Saturday, March 12, 2016 (Trona Pinnacles, Searles Valley, CA)

We survived the blustery night and woke to a  clear sky and calm winds. There was even some fresh snow on the mountain tops to the east. Since we decided not to go to see the Pinnacles until this afternoon, we had a relaxing morning. Steve checked with the binoculars to make sure they were still standing. :-)

We weren't really looking forward to driving the truck for 4 1/2 miles on the rough road, so Steve went on line and checked the California OHV regs to see if we would need a Non Resident Permit to ride our quads.
Well, we now have our quads registered and plated from BC (new regulations this past year), so that is all we need here to ride them. Perfect! The road is much more conducive to (OHV) off road vehicles! So Steve off-loaded them while I made lunch.

So just before 1:00, we were off...Trona Pinnacles, here we come!

 We reached the Pinnacles and stopped to take a look at the information boards...

Now, this map leads you to believe that there is just one road around the perimeter...so we decided to take it counter-clockwise. However, once down amid the Pinnacles, there are actually roads going every which way!

Looking back towards our campsite at the entrance to the Pinnacles...

So our tour of Trona Pinnacles begins...(warning: tons of pictures! And remember, you just click on them to enlarge)

There were a couple of Class A motor homes here but we would never bring our rig in. It would be cool to camp here though...

We even tried to track down a few geocaches that were tucked away up in the pinnacles and were not very successful, only finding one. Pretty sure some of them have disappeared...

Panoramic shot...

Our rig is way back there...

Close up...

Steve was on his own in this search for a geocache...no, I'm not climbing up there! I actually have no problem with the going up bit...it's the coming back down that I'm not so good at...

You really need an off road vehicle to fully explore this area...

This guy was flying a drone above us as we rode through the Pinnacles...

As we were riding back a jet trainer flew by us at no more than I swear 75' of the deck...very cool! Later on 3 F-18 fighters flew by low and loud!

We're on our way home now. The train tracks to the south...

...and north towards our campsite...

It was after 3:00 by the time we got home. Time to load up the quads and get hitched up in preparation for leaving in the morning. This is a very cool area, we highly recommend it...especially if you have ATV's or an off road vehicle. We might have to keep it in mind for future visits...some great looking ATV trails in this area!