Morongo Basin Search and Rescue Team Sponsors 34th Annual Desert Run

Volunteers with the Morongo Basin Search and Rescue Team are sponsoring their 34th Annual Desert Run, Oct. 4 to Oct. 6 in Johnson Valley, to offset costs for equipment and training.

Tickets for the Desert Run are $55 for those who pre-register online by Oct. 1, or $60 at the event, according to organizers.

The base camp will be located at Means Dry Lake this year, just off Boone Road.  Take State Route 247, 19 miles north from Yucca Valley, or 26 miles south from Lucerne Valley, to Boone Road. Turn east on Boone Road and follow the signs to the base camp.

Here's more from the announcement distributed by Sgt. Rick Millard of the sheriff's Morongo Basin Station:

This is a family event - not a race. The Desert Run will be held over the weekend of October 5th and consists of a 15 to 20 mile course designed to meet a variety of off-road challenges.

You must have a four-wheel drive vehicle to participate and the trail will be marked "Easy" and "Hard" so you can choose which challenge you would like to take.

On the course, you will encounter sandy washes, steep hills and some beautiful scenery with checkpoints throughout the course.

While on the course, participants will stop at checkpoints to play a game. Halfway through the course, there will be a checkpoint with a porta-potty.

Vendors will set up displays at the base camp and we will have entertainment on Saturday night. There will be prizes and trophies awarded to first, second and third place game winners.

The Morongo Basin Search and Rescue Team, a volunteer group with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, first formed in 1972, according to the team's website.

The team has more than 40 members, all volunteers, who try to cover 5,200 square miles in the Morongo Basin and the Mojave Desert.

Members of the Search and Rescue Team train every year for desert survival, tracking, land navigation, first aid/CPR, technical rock rescue and rappelling.

"All members are certified and meet requirements on a national level," Millard said. "The volunteers are on call 24 hours per day and must equip themselves with personal survival gear necessary to accomplish their missions."

Average annual costs are $300 to $600 per person, and most spend more than that on specialized gear. Team equipment that requires maintenance and replacement includes rope rigging gear, radios, GPS and laptop computers for mapping and coordinating searches.

For more info on the Desert Run visit www.desertrun.org, the team's website, www.mb-sar.org/content/about-morongo-basin-search-and-rescue, or call Morongo Basin Search and Rescue at (951) 203-6816.