Not going to make it. Sorry! Was really looking forward to this.
You missed the best service project ever. We ended up with seven trucks total (mysef, dutchman, offroad_medic, and milo from the DesertRunners, joined by lilmule and his brother from ExpUt and Frieed from everywhere). We camped at the Wedge Friday night, the weather was great. Saturday morning we rolled in a little late at Buckmaster and missed the big briefing, but managed to hook up with one work crew. We spent a couple hours installing signs and carsonites, then the BLM had us spend a couple more hours driving around random "designated trails" that hadn't seen tires in decades just to mark them and show future drivers/OHVers there really was a road there. It was great. Buckmaster is full of uranium mining roads and old relics, and worth a return trip and a day or two of exploration. The BLM fellow I spoke to said we were the only group of full size rigs to show up - there were lots and lots of ATVs and side by sides and motos, even a group of mountain bikers. No wonder they get trails designated for them and we don't. I made sure the OHV coordinator Jaydon has my email, I'll do my best to help get word out next time they do something like this down there.
Black Dragon was fun. One of the locals warned us it was rough due to a flash flood last winter and didn't think we'd make it, but we went anyway. It was driveable, but just about all my stock full-size and trailer setup could handle. Rough driving and slow going, one spot trashed my running boards pretty good
and a couple other trucks picked up new dents, but we made it out without anything worse than one flat tire on Jackass Bench that got changed without any drama. I was too busy driving to get any good wheeling pics, hopefully some of the other guys can fill in the blanks. Copper Globe was great too, that's another road just rough enough to give a full-size some fun, and the mine relics at the site itself were super fun to explore. I gashed a sidewall pretty good on the way out, but we had no other trouble getting in and out.
Staging at the petroglyph site just inside Black Dragon canyon:
Vein of copper at Copper Globe:
Mine shaft and mini headframe at Copper Globe:
Tire changing lesson:
Hilift lesson:
Hashed running boards: