here or else you will pay the price.
Dixie watching as the guys make their way over.
After showing them those canyons, we headed over to the canyon we were camped at the night before. Mule canyon. We played around and ran some trails up in the canyon and explored a bit more before lunch break.
James did a great job listening to me as i spotted him down this stairstep section.
Bryans F150 was so long, it actually made easy work of this decent. The front axle was doing something completely different than the rear. This hill wouldn't be too fun in a short wheel base jeep or suzuki. It's steeper than it appears in the photos.
Of course the cruiser is used to it's ways. It's seen worse action than this and never even flinched. However it was interesting to see the dog hold in the back while going down 40 degree hills!
Odessa to Mule Canyon Cutoff
After a great day of exploring we decided we needed to find a camp for the night. After heading up some of the tight canyons we came to a bluff out on a ridge. We had found a great spot that was off the beaten path and took a 4 wheel drive to get too. The views were breath taking and there wasn't a soul around!
You can see our campsite in the pictures below.
The terrain was rugged and beautiful. Look at the holes in the rocks. We were trying to find out how the ground got this way. We assumed rain/wind blew hard through this area and created these pockets in the rocks.
Looking out into Mule canyon to the East from high atop.
Video Clip: Campsite Night 2
After enjoying James home made jambalaya some nice steaks on the grill.. we enjoyed our last night out away from the city. Due to the fact that the wind was so heavy the night before.. we coulnd't stay up as late as we would have hoped. Our eyes started getting really heavy really fast. We turned in. It would be another windy night.
Waking up in the early morning is never fun. But this is what we had to accomplish this morning on day 3. Reason being is that the wind was picking up as the sun was rising and it was picking up fast! If we wanted to pack up and get rolling we needed to do it now before it became a task. We all decided to get up and break camp. Next stop was Intergration.
We aired up our tires, fueled up if needed and grabbed some quick breakfast. We were in no hurry to get home, no matter how much sleep we had lost. After stopping we headed for the one hour plus drive southeast to Intergration and the Giant Rock.
Arriving at Integratron and the Giant Rock
A little history - George Van Tassel, creator of the Integratron, was a legendary figure, an aeronautical engineer and test pilot who worked for Lockheed, Douglas Aircraft and alongside Howard Hughes at Hughes Aviation . He was also one of the leaders in the UFO movement who held annual "Spacecraft Conventions" at Giant Rock for 25 years. Van Tassel said UFO channelings and ideas from scientists such as Nikola Tesla led to the unique architecture of the Integratron. He spent 18 years constructing the building.A shot of Van Tassel
In 1947, after an exemplary career in aviation, Van Tassel moved his family to Giant Rock in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California and opened Giant Rock Airport and a cafe called The Come On Inn. He leased four square miles of land from the government, including Giant Rock, a 7-story high, freestanding boulder formerly sacred to the Native Americans who lived in the area.
Old Airport Photo
Van Tassel learned of Giant Rock from Frank Critzer, a prospector and desert dweller, who had excavated under the massive boulder to construct a dwelling of several small rooms protected from the fierce sun. Critzer had been killed in a explosion of the dynamite he kept stored in his rooms, the circumstances of which are still a mystery. The gutted rooms became storage for the Van Tassel family, but they slept outside the Rock and during the day tended the airport and their small cafe.
George Van Tassel began conducting weekly meditation sessions in 1953 in the rooms underneath Giant Rock which, he claimed, led to UFO contacts and finally to an actual encounter with extra-terrestrials when, in August of that year, a saucer landed from the plant Venus, woke Van Tassel up and invited him onto the ship. There the aliens gave him the technique for rejuvenating living cell tissues. In 1954 he and his family began building a structure they called The Integratron to perform the rejuvenation. George described his creation this way, "The Integratron is a machine, a high-voltage electrostatic generator that would supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure."
His annual Spacecraft Conventions were attended by tens of thousands across two decades, featuring speakers that included high profile UFO contactees and pioneers in the fields of antigravity, primary energy research and electromagnetics. Van Tassel led weekly meditations in the rooms under the rock from the 1950's to the 1970's, which he claimed led to UFO contacts.
The family hosted their UFO conventions at Giant Rock for almost 20 years to raise money for the Integratron project and asked supporters for donations. In 1959, 11,000 people attended the spacecraft convention, and Van Tassel continued to work on the Integratron while writing a number of books on time travel and rejuvenation. Van Tassel died suddenly in 1978, after which the buildings at Giant Rock were vacated and gradually vandalized until the Bureau of Land Management found it necesary to bulldoze the remains.
Today, the Integratron, with its amazing architecture, sound chamber and high energy, still stands and is maintained by a group that offers public tours, special events, "Sound Baths," and rentals of the property to a variety of groups spanning many interests. Many visitors experience the Integratron as a very powerful vortex for physical and spritual healing. Scientists who study the building call it "a mass battery" and a "magnetic room."
Adapted from 1997 Visitor's Guide and Service Directory, published by the Landers Chamber of Commerce
The rigs pulled up next to the giant rock. It's the worlds largest free standing boulder. You can really put it in perspective in this picture.
Bryan and James standing next to the rock showing how large it truly is. It covers 5,800 square feet of ground.
The end of the trips always come faster than we ever expect them too. It seems like you always wait and wait for the trip to come and before you know it it's already come and gone. This trip was no exception. After the giant rock we headed for home. We were all due for some real sleep. That was one thing everyone was ready for.
Special thanks to Bryan Van Allen and James Chatary for coming out and learning more about what we do. I think they're already excited for their next trip - Death Valley!