Sunshine And Solitude In The Desert: Thanksgiving 2012

Ok...where were we? Oh, yeah...sunrise. Right.



So as soon as it warmed up enough to ride we headed up into the canyon across the valley. The creek wasn't frozen, but we weren't really in the canyon yet. I did NOT want to get my feet wet at the beginning of a long day...



.


Heading into the canyon...


.

It's always much cooler in this canyon, even in the warmer months, so it was no surprise that the creek was frozen pretty good on the edges. We crossed this thing maybe 7 times...





And yes, that's a 2.5gal gas can on the back of my bike. We had a big day planned...


.


Cool little clearing at the end of the canyon before we start climbing up into the mountains. This is beautiful in late spring...


.

Just a spectacular day in the mountains. We were the only people on earth, I think...


.


Eric on the far side...



Speakin' of Eric, I gotta go pick him up. More in a little while!

Least amount of snow I've ever seen here in the end of November. Good for us, though, as we had no limitations on where we could go!




.


We dropped down out of the mountains and headed north through yet another valley...


.

Pretty desolate area out here...just the way we like it!




Oops! Gotta go! More later...




WoodsChick

Sure! The pleasure was all mine, Russ!

Ahh...an astute ride report reader! One of my favorites. It's pretty muscular...feels like it's eating the enamel off my teeth!

Hee-hee! Thanks, Jeremy!
Get on out there and do it as soon as you can...time waits for no man and you only have so many heartbeats. Don't waste them!

You're very welcome! Glad I could help

Ooh! If you like old stone buildings then Nevada is your state of choice. They're everywhere!

Tami:
You and Erick define therm "larger than life".

Wow...really? A Vanpool, too?? Man...you make that sound really attractive! Thanks, Coastie! Let me get back to you on that, m'kay?

Dude...seriously?? You never noticed it? I try to feature it somewhat prominently, in a discreet manner of course, in all my ride reports. Gee...you must not be reading all my reports... Gotta represent the most happenin' place around, ya know?

WARNING ANIMAL LOVERS: GRUESOME PHOTO TO FOLLOW!
Scroll way down with your eyes closed if you don't want to see it.

.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.

We'd seen a few coyotes on this trip and they all looked pretty healthy and well-fed. The ranchers must be getting fed up with losing their livestock because we ran across these 3 coyotes that paid the ultimate price for their meals...




.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


This ranch had seen better days, although the spring out in the canyon behind the remains of this building was still flowing quite nicely...



Even the "new" wing of the ranch was looking a little unloved...




Crazy clouds!




We arrived at our destination, an unnamed spring in a valley far to the north.
I was absolutely appalled at what we found












The lovely folks that trashed this place were thoughtful enough to leave behind their 4 (four!) empty 30-pack beer boxes so we filled them all up, and then some, with cans, bottles, cigarette butts, bottle caps, underwear, socks and other bits of detritus. We crushed the cans and still didn't have enough room in those 4 boxes for all the crap that got left behind. I was absolutely livid. It was hard for me to relax there, even after cleaning the place up, because I was so angry. The sad part is it was probably locals doing it. Sons-a-bishes don't know how good they've got it out there. I won't be surprised if we show up someday and get greeted with "No Trespassing" signs instead of an idyllic spring in a very isolated part of one of the most sparsely-populated states in the country. Grrr! Anyway, this is what it looked like when we got done with it...






The pile of other people's crap that we very reluctantly had to leave behind. I even sifted through the fire pit and cleaned it out, too...


We had planned on taking some new trails back to camp but the short days of late fall had us revising that thought. The temps would drop precipitously with the sun and if one should have a problem out there...mechanical, physical, etc...things could get ugly pretty quick. We're always prepared to survive a long, cold night out no matter where we are, but it's hard to take that chance when there's a hot springs waiting for us back at camp. We bombed back on regular roads as quickly as possible, passing above the bustling metropolis of Austin just as it was getting dark...


It was pretty much dark when we arrived at camp...



As this was the last ride of our trip, we saluted all that is wonderful about Nevada with an appropriate beverage...



Wrapping this up in a few...

Eric and I soaked the night away, just the two of us and our bottle of Wild Horse pinot noir, and seriously wished we had another week or so to ride and explore. It's just really never enough time out there, you know? We could probably spend the rest of our riding years out in the wide open spaces of Nevada and still not see it all. I fully intend to try, though!

After watching the stars fade into dawn and greeting the sun once more, we loaded up and prepared to re-enter the real world. The morning was super cold and I had to wait for the ambient temperature to rise before I could get a decent photo of the resident lucky goldfish...







I was glad to not miss this beauty on the way home. There's an old pony express station in front of the dune but it keeps getting covered up by the shifting sands...



Speaking of remaining riding years, when it's all over for me I hope I can spend the rest of eternity in some of my favorite places. I hope that's what's happening for this person...



Well, that's all I got, folks. I hope y'all enjoyed coming along with us on our annual Thanksgiving Adventure. Stay tuned next November for another installment :thumbup




WoodsChick

That superb photography could have looked so much better if there'd been 3 Huskys instead of just 2, Steve

I wouldn't have to rub it in if someone would have just showed up and ridden with us

There's always next year!

Yeah, I was. The bike is still pretty tall for me, even though most of the time it doesn't really look like it. I started to fall off as I was transitioning from the rocks to the uphill (which never ever look steep in photos) and I'd already fallen over once and didn't particularly feel like doing it again so I just kept it rolling till I got up top and could get it on level ground. I found a nice big rock to put my foot on and all was good

Spectacular. Thanks for sharing.