We broke camp mid-morning and headed south on the main (dirt) road until we came to an access point for the playa.
We gathered at the beginning of the access road.
We gathered again at the playa's edge in parallel fashion.
This was only my second "official" WTW rally, and the first in which I've traveled with the rally. I learned that periodic alignment of participant's rigs is critical.
As we headed off from this point with Double Hot Springs as goal I decided that it wasn't necessary to head south in order to go north...so I broke off from the pack and cut east across the playa until I hit the track heading north to DHS. After reaching that fine, smooth, track I found myself accellerating up to 80mph at one point but soon settled back to a safe-and-sane 70, which made the trip to Double very quick.
Double Hot Springs (marked on my map above)
Many hot wet holes to fall into...
This small one is one of the hottest, one of the source springs. Unlike most of the other pools, this one is too hot for even the most heat-loving bacteria/algae.
This hot pool is a beauty!
Notice the alignment of the rigs again...while Silvertip47 and Home Skillet stand at the barrier fence. It's been at least 15 years since I last visited Double Hot Springs, and on those previous visits there was no fence around it. But...in a world where people have to be told that "Hot coffee is HOT, so don't spill it in your lap!", I guess that people also need to be told: "Don't walk into the boiling pools -- they're even hotter than McDonald's coffee!"
From DHS we took the "coast" road -- off the playa, that is, over to Black Rock Point. It was much slower traveling than on the playa, but it was good for exploring. We ended up a little ways past Black Rock Hot Springs, but it was a good spot for parking 7 rigs without crowding.
After everyone got settled and some of us took naps the merriment commenced.
As you can see, some of these guys are already getting a little blurry, and it wasn't even sundown yet.
As the evening wore on, blurriness increased...but on the plus side, I think that solutions to many of society's problems were worked out around the campfire. I hope somebody wrote those ideas down...
Looking southwest down the playa towards Gerlach.
Next morning the clouds looked a little threatening, but they soon dispersed...as did the Rally-ers.
I left a while after the others, though DD had suggested that I leave with them -- for safety. As I recall, I said, "Sonny, ah bin desert rattin' out here since you were knee high to a sagebrush. Ah'll be jus' fine."
Or something like that...
I enjoyed the drive back to pavement...enjoying the infinite freedom of completely unrestricted drivng (well, unrestricted in 2-dimensions, anyway). I exited the playa at the 12-mile access point and drove on down to Gerlach, where I fueled the truck And I fueled myself with a cheesburger and fries at Brunos.
This was a great time for me!
I met 3 previously-unmet WTWers: brett13 (and Ms. 13), Silvertip47, and Camelracer (as well as Ms. Skillet), so now I can imagine a real person when I read their posts on WTW. I'm still mostly a loner-camper, but I enjoyed this group.
To be continued...on the east side of the Sierra.
