Alright group, here's some more info regarding meet-up and what to expect on the trip:
We will meet up as a group in the dirt RV/Truck parking lot across the street from the World's Tallest Thermometer located at 72155 Baker Blvd, Baker, CA 92309. The meet-up time will be at 9:30 am at the latest, please don't be late! Please arrive in Baker early enough to gas up and get whatever else you need before we meet. There are many gas stations with small markets, but no grocery stores or department stores. Ice, beer, gas, etc shouldn't be a problem. My family and I will arrive in town a little early and will probably have breakfast at the Bob's Big Boy restaurant next to the thermometer before we all meet up.
According to my calculations, our total mileage from Baker through the preserve and back to Baker again should be just over 100 miles. Therefore, we should be more than ok with a single tank of fuel. That being said, I will still be bringing some emergency fuel just in case.
As previously stated, we will take Kelbaker Road into the preserve, stopping at some petroglyphs and then on to the Lava Tubes. We'll air down at Kelbaker Road and Aiken Mine Road just before hitting the dirt, and will be driving mostly dirt for the remainder of the day with a few small bursts of pavement. We'll take (paved) Cima Road back up to our camp site for the night, which will be our longest drive on the pavement while aired down (about 6 miles on pavement).
On day two, I'd like to break camp by 8:30 or so and hit the road. We won't cover nearly as much ground, but will spend a good amount of time stopping at various old building sites to explore. We'll likely be back at the pavement and airing back up before 1:00 pm at the latest, and it's about a 40 minute drive back into Baker from there to fuel back up. My goal is to be back home to the Temecula area between 4:00 and 5:00 pm.
