FAILED....tried to make it up to Bowen Ranch during Friday's rain

Okay, here is the deal, I checked the weather radar on Friday morning and it showed the winter storm dumping on the northern parts of LA county.....Orange county and Riverside county were not being affected at that time. I thought if I jumped in my car and left Long Beach I could make it up to the Bowen Ranch and set up my camp before the storm hit. WRONG!!! I made it up to Hesperia and by the time I got there (around 2:00pm) the rain was coming down in buckets! I figured I made it this far I may as well see how far I could get. I stopped at the Stater Bro's market on Main street and stocked up on food and continued on down Main St. to Rock Springs road. There was tons of water running along the curbs all the way down Main street, not a good sign. I made it to Rock Springs road and crossed the Mojave River, which was suprisingly almost dry. I thought that was a good sign, maybe I might have a chance of getting at least close to the Bowen Ranch. I was already resolved to having to sleep in my car if I could not make it to the Bowen Ranch camping area. Well there was a lot of water running across the road in many places on Rock Springs road past the Mojave river. I made it to Central Avenue and then made it to Bowen Ranch road. All this time it is raining cats and dogs. I have a front wheel drive Saturn wagon and I was doing okay until I got just past the ranch on Bowen Ranch road that has the big windmill. After that the road started to get real muddy and I started slipping and sliding. Also at that point the rain turned into snow. After one or two scary hill climbs, sliding all over the place I decided enough was enough. I found a good spot to make a three point turn and headed back home. Even though I had food and water I thought it best to head home and make another attempt on Saturday morning rather than taking a chance of getting stuck in the middle of Bowen Ranchs road on Friday night.

Moral of the story: I thought that since the Bowen Ranch road is mostly sandy that I could make it almost all the way to the ranch in the rain..... WRONG! There is lots of fine, clay like dust mixed in with the sand and when it rains it becomes a slick mess. I hope my experience might benefit some others who would want to attempt the Bowen Ranch road in the rain. If you have a four wheel drive vehicle you could probably make it but a wimpy front wheel drive car has no chance.

I will try to let you know how it works out on my second attempt on Saturday morning. I am going to see if I have some snow chains/cables for my car and I will bring them along as insurance on this second try. If I make it I will be spending the night at the ranch and hopefully the river will not be raging too high down at the hot springs so I can get across and enjoy a nice long soak ;-)