Sign in Subscribe
Adventure

1800 mile 5 desert solo overland trip (SoCal)

Anza Borrego, Algodones Dunes, Joshua Tree, Mojave, Death Valley

Troy Angrignon

• 7 min read
1800 mile 5 desert solo overland trip (SoCal)

These are some of my favorite photos of a trip I did in fall of 2019, covering 1800 miles across 5 deserts in Southern California solo. Areas included Anza Borrego, Algodones, Death Valley, the Mojave, and Joshua Tree. The route was in two parts.

  1. Drive from the bay area down to Anza Borrego to do shake out the truck, and gear and get to know what the vehicle could do. (I had sold a 4Runner to move to the LR4).
  2. Then get on the Pacific Coast Overland Route down near the Mexico border and follow that route as far as I could in the time available. I did about 2/3 of the California segment.
Started with new tires and wheels
Lashing and loading is critical
Lashing & loading continued
The IIDTool was mission critical for tracking the engine metrics in real-time
No I did not drive over this.
The "office" at night - checking photos and videos from the day
The LifeSaver jerry may be my favorite piece of kit. It can filter 20,000 liters of filthy mud into clean water.
I learned this trick from Andrew St. Pierre White - always put your headlamps back on the headreset so that you can find them again when you need them.
My first solo BLACK (hard) trail. I took my time but it was definitely work to make sure I didn't ding the truck.
I had so many great campsites like this. Nobody for miles around me.
I forgot to visually clear this dune and didn't have a flag so I chickened out and took my foot off the gas as I crested and high-centered it. Good reminders: 1) always visually clear on foot first; 2) don't let your foot off the gas before you crest; 3) always bring a shovel and a pair of maxtraxx.
I love my ARB Twin + InDeflate kit that lets me inflate and deflate two tires at once.
Scout resting up for another day of adventures tomorrow
Looking backwards (south) into Joshua Tree where I had just come from
This night was cold and windy and incredible.
I love when this thing is jacked up with the IIDTool
Morning over Joshua tree

Sign up for more like this.

Enter your email
Subscribe