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So for those of you who might want to do a bit of exploring around Southern California, I pre-screened Red Canyon Jeep Trail and this is an XV friendly trail.
I took the 10 East to Chiriaco Summit, and turned onto the frontage road which is Pinto Rd and headed back west 1.1 miles to the BLM info kiosk which marked the start of Red Canyon Jeep Trail (SR2013), and also has the most up to date rules on off road travel in this area.
The rules have changed quite a bit in the last 6 years, so it is good to check.
The rule is to stick to the established trail and the wildlife boundary is now 30' on either side of the trail and NOT 100' like it used to be.
The first 1.9 miles is rough buckboard with huge amounts of side to side shaking, but the trail is fairly wide and pretty clean. There are some patches of soft sand but stay on established tracks that are well compacted about 3 inches under the soft sand. Some good easy hills where I only bottomed a few times softly.
Be sure to stick to the correct trail at mile 1.9 by veering to the left when it splits. The right will take you into the wilderness area which is a big NO-NO. Also be aware that someone got a claim for the land to the East of the trail and even though the roads that head east look well traveled it is trespassing.
Once you take the left fork, the trail gets a little more challenging. The bushes will try to give you some desert pin stripping and you might need to fold in your mirrors to narrow the width of your car. Be aware of some big rocks that work there way into the road during wash crossing. some can cause probs, and you might have to move them.
From Mile 2.3 to about mile 4, the road has dips, curves, off camber turns, deep washes, ruts and soft deep sand. Most of the sections of soft sand are really short, but at mile 4 the sand gets really deep as you drive through a wash for about half a mile.
Once you get into the Orocopia mountains you will see the red rocks that make up red canyon. This is beautiful and there is some great hiking around here.
At mile 5.6, you will come to a rocky shelf with a really rough road that heads off to the right (WEST) and climbs up into the Orocopia mountains. It has recently been closed by large wood posts to stop all traffic for wildlife management. This is a great trail to hike to get up to the deserted Orocopia Fluorospar mine. The Fluoride here is Yellow green and purple and the whole area has lots of rocks that have been washed down the hill, so this is a great place to go Gem hunting.
The road gets heavily rutted and wash board bumpy but it is more open desert and less rocks for the remaining few miles to the Bradshaw trail. The best part was when a MARINE helicopter was doing desert exercises and flew about 15 feet over us and they all smiled and waved. They were probably wondering about the weird family in the middle of no where in the desert during the summer.
All in all, this is a great way to exploring some of the deserted mines from the 1920's.
Have fun and enjoy your Subaru's
I took the 10 East to Chiriaco Summit, and turned onto the frontage road which is Pinto Rd and headed back west 1.1 miles to the BLM info kiosk which marked the start of Red Canyon Jeep Trail (SR2013), and also has the most up to date rules on off road travel in this area.

The rules have changed quite a bit in the last 6 years, so it is good to check.

The rule is to stick to the established trail and the wildlife boundary is now 30' on either side of the trail and NOT 100' like it used to be.

The first 1.9 miles is rough buckboard with huge amounts of side to side shaking, but the trail is fairly wide and pretty clean. There are some patches of soft sand but stay on established tracks that are well compacted about 3 inches under the soft sand. Some good easy hills where I only bottomed a few times softly.
Be sure to stick to the correct trail at mile 1.9 by veering to the left when it splits. The right will take you into the wilderness area which is a big NO-NO. Also be aware that someone got a claim for the land to the East of the trail and even though the roads that head east look well traveled it is trespassing.

Once you take the left fork, the trail gets a little more challenging. The bushes will try to give you some desert pin stripping and you might need to fold in your mirrors to narrow the width of your car. Be aware of some big rocks that work there way into the road during wash crossing. some can cause probs, and you might have to move them.

From Mile 2.3 to about mile 4, the road has dips, curves, off camber turns, deep washes, ruts and soft deep sand. Most of the sections of soft sand are really short, but at mile 4 the sand gets really deep as you drive through a wash for about half a mile.

Once you get into the Orocopia mountains you will see the red rocks that make up red canyon. This is beautiful and there is some great hiking around here.

At mile 5.6, you will come to a rocky shelf with a really rough road that heads off to the right (WEST) and climbs up into the Orocopia mountains. It has recently been closed by large wood posts to stop all traffic for wildlife management. This is a great trail to hike to get up to the deserted Orocopia Fluorospar mine. The Fluoride here is Yellow green and purple and the whole area has lots of rocks that have been washed down the hill, so this is a great place to go Gem hunting.

The road gets heavily rutted and wash board bumpy but it is more open desert and less rocks for the remaining few miles to the Bradshaw trail. The best part was when a MARINE helicopter was doing desert exercises and flew about 15 feet over us and they all smiled and waved. They were probably wondering about the weird family in the middle of no where in the desert during the summer.

All in all, this is a great way to exploring some of the deserted mines from the 1920's.
Have fun and enjoy your Subaru's