Year-End/New-Year Far-Eastern Nevada Trip of MarkBC

[MarkBC]

Oh,and by the way, are you sure a couple of those invasive turkeys didn't steal a bike?

Yeah, I forgot to mention the bike tracks that went up there, too. They didn't go far though...it wasn't so deep that snowshoes/skis were required, but it got deep enough to make cycling too much work....apparently.

Can't blame you for not traveling on snow when you're solo. At least with us if the worst happens we stay dry an warm but why risk it.

If it had been fresh snow it probably would have been OK -- the kind of snow I've driven in innumerable times...sometimes just to get out of my driveway. But it was this mixture of crusty and sugary that I didn't like. And made me ask myself, "Why do I need to go up this road anyway?"

----------------------------------------------
Thanks for the interest...those who are interested. But must be patient for more until tomorrow...too tired to go through more photos tonight.

 

[Lighthawk]

Looking forward to more story and photos.
This is good inspiration for us to get out to GBNP one of these days.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Don't blame you, we would hate to have a "Stupids" Mark BC saga to view-or would we?

Smoke

 

[Bosque Bill]

I'm sure enjoying your trip report, MarkBC, and especially those fabulous full-size panoramas - what a great sense of the wide open spaces they provide. Thanks for taking the extra time to stitch those together for us!

 

[MarkBC]

I'm sure enjoying your trip report, MarkBC, and especially those fabulous full-size panoramas - what a great sense of the wide open spaces they provide. Thanks for taking the extra time to stitch those together for us!

Thanks, Bill

...thanks to my hotrod computer the pano-stitching is pretty quick 'n easy.

I agree about the value of panoramas. Single-frame images are great for most subjects -- including most landscapes. But in the wide-open spaces I love best and visit most I sometimes like to share what the whole view looks like, to better get across what it would look like if the viewer was there, scanning the horizon. (and with much-less distortion than you'd get by capturing the same angle-of-view with an ultra-wide-angle lens)

I just got done sifting through another day of pics and found a few (including a couple of panoramas) that others might want to see. I'll post them in a bit.

 

[MarkBC]

In my drive up the east side of the northern Snake Range on Dec. 30 I knew I was just day-exploring, since I already planned to end up back at the Border Inn's motel for the night.

Dec. 31, 2012

But leaving the Inn the morning of Dec. 31 my plan was to drive up the west side of the Snake Range and find an interesting, out-of-the-way place to camp for a couple of nights.
Well...that was my plan.
Even though the day before I'd encountered more funky snow on BLM spur roads than I was comfortable driving through, for some reason I was optimistic about the prospects for drivable other BLM/USFS roads that led to destinations less-traveled than Great Basin National Park (though...I'd been mostly alone in the Park c.g. anyway, so it wasn't exactly crowded).
My nominal destination was the road on the west side of the Snake Range that leads to the trailhead for hiking up Mt. Moriah and that region. I'd heard about that access point from the ski3pins, and it looked interesting on the topo -- good place to camp, I figured.

Jeff Davis and Wheeler Peak from the north, US 50/6:

Where I turned off US 50/6, a couple miles west of Sacramento Pass, to head off on a county (gravel) road up the east side of Spring Valley (west side of Snake Range):

From trips in previous years I'd also learned that if west-bound this is the first good place to stop and re-acquire a cell-phone signal and access the world.

Driving north up that gravel-but-well-plowed road I somehow missed the spur that led to my planned Moriah-access destination

...but once I realized that, I decided to continue on for a couple/few miles anyway, to explore...and as if to say, "I didn't miss the turn-off -- I meant to do that...see, I'm just exploring..."

.

I turned around eventually and back to my planned destination and headed up a mile or so, following someone else's tracks. "Damn -- I hope they're not still there! I don't want to share my destination!". Well, the snow got deeper and eventually the tracks stopped.

Either the previous rig was able to teleport from that spot, get a lift from a large helicopter, or back up...back, back, back. I considered: "Am I better-equipped, more-competent, bolder, or luckier than whoever stopped here before?" I decided that the answer to all of those questions might be "No", so I backed up and went back to the county road.

I decided to cross the Spring Valley (another maintained county road) over to the west side and see what I might see over there.

Out in the Valley and looking back east, I could now see Mt. Moriah (12,067'). Gotta go back in the warmer months...hike up there!

In the middle of the Valley, cattle drive!

A desert-environmental organization of which I'm a member is sometime at odds with the cattle industry...but I must admit I still find something cool about encountering scenes like this in the very-rural west. A cowboy/rancher family (women and kids, as well as men) wrangling on horseback.

This looks to be an historic-but-modernized (I see electrical conduits) outpost of the ranch.

I arrived at the far (west) side of the valley. The road that heads south to US 50/6 (and on and on to the north...must explore another time) is paved at this point; I headed south...still hopeful that I would find a drivable spur road that could lead to an interesting campsite at the base of the mountains on that side (the Schell Creek Range).

 

[MarkBC]

Dec. 31, 2012 continued
From this point on south to 50/6 I had a different perspective on the wind-energy farm...that is, a literally different visual perspective -- I still didn't like it.

And from this perspective the view of the Snake Range and Wheeler Peak (with its head in the clouds) is affected.

Full-size version: Pano-7
(The multi-bladed weirdnesses visible in this photo are because the rotors were turning: 1) It's an HDR, meaning stacked multiple exposures and 2) Where adjacent-overlapping images are stitched together for the pano.)

When I was camped at Lower Lehman in the Park, when one of the Rangers made a swing through the c.g. I asked him about the wind farm, when it went in, etc. He said it was completed last summer. He said the Park fought against it but lost, obviously. The Park's grounds for objection were that in the summer when the ground is dry the sweep of the rotors kicks up dust and that affects the clarity of the air which harms its reputation for star-viewing -- GBNP is trying to be known as a dark-sky park (it's a long way from any big lights). The marker lights atop the towers at night were a similar objection. Oh well...as I said, I'm a bit torn on this issue.
Of course, the real root of all environmental problems/conflicts are the fact that there are way too many people on the planet...but that's a subject outside of this trip report. No need for argument in my t.r., thanks.

Full-size version: Pano-8


As a last feeble gesture towards finding a place to camp I went a couple hundred yards up a road that leads to Cleve Creek rec area...but was turned back by the same snow-stuck-averting caution.

So...where to go...what to do? Head south on 93 and look for a drivable spur? How far would I have to go to find something? Further west, back to Ely, and check into a motel -- a camping failure?!

No. The answer was right in front of me. I would go back to GBNP, back to Lower Lehman C.G. and spend another night or two there. After all, there are worse things than passing into the new year camped in one of my favorite places.

A view of Wheeler Peak from the west side, before I headed back east to the Park.

And a view of Wheeler from the east side, about an hour later. Notice that the "same" cloud is still in place hanging off the summit.

This time I decided to camp in site #5, which doesn't have quite as expansive a view as #11, but it's superior in every other way...and the view still ain't bad:

I had the campground to myself again. How cool is it to be in a National Park and be the only person camped there?! Very cool, I say.

 

[ski3pin]

<snip>
BTW: Ever notice a road called Hot Springs Rd. on 95 just north of the Oregon border? Inquiring minds want to know!


Lighthawk, Hot Spring Hills are just to the west of 95 north of McDermitt. The hot springs are at the base of the west bluff in the middle of section 23 at the intersection of Hot Springs Road and McDermitt Road. Don't know much about them. Someday we'll check it out when we are back in the area.

Mr. BC, we are so enjoying seeing familiar territory! Looking forward to more. Pano #4 is our favorite thus far.

 

[MarkBC]

Lighthawk, Hot Spring Hills are just to the west of 95 north of McDermitt. The hot springs are at the base of the west bluff in the middle of section 23 at the intersection of Hot Springs Road and McDermitt Road. Don't know much about them. Someday we'll check it out when we are back in the area.

Mr. BC, we are so enjoying seeing familiar territory! Looking forward to more. Pano #4 is our favorite thus far.

Thanks, ski3pin, and thanks for filling in for my Hot Springs Hills ignorance.

Still 2+ days to cover in this t.r., but I'll finish it today...sorry for my slothfullness.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Keep 'em, coming Mark. That feeling you had in the campground was one of the things I miss most about my job---being the only one out there in all that wonderful nothingness and knowing it was all mine-guess that's why we do what we do. Still don't like those wind energy pictures though, but would you rather have a working gold mine or fracking site? Can't win them all, $ seems to speak more than common sense or caring for the environment!

Smoke

 

[takesiteasy]

This time I decided to camp in site #5, which doesn't have quite as expansive a view as #11, but it's superior in every other way...and the view still ain't bad:


Good old #5- same place we camped back in December, also all by ourselves. Of course it was snowing and cloudy and we couldn't see/appreciate the view, but still a nice place to camp. The sound of Lehman Creek was a pleasant accompaniment to our stay.

Enjoying the report- thanks!

 

[MarkBC]

New Years Day, 2013!

The view of/from site #5 is nice in the morning, too.

It's another shot I've taken many times on previous trips...and I'll probably take it again some day.

G.G. asked earlier about the temperatures I'd been experiencing. Well, I'd say they were "seasonable"...or at least, not unusual for the area and season. Lows were mostly in the positive single-digits °F and highs were generally in the upper 20s °F, generally below freezing , even though it was mostly sunny, not fully cloudy.
The one night that it snowed was the night I spent in the Border Inn Motel.

New Years morning dawned the coldest I'd experienced so far -- a low of -5°F. But it's a dry cold...and a calm cold...and it really didn't feel that bad.
In fact, I emerged from the camper when it was still only 14°

with coffee and road atlas and book-to-read and spent some time at the Park-service-cleared picnic table.

Properly clothed the teens-degrees felt fine...though it was a little difficult to turn the pages of my book with gloves on.

An extra piece of Reflectix makes a great butt-insulating sit-pad!

I decided to get a little exercise and explore the trail/route that follows the creek upstream...eventually that trail leads clear up to the Wheeler Peak C.G. at 10,000 feet, but I didn't plan to go much further than Upper Lehman Creek C.G. (closed for the season).

Nobody else had been up the trail for a while...

Ducking under the trees, trying to not knock snow from the branches down my neck...

Some delicate little crystals formed at the edge of the creek:

Reaching the upper end of the Upper Lehman C.G. I read the sign showing the trail's route on up to Wheeler Peak C.G...I wonder how often it's traversed in winter? Well, not by me -- not this year, anyway.

Looking back to the east, as I turned around to head back (via the road instead of the trail), I enjoyed the view out into Utah:

Especially cool is the House Range, featuring the magnificent Notch Peak! Over 2000 feet of vertical drop on the west side, but it's just a hike up the east side -- recommended!

In early evening, near sunset, I was sitting in the cab of the truck listening to the radio and/or audiobook, and I noticed the patterns of frost forming on the windshield.

Like some kind of hieroglyphs from another dimension trying to communicate with our universe?...No -- just frost.

 

[MarkBC]

Jan. 2, 2013

Starting to head towards home today...but still with a fun-seeking intent.

On the east side of Sacramento Pass is a rest area, and I stopped there to..uh...rest. But the rest facilities were locked, for some reason.

Anyway, I noticed these two rigs parked there:

Yes, they're LA Water and Power.

What the hell? What's W&P -- which owns lots and lots of land and water rights on the east side of the Sierras in California -- doing way over here on the far east side of Nevada?

The empty trailer must have been carrying some ATV/snow-rig, so they must be off scouting something...
Back in Lehman Creek C.G., when the Park Ranger told me the story of the wind-farm he also told me about another development that's much more environmentally significant, one that I knew had been in the works for years and had drawn protest but now had become all but reality -- The sucking dry of rural northern Nevada to slake the thirst (and casino fountains and swimming pools) of Las Vegas. The Ranger said that the Snake Valley (the basin east of GBNP) is still in dispute -- still one environmental hurdle remains, but he said that other valleys are already being pumped for Vegas. It really makes me sad to hear this.

DAMN humans!
So, maybe LA W&P are in the area giving their like-minded brothers of the Las Vegas Water District water-grabbing lessons.

Anyway...enough about this much-more-depressing-than-wind-farm subject.

Here's where I ended up driving today...though I hadn't expected/planned on going nearly that far...best-laid plains...


Many years ago -- maybe that first trip to GBNP or maybe it was a soon-following year -- I drove north on the road that connects US 50 to I-80 via the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge. In fact...I remember that first time I drove it -- many miles of dirt -- in my little Honda car. So, this seemed like a great destination to re-visit and and a place/area to camp for the night. (rather than, say, retracing my route and spending the night at Spenser or similar place that's really great but many-times-visited)

After going over some hills the route goes up through the Long Valley (I can think of at least 2 other "Long Valleys": the one of the "Long Valley Caldera" in eastern CA near Mammoth/Crowley and the one in extreme-NW Nevada, east of the Surprise Valley. Are there others? Must be...):

And across the Long Valley, to cross those distant hills and into the Ruby Valley:

It was a gorgeous day...driving through empty middle-of-nowhere...bliss.

Well, not quite empty. Down the stretch of road in the pic above, parked on the side of this county road, was a county road grader. I saw the operator leaning out of the cab of the grader, so I slowed to a stop to chat...or whatever. He asked me, "Do you have a cell phone -- signal?" I looked at my phone and saw, "Nope -- no signal". He said he needed to call HQ. I asked him if he was having some trouble....and he pointed to one of the rear tires of the grader. This huge tire was massively blown out -- totally destroyed! Wow! "I think I see your trouble...". I said that I'd call for help as soon as I got a signal, but he said that it'd be almost to I-80 before I got a signal again. "Well...they'll be missing me if I don't show up back at the shop soon...so they'll send someone out to find me." Good luck, bud. He was right -- no signal in the stretch north of here for many, many miles.

After crossing the hills, into the Ruby Valley:

Full-size version: Pano-09

Driving, driving north...I reached this point and stopped -- a main access point (by water) for the Refuge:

Full-size version: Pano-10

Refuge Map:

OK, so beautiful day, beautiful country (even in the more-popluated Refuge area), so I'm gonna find a mighty-fine campspot with a great view, right?. But...what I hadn't properly considered is that National Wildlife Refuges generally do not allow dispersed camping, and there were no open campgrounds in the Refuge, and the adjoining National Forest Land had the same problem I'd encountered in the days before: snow on the unplowed roads was deeper than I felt like getting stuck on.

Now, some may be thinking -- regarding my "too-deep-snow-to-camp" issue this trip: "Come on, bud -- you're saying that in all of those hundreds of miles of public roads you couldn't find anywhere to pull off and camp?" No -- of course that's right: I could have found somewhere...but I was looking for an out-of-the-way interesting spot, not just any legal widespot off a BLM road. And the interesting spots were too far down unplowed roads.

So...now kinda getting discouraged and already imagining having to spend a night in a motel in Elko, I drove on north...over Secret Pass and reached I-80 without finding any reasonable place that I could camp and wanted to camp. And I decided by then that I wasn't going to spend a night in a motel in Elko or anywhere else -- that felt like failure.

And as a result of making this decision I had the good fortune of spending the night camped in the coldest temperatures of my life.

 

[LuckyDan]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm certainly waiting with much anticipation! Thank you for your report so far.

 

[MarkBC]

So, if not at a motel, where was I going to spend the night...along I-80? At a Rest Area.

This would be my first time camped at an Interstate Rest Area.
I stopped at the Beowawe rest area, but the only place to park was in a regular parking spot with all the cars -- no room to get off by myself. So I continued on and the Valmy rest area was much more suitable -- a big area off pavement where I could be out of the flow of traffic.
I put my wireless outdoor thermometer outside (on the cab roof, under the cabover), and spent the evening listening to an audiobook ("Super Freakonomics") and watching the temperature drop. It got down to -10°F when I last looked before falling asleep.
When I woke at dawn I saw the minimum temp reached -- which was also the current temperature, was -16°F

!
Wow! That was the coldest temperature by far that I've ever camped! So an otherwise utility-grade campspot earned a special distinction in my camping history.

It was another beautiful clear (which was why it got so cold at night) sunny day, and my drive home was routine...but beautiful.

Here's where I turned west off US 95 onto state route 140. It's technically Nevada 140, but when it crosses into Oregon it's still called "140" so I'll just call it SR 140.

This is what the really high (at 6000+ feet) high desert of Oregon looks like, about a mile after 140 enters Oregon:

Full-size version: Pano-11 The long ridge showing above the horizon in the right half of the image is Hart Mt, and further to the right the white cone-shaped feature is Beatty's Butte.

While standing next to the highway shooting the pics for the panorama above, I heard a jet -- loud and very low (for a jet). Some kind of military craft, I guess...

Doherty Summit is -- by my reckoning -- the highest year-round through-road (not a dead-end) paved road in Oregon. I stop here almost every time I pass over, west-bound anyway. A great view:

Full-size version: Pano-12 Hart Mt again visible -- closer this time -- on the right.

-------------------------------------------
This was another fine trip to one of my very favorite, special places.

THE END.

 

[CraggyMan]

Great TR and panos were awesome! Especially like the final two as they are some of my favorite views for sure. Guano Valley(last pic)is such a bad name for a cool wide open landscape, leave it to those original name'r of names types to leave such a legacy. I'm sure the original inhabitants had much cooler names for everything but of course lost to the ages.

 

[highz]

Really nice trip report, Mark. Worth waiting for. Love the images from the Lehman Creek hike.

 

[Bosque Bill]

Enjoyable trip report, thanks. Have to again say how well your panoramas give a sense of the vastness of the landscape.

Interesting jet, too. Or I should say very interesting, unmarked Navy jet? Is that a tail-hook for carrier landings?

 

[Smokecreek1]

Mark, me thinks you must have been a polar bear in a past life-a polar bear on a never ending quest for that big slow elephant seal that is out there-somewhere in that great white and wonderful world! Finding those LA water guys out there must have been a trip-after all the bitching we have been doing about the water grabs. Again great report, makes us all want to go on a quest somewhere!

Smoke

 

[jha6av8r]

The jet is an EA-6B Prowler. The area you were in is crisscrossed with low level military training routes. NAS Fallon and the training / bombing ranges East of it accounts for much of this activity as carrier air wings train for deployment and fighter squadrons conduct Top Gun training. Spent a lot of years flying in and around these mountains and valleys at 100' and as fast as you could go.