Eastern Sierra & Black Rock Oct-2011 of MarkBC

OK, this is just a stub of a report, but I wanted to post that the October Black Rock Rally was a success!
Nobody died and there weren't even any serious injuries...at least, none as of mid-morning today when everybody left me at Black Rock Point.
I'll post my photos of the Black Rock event soon, as I'm sure others will, too.

I'm at a friend's house in Bridgeport (north of Mono Lake) tonight....with about 10 days of my trip left to spend here in the eastern Sierra Nevada country. Aspen color is magnificent!

Later.
- Mark

Did you see us heading north on 395? We turned west on 89 at around 2:30 pm. Looking forward to seeing photos of the Black Rock event. Great news on the lack of fatalities or requests for EMS. Any photos/videos of nude descents or ascents of stairs?

Sorry Ted to beat you on asking the question. You may punish me later.

Did you see us heading north on 395? Any photos/videos of nude descents or ascents of stairs?

ski3pin, no I didn't see you. I think I was between Reno and Carson City at about that time...

As for your other question: I don't take those kind of photographs...and when I do I don't post them on free websites.

After we split to make the trip back to Bend today, we saw a toyota with a FWC Hawk on the back parked along side the road between Gerlach and Cedarville. Suspecting that maybe this was a rig that had missed our rally we pulled in and introduced ourselves to Jim and his wife (I think Sharon). They were not looking for the WTW rally but were out looking for Native American artifacts and turned us on to "Duck Flats" and we spent an hour visiting and searching around for obsidian tools.

Turns out that Jim knew about WTW and was very excited about possibly joining any future rally. He is going to be requesting an account soon and hopefully we will see some posts from him.

I am always amazed at how many other WTW like people are out there and how friendly and fun they can be.

Home Skillet

Hey HS, we went through Duck Flat on our way south out of Cedarville after camping with you during Labor Day. There's the Buckhorn Byway link to 395, ~ 40 miles, mostly graded gravel.
Didn't realize there were archeological finds to be made in the vicinity.

Looking forward to pics from the rally. We're bummed we weren't able to participate, but are heading out soon!

Aspen color is magnificent!

Sounds good, Mark! We're excited to heading down to Bridgeport later this week. I'll bring lot's of camera batteries and memory cards

October Black Rock Rally

I left Bend Friday morning at 9 -- a later-than-planned start, but that's nothin' new for me...
Leaving Bend with a less-than-full gas tank, I refueled at Summer Lake and at Adel.
Adel would be the last gas available for 200 miles on the route I took. See the route map I drew at the thumbnail below -- the blue route-line is unpaved.



I turned south off 140 at Knott Creek Road and headed down the southern half of Bog Hot Valley.
The Bog Hot Valley -- famous for Bog Hot Springs in the northern half and as the easiest access to the Pine Forest Range in the southern half -- is a place where seeing wild/feral burros is guaranteed. I've seen them so many times that I didn't both with photos...like seeing deer in my yard at home.
The first 20 miles or so are excellent graded dirt/gravel -- I was driving 60+ mph at times.





At the end of Knott Cr Rd I took the right fork, the road marked "Summit Lake" which went up the slope at the south end of Bog Hot Valley.

When the road entered the SE corner of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge it got quite a bit rougher than previous...but still not bad.

The road crosses the huge swath of bare dirt that marks the path of the 42" Ruby Pipeline, which carries natural gas from the Opal Hub in Wyoming to Malin, Oregon. They must be getting close to complete, I think...


Then the road left the Refuge and soon entered the Summit Lake Indian Reservation.



At this junction I took the Soldier Meadows Road (Dirty Dog and Home Skillet came in from Badger Mt Rd, I believe.


After passing the big ranch at Soldier Meadows proper I found the BLM map-sign showing where the campground was, which was a good thing as there were quite a few roads and the popped-up campers weren't visible from the main road.
I arrived at the Hot Springs Campground at about 4pm -- the last of the group. There was still a space for me next to Dirty Dog's and Home Skillet's rigs.



The Skillets and K60N relaxing in the late-afternoon shade of Dirty Dog's rig.


K60N and Silvertip47 discussing gear, I think; In the background, Camelracer's and K60N's Dodges and the barren foothills of the Black Rock Range.


We socialized around a campfire in the Dodge sector that night. Pretty low key. Life was discussed as those new to each other got acquainted...I shared walnut pie with those who didn't have dietary restrictions...moderation was practiced, for the most part.

This is the hot springs, "Hot CreeK", for which the campground is named.

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.

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...

You mean people were actually listening? Good thing those ideas were gone by morning

This was a great time for me! ...now I can imagine a real person when I read their posts on WTW...I enjoyed this group.

It was a great rally. We both had a blast and are looking forward to another. Especially if it is further east, like say UT next spring (hint, hint).

Excellent photos Mark!