Two Weeks in the Great Basin

A week ago today, we started our adventure on the Great Basin Heritage Trail that would take us across much of northern and central Nevada and even into Utah. This is a day by day update of that trip.

Day 1: Virginia City to Stillwater Wildlife Refugre
Mileage: 142

Starting on October 11, I met up with a small group of folks in Virginia City to head out on the 2,000+ mile Great Basin Heritage Trail over the course of 14 days. Rolling into Virginia City at 8:30am, the rumble of loud trucks could be heard around town. Driving through the main strip, a large inflatable archway denoted the official start of the race. Taking a quick tour of town, I met up with our small group of folks.

In order to make up a bit of town, we opted to skip the normal route and instead took the rather trail over the pass that goes by the old Como mining camp. This section of trail was incredbily rocky and rather slow going. Finally making it past the slow going sections, we hit a series of BLM and county dirt roads, regularly cruising along at 40-50mph. Along the way, we stopped at the Mad Max playa (we deemed this an appropriate name given the burnt out, abandoned vehicles), and another stop at an old Pony Express station with the corral still in place, and remnants of the old water tank and possibly living quarters.

Finally making good time, we set our sites for the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge outside of Fallon. Late in the afternoon we finally made it to the Wildlife Refuge. Running short on daylight, we found a beautiful spot upslope of the regure, with inredible views of the many lakes an playas that dotted the valley. The sunset camp was the best I've seen in a long time!


Gold Rush truck race would kick off the following day.

Day 2: Stillwater Wildlife Refuge to Willow Creek Reservoir

As the sun rose over the massive basin, we could see what we thought was a massive lake, was actually a playa stretching several miles across. We hit the road at 9a sharp headed northward towards the Jarbidge Mountains, which we'd hopefully reach by day 3. Our first big stop of the day would be at the old Midas ghost town, which isn't much of a ghost town afterall. While there are many old buildings, Midas still has 11 residents. Pulling into the old mining camp, we were surprised to see a dozen or so people gathered outside the Bighorn saloon. We parked and made our way over. Turns out there were so many people in "town" for a celebration of life. We had a libation, and chatted with one of the locals Paige who filled us in on the goings on in town. The population would soon be to 9, as two of the residents head down to Arizona for the winter.

We said our good byes and continued northward once again. The planned itinerary would put us somewhere in the vicinity of Willow Creek reservoir. The roads were in good condition and we were blazing along. By the time we made it to Willow Creek, the sun was just above the horizon. We found a nice spot overlooking the dam and lake and settled into camp. We were once again treated to another sunset for the ages!


Rolando treating the group to tamales for breakfast.


We made good time on the way to Midas!




Having a quick libation at the Bighorn saloon. Be sure to ask for Paige if you drop in.




On the way to Willow Creek Reservoir.


Camp overlooking reservoir.




Another epic sunset.

I have friends who lived in Midas, right across from the Saloon for several years. They moved to Central Alaska when the mining company mothballed the mine and he went to work for one of the company's mines up there. He was good friends with Paige.

Sagebrush Reconnoiterer said:

I have friends who lived in Midas, right across from the Saloon for several years. They moved to Central Alaska when the mining company mothballed the mine and he went to work for one of the company's mines up there. He was good friends with Paige.

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Wow! Small world. Paige is definitely a good dude, and was pretty amazed at the expedtion we had embarded on. The Saloon is damn proper given the size of Midas (11 residents), and a must see/drop in for anyone passing through.

Day 3: Willow Creek Reservoir to the Bruneau River (Jarbidge Mountains)
I'd been waiting for this day for quite some time. Why? Well, Jarbidge and the Jarbidge Mountains have been on my to do list for quite some time. I also knew that the Jarbidge Mountains would provide quite a change in scenery from the sea of sagebrush that we'd been travelling through for the last several hundred miles. The reason we chose to run the route in reverse starting with segment 3 was due to favorable weather forecast that showed mild temperatures and no precipitation in northern Nevada. So off to Jarbidge we headed!

Our first big stop of the day was at Tuscarora ghost town. Tuscarora was founded after a local Shoshone had shown a settler a gold nugget in the late 1860s, and by 1870 Tuscarora was an official town. Like Midas, Tuscarora isn't much of a ghost town as several residents still live there, but there's nothing like the Bighorn Saloon like you'll find in Midas. Rolling through on a Sunday in the off season, no one was out and about. We kicked off the tour of Tuscarosa by making a stop at the old graveyard. We found headstones from the19th century, and even one from 2024!

We wandered throught town and up the mountain to an old brick tower. Apparently, this was the chimney of the Indepedence Mill towers that overlooks the main part of town. After spending about an hour in the cemetery and town, we decied to head north towards the Jarbidge Mountains.


Like the Australian outback, the American outback is filled with lots and lots of dust!




I wonder, was Adele born in Tuscarora? 42 years young, RIP Adele!


This impressive chimney overlooks the town of Tuscarora.


Blazing a trail through the sea of sagebrush. Are we in Jarbidge yet?


Making our way through the foothills of the Jarbidge Mountains.


Camp along the Bruneau river. It would get damn cold in this canyon!


Pete playing around on his HAM radio setup.