58 replies to this topic

[MarkBC]

Camped at Rocky Point campground, Eagle Lake, with Smoke and Bob the dog.
Kinda cold...windy...but sunny. And nobody else here.

[craig333]

Windy here too. Ordered maps. Looked at the maps I do have. More confused than ever on what route to take. Not worried, routes have a tendency to work themselves out. They're all good. Can't find any info on whether or not the Nobles Emigrant road would be wise this time of year. Love to take that and avoid Reno.

[MarkBC]

FWIW: Among the routes I suggested between Denio and Gerlach , I like #1 the best. 2 & 3 have the charm of the high plateau (though that "charm" is definitely subtle), and in 2 you drive a long way on the playa, which is cool...but there can be playa access from the southern stretch of #1, between Sulfur and Gerlach. I haven't done that access, but I've seen a track here and there leading from the Sulfur-Gerlach road out to the playa.
I like #1 because you drive along the base of the kinda gnarly Jackson Mts on the east with the Black Rock Desert on your west -- and few people take that route. The stretch of that route between Sulfur and Gerlach is relatively more-traveled, however.

But it's a matter of personal taste, so my fave may not match someone else's...and lot of people don't like high desert anyway.

Craig, though you probably already know this: when you leave the Warners as you drop down into Cedarville on 299, you leave all forest/trees behind for a LONG ways -- hundreds of miles. It's mostly-treeless high desert in SE Oregon and NW Nevada no matter what route. A few pockets of aspen in areas with springs...cottonwoods along a few streams.
That's why I like it: no trees to block the view!

[MarkBC]

Lots of camping area -- enough for a WTW Rally! -- at the Rocky Point campground at Eagle Lake.


Facilities are minimal at this "campground" -- pit toilets -- but that takes care of the one feature my camper lacks!

Flocks of pelicans are included in the price ($0.) Pelicans are cool!

Eagle Lake: Second largest natural lake in California (after Clear Lake).

[craig333]

No dog pics? I'm ashamed to admit it. I like maps also and I never really looked that area over all that well. For some reason I had a feeling the Steens were much further north. To add a bit of those and the Alvord while also do black rock and the rest? I may just get why you like the area so much. Time permitting maybe even a side trip into the Wildlife refuge. I probably should leave something for another trip though

Did you bring a fishing pole?

[MarkBC]

No dog pics? I'm ashamed to admit it. I like maps also and I never really looked that area over all that well. For some reason I had a feeling the Steens were much further north. To add a bit of those and the Alvord while also do black rock and the rest? I may just get why you like the area so much.

Did you bring a fishing pole?

Steens Mt -- especially the view from on top, when you can drive the loop road in summer -- is really/almost/I-think national-park spectacular! This time of year the 4000-foot-high east face with snow on it is super, too -- which you can see from the road at its eastern base, next to the Alvord Desert -- the road I drew in up north from Fields. The view of the gently-sloped west side of Steens without being up on it to see the gorges, etc., is not spectacular, not that special at all. That's the side you see from the Catlow Valley, the side you see if approaching from Hart Mt.
Steens Mt is the crown jewel of the whole region -- SE Oregon and NW Nevada. Well, that's just my opinion, of course, but it's widely shared by those who know.

Don't have time to visit Hart Mt? Hmmm...well...the west-facing scarp of Hart Mt, looming precipitously above the Warner Lakes Valley is mighty impressive, too, like the Steens east face, but shear-er. Some might say that Steens Mt east-face and Hart Mt west-face scarps are cooler/spectacular-er than any other Great Basin scarp -- other than the east face of the Sierras, of course, which is king.
I won't say that, however...don't want to start an argument.
(the west side of Notch Peak of the House Range in western Utah is something special, too....maybe I shouldn't rank things at all )

Fishing pole? Craig, I went to Alaska and didn't fish! I'm not sure that's even legal...but I think the statute of limitations has run out. (I used to fish -- caught my first fish in Clear Lake when I was 4 or 5)

I don't know if Smokecreek fishes... And I'll get some Bob-the-dog pics tomorrow.

[MarkBC]

I called Eagle Lake the "second largest natural lake in California" (because Smoke told me, then I looked it up)...but what lake is first then?
Some places say Clear Lake...some say Mono Lake, which seems to be a bit larger (area) than Clear Lake, and both are a lot bigger than Eagle Lake. But whichever of Clear/Mono are first/second, how could Eagle get listed as "second" in several places?
The answer must be that some folks don't count Mono Lake at all. Why would that be? Is it because it's too alkaline/saline to count as "freshwater"? Why would that matter -- it's still a natural lake, even if fish can't live in it...

OK...after a little "research": The Wikipedia entry for Clear Lake says "largest natural freshwater lake entirely in California" -- so maybe "freshwater" is why Mono doesn't make the cut by some people's reckoning.

[Smokecreek1]

Windy here too. Ordered maps. Looked at the maps I do have. More confused than ever on what route to take. Not worried, routes have a tendency to work themselves out. They're all good. Can't find any info on whether or not the Nobles Emigrant road would be wise this time of year. Love to take that and avoid Reno.

Okay, came back early from Rocky Point! Nice and sunny yesterday, was even almost warm up there, the night was okay too, today overcast! Which part Craig333, if you mean what we call the Smoke Creek Ranch Road from 395 to Sand pass Road (where Mark BC is)-forget it. The parts from Susanville west probably have snow on them, but if you want to go via Susanville, Smoke Creek Desert and head NE thoward Gerlach, you should be Okay, put a map on here and we can tell you!-it's cold, weather is supposed to change on Wednesday, but put on a map and we can go from there!

Smoke

[MarkBC]

I am here: 40 52.524 N 118 44.143 W http://maps.google.c...7541,-118.73573
At Sulfur...heading north up the east side of the east arm of the Black Rock. Destination: McGill Canyon, at the base of the Jackson Mts, below King Lear Peak.

Spent last night camped on a bench above the Smoke Creek Desert, just north of Smoke Creek.

So...there IS cell phone coverage here after all...

[Smokecreek1]

I am here: 40 52.524 N 118 44.143 W http://maps.google.c...?q=loc:40.87541,-118.73573
At Sulfur...heading north up the east side of the east arm of the Black Rock. Destination: McGill Canyon, at the base of the Jackson Mts, below King Lear Peak.

Spent last night camped on a bench above the Smoke Creek Desert, just north of Smoke Creek.

So...there IS cell phone coverage here after all...

You made it! Did you try sc ranch road like on the map you sent instead of going through Wendel or was the road okay and you were lucky and cell phone too, anyway bet you had a good view of the sc desert and enjoy the rest of the trip!

Smoke