I left my house early to make sure I arrived on time 9am rental. At 850am, a text message read:…read more"Here is the location we are using for your 9 am pick up." This is Dylan with a map marker. A few minutes later, he called me asking where I was. I said I'm making a turn, but my GPS says go straight, and the street sign says road closed. I had to pass the road closed sign to get to the rental location. After I parked, Dylan came out to greet me. He took me into the office, asked for my ID, asked if I had ridden before, and then told me that the handlebars were $90. I asked why he told me about handlebars, and he said it's because some people get charged for them. He then said that if I came back early, he would give me a discount. I said, "Cool, thank you". I then went to my car to change. I met him at the ATV, where he explained the controls, and I thanked him. Dylan then told me to follow him; he was going to show me some areas. He took a razor, and I followed him on the ATV. He took me to a place under a bridge where people hang out. It had chairs, a basketball hoop, a basketball, and a lot of stickers. He then took me to a windmill. At the windmill, I asked what the marker was for to get back to the rental shop. He said to use the tall antenna, which is close to him. I thanked him, and I went off on my own. At first, I was excited and explored the area. I was worried I might get lost.
This place is nothing like Ocotillo Wells. Ocotillo Wells is a State Vehicular Recreation Area with a map, Marked trails (with names), and Unique Geologic sites.
Ocotillo, where I was, is just a desert. I tried to keep track of where I went. I found some medium hills, went up, took some pictures, and then went back down. Then, I continued exploring the area. It was fun until I went up to a sign that said BOMBING AREA- DO NOT ENTER. I called Dylan from my cell phone, and he said, "Don't go in there." I said, "What's this about? He said they do testing over there, but are not currently doing anything at this time. I thanked him and hung up. I went away from the signs and found another one that said Laser Targeting DO NOT ENTER. I decided to go towards the main road instead to see if I could get out of the area. I then see a Sign that says Navy Reserve, DO NOT ENTER. I then turned around and kept riding. I found a path that avoided the signs. After 10minutes of riding, another sign popped up saying NO VEHICLES, NO ATVS, NO DIRT BIKES. I then went another direction after riding for 5 minutes. Another sign said NO TRESPASSING. At this point, I was irritated. I rented an ATV only to be told I couldn't ride in the area I was put in.
On my way back I was able to see the windmills. I found a path to the right and followed it, which brought me closer to the mountains. I went up some hills, then followed the path, but I felt like I was going to get lost because I didn't know where I was going. There are no trail names here. I kept going, then somehow ended up going down a hill. I made a right and kept going, which took me to a path I'd been on before, where the hills were. I then kept going toward the cell tower and returned it to the ATV rental spot. I got some drinks from my car and took a break. I looked around the shop, and no one was around. I rang the bell, looked at the garage and the office, but no one was there. So I called Dylan and asked where he was. I needed gas. He said he was at the other rental location setting up people. If I was done riding? I told him I needed gas. He told me to get it from the blue truck that has a pump on top. I thanked him. I filled up the gas tank and went riding again.
I then rode to the left side of the ATV rental place. I liked this place at first because it had more hills. Then I followed a trail that led to more hills. Unfortunately, the fun was short-lived. As I kept going, I saw an area that said DO NOT ENTER MINING in progress. I said, "ok, whatever." I still had a trail on the side of it. I continued and saw some guys hitting some targets with guns, so I went another direction. I kept going until I saw a No Trespassing sign. I tried another way and then kept going straight until I saw a cement wall like at US border with DO NOT ENTER. I was completely blocked. I got tired of not being able to explore much on the right side due to the BOMB signs and No trespassing and NOW the left side had DO NOT ENTER signs and cement walls.
I rented for 8hrs but I finished the area in 6hrs due to it having closed areas. When I returned Dylan said the ATV was good. I asked about the discount for returning early. He said he would have to talk to his grandfather he doesn't know how to process it. Update 5 days later I called and wasn't given a discount as mentioned when I first arrived
