A few days in SE-Oregon...maybe NW Nevada
#11
Posted 21 March 2013 - 04:13 PM
Looks like you'll be passing not too far from the Stolpa Rescue site. With everything now up in the air concerning our son's upcoming training in California and deployment to Afghanistan, we're out of the running for a WTW trip out your way until next year. If you (or anybody else who Ws TW were to get there, it'll be an inspiration for others.
Safe travels,
Foy
#12
Posted 21 March 2013 - 04:22 PM
I'll be meeting Smokecreek, who worked for the BLM in the Stolpa area during that time. I think he knows something about the inside story...seems like he's posted about it on WTW (involving lawsuits by the Stolpas against govt agencies for allowing the Stolpas to act on their stupidity)..........Looks like you'll be passing not too far from the Stolpa Rescue site........If you (or anybody else who Ws TW were to get there, it'll be an inspiration for others.
It would be cool to find the exact spot, though...but it won't be on this trip, as I'll be south of the Sheldon NWR (unless my plans change...which is possible).
FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)
#13
Posted 21 March 2013 - 04:53 PM
Smoke
#14
Posted 21 March 2013 - 04:54 PM
FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)
#15
Posted 21 March 2013 - 11:33 PM
I just found out I will have five days starting the 29th. I'm extremely tempted to do at least some of this trip. Maybe cut a bit off to save fuel. Will depend a lot of your trip reports. Don't be stingy with the pics and have a good time.
Craig K6JGV_________________________ 2004 2500 CTD 4X4 FWC HAWK 1960 CJ5
#16
Posted 22 March 2013 - 01:19 AM
Good for you, Craig! I know you don't get much time off...- Have you ever explored this region at all (aside from your experience in CDF experience in NW California) -- southeast Oregon and northwest Nevada? It's magnificent!I just found out I will have five days starting the 29th. I'm extremely tempted to do at least some of this trip. Maybe cut a bit off to save fuel.
(If you already know all about the region, you can stop reading now ...if not, read on!)
(OMG -- what am I doing?! I already almost spilled the beans about "the loneliest road in America", now I'm giving away secrets of my favorite "local" area! )
Here's a suggested route with options:
Starting from Susanville...however you prefer to get there.
(By the way: If you already know all about SE Oregon & NW Nevada...forgive me for assuming you don't! )
If you wanted to revisit your old CDF haunts, you'd take 139 north from Susanville and then to Alturas, otherwise it might make more sense to just take 395 to Alturas. Then take 299 east to Cedarville and then head north to Fort Bidwell, where the pavement ends. Good gravel to Adel, where the pavement restarts. North from Adel take you up through the Warner Lakes Valley to Plush (fuel there, AFAIK) -- a cool old store. On east, north, east and up the huge scarp to climb (now on good gravel) up to Hart Mt. Antelope Refuge. Stay at Hot Springs Campground a few miles south of headquarters. On ENE across the Refuge to rejoin pavement at the Catlow Valley Rd, at the western foot of Steens Mt. (The Steens Loop road may be partially open...but it usually isn't fully open until July.) Head south down the Catlow Valley Road and east over a pass at the south end of the Steens to Fields. Fuel, cafe, little store. Cheeseburger and milkshake. (tell proprietors Sandy or Tom that "Mark from Bend" sent ya!) Drive north 25 miles to the Alvord Desert. Camp wherever you find BLM land... You could drive as far north as the BLM campground at Mann Lake, but it's not that special, and you're no longer near the Alvord. Double-back to Fields and then south to Denio (an actual little town -- the Diamond Bar is the watering hole...the only for many miles).
Option 1: From Denio Jct (couple miles south of Denio), take NV 140 SE and then turn SW on the Leonard Creek Rd, which is paved for some miles. When the pavement ends continue south on generally OK but NOT high-speed dirt down the east side of the east arm of the Black Rock Desert, along the western foot of the Jackson Range. After you get south of the Jackson Creek Ranch you'll likely see no one for many miles...it's fabulous. Eventually you reach Sulfur, and there head west on a not-bad/maybe-washboard dirt/gravel road along the southern edge of the Black Rock to Gerlach. (Do you know Gerlach? If not, check out Bruno's) Head more-or-less west then SW down the west side of the Smoke Creek Desert (on dirt road). The connection between the Smoke Creek Rd and 395 is unknown territory for me -- never driven it (but I hope to on my trip, going the other direction) You could follow the Smoke Creek Rd on south to Pyramid Lake, which I've done before.
Option 2: From Denio Jct. head west on NV 140 and take whatever road that is that goes through the Summnit Lake Reservation (check your Nevada Benchmark). This is the route I took to get to Soldier Meadows for the WTW Rally in Oct 2011. (The last real WTW Rally? I hope not! ). Continue down the west side of the west arm of the Black Rock...and follow the route out on to the playa where it's marked...it's the natural/standard route south, where most people go. The "land" route is rough dirt, I think. Rejoin pavement many miles south and then follow it down to Gerlach.
Option 3: From Denio Jct. head west on NV 140 to near Big Spring Reservoir (north of the highway, with a BLM campground). Take the gravel road that is signed for Cedarville (I think) across the Sheldon Antelope Refuge. When you're nearing the point at which I've drawn an orange alternative you're driving in stupid-Stolpa country...but since it's March instead of a blizzard in December, you're not stupid for being there!. At "Vya" (nothing there) you could take the orange alternative back to Cedarville...but the good gravel road from Vya to Gerlach is remote and cool.
Feel free to ask me questions...if you're not already familiar with the area.
FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)
#17
Posted 22 March 2013 - 03:55 AM
Craig K6JGV_________________________ 2004 2500 CTD 4X4 FWC HAWK 1960 CJ5
#18
Posted 22 March 2013 - 04:26 AM
If you stuck to the roads I suggested in Oregon then a Benchmark Oregon atlas would be plenty. But since you'll want the option to figure out something different, and because Benchmarks may not/don't differentiate between BLM and private land, the ideal map for the Oregon part of the loop would be the BLM Burns District map, supplemented by the Lakeview District map to the west and the Vale District map to the east. However, I don't know where you'd get those other than at their respective district offices...and you probably won't be going through there. Maybe if you called them and ordered tomorrow you might be able to have them mailed to you in time. Or do BLM offices have maps for other districts?...I have tons of maps for black rock, got them when I thought I could make the rally. What do you recommend for Oregon?
But back to the Oregon Benchmark Atlas -- if that's all you had you'd be OK, I'm sure.
The Black Rock Desert region, all of NW Nevada, really -- especially north of Gerlach, but even near Gerlach, is a big void of cell signals -- even for Verizon there are big regions with zero signal. The Hart Mt, Steens, Alvord region of southeast Oregon generally has decent cell signals, on Verizon at least.
Let me know if you have any more questions. I'll be out-and-about on my own trip starting tomorrow (Friday) morning, but I'm sure I'll check in here anyway now and then via smartphone.
FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)
#19
Posted 22 March 2013 - 04:41 AM
2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II 2013 ATC Bobcat SE "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."- Abraham Lincoln http://ski3pin.blogspot.com/
#20
Posted 22 March 2013 - 04:54 AM
Thanks, ski, that's a new source for me -- and I used to consider myself a mapophile!Need maps? plicmapcenter.org
The 1:100,000 scale BLM maps they offer are indeed a great series...I got several for SE Oregon way back in the early '90s. They're actually a lot better than the BLM district maps, which tend to be gigantic pieces of paper -- too big to open in a vehicle!
FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)
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