Trans NV 2008

[dlbrunner]

Cruiser outfit- We made it to wells around 12:30 ish PM Saturday, hung out in montello till about 4, I figured you guys had hit the road.

Trip went really well.

I'll try and get some pics up a little later tonight. I want to do a little narrative for each day, to keep you guys on the edge of your seats.

In the end:

2300 miles total
673 miles on dirt *

* Like ith other records, I have to put in a foot note. about 60 miles of this was on paved road. we went into Jackpot, NV to top off the tanks, and Winnemucca to get more supplies (on wednesday). However, these stretches of Pavement were north to south, not east to west.

The trip was not "unsupported" to the true sense because we had to stop for food and Ice, and gas. We could have done it, without refueling on pavement, but we errd on the side of caution. My buddy rob's rule of desert travel is "if there is gas near, fill up" A good rule.

I am not doing a trip like this without a freeze/fridge again EVER.

I will say that this was a major accomplishment for me and my partners on the trip, I finally made the complete transit in one shot. Made it to Jarbidge.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Excellent, I'm looking forward to your pictures and narrative!

 

[dlbrunner]

Pre Trip

Thursday night was filled with the usual last minute packing, shopping, and preparing. We wanted to roll out as quick as we could on Friday, since we had a lot of highway to burn. A trip to wally world for another cooler, chair and beer.

Me in the midst of chaos

 

[dlbrunner]

Friday, Day 1

Any trip without being behind schedule from the beginning is just not doing it right.

I took a half day on Fridy, took care of some last minute details around town and got home around 2:00 PM. I packed up my personal belongings and waited for Grady to get Home. He showed up and we packed and hit the road. 20 minutes up the I-17 I had to turn around. I forgot the most important item, the ashes to spread. pfffffttt.

So, its now around 4:30 and 116 out. We decided to head up grand Ave instead of I-17 to Wickenburg. Bad Idea, the traffic was awful. We finally get to Wickenburg about 7 ish. As I get out of the truck and head into Burger King, I see some steam and smell coolant. not good.

After dinner I popped the hood and saw where the leak was. I told grady to buy extra hoses before we left, and luckily he did.

I put the gloves on and got to work changing out the hose. 30 minutes later we closed the hood and hit the road again. We stopped again in Wickiup to double check the hose and all was good.

About midnight we rolled through Vegas. I got us on to the 93 north and pulled over at a truck stop to water the dog.

As I was going through my stuff, I couldn'd find my pocket knife. I looked everywhere, I asked grady if he saw it, and he said no. I got this funny feeling I left it under the hood while I was doing the hose repair.

Oops.

So Grady took over for a while and we drove till about 2:30 AM. We found a small dirt road, pulled off, rolled out the bedrolls and crashed.

 

[BLKNBLU]

Yeah, look Duncan, this 1 day at a time business just isn't going to cut it. We're going to need more; sooner.

 

[dlbrunner]

Dang it Mike!! I am furiously typing!!

OK, Saturday morning could not come quick enough. The sun and excitement got me up out of my bag at 7:00 AM. 4 hours of sleep is not most peoples Idea of a relaxing vacation, but we were behind schedule. Ely was about 2 hours away and Wells was another 2 on top of that. We were going to be in Wells by noon, if everything panned out.

We stopped in Ely and picked up some leeks for one of the dishes. No offense, but I coined Ely "The Mullet Capital of the world"

Just past Ely the highway 93 splits, the Alternate goes to Wendover, and the main route rolls to Wells. I is a good thing we decided to take the main road to wells. At the intersection we found the alternate route was blocked off by Nevada Highway Patrol. There was a race going on where people take their cars and get to test them out. We stopped to check out the cars and chat a little. There were some really neat fast cars there.

After a few minutes we got back on the road. Pretty soon the Ruby mountains came into view:

We met my buddy Rob (dsrtsage) in wells about 12:30. After topping off the tanks we made tracks for Montello, NV. Thought we might meet up with cruiser outfit, so we sat in the bar, had a burger and chilled for a while. Since this day was to get to the border, we had a little time to kill.

Finally after 700 odd miles of pavement the journey began:

 

[dlbrunner]

We settled in to the gravel roads and pretty soon we saw our first wildflowers:

Lupine, I think:

There were some cattle around, and after we crossed a fence I thought it was safe to turn my girl loose to stretch her legs. The next corner we turned, she caught wind of some cows and gave chase. I called her back and luckily she came right away. I know it could have turned out really bad, dog ketting kicked/killed, liability for injured cows etc... but everything turned out for the best, not before one of the cows showed niki what they thought:

I got her cleaned up and back in the truck, not a good smell.

Rover getting some pinstripes:

about 6 PM following the GPS we fount the official start of the Transit. This was the NV/UT border:

Left to Right: Duncan, Rob, Grady

After that we started heading west and looked for a place to camp. We found a good ridgetop away from bugs and with a good view.

Time to relax and enjoy the country we came to visit.

 

[dlbrunner]

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Sunday was quite a day. The plan was to make it to some campgrounds near Jarbidge. This proved to be a challenging proposition. Our navigation was reliant on a current gazeteer, a late 90's edition of the "Nevada Map Atlas" and a handheld GPS. We did drive several "little roads" some would just peter out, or not exist on the maps we had. Most of the roads in the area are occasionally traveled by the local ranchers, but many can lay dormant for more than a year.

After the UT border we headed west to Jarbige (far peaks on the horizon)

 

[spressomon]

Nice pics and story: Thanks for sharing! The Ruby and Jarbidge ranges still have a fair amount of snow in them!

P.S. Those are Mountain Bluebells.

 

[dlbrunner]

In the second picture above, a massive set of "Steps" begins.

Early in the day coming out of the Delano Mtns into the Knoll Hills:

More Sage Beasts. The babies are the worst. A little low and slow driving

I like all the little ecosystems:

Approaching noon, we crossed the highway 93. Pavement. Erring on the side of caution, we drove 5 odd miles to town, and topped the tanks. First rule of Desert travel: if gas is close, top it off.

Out of Jackpot, NV we headed about 3 miles south, turned off and headed for the Snake Range. After an "Alternate Route" presented itself we ended up heading north, I think we actually crossed into ID. The spot tracker shows us really close.

A few antelope two pics above if you look close.

 

[dlbrunner]

The area called "The Devils Table" Ironic.....

After several hours we navigated down to the O'neil basin.

Brush action:

More Flowers

The area has recently burned. Apparantly there was a Million plus acre fire recently. Amazing.

 

[dlbrunner]

By the end of the day Sunday, we reached the Mary's River. There was a small bridge to cross, and what looked like an oasis turned out to be a little unbearable with the bugs.

We kept going west and found a nearby road that led up a ridge. I started up some briquettes and cooked the Cuscous chicken. It was one of my favorites from the trip.

 

[dlbrunner]

Here is another good Sunday ptc.

The Devils Table

More....

 

[spressomon]

The flowers in post #41 are Mountain Lupine. Certainly looks/sounds like you guys are having fun!

 

[dlbrunner]

Thanks spresso. Feel free to help me with my flower classification, I am pretty much B.S. ing when talking about flowers

I'll post up more tonight.... The saga continues.