Club History

DESERT DAWGS

The Desert Dawgs 4 Wheel Drive Club was formed in October 1994. At that time, the 13 member families belonged to other clubs but wanted to form a separate club of individuals for the general purpose of assisting the South District of CA4WDC (California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs) in organizing successful fund-raising events. They were members of the committees for the two events, Hi Desert Round-up and Panamint Valley Days and had spent many hours on the trails in the preparation of these events. What really drew these members together was they truly enjoyed the each other’s company and the same style of 4-wheeling. They were also the most active members of their individual clubs.

Over the past decade, the club has remained active in all the South District events and conventions for CA4WDC. There has also been at least one member on the Board of Directors for CA4WDC in all these years representing the South District. With all their participation and activities with the CA4WDC events, conservation and trail building, we have won the prestigious Lew Seipert trophy 6 out of 7 year that we have applied. 

The club has also been instrumental in developing new trails around Southern California. One of the first trails run by the club was the infamous Stone Canyon in the Argus Range near Panamint Valley. It was during work on this trail that the idea of forming the club began to gel. This trail was extremely popular for those extreme 4 wheelers until its closure by the federal government several years ago.

Another popular run developed was Isham Canyon, also located in the Panamint area. This run is quite technical and requires skillful driving and a bold and daring attitude. This trail is still run every year at the annual Panamint Valley Days event.

Several other trails were created in the Stoddard Valley OHV area outside of Barstow over the past several years and are usually run during the annual Hi Desert Round-up. Among these great rock-crawling trails is the infamous “Pumpkin Eater”.

Currently the club has been exploring the Johnson Valley area, famous for the “Hammers”. There are several new trails being explored for more extreme 4-wheeling and rock crawling, including “Ball Buster”, “Corkscrew Canyon” and a newly named trail called “Stone Canyon South”.

Last update

06/02/2007