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Black Rock Desert

Leo_jb

City boy
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Location
San Francisco
Moto(s)
'22 350 EXC-F;
'21 Tenere;
'02 YZ250
Name
Leo
My buddy Myles lives in Bend, Oregon and I live in SF. We wanted to get together and go riding for a few days and were kicking around ideas for locations when Myles suggested the Black Rock Desert. I checked on Google maps and turns out the desert is almost exactly the same distance from both cities (about 350 miles), has great fall weather, and lots of riding choices. Done!

Because neither of us had been there before, would be arriving at different times, and didn't know if cell service would be available we decided to meet in Winnemucca, Nv and spend the first night in a hotel. This worked out ok, but we ended up losing nearly a full day of riding because of it. Next time we'll just meet at Trego Hot Springs.

Spent an uneventful evening in Winnemucca, had breakfast the next morning, then headed out Highway 49 to Black Rock. It took awhile before we reached our destination, Trego Hot Springs where we were thinking of staying. When we got there, however, a large camp of kids (plus a few adults) had set up camp and while it looked like they were having a great time, we decided it would be a bit too chaotic (and noisy) for us. Instead, we just drove out onto the Playa and set up well out of range of the kids and the railroad tracks.


Downtown Winnemucca




Headed out to Black Rock


Nearly to the Playa


BLM is pretty direct about the lack of facilities


Trego Hot Springs, with three of the hooligans


Warning sign #2


The Playa


Camp


My newly re-built 2000 XR400. Great choice for the trip, but I kept wondering how it would have been on my KTM990
Adventure. Most of the riding would have been fine, but some of the steep, loose downhills would have been a challenge.


Heading out to explore after setting up camp.


Black Rock Hot Springs was amazing. Really gorgeous, clear water, but very hot. We came back at night to give it a try and it was really nice, but the temperature was right on the edge of what we could stand. Sitting in the hot springs under the stars was an amazing experience.


Whats left of the covered wagon at the hot springs


The black monolith that gives the Black Rock Desert its name.





Back at camp for dinner


Myles used to be a river raft guide back when we were in college, and he still does quite a bit of rafting. He has all the gear for extended, comfortable stays in the wild, providing transportation is available -water cans, super efficient coolers, furniture, etc. He and his wife (thanks Katie!) also like to prepare a lot of food ahead of time, so we had mole chicken (pictured) pasta with homemade pesto, sausages, and lots of beer. I usually bring dehydrated backpacking food, so this was a real upgrade for me.


The first night we decided to test out our sleeping bags by using cots and sleeping out in the open. The cots were really comfortable, way better than sleeping pads. Problem was that by elevating the sleeping bag a lot of heat is lost from below, and the bags are not really designed for this. So, we survived the night, but the next two nights we slept in the backs of our respective vehicles.


Huge flock of birds at sunset
 
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That place rocks! I rode their about 15 years ago on Halloween weekend. We came in through Sparks and past Pyramid Lake. It's a real trip to be able to see the curvature of the earth, when on the playa.
 
.

The black monolith that gives the Black Rock Desert its name.

Hey Leo,

Looks like a wonderful trip! This is another area I've read about on-line
for years but have never been to ...

Good to have friends who like to cook and eat ... :party

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn
 
Sweet! What about the trails? How's the riding? Any pics?
 
So much awesomeness in this trip report.
Having been to burning man many times I've always wanted to explore around there on the Moto.
 
Wow nice will have to check it out some time.
 
Hey Leo,

Looks like a wonderful trip! This is another area I've read about on-line
for years but have never been to ...

Good to have friends who like to cook and eat ... :party

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

John - you don't know how satisfying it is for me to write about a place you haven't been to. That is, besides the waterfall at Knoxville. LOL

Sweet! What about the trails? How's the riding? Any pics?

Patience. I had to go to work. Rest of the report to follow.
 
Fuck!!!!

I just had the next segment all done when I accidentally closed the page and lost everything. Too pissed to redo it now. It'll have to wait until later (I also have work to do).
 
How far of a ride is this from Susanville or Eagle Lake? Thinking of heading up that way in a couple of weeks. Looks close on a map...
 
Aack, sorry about the editing difficulty Leo!

I'm loving the pictures so far. I went and played around on Alvord earlier this summer. It was a hoot. I can only imagine how fun it is on a rip snorting thumper with knobbies. :devil I can't wait for more of your report. The area is beautiful.
 
How far of a ride is this from Susanville or Eagle Lake? Thinking of heading up that way in a couple of weeks. Looks close on a map...

Really close. Just north of Pyramid lake
 
Aack, sorry about the editing difficulty Leo!

I'm loving the pictures so far. I went and played around on Alvord earlier this summer. It was a hoot. I can only imagine how fun it is on a rip snorting thumper with knobbies. :devil I can't wait for more of your report. The area is beautiful.

Yeah, Myles mentioned he has some friends that ride Alvord, but Black Rock is closer for us! Not too bad of a trip either. Little over 5 hours.
 
I can't wait to see more. :) I brought my strom to Alvord. I'll bet you really got around black Rock on your little bike.

Also, why wasn't I invited? :x


:laughing
 
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Did someone ask about riding? On our first full riding day (3rd day of the trip) , we were loosely following some tracks I downloaded that had us heading out Soldier Meadow Road, up to High Rock Canyon, then back to Soldier Meadow.


Route on first day


Shortly after we started climbing we came across this old homestead


The location of the cabin wasn't random - a spring popped out of the ground just behind the cabin, and the enterprising homesteader stuck a pipe in the ground and ran the water to an old bathtub. He/she also had some irrigation pipes that delivered spring water to several trees on the small property.


The place also had an old stable, where we found the slowly decaying remains of saddlebags hanging from the walls.


This guy was the only occupant of the property, though I'm sure he had some relatives.


Climbing up past the cabin


Near the top


Sweet view!


Back towards camp across the playa. This picture was actually really tough to take. Getting the bike started, up to speed (about 50) and taking a shot while holding and aiming the camera was harder than I thought it would be. One of the problems with the small bike is I don't have a tank bag for it, which means I have to carry the camera in my backpack. Greatly reduces the incentive to stop and take photos.


Cold beers after a hard day's riding. What could be better?


Answer: cold beer and guns! Myles brought this sweet 17 caliber rifle with a scope that we used for target practice. I'm not much of a gun person, but the rifle was a blast, both literally and figuratively.


Myles


One dead propane tank


So Myles and I are sitting around camp one morning and see this plane buzzing around the playa, clearly looking for a place to land. The surface of the playa is weird - some parts look wet when they're not, others look dry and they're actually quite soft. Really hard to judge, but you can feel the terrain change as you're riding across it. Its also not nearly as flat as you think it would be. Some serious bumps, especially at speed. Clearly, the guy in the plane was nervous about finding a good spot, even doing a touch-and-go once before finally landing. Remember the kids camping out at Trego Hot Springs? Turns out some guy connected to that group talked his boss into flying him out to meet up with them. Sweet, right? Best part - when the boss goes to leave, the plane won't start. He has to borrow Myles' jumper cables to get back in the air.


Turns out there was cell coverage on the playa. Getting harder and harder to unplug from all that crap, even in the middle of the desert in Nevada. That's Myles on the phone, by the way, not me.


Couldn't resist this shot.



Sunrise
 
Awesome. Everything.....thanks for sharing.
 

Tracks from second full day

Saturday was our last full day in Black Rock, so we decided we had to at least ride to Gerlach and have lunch at Bruno's. Figured we find some some easy riding in the area around Gerlach, then head back to camp for dinner.


Gerlach would be an amazing town if there was actually water instead of a dry lakebed. To get there you have to ride across an causeway elevated above the playa. That stuff is not passible when wet.


Anyone looking for a career change? Bruno's is for sale.


We head north out of Gerlach on hwy 447 and I spot a powerline road. I love powerline roads. I check my BLM map and the road shows up on it. It also looks like we can make a big loop out the powerline road, up over a pass to the east, then back down to the playa. Sounds like a great plan.


This is only a couple of members of a large herd of deer. Actually this was a great trip for wildlife. Several herds of deer, one herd of wild horses, a few rabbits, two coyotes and a herd of pronghorns.

After we left the powerline road, things started getting a little weird. I had my GPS and a pretty good BLM map, but those of you who have navigated unknown terrain know how hard it is to get oriented - unlike maps, the gps displays all roads more-or-less the same way whether its a small trail or a paved road. In other words, I wasn't quite sure we were on the right trail. I did know we were headed in the right direction though, and figured we''d get back down again one way or another.


Climbing up to the top


Made it!


Wait, we have to get back down there?!


Another amazing view

So, we're at the top of this ridge and its getting late. We're not on a main trail and we had to work pretty hard to get through some loose, rocky stretches. At one point I walked back down the trail, sure I was going to have to help Myles push his bike up. But no, he methodically powers up the hill and rides past me. Well done!

Anyway, we're looking at dropping 3000 feet to get back down again. Its about 4:30 and the shadows are growing. At this point, we are too heavily invested to turn back, but don't know how hard the drop is going to be. Fuel seems to be ok, I have plenty of water. Myles is thinking we're going to end up spending the night out here (he tells me later). There's an open gate at the very top, and the road takes a sharp, steep left and disappears from view. WTF let's drop in.

The road immediately turns to shit. Really steep, huge rocks, like someone dumped a load of riprap meant for shore protection. Holey shit this is going to suck. I figure if I stop and talk to Myles we might never get going again, so I just keep plowing through it. After maybe 5 minutes, the road gets better and I can relax a bit. After that, the occasional rough spot but nothing too tough.


Back to flatland again.


Camp never looked so good!


Sunset on our last night.
 
:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

This is CLASSIC Leo. "Oooh, where does that go? I have a vague idea and some tracks, let's gooooo!" It's what makes you so much fun to ride with, after all.

I remember seeing horses up in that neck of the woods. It's rather amazing. Thank you for the photos. They're beautiful. I feel like I am there.
 
A few videos for your entertainment

[youtube]_wM6JAkZdpo[/youtube]

[youtube]g7o6Kn80y5Q[/youtube]

[youtube]nve6Hwgy1M0[/youtube]
That's my hand holding onto the camera. Too cheap for a Go Pro

[youtube]bIclG3UYe20[/youtube]
 
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:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

This is CLASSIC Leo. "Oooh, where does that go? I have a vague idea and some tracks, let's gooooo!" It's what makes you so much fun to ride with, after all.

I remember seeing horses up in that neck of the woods. It's rather amazing. Thank you for the photos. They're beautiful. I feel like I am there.

Yeah, Myles warned me that one of these days my luck is going to run out. Maybe its time to invest in a Spot.
 
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