Searched For Water In The Desert, Found Some Drama Instead

Eric and I headed up to NW Nevada once again for the Memorial Day holiday. We had a whole week off this time and took off early morning Wednesday May 26. Got booted off Hwy 80 at Colfax due to a diesel spill up on the summit. No problem, we just had to re-route over 49 through the mountains, adding 3 hours to an already long trip. An extra added bonus was going over the summit in the snow...



We arrived at camp 12 hours later under threatening skies...



We set up camp before the rains came and soaked away the evening.

After some overnight rain the next day was absolutely perfect. I was anxious to get on the 610 since it had some new shoes...




I was thinking full-on knobs might be a little aggressive for what we were planning, but as it turned out the rains and some of the places we ended up made them the perfect choice. I figured I'd be satisfied if they lasted long enough to get me through the week, since they were only $86 for the set, but the front still looks brand new and the rear only shows some wear on the leading edge of the middle knob. I think I can get a few more Nevada trips out of them! Eric said it was incredibly impressive riding behind me, as they were digging out embedded softball sized rocks and chucking them great distances. They were a lot of fun


We headed out the next morning for a little 50-mile warm-up loop...








Hmm...lots of wash-outs in the desert this time of year...












The desert is spectacular out here, especially after some rain. It almost looked tropical...






Bad line selection going up the hill...




Doesn't look very steep, does it?




Where we'd just come from...






Pink sandstone...




Virgin Valley Warm Springs...

















More to come!



WoodsChick

I'm just waiting.....

Crazy looking rocks in the desert...




The springs keep the meadows green...




Ahh...102 degrees...should be perfect!




And it was...






We bombed back to camp and went for a walk along the creek...



It's beautiful, but a little hot for me...








The source...






More to come...




WoodsChick

The next day we decided to see if we could find a route over the mountains that would take us to the Alvord Desert. It ended up being a much longer day than we had anticipated, but we plonked around a bit, and this is what we found...
















We ended up going south out of the range and dropping down to the pavement for a few miles, but decided we'd come back here the next day and look around some more. We found more water on the way...




We decided to tackle the mountain range from the eastern side. We had a few false starts...





The view in front of my bike here was spectacular. Can't believe I didn't get a photo of it.




We climbed 1100' in about a mile to this dead end. It was steep in parts but my new knobbies were up to the task...






We poked around a bit and finally found the track we were looking for!



It pretty much disappeared but was faint enough to follow, so follow we did...
















I will admit I totally dropped the ball here and did not get photos of some of the stunning scenery on this track. There were meadows and valleys and such, but I was too busy keeping the mighty 610 on 2 wheels and didn't reach for my camera as often as I should have.



Heading down the canyon back out to the desert floor...








Blasted into Fields for burgers, shakes and gas...




We were so full we could barely walk when we left.


More to come...

Thanks, guys. It really is a fun place to explore. Not exactly dirt riding, but it does get a little exciting at times. I just love seeing new stuff and I have a terminal case of "Ooh, I wonder where that goes?"

Patience, my darling. Only one more day to go

Why, yes, I do believe "big country" is an apt description for this area




WoodsChick

We decided to take the powerline road across the dry lake bed, but had to do a little exploring first...




If the BLM can leave this scary place open with just a warning sign, why can't they do the same with Clear Creek??








Aresnic or not, it's a little too hot for me...




I was walking through the grassy meadow and almost stepped in this hot pot...




We backtracked to the powerline and left the desert floor far behind...



You'd think it would be pretty easy to follow a powerline road, wouldn't you? This one went up and down ridges for miles on end, and it took us longer to follow it than we thought. Sometimes it would veer away from the lines and we'd have to figure out how to get back to it, sometimes cross-countrying in order to not wander too far into the wild green yonder. It was 4:45pm when this photo was taken...




We came across this small herd of wild horses...




And then found a much larger herd over the next ridge. There were about 20 of them here, although a few of them were already out of the range of my lens...



It's hard to see here, but there was one horse on the left of the fence and it was painfully obvious he wanted to be on the other side with all the other horses. He kept backing up and acting like he was going to jump the fence but he never did. We waited awhile, not wanting to stress him out any more than he already was...




They all eventually went over the ridge so we rode to the top of the hill. We found the power line again and hooked it up. By then, the lone horse had joined his herd again and now there were a ton of them! We counted 40 as they were thundering over the next ridge, but I'm sure we missed some. We've been seeing wild horses for years and had never seen such a big herd before. It was a pretty incredible experience...






We finally ended up coming down on the backside of the Whitehorse Ranch and made our way out to our destination shortly before the sun went down...






We soaked a bit and then got out shortly before the rain started. We donned the raingear and then blasted back on main dirt roads. We got back long after dark. The planes from last year had returned again in our absence. They were saying the same thing we were saying: "Hey, those guys were here last year, too!" They proved to be a rather fun and helpful lot in the following days. They were a hard-drinking group, and they really enjoyed their naked bocce ball games. Sorry, no photos of that




More to come...




WoodsChick

I saw some BIG smiles on your face

I'm not surprised It was truly an epic day

Those smiles got a lot bigger a few days later, in an odd way and for entirely different reasons




WoodsChick

:bonk:Hmmmf...you are just toying with me. Quit futzing around and fork over some of that drama like you said in the title.

We had originally planned to do an overnighter through High Rock Canyon near the Black Rock Desert on this day, but we'd had so much fun cruising the mountains behind camp that we decided to stick around and see if we couldn't find a way through the mountains from the west side over to the east. We were sure we could do it...







Nevada does an incredible job of hiding her beauty. There is a ton of water and wildlife, but it's all tucked away in the mountains, hidden from the casual traveler on the highways and byways...





I made another poor line choice here, thinking the tracks would be muddier than the middle. I went up the middle, not noticing the 1-foot wall of doom hidden in the slop. I smacked into it full force and slammed into the tank, went up over the bars and fell over. Eric said he got a good close-up of the soles of my boots as I parted ways with the bike. I rolled around on the ground a few minutes, certain I'd busted my...I dunno, whatever that bone is right, um, you know...there. It was pretty excruciating. Eric thought I'd busted my wrists again, as I was rolling on the ground with my hands between my legs while trying to breathe. Good thing I'm a girl and not a boy; I'd be singing soprano in the local boys choir. The bruising was impressive and incredibly dark...



Well, as it turns out, it was a good thing that I didn't break anything, as it was Eric's turn this time. We crested the ridge after a long and sometimes brutally rocky climb. We were admiring the view and were just starting to roll down the hill. Eric was going maybe 10mph, quite possible a little more, but he was just rolling along, standing on the pegs checking out the view. He hit a rock and down he went. When he didn't show up a minute later I went back for him and this is what I found. The offending rock can be seen in the background...



He couldn't move his left arm, and he kept saying he thought something was broken in his shoulder. I got his backpack and fannypack off of him and helped him stand up. We both got the bike back on its feet, but it became clear that Eric was physically unable to ride the bike out. He thought maybe he could one-hand it out (doubtful) but then realized he wouldn't be able to use the clutch. As it was, he couldn't lift his arm high enough to even get on the bike, let alone ride it. We rolled the KTM off the track and parked it unlocked with a note in the map case with our names, cell #'s, what happened and where we were camped on the off-chance someone came through in a 4x4 and could truck it out for us. I strapped all his stuff to the back of my bike, put my backpack on backwards so it was kind of sitting on the tank, and threw Eric on the back and rode him out. I took this photo in case it was the last we ever saw of the bike...



The ride back was a little brutal at first. I tried to avoid the rocks but it was kind of impossible. There was the long rocky downhill to contend with, and I made him get off going through the mud I'd crashed on earlier. We must have jiggled the bones around into some semblance of alignment though, because it didn't hurt much anymore and we actually had a fairly pleasant ride back. It took us a long time, but we made it in one piece. There were a few gnarly sections down towards the bottom where Eric got off and walked, but no big deal. We left my bike locked to the trailer, went and talked to the drunken pilots that flew in and were camped down the creek from us. Anyone remember these planes from last year's report?



Well, they were there again and agreed to keep an eye on our campsite. They gave Eric a shot of tequila and went back to playing naked bocce ball

2 hours later we were here...






The really nice x-ray lady confirmed what Eric already knew...a broken scapula. Crap! They recommended seeing an ortho surgeon and asked how long we'd be in town. We said we still needed to get the bike out of the mountains so however long that took. They knew we were out-of-towners and offered to call folks to help. We needed someone that was tall and skilled enough to ride the behemoth KTM out of there after I rode them out there, or we needed someone with a short wheelbase 4x4 that could haul it out of there.

We spent the night in Winnemucca, along with zillions of Harleys that were in town for the annual Run-A-Mucca Festival, awaiting word from the x-ray lady. We got a call from Bill, and old Jeep guy, who said he would help and we went to meet him the next morning.

I was a little skeptical of this guy, knowing I'd be riding off into the mountains with this total stranger, but when we saw the sign for his driveway I figured we were in good hands...



He turned out to be a really cool guy, a 62-year-old ex-flattracker with riding in his blood. Well, he said he was done but there's a new TT track going in near Boise that's caught his attention so who knows... We saw photos of his daddy flattracking a Harley with a suicide shifter on tracks in Reno that are now covered up with casinos. Anyway, we followed him in his gloriously sexy Jeep Rubicon out to where the pavement ends and he and I took off, hitch hauler on the rear and cooler on the front. Is this not the coolest vehicle you've ever seen?



Now, allow me to say that a few years ago, when I thought I was going to need a new car, I did a ton of research and decided I was going to get a Jeep...and a Rubicon if I could afford it. My car has since refused to die (1987 MR2 with 182k miles, runs like a top) so I put the Jeep on the back burner. It has since moved to the front burner! We had such a good time in that thing! The terrain looks a hell of a lot gnarlier when on 4 wheels as opposed to 2!

I was happy to see the bike still there as we crested the hill...



Let the retrieval begin...








We were out of there in no time, after removing the left side footpeg for clearance, and the bike was riding really nicely on the Jeep. We had no issues at all through the nasty rocky downhill, and that Jeep glided through that mud section like it wasn't even there. The bike was rock solid.

Or so we thought...



It seems as though one of the tie-downs broke, but the bike was being held on by a strap across the seat...




I pulled the Jeep forward so we could drag it off the hauler while not standing in the creek. Bill decided it would just be easier and quicker for him to just ride it out. Well, yeah, that's all great and all, but then I'd have to drive the Jeep out...right? I told him I'd never driven anything with 4 wheels off road before (much less some strangers fancy Jeep) and was a little nervous about it. He just said "Just point it where you want to go. It's a Rubi; You'll be fine." Gulp...ok. I told him not to get too far ahead of me, and by the way, what gear should I be in for that nasty rutted section we went through earlier? He just laughed and said, "Well, depends on how fast you want to go!" I moved the Jeep up the hill a little and out of the way so he could get the KTM around me, and I lit `em up and roosted him pretty good. He repaid me tenfold as he roosted up the hill! I couldn't believe it. He hadn't been on a bike in 2 years but it certainly didn't look like it. No footpeg? No helmet? No problem! He was gone and I only saw him 2 more times the rest of the way. He waited at a gate for me and when he took off he was riding like a champion...I guess because he was...



Meanwhile, I'm sweating bullets trying not to plunge to my doom off one of these roads. I know nothing about 4-wheeling, but I've always really enjoyed riding along as a passenger. I figured if I just followed our tracks from earlier in the day and followed his lines precisely I'd be ok...and I was! That vehicle was mighty impressive and I had a great time driving it! I only got to full-on panic level once when I let the motor die on a rocky downhill and all of a sudden had no brakes or steering. A quick turn of the key and I was back to having the time of my life again, albeit with a much faster hearbeat

By the time I got down to the bottom of the mountain my cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. I now know that my next vehicle will be a capable Jeep just like this one! My solo drive was the highlight of my trip!

Bill ended up riding the bike all the way to our campsite for us, and then invited us to go drinking with him afterwards. We declined, as it had been a pretty hectic day for us and Eric needed some rest. We made plans to stop by his house on the way out of town and said our good-byes. He was a really cool guy! We tried to pay him for his time, but he'd said earlier he just wanted gas money. We ended up talking him into taking $100, and we managed to get him to take another $20 for the broken tie-down and the 2 broken taillights on the hauler. It was a 200-mile round trip from his house to the bottom of the mountain, then there was the mileage from the recovery itself, all in all about a 6-hour ordeal. He said he goes wheeling every Sunday anyway, and if we want to pay him for it then we can just help the next guy that needs help. Fair enough. Turns out this was the perfect guy for the job

We stopped by the drunken pilot camp to drop off a bottle of Patron Silver and some orange vodka as our way of saying "thanks" for keeping an eye on our stuff. They were fast running out of provisions, and it's no wonder, the way they were going! We had a good time with them and I hope we'll see them next year.

We lolled around in the hot springs for another day or two then headed back to civilization. We dropped off a bottle of Yukon Jack for Bill, as that is his preferred method of staying warm when wheeling and camping in the snow in winter. We checked out all his bikes, I got to sit on the Bultaco in the photo, and we looked at cool old photos and stuff. We didn't have the time, but I would have liked to check out his 1/8th mile oval and his MX track. We'll probably stop by and visit next time we're in town, and he said he'd teach me how to drive my Jeep when I get it.

We drove home, not dwelling on our misfortunes, but instead marveling over the great time we'd had, the good riding we'd done, the interesting and kind people we'd met, and the new experiences we'd had. Everything seems to always work out, doesn't it?



Thanks for coming along with me




WoodsChick

Thanks for sharing. Even when disaster strikes, you seem to still have good adventures....maybe a little better than Eric's adventure. Did Eric receive any more medical treatment?