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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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