Kokopelli 3 - 3 Corners

As you know I nearly beg people to send me GPS track logs of the trails they take in order to expand the files I have on the "official" web site: offroadinghome.com

In order to "prime the pump" so to speak I rode, under invitation, with the Kokopelli ATV club to the "3-corners" and showed them how to use the GPS and set waypoints. [For a free Google Earth map of this route see: Kokopelli 3 - 3 Corners]

Planned in advance, we felt a bit of pressure to ride - even though the sky was threatening to spit at us all day. We trailer'd to the Mormon Wagon Trail Trailhead. It's a bit tight on parking space.

A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”
Tim Cahill

Even though our friend Paul had taken us there before it was a neat ride for me because this time I found an answer to a long time question I had about Joshua Tree "baby's"; namely, "where were they."

Remember me telling you that in all of our rides so far, it is clear that there were only old plants everywhere. The trail we followed was through a great "forest" of the plants, AND there were plants of all ages - especially young ones! So now the question - why here and not there?

You know you are getting close when you cross under the power lines. Entering the wash through the trees, you need to pick your way through the willows and find the "trail" that people are currently using. It is a wash after all and the channel keeps changing.

However, there is enough interest that there is always a good trail to follow. Going north if you run into the fence that goes across the wash, you are at the Utah/Nevada border and just across the fence is the lowest point in Utah. If you've gone that far, you need to retreat back down the wash but follow the Western cliffs until you come to the fairly substantial Sandy Wash, running West.

This is the really fun part. You sort of feel like a gerbil running a maze. The serpentiginous, high walled trail is guaranteed to make you seasick if you take it too fast.

When you come out of the maze, you cross through a gate in a fence and turn North up the hill. Follow the fence line North and you will shortly come to the flag and red cement marker for 3-corners.

There is an ammo box wrapped in plastic which contains a "log" of entries from visitors from many years worth of travelers.

There are several ways out of the area, but the thing about ATVs is it's nearly always a round trip back to the start. This trail requires going back down Sandy Wash into Beaver Dam Wash.

On the way back we went North a bit to see the Apex Mine trailhead. A great ride - and many thanks to the club. [If you have a track we can use on the site, send an email or leave a comment]