Truckhaven Hills, located in Southern California, nearby the Salton Sea, and close to the Ocotillo Wells SVRA, is a patchwork quilt of land parcels owned and managed by various agencies and private parties. It has been used for years as a premier OHV area and it remains that today (well, at least for now...see this article). Very stark and sparse as far as plants or animals, the Truckhaven Hills are made of narrow, sandy washes running between mud hills and valleys. It is quite possibly the most perfect jungle gym for OHVs I could imagine.

Got flex? If not, you better have lockers cause the windy, twisty trails of Truckhaven will test your rigs articulation quite nicely. There is actually quite of bit of stuff for milder rigs, but the tight chutes, loose climbs, and hundreds of hills and dales beckon you to go for the 'funner' lines. There are very few rocks of any size that I saw there and a casual tip over on a trail would likely end up getting your rig very dirty, but not too bent as the earth is very soft, somewhere between sand and typical dirt. Very odd stuff, but great for wheelin'. This weekend we came down to attend the CORVA fund raising event and wheel with some members of a Southern California 4X4 club, On The Rocks.

After waking up in the rolling condo of a club member the morning of the scheduled CORVA Truckhaven Extreme Challenge Poker Run, we were shocked to hear the news of the cancellation of the official event by CORVA. For more on that issue, see the article "The Event That Wasn't".

So, there we were, all loaded up and ready to go and no event. What else could we do but go wheelin' anyway? The cancellation only affected the organized run and all of the folks who were there were free to go wheelin' on their own. So, our little group headed out and hit the trails. It had rained the night before, so dust was low, traction was high, and fun was even higher.

I spent a good part of the time looking at views like this from the passenger seat of the Gen-Right Jeep owned by Tony of Gen-Right, manufacturers of high quality Jeep products and one of the product vendors.

You can see from the pics, that the options allow for lots for cool excursions into the twist-it-up zone.

Also, there are all kinds of hillclimbs, some that will really make you think twice before giving it a shot.

It is real easy to get a wheel...or several wheels...way off the ground here. It is hard to tell in the pic below, but the driver's side rear tire is in a big hole and the passenger side front tire of Mark's TJ is about 3 feet in the air. A bit more throttle and he would have gone turtle.

As we headed out to the Phone Booth, we came across this plaque set on a hillside.

We had lunch at the Phone Booth. Yes, it is a real phone that someone placed on top of one of the highest plateaus in the area. Amazing sight. Mom, I did call but no one was home. Honest.

There were all kinds of other rigs running around Truckhaven and one of them was this really clean CJ-8 Scrambler. the driver took about 5 shots at this hill until he made it with the help of determination and a Chevy V-8. Take a look at the seating options in this long Jeep.

We came across a unique area where a mud arch spanned a gully deep enough to hide a Jeep in and barely wide enough to squeeze through width-wise. Very cool. Then, club member Rich and his Formula Toy buggy decided to show all the Jeeps among us what lack of sheetmetal and skillfull driving can accomplish.

We wound our way back to camp where the vendors were set up and the BBQ was getting underway. The raffle goodies were all laid out and beckoning to us. In response to the cancellation of the official event and the potential loss of revenue to the CORVA organization, revenue that goes to legal costs incurred in working to keep public lands like this open for OHV use, I saw a lot of cash donations and many paid the money they would have expended for registration and even added more $$ to the pot. I also heard that, of those that had preregistered, almost no one asked for a refund. "Bully", I say.

There were some really nice rigs running around the hills. I spied this aluminum bodied Jeep sitting in camp. The paint was worth more than my Jeep! Really nice rig. I especially liked the simple and effective SUA set-up. The Eagle emblem was airbrushed on the bed mounted tool box.

To sign off, I will share this little gem we found on the second day of wheelin'. Click on the pic on the left first and see if you can tell what the arrow is pointing to, than click on the right pic. Yes, there is comfort in the great outdoors!