2017 - Trip Report - Patton's Cabin, Rondy Outbound

Patton’s Cabin

2017 Rondy outbound trip

By Jerry Dupree

The trip was attended by Jerry and Dolly Dupree, Bob Jacoby, and Bill Powell. Dolly and I had been on the Patton’s cabin trip through Palen Pass from Highway 177 heading east several years ago. This time we needed to find the other end from the Blythe area. I have a book entitled California Trails Desert Region by Peter Massey with maps and GPS coordinates. Sadly, I lost my GPS receiver on another trip and thought I had carelessly left it on my bumper or tailgate. I was inconsolably despondent and went back to look for it a couple of times. All of our trips were recorded on it, so I bought a new GPS that had many more functions that my favorite old one. They make them with walkie talkies, cameras, and other functions I don’t care about. We located the end of the road we were looking for by using the GPS, but I was driving and couldn’t see the map. Well, we took a wrong turn. In my opinion Patton’s Canyon is not the destination, but the history of the area we were traveling through was very historical as a WWII desert training area. Looking at it from satellite photos on Google Earth, one can see tank tracks, building outlines, runways, etc. I have my doubts whether Patton actually lived in that cabin for any length of time. It is about the size of a two car garage, built of wood, with a shed roof. It would have been a vantage point to watch military maneuvers. Any way, we missed it and took the wrong road. The scenery was the same, but we missed going through Palen Pass, which was dangerous when we were there last time as there was a washout on a hillside road and we could have ended up in the bottom of the canyon. That trip was one reason we wanted to join Desert Explorers as we were very aware of safety of traveling in a group. The road we had taken ended up on Highway 62, near Vidal Junction. I enjoyed the trip, but I am sure the group was disappointed in losing the way.

The trip has a happy ending, sorta. Dolly saw something caught between the console and the passenger seat. It was my beloved GPS with all of my wandering spots recorded on it. Now I can’t get lost again. Every trip, track, and trail is in there.    ~ Jerry