Slant Ranch/Last Chance Canyon Day Run

Trip Report
Slant Ranch/ Last Chance Canyon – October 17, 2009

John Cary - Trail Leader

Bill Cavan, Jerome & Theresa, Russ Mukai, Ric, Derek, Eric, Damian, Rob Miller, Mike and his friend Jim Robertson

The group met up at the usual spot in Chatsworth and left slightly after the planned 6:00 DT. After a fuel stop in Mojave, all ten Jeeps caravanned to the Slant Ranch Trailhead, aired down and headed up into the canyon with John leading and Mike as the tail gunner. Everyone made it over the canyon obstacles including the waterfall with a lot of entertainment but no real issues. Watching Eric this year was boring next to his launch up the waterfall last year when I though he was going to land his Cherokee on top of El Paso Mountain.
After coming out of Slant Ranch we took Nightmare Gulch Overlook trail around and down into Last Chance Canyon where we stopped for an early lunch at Cudahy Camp. The only thing that remains of the old talc mining camp is a few foundations and a grove of tamarisk trees that made for some nice shade. After lunch we took a right back toward the “V” Notch and the highway. We were running early which gave a bunch of us a lot of time to play in the “V” Notch going both ways and then got a chance to play on a few other obstacles along the way as we headed back towards the highway.
We then headed back to the 14 and north to Nightmare Gulch sans Damian. He needed to leave early for another commitment.
This was my first time up Nightmare Gulch since access is restricted due to scheduled closures for raptor nesting. The trail isn’t difficult, we all made it through without incident. The thing that made it so fun was the rock formations and coloring. The canyon looks like someone with a great big hand picked up giant scoops of wet sand and dripped them to create the canyon cliffs and side canyons.
After exiting Nightmare it was time to head back to the 14, air up then head to Mojave for a pizza at Giordano’s and the trip home.
No real problems during the day. Ric munched a mirror at the “V” Notch and Bill’s battery decided it didn’t want to charge anymore.
The weather was perfect with highs in the low 90’s, a light breeze and clear blue sky. All in all we all had a very nice day trip.