In Search Of Water In The Desert: Photos And Ride Report

Eric and I spent some time in southeastern Oregon and northwestern Nevada last summer on our way home from Idaho. I had a busted up ankle so we were in the van, but we really wanted to go back and do some exploring on the bikes after I healed up. This Memorial Day seemed like the best time to do it so we packed up for a week and headed out of town in the Pleasure Palace in search of water...mostly hot, with Eric's LC4 and my Husky and KTM 450 in tow.


We camped on a creek in far northwestern NV. Now, it may look like your average, run of the mill, garden variety desert creek, but no...this crystal-clear creek just happened to run about 104 degrees at night, a bit warmer during the day...



We decided to load up the bikes with all our camping gear and take a little spin in the hills, just to make sure everything was secure and working the way we wanted it to, as we had a few overnight bike-camping trips planned. We headed south towards the Pine Forest range, hoping the snow up top would not impede our progress...




Ooh! Look! Hot water!




The 102-degree water was bubbling up from the bottom...




Heading off to the east. Anyone notice anything new on my bike?




Over the rise, down across the valley and up into the hills. Can you see the road climbing up into the rocks on the other side?








The road we came in on is visible way in the center background, as is the white dry lakebed near the warm pool...










Ride it while you can, folks, as most of this stuff is a Wilderness Study Area now...




My first attempt at "stitching" a panoramic shot together was performed on this scenic little lake we found...




Up above the lake the road turned pretty rocky and even more scenic. No tracks could be seen at all, only ours. The road ended here at about 8000'. I wanted to camp here but Eric was afraid we'd freeze our butts off at night. We had lunch and then headed back down to the lake instead...








Camera Disclaimer: We bought a new camera before we left...like the very day before we left, and I couldn't see it very well without my glasses. The photos probably could have been better, but at least Eric had our old camera so there will actually be some photos of me on this trip


To be continued...


WoodsChick

I forgot to show you the shrine we saw as we headed out of camp down the valley...





Ok, back down to the lake and down out of the mountains...




We skirted the lake and then went looking for a different route up the other side. We found it, but I guess we had some climbing to do before we headed back down...
























We dropped off the mountain and headed through a canyon filled with wildflowers...



We ended up near the marshy end of yet another dry lake bed. We poked around a bit and this is what we found...












We high-tailed it back to camp in order to make it before sunset. What started out as a quick warm-up ride to test out our loading prowess turned out to be an all-day 120-mile adventure.

This is how the day ended...







More to come...



WoodsChick

Do continue with your tale.

Day 2 had us heading up into Oregon for an overnight camping trip. We headed north through this small valley and headed up into the Pueblo Range and over Domingo Pass...



The road through the valley pictured above pretty much consisted of 2 silty and sandy ruts with a high grassy crown in the middle. We were trying to ride side by side most of the time so I wouldn't be getting dusted out too bad and I gotta say, it was pretty exciting at times I think my 610 handles better than Eric's LC4 in this stuff, as he was all over the place while I rode in defensive mode right next to him. It was a lot of fun!


Climbing up off the plateau into Domingo Pass...






A view showing a bit of the switchbacky descent on the eastern side of the pass..



We hadn't seen another human being besides ourselves in 2 days, til we got behind a rancher with a horse trailer down below. He never even knew we were there (probably wasn't expecting to see anyone so wasn't looking) so we ultimately ended up passing him in the weeds.

We headed north up the valley towards Fields, which consists of a gas station/store/cafe, a telephone booth, and the cleanest port-a-potties you'll ever find...



The last time we were here there was an airplane parked at the telephone booth. I guess they just land on the "highway" out front. There would be more planes in our future before too long...


We'd been looking forward to their burgers for a long time...

Mine...



His...



We left right as the Harleys showed up. I guess they were heading to Run-a-Mucca, an annual event in Winnemucca that culminates in something called "Burning Bike" (how original...) where they set a bike on fire, probably a Honda. They used to do something similar at the San Jose Mile in the 70's

We wanted to do the loop through the Steens but there was too much snow this time of year. We settled on a circumnavigation of the Alvord Desert instead, still in search of water...




Look! More hot water!





108 degrees...too hot for me! Besides, we had desert to ride...




Oh, what's this? More hot water?



It was blazing hot out here. I un-velcro'd the bottoms of my Klim mesh pants (perfect for this trip! I wore them every day) and folded them up over my thighs. What a nice feature!

Cue the theme from Jaws...



So what do we do? We go in and take the temperature of the water!


Can't remember what the temp was, but Eric had to pull his hand away before the digital thermometer finished rising. This pool was a frighteningly deep bottomless pit. Neat-o! The snow-covered Steens can be seen in the background.

This one was a tad warm...



As was this one...(remember folks, new camera, no glasses, didn't read the instructions...)




This one looked about right, though...




Check out my glamorous pants...



We headed up the valley, taking a very circuitous route to our final destination. Don't blame me if your postcards are late...




No one was home...





WoodsChick

Great stuff, although I don't know which is more dangerous; finding all those scalding hot springs or having to ride in your helmets with onion breath.

We were a bit concerned about gas and daylight so we decided to take a shortcut through a small dry lake. We figured we could cut across and maybe find a track through the sagebrush that would take us in the general direction we needed to go. We could always cross-country it if we had to...



Some of this stuff was quite moist, adding to the level of apprehension in regards to our new short-cut. I've been on the playas before when they were wet and believe me when I say it is not the place to be if you don't feel like slipping and falling every 3 feet.


Our fears were totally unfounded...the playa was sweet!













While riding along the shoreline, foolishly looking for non-existent tracks that would show us the way off the playa, we found a cairn that pointed us in the right direction. This place doesn't get much use, apparently. We followed this main road til it turned into a not-so-main road...



I though all dogs slowly walked around in circles before lying down? Apparently the Husky breed does not do this...



Note the sand on my front tire

This area was pretty neat and we ended up doing some creative route-finding out here. This was kinda my favorite part of the ride on this day. It was exciting, it was sometimes fast and sometimes technical, we had to use the GPS and a compass, and I managed to get both wheels off the ground at the same time Knowing I'd be carrying more fuel and camping gear, I had gotten some stiffer springs (front and rear) from Les before leaving. I must say, the touchdown was much more pleasant and drama-free than I thought it would be. It is a bit more exciting getting a gear-laden 610 airborne than, say, a 125 MX'er, that's for sure I actively looked for opportunity to do it again and again


We made it to camp about 5:30pm with 132 miles on the clock. We were quite pleased to see that someone had left us a nice stack of firewood As I always say, leap and the net will appear



Check out our fancy clothesline...




As soon as we got camp set up and our clothes hung up, we went for a dip in the cool side of the pool...




The warm side...




The smaller side was 104 degrees, the larger side was a very pleasant 94 degrees...




Eric likes playing with fire...



We soaked the night away and just had a grand ol' time at our little oasis in the desert. Did you know you can fit almost 2 bottles of wine into a leather bota bag? Well, take it from me...you can!


WoodsChick

Hey Thanx.
It made my afternoon. See'n all those pics. Eric and you must have had a great time. Do you guys start early in the morning when the temperature is a little cooler? Did you see any other bikes...well beside the "Wild Hogs"
I like the little vids. Glad you left the second one so we could hear your voice.
What type of camera did you guys get? We picked up the Olympus 850 SW a while back, great little camera that tucks in your pocket.
Takes good pictures and OK vids, plus it's water Proof!
Did you have any troubles with finding fuel? Looks like you can get about 600 miles out of your tank..
Anyways, Thanx again for sharing.
It's like watching the "Discovery Channel"

Made me want to go discover it.

Thanks, guys! Well, that's what we did...went out and discovered it. No one showed it to us, we just had a good map, common sense and full tanks of fuel Anyone can do it!


WoodsChick

Yeah, we started early in the day. It was usually 45-50 degrees when we got up and got the first soak of the day in. The hottest it got was in the high 80's, but it felt hot and steamy at those crusty hot springs.
We got rained on a few times, too, but no big deal. Rain is simply magic in the desert. It's worth it to get soaked when can you smell the wet sage and the wet sand

I always sound like a little kid when I hear my own voice. I wish I had one of those sultry voices like Eve Arden. Anyone remember her?

I got a Canon A1000IS. I'm not all that thrilled with it. It seems to focus only in the middle of the photo and then the edges get progressively blurry. I'm sure it has more to do with me not really reading the instructions and not wearing my glasses most of the time I was using it. My older and severely beaten Canon A560 almost takes better photos! It's ok, though, they're only riding photos and now that Eric is using the older Canon he takes more photos because it's easier to use (and see what you're doing.) He took 97 photos and I took
277

We never looked for fuel, although we knew we could get it in a few places if we'd needed it. We always had enough for 240+ miles when we left camp so we were good to go.

My photobucket file is so huge with all the photos in it. It is taking me forever to get this thing posted... I'll keep plodding along.


WoodsChick

We slept well in our tent. Our breakfast of eggs with ham and bell peppers was really tasty, especially considering it was freeze-dried
We had a steaming cup of coffee (sippy cup with a French press) and 2 juicy oranges. Great way to have fresh juice while camping and they travel well in a backpack Here's a bit of early morning camping/riding/soaking glamour for y'all...



Eric really was having a good time even though he doesn't look like it...




We soaked one last time, got suited up and headed south outta Dodge...






Our route followed a really nice creek...




Well, it was nice and all right up until it crossed our path...



Had there been more than 2 of us, or if we'd been on the smaller bikes we probably would have gone for it. As it was, though, it was about 4 or 5 feet deep with a really silty bottom. No thanks! We turned around and looked for an alternative route to where we wanted to go. We found some fun stuff but we had used half our fuel and wanted to make sure we didn't have any issues out here...





The creek crossing that thwarted our progress is clearly visible at the bottom of the hill...



We decided to head back the way we came and take a different route back to camp. We were bombing along about 50mph on a gravel road and I ran over a snake. I was bummed, thinking I'd killed him for sure, but couldn't resist the urge to go back and look at him. I caught up to Eric and we turned around. Much to my surprise, he was slithering out of the road when we got there, his tongue flickering back and forth and just looking pretty pissed off in general. He probably wasn't happy about the 5" wide dusty mark that was left on his back (middle?) by my rear tire




We were headed into some rain and the winds were picking up. We knew we had some road riding to do so we stopped to put our jackets on...



Good thing we weren't screwing around trying to find a way out of the desert on the routes we were on earlier, as about 40 miles before we got back to camp Eric was draining fuel out of my supertanker for his
LC4...




We hit the bright lights of the big city...



They do things a little differently in Nevada, as evidenced by the corner of Rodeo Drive and Sunset Boulevard...



We got back to camp with a little over 200 miles logged. We'd only had the one extra gallon of fuel on my bike and Eric wasn't getting the mileage he should have been getting. He was jetted too rich and so he did a bit of rejetting when we got back. We unloaded the camping gear, topped the bikes off and headed back out in search of some more water, this time a little cooler as it was hot out.

More to come...


WoodsChick

We entered Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and made a beeline for the warm springs. There is a showerhouse there that was built by the WPA in the 30's. It's made of a really neat pink limestone quarried on the refuge. I don't know why I didn't take any photos of the pool this time.These photos were taken last summer...





The water is about 5-6 feet deep, nice and warm like a warm swimming pool, and is crystal clear with big fish swimming in it...



The showers run warm springs water all the time non-stop, and there is a book exchange in it, too...





We showered up with soap and shampoo and headed out for more fun and adventure...in the rain, as it turned out.



Wild burros run rampant in this part of Nevada...





Nice view on the way back to camp...








We pulled into camp with an additional 75 miles under our belts. These big bikes sure are fun


More to come tomorrow...maybe.



WoodsChick

Hmm...I hadn't even thought of that

No wonder there wasn't a whole lot of kissin' goin' on while riding

Those burgers were so good! Mine was $10.50, we each had an iced tea, and we split a killer chocolate milkshake. I think the bill was $30 or so, but much like $5 per gallon gas in the middle of nowhere, it was a great deal! What a treat to have something like that out in the middle of nowhere! I've paid much more for lesser quality food in the city so I was quite pleased with the whole deal. I was kinda hurting when we left but we didn't have to eat anything else the rest of the day



WoodsChick

Of course he does; I tell him all the time

He does pay a price for the companionship, though. We ride all the time, and we each have a few bikes we ride. Imagine your worst month of maintenance and times it by 2. He does all the maintenance on the bikes, I do everything else. I'm also really picky about a lot of things and he handles all of my requests in a timely manner. I am also hard on the equipment when on a real dirt bike and he spends a lot of time fixing the results of my...exuberance. Finally, he has a gal that doesn't have nice long fingernails (gloves don't fit) has split ends in her hair (constant wind causes breakage) has more than her fair share of scars and bruises, and hardly ever gets to prance around in dresses and such. He has also spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms, pharmacies, ERs, doctor's offices, and spent a lot of time and effort taking care of me after some of my more memorable injuries. I guess the grass isn't always greener on the other side



WoodsChick