Roving Nevada Oct 2019 Day 7

Saturday October 12, 2019

     0700 and woke up, got up dressed in clean T and underwear, fixed up breakfast and coffee. It had really warmed up! It was 24°F
    As I lay there last night I had been thinking I've not been this cold since I was in the Navy. When I did my mess duty I worked in the food storerooms. One of the freezers was 0°F, when we would take on food I would work in there in a T and cut-offs while stacking TONS of steaks, burger, fries, frozen vegis, we would get 4 types of steaks and there would be 6 tons of each type! I had to work fast to stack from floor to ceiling and worked up a sweat.
    After breaking my fast I sorted things and repacked the 109 and again I was ready for the road home of some 400 miles. It was 0900
    Heading south thru the campgrounds I could see it was not very used, but scenic. FSRD421 thru camp intersected with 420 and I turned right onto it. About a half a mile later I spied the road I thought I should have come in on from Secret Basin, or so I thought it was.
  After some mental debate I took it, Tour of Discovery again, what the heck I had time, fuel, food.
     It took me up a wide valley and into the mountains, the track wasn't bad, I actually came out in 2 hi. Couple of places needed to go slowly.

As I monitored my gps track I could see I was converging on my Secret Basin track. I then came to a rocky down hill and I had to stop to check it out. I got out to walk down and see if it was doable.

  When I walked over to the edge and looked down into the valley I saw

I was above my campsite at Cottonwood Creek! grabbing some water and my camera I left a note where I had gone in the Rover, stating when and where I was and then set off down the trail.
   It was rocky to begin with and got worse with larger rocks and being off camber with a 200' drop on the left side.
     I stopped about halfway down where the road was only about as wide as my tire tracks, but now the off camber was maybe 20-30°'s. Nothing I wanted to try fully loaded and alone. The only tracks on it were from a side by side and they were old. I felt going down, with the off camber exception, was doable, but going up would be harder.

I hiked back up after taking pictures of the cottonwood stand and great views.

Now I know that the water in the road at Cottonwood Creek is not the end of the road!
    But I had to turn around and go back to FS420 at Peavine Canyon, it is about a 45 min drive, I did most of it in 2Hi, really pretty country.
 I took 420 to Fremont Route and went south looking for an unnamed(on my map) road. I was doing good, but with all the unsigned roads I took a wrong turn and wound up going North when I passed a florescent red painted pile of rocks I had passed 2 days prior coming from the opposite direction. At least I knew where I was.
    From there it was a known route down Rd 21 to intersect with SSR88. Typically I left by this route and went NW on 88 to the left turn on a trail through the Cedar Mountains, following it along will bring me to Mina, NV and Hwy 95.
    This time in the spirit of adventure I wanted to do something different so instead of going right on 88 I went left, looking for a crossover route through the Royston Hills.
Finding the turn off at around 1115 I headed into new territory. Map firmly in hand I made it over the Royston's and into a mess of roads. So I did what any good American Explorer would do, I lost the right track............
     Just one more intersection and I'd have been OK. As it was I just followed this bumpy trail across the Western(I thought) side of the Cirac Valley and into some hills where I was sure I'd pick up the road I've crossed on before. It was noon

Little did I know how far off I was, looking back now at maps and GoooooooogleEarth I can see it, I was way off and still do not know exactly where I went. At the end of this bumpy trail I came down out of these hills to a wider road, but not the one I knew and there was a dry lake to my left not on my map. Where was I? It was 1330
    None of the roads I could see lined up with my maps. I started to go south, but the road turned East into the hills, I turned around.
     I tried following the road to my North and stopped a a ranch gate. I used my gps to scroll ahead looking for landmarks and found an identifying intersection about 2 miles ahead that was also on my map. I however wanted to find the way through on the track I had originally planned and was now convinced I had regained. Again I turned around...
     Now when I got back to my starting point I followed the track towards the dry lake, the one not on my map, but the road was on my gps. It was quite a ways and took about 45min in 4hi-2nd thru sometimes soft soil.
    When I got to the playa there was 2 stakes marking the entrance. Yay!

I went out and there were tire tracks going left and right across the surface and 1 set going across, following the ones going my way seemed prudent until they vanished. I pressed on looking for the other sides exit. I did find 1 stake but found nothing like a road....
    Again I turned back, I was on the last 1/4 tank of fuel in my stock tank. Finding my entrance point I went back over the deep soft grey soil, at 1 point the track bifurcated and I took the left side for a couple of reasons; 1) I had come down the right side, 2) the left would take me further up the road I was trying to regain.
     At one point I really bogged down and went into 4Hi but it wasn't the best option. I slung it into Lo box took off in second and worked my way up to 4th and fought my way along for half a mile or more. No wonder there were no tire tracks on this section! I switched fuel tanks once on the road and drove again to the ranchers gate and passed through. I had a bagel for lunch. It was 1430
     Taking the road to the distinct intersection I followed it on the maps and worked my way to the main road and along to the road to Mina.

I was happy to be out, happy to be having an adventure!
     Unlocking the MAP hubs just before getting on Hwy 95 I drove to the rest area in Luning. There I checked what fluids levels I could and washed my face. That done it was back on 95 and to Hawthorne. Ravi was working the Sinclair and recognized me, the price had not gone up still $3.499 for diesel.
      A quick stop for another burger at Mickeys and some much needed coffee. It was 1600
    I pressed for home knowing I could stop someplace if I need some sleep at a lot of places, but also knowing I would be home before 0300 like the last time. Going over NV Hwy 359 put the setting Orb of Zot in my eyes so I took a break at Anchorite Pass.

About 20 minutes was all it took, then ZOOM I was off again. (can a 109 go zoom?)
   Soon into California and on Hwy 395 chugging up the 8000' summit north of Mono Lake towards Bridgeport.

    It got dark and I turned on my Sylvania LED headlamps and kept going to the intersection with Hwy 108 and upwards and onwards in the cold dark. It was an uneventful climb I got to the pass around 2045
    All downhill from there(yeah right..) I stopped again in Oakdale for another burger and more coffee then made the dash for home.
     Though still a long way, 112 miles about 2-3/4 hours, the 200 performed admirably eating up the miles across California thru Manteca, Tracy, over the Altamont Pass, dropping into Fremont and across the flats of the South Bay now occupied by San Jose and the last climb up into the Santa Cruz Mountains into Boulder Creek. It was 0015

 I took a shower and went to bed.

Some trip facts;
GPS has it as 334 miles from home to Hawthorne while my trip meter had me at 336.5. It's all uphill from here, I used 16.155g going there and 13.4g on the homeward journey with 20.67mpg going and 23.88mpg returning
   In between I did around 269 miles and only switched tanks heading to Mina for an avg of 17.89mi/gal, I did do some longer idling and some low range 4x4.
  Not one time was I flashed for my LED headlights.
I spent $154.64 on diesel, $65 on food and $30 on campground fees.

Looking back, I have looked repeatedly at my atlas and gooooooooooogleearth at the Royston Hills section. I don't think I was that far off after all. When I hit the playa I should have gone right towards Dunlap Mills and I would have been on the road I I veered off of.

No more days.....

18 Mar 2022, update;

Seeing if I can upload kml file of the route.

https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/4905655120

Roving Nevada Oct 2019, Day 6

Friday Oct 11, 2019

     Again I was in and out of sleep during the long cold night. This would be a great spot to watch the stars!
    Even though the sun had not hit my Secret Basin I got up around 0730, it was 21°F.

   I fixed my breaky and coffee with the Kelly Kettle and no mis-adventures! Then the sun started to warm me up as I began to put things away and pack up.

By 0900 I began to leave this rocky beautiful place.
   The road is what we call in mountain biking an out and back, I've heard it called a stem trail by hikers. I have to say that if I had a bucket list to tell peoples to drive on, this would make my top 5! This whole trip is doable by stock 4x4.
     Gliding down the dirt through giant stands of Rabbit Brush and sage, all golden in the autumn light.

I was watching my old tire tracks and noticed a critter footprints going along and so I stopped to see what it was. It looks like coyote to me.

 When I looked around where I had stopped I saw another stone structure and so I investigated. (Tour of Discovery, right!)

   Eventually my road brought me back to road 488? Where I turned left to head over to Peavine Canyon, it took a lot longer than I thought and there were a few surprises!

Then I was dumped out on a wide road I did not expect, but I turned left towards my target. I was tooling along around 40mph when I came to a road with a barber pole on one corner. I stopped and went down it about a mile to where I could clearly tell it was not the road I wanted to be on. I left.
   Now I was confused and the big road should not have been there and further more on my gps it was calling it "Fremont Route" I wasn't supposed to be on that! It will be interesting to get home and the tracks on the gps tell me where I've been!
Anywho, I followed Mr Big Road and where it went right I veered left and came up Peavine Canyon. It was 1130
     I just kept driving, by now I was under 1/2 tank from Hawthorne, and here I  saw a road marker for 420 and all was good in my world!

   It is a long and winding road up Peavine, very beautiful in it's desert starkness

only to be lush around the next turn.

The above pic is at the junction with Tom's Canyon a very nice place to camp!

I took it slow and at one point I wasn't sure if the road ended in this rocky area, so I got out for a look see leaving the Landy in the road.

Whilst walking the rocks I got the idea to run my metal detector over them, "just in case". I had gone up one side and was most of the way back when lo and behold another car hove into view down the lane!
     I hadn't seen another car since Tuesday morning with the exception 1 on of my foray off "Mr Big".
    They stopped back a space and I indicated I would move my 109 which I did. They pulled next to me and we chatted for a bit. They were Jen and Steve from Soulslicesv.blogspot.com or so they told me, I can't find it online, might be private. They were heading to the end of the trail to do a hike in the Arc Dome Wilderness.
   The metal detector had given a tone just prior to them showing up so after they drove thru I went back for a look see but now the detector gave no tone. So I put everything away and crawled over the rocks down the trail.
    There are several creek crossings and one still had ice on it broken by a previous rig.

     I caught up with Jenn and Steve at the trailhead and there was also a full sized pickup there, they must have...........................wait for it..........................broke the ice.
    We had lunch and talked then I left to find my camp for the night, on the way I talked with a couple of  deerhunters. I drove to Peavine Campground and in # 7 I unloaded my 109.

It is a small valley and the sun went behind the hill at 1515

A woman walked through the camp with what looked like an AK47 slung across her back. So I set my trail cam up early! I wandered around the campgrounds and met some of the fellow campers, 1 family was hunting deer.
That evening I burned the last of my firewood from home, it lasted until 2030ish. then to stay warm it was back into the cocoon! I didn't sleep right away but instead lay for a couple of hours planing my trip back home.

Here are the videos for the day!

To day 7;  https://poppageno.blogspot.com/2019/10/roving-nevada-oct-2019-day-7.html

Roving Nevada Oct 2019 Day 5

Thursday Oct 10, 2019

I slept off and on during the night mainly 'cause my feet wouldn't warm up until around 2300, the wind kept shaking my motel for the night. Every once and a while I would peer from the mouth of my orange cocoon and I could see the moon or the stars in the dark sky.
    I knew it was cold though as I kept having to turn over to get one side of me warm against my Exped mattress.
     Finally daylight broke over the Eastern Mtns and I was awake. I didn't want to get up it was TOO COLD! Then I had to poo......
     I warmed up clean clothes in my cocoon with me and pulled my down Marmot puffy jacket out of my backpack. Quickly I put on the down then swapped underwear and clean sox. I slipped my frozen Levi's on and put my sweatpants over them and stepped into my sorrel slippers. Next I put my sweatshirt over my down, I glanced at the thermometer. 19°F it was 0724

Taking the shovel and my toilet kit I went to the loo and did my poo.
    Getting back to camp, started to rustle up some grub and coffee. I figured I would use my propane single burner Snow Peak stove. I got everything ready, oatmeal and raisins, coffee ground and in the filter. The water was cold--- it had ice crystals in it. It heated up and the crystals melted, the little bubbles formed on the bottom and sides when the Coleman propane bottle stopped.
      I tried another one and it must have been frozen too, neither worked and the water wasn't hot enough to use.
    I picked out my Snow Peak fuel can and it lit and brought the water to a boil! YAY! I poured some in my oatmeal then the coffee filter.
FUCK!  My insulated container with the filter on top fell over! Grounds and coffee spilled all over my 2 burner Coleman white gas stove and my 1650 Pelican case. And there it FROZE,................................ I checked it was 21°F.............

   It was frozen, I could not clean it up. I tried, then disgusted I sat and ate my cooling oatmeal before it too froze.
    My Kelly Kettle was set up so I filled it with water and ground more coffee then fixed it up. Luckily the wind was light this morning. This time I used my Stansport kettle to brew coffee in prior to transferring it to my insulated container to which I added a pack of hot cocoa from Safeway in Hawthorne.
     After a break to recuperate from my morning trauma I began breaking camp and with no hurry I was done, the coffee debacle cleaned up and I was on the road. It was 0950
    My dripping water nozzle made icicles.

I did some metal detecting and found scraps of wire and ;

Some of the roads you see from space are not so easy to see on one's you want to drive on down here.
     I followed my map and space images to a couple of deadends and then set off for FSR44428 and to try to find Golden Spring.
   It is a lovely double track to the springs and I was totally blown away with the "Golden" quality that abounds, I was able to drive right out to the lip of the spring.

Looking back away from the spring;

I checked it out it was full of cat tails! Then checked the map to see how to get back to 428 and head over Golden Summit.
     Nice drive nothing really at the summit, then it is all downhill to Road 21 onto which I turned right.
   It is a big wide road and I followed it to around the turn for Secret Basin. There are 3 left turns but which one? I almost stopped at the first, it has a florescent red pile of rocks at the entrance, but my gps said to go farther. The next had a bend right at the start and my maps said it went straight so I kept going and door #3 looked like my turn! It was 1230
     I was hungry and drove to the foothills and had a bagel. It looked on the gps that I had chosen wisely, Grasshopper, the road continued into the mountains.

    Following the dusty track I was in 2hi and a few small surprises but nothing needing 4x4 let alone low range.

After a few miles I came to a Y in the road and hedging my bets went left.

Another correct choice as the road led me up a valley with tall overgrown sage and Rabbit Brush on both sides. Eventually I shifted to 4x4 4hi to go through a bad spot and 4lo to go slow through a brushy area. The view opened up and I saw an old cabin that the road led directly to. There is an out building and stone fences for a corral?

I think the out building was a tack room;

I walked past the cabin looking for a turnaround spot and found a long unused campsite. The fire ring has weed growing in it. I went back to the 109 and drove it to my next campsite. It was 1430

  The Rover was unpacked, I set up camp, dug out the firepit, gathered wood, dug a cat hole, then sat back to write.

I walked to what I thought was the end of the road as it disappeared into a stream with no "other side" to come out on. Here is a pic of some of the greenery on the way back to camp;

GPS says I'm at 6489' and I've done 135 miles from Hawthorne. It is now 1530

I waited and watched the orb of 'ol Sol go behind a hill at around 1700. I cooked my dinner and started a campfire, I lasted an hour, it was too cold on my un-heated side.

   The nearly full moon came up.

After the fire was safely out I climbed into the Caterpillar Yellow 109, shucked my Levi's and down jacket slid on my sweat pants,  rolled up in the cocoon expecting another cold night! It was 2000

Here is raw video from the day, I had lots of trouble editing it.

Evidently, I missed taking the left turn about a mile back that would have taken me to my searched for destination Secret Basin, instead I wound up at this beautiful spot on Cottonwood Creek.  I saw the turn but failed to recognize that I needed to take it. Oh well, next time....

38°35'22.2"N 117°23'43.2"W

To day 6; https://poppageno.blogspot.com/2019/10/roving-nevada-oct-2019-day-6.html