Nevada: Goals Met

It was 17 years ago that Eric and I first traveled across Nevada to go dirt riding in Utah. At the time, we took HWY 80 and hauled ass in order to get across the boring wasteland. We returned via HWY 50, though, and things were much more interesting. We purchased a Nevada Benchmark Road and Recreation Atlas on the way home, and after a few more trips to Utah have been riding Nevada ever since. One of the things that caught my eye in that Benchmark atlas so long ago was a distant and remote hot springs. Despite numerous attempts we'd never made it out there due to fuel range issues and inclement weather. It was time to change that.


We loaded up the big bikes and left town on a beautiful Thursday morning. Stopped for lunch at Lake Alpine, where we dined on leftover Chinese food from the night before. It was a beautiful spot, but this may have proven to be my downfall...







I was still feeling pretty good here...



We hooked up with my friend David on the corner of 89 and 4. He had carried my Spot on his recent ride to Missouri and back, and we were retrieving it for our own ride. He also brought us 2 fantastic blueberry scones. I was very thankful for those scones in the coming days, as they would be my main source of sustenance. I started to get a little antsy and uncomfortable standing around in the sun, so we bid David a fond farewell and didn't stop again until we got fuel in Bridgeport. We met Katie there, on her 950SM. She had ridden solo from British Columbia and was on her way to the XLADV High Sierra dualsport ride. She was not bothered at all by the fact that she was on a big powerful supermoto and would be riding it in the dirt with no real dirt experience. My kind of gal!


Somewhere outside of Mammoth my unease turned to full-on sickness. I pulled over, and as fast as I could I jumped off my bike, ripped my helmet off and relived the leftover Chinese food experience in full living color. Ugh... Really bad timing to get sick, as we were heading for a glorious evening at one of my all-time favorite spots...



I mostly laid in the shade and in the tent, trying really hard to will myself to feel better. It didn't exactly work, but I tried my best to enjoy this most beautiful of spots...



The beautiful sunset and 7-Up made me feel a little better, but I still couldn't keep anything down. It was a long night...



The next morning found me feeling no better. I didn't want to waste precious time, though, so we loaded up and headed out in search of all Nevada had to offer...



It was a little cold to actually swim here, but the cool water felt great anyway...



Nobody does wide-open spaces like Nevada...



The booming metropolis of Candelaria...














The town cemetery...



Most graves had no name or marker...









Hot and thirsty and feeling like utter hell, it was time to go look for a place to camp.


5 more days to go!



WoodsChick

Love that license plate! Must be a TR650 thing. Condolences on what’s happening internally but it sure looks beautiful in my retirement state.

WoodsChick said:

5 more days to go!

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been thinking about ways to head east from Benton Hot Springs ... found Candelaria on the map!

Ran across this while looking for a place to camp...






I'm usually pretty picky when it comes to places to camp. I prefer water (yeah, even in Nevada...) and some sort of shelter or backdrop or view or something. Because of this, Eric would never take it upon himself to pick out a spot for us and call it good. On this day, though, I laid on the ground in the shade of his mighty 950 and told him to take my 650 and find us a camp spot. He returned just as I was drifting off in the nice cool breeze. He'd found an abandoned mine for the evening's accommodation. Great... I dragged myself up off the ground and prepared to be disappointed, although at this point I didn't really care, I just wanted to lay my head down in the tent.

Turns out there was no disappointment whatsoever!






The coolness of the spot Eric had found made me feel a little better, and we cruised around the mine checking things out...





We set up the tent beneath the massive curved wall of the mine, and settled in for a windy but beautiful evening. I was finally starting to feel better...


After a night of good solid sleep, we woke up to cold clear skies, and an urge to lay down some miles. Another thing I'd spotted on that atlas so long ago was a place called Hot Springs Canyon. Sounds like my kind of place, eh? That was today's ultimate destination. But first, breakfast at the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah...



The best parking spot in the Mizpah's lot was reserved for someone special...



Not only did the Mizpah serve a great breakfast, it was a beautiful building with a lot of history...



We fueled up the bikes, and the 4 RotoPax's we had. We carried a total of 5 extra gallons of fuel, and it turned out we needed every last drop of it. We also filled our water bladders with ice and water. I filled a cheap "Hot and Cold" bag with the leftover ice, put a few cans of cider in it, and shoved it next to the steaks down into the insulated bladder section of my CamelBak backpack. I had no illusions of the ciders being cold later that day but I figured it couldn't hurt to try. We lumbered out of the gas station and headed east. I'd spotted a warm springs not too far off the road to the north and we wanted to go check it out.


The map made it look like the springs was right on the road, but of course it's never that easy. We looked all over and were about to turn back when Eric spotted what looked like an old wooden fence out in the sagebrush. It was too small to be a corral, and it looked sort of out of place out there...


We parked the bikes, trundled off through the sagebrush, and were rewarded with this...



It was a bit warm, but was all cowed up and kind of icky. No matter, it was really fun finding it!



We continued north, arced to the east, and then south again down to the main road. We turned east, headed for a bend in the road called Warm Springs. There was an abandoned resort there, and we kept our eyes open for it. Before we actually saw it, though, we noticed a ton of animals lounging around on the hillside behind it. Turns out it was a herd of bighorn sheep! This was the first of 3 herds we would see on this trip! They were pretty mellow, and didn't mind us stopping and gawking for a bit. A few cars drove by out on the main road and they, too, stopped to enjoy the spectacle...






We waited til they wandered away before checking out the pool...





The water spilled into the pool directly from a stream coming from the source. I would've liked to find the source but the animals were still there and I didn't want to disturb them...



The pool was beautiful, and the temp was perfect for a night swim, but it was far too hot for the middle of the day. Also, this was private property, and even though it was super easy to get into it was clearly marked "No Trespassing" all over the place. We took our photos and left, thinking maybe we'd return sometime in the dead of night for an illicit swim...


We continued on down the road, heading for Hot Springs Canyon.


WoodsChick

bikewanker said:

Love that license plate! Must be a TR650 thing. Condolences on what’s happening internally but it sure looks beautiful in my retirement state.

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Hah! That license plate looked like that probably 6 months after I got that thing! I don't know what's up with that. It's not like I'm constantly thrashing this thing (upcoming photos notwithstanding ) And, yeah, Nevada is so beautiful! There's just so much hidden loveliness in all her out-of-the-way nooks and crannies.

SFMCjohn said:

been thinking about ways to head east from Benton Hot Springs ... found Candelaria on the map!

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It's pretty neat out there, John! Super dry and desolate, and not much greenery or soft edges, for sure, but it certainly has its own brand of stark beauty.



DesertChick

Turning east and then north once again, we set our sights on Hot Springs Canyon. I knew that most of the property in the canyon was private, and that we probably wouldn't be able to get near the water, but it still managed to hold my attention all these years and I really wanted to see it...


Again, there was no disappointment when we came to the mouth of the canyon...


The lush greenery was a sight to behold, and the air was fresh and sweet...




There were a lot of gates to open and close...
















We exited the canyon, and the road we were on took us north. We needed to find a place to camp, and the map showed a warm spring to the north. Looked a little sketchy getting there but it sounded good to us!

Hmm...when looking for water in the desert it usually pays to follow the animals, so we followed this cow track...




The cow track continued on our path, but it got super sandy. There was a lot of this going on...





Had we known for a fact that there would, indeed, be a nice warm springs at the end of the trail, we would have toughed it out. The shadows were getting long, though, and we were hungry. It had been a high-mileage day and we were ready for it to end. We turned around and re-rode all the fabulous deep sand we'd already plowed through, and headed for Little Fish Lake...which happened to be a dry, albeit lovely, lake.

Again, not my first choice, but this will do. Turned out to be one of the best nights of the trip!


We popped open the first icy-cold can of cider, cleaned ourselves up with our water, set up the tent, gathered some firewood, and settled in for a fantastic evening...


After the cold ciders were gone we opened up a bottle of red wine and enjoyed the last remnants of the fantastic day...




The ribeye steaks that had been riding next to my ice-filled camelbak bladder were still really cold, and they cooked up great alongside the zucchini on our little folding BBQ grill...



Tomorrow we make the long run to the hot springs!



WoodsChick

Woot! Looks like another great adventure! Thanks for sharing!

Wow, fantastic country, fantastic photos, and wonderful narrative!

-Bill

1962siia said:

Woot! Looks like another great adventure! Thanks for sharing!

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Hey, thanks for checking it out!

GB500guy said:

Wow, fantastic country, fantastic photos, and wonderful narrative!



-Bill

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Thanks, Bill. It is fantastic country, for sure!

WC

where is that mine?

Always love a good DesertChick story.

You guys are such the AwesomeRideCouple... and KillerFotoChick too.

Pretty nice morning in the meadow...


Remember that cheap "Hot and Cold" bag I had my ice and ciders in? I filled that bag up about 9am the day before, rode in the sun all day, opened and closed that bag numerous times after arriving in camp the night before, and this is what was left at 9am the next morning. Pretty impressive!



We perused the map while drinking our coffee, trying to figure out the best way to get to Point B without using too much fuel. We'd emptied the Rotopaxes the night before so we were full up, but there was no fuel available between where we were and where we wanted to go. We always want to see something new, but the alternative routes that were available to us were unknown and rather
primitive. All it would take would be for an impassible section of road, or a locked gate that wasn't on the map, or something like that, and we'd be walking in the middle of nowhere. No thanks. We ended up going back the way we came. I must say, I was not bummed about having/getting to go back through Hot Springs Canyon again!

Needs TLC! Make it your own! Bring your tools and your vision!
(Can you tell I've been looking at real estate lately?)



Seeing Hot Springs Canyon from the other direction was actually pretty neat. There was some stuff that we'd missed the first time...



Find the coyote...



This place is special...






When we were exiting the canyon the day before, I was riding in front of Eric and I missed the herd of bighorn sheep that were hanging out on the right side of the box canyon we were riding through. On this day, I was riding in front again but this time I did not miss them! I'm assuming it was the same herd, although Eric said there were many more animals than the day before...


We tried to count them, and we both independently came up with over 50 animals. They were moving and far away so who knows, but there were a lot of them...








At the eastern end of the canyon we spotted a graveyard up on the hillside. We'd ridden right past it without seeing it while going in the other direction the day before. So glad we didn't miss it on the way out...





We exited the canyon, put our heads down, and blasted east and then north. It was hotter than hell, and we had a very long way to go. Our next stop would be the elusive warm springs we'd been trying to get to for years. It was located on the Duckwater Shoshone tribal lands and we cruised the little town on our way to the spring. And holy hell, that spring was worth the wait!!


It was probably in the high 90's when we got there, windblown and dirty from camping and riding in the dirt for 4 days and 3 nights, and the warm swimming pool water felt like liquid heaven...





It was so quiet and peaceful, lush and green, birds singing, the water was clean and perfect...it was a truly incredible experience. It was semi-developed and improved with a parking lot, a few tables with BBQ's, a bathroom, a deck, and steps down to the water. There was also an interpretive board telling about the endangered Railroad Valley springfish. It was sooo nice and I didn't want to leave...



Eric managed to drag me out of the water after an hour or two. It felt great to be clean and completely relaxed. I was also pretty pleased that we'd finally made it here, and that after all the waiting and anticipation it was even better than I'd hoped it would be.

We suited up and headed north for 50 miles of dirt/gravel. As we'd done since we left Tonopah, we kept the speeds and RPMs low in order to conserve our fuel. Our next stop would be Eureka, and it was on the bleeding edge of our range with the extra fuel. I usually get 50mpg on my 650 without being careful, and with 5.2gal of fuel I should've been able to go 260 miles. We rolled into the Chevron station in Eureka with 276 miles on the clock! I had fuel left and had gotten 60mpg, and Eric got an all-time high of 34.5mpg on his 950. Our plan worked!

When we got there we saw 2 Royal Enfield Himalayans filling up. Their riders, Mell and A.J., had flown to Salt Lake City from England, bought the 2 Himalayans, and had been touring the US for the last month. They'd planned on selling them before going home, but they loved them, and they loved riding here in the US. They were trying to figure out a way to keep them and store them here so they could fly back and do more exploring on them. We had a great time talking with them.





It was getting late and we were hungry. We hit the Owl Club Casino for dinner, and decided to get a room in town. A nice walk after dinner set us right and we slept like kings and queens.



LuckyChick

Junkie said:

where is that mine?

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The mine we camped at was the Belleville Mine. It's not far past the CA/NV state line on the western flank of the Candelaria Hills north of HWY 6 and just west of HWY 95. That huge curved wall on the top can be seen from the highway down below. We found it coming from Candelaria to the south on a dirt road. We didn't realize it was so close to the highway til the next morning when we dropped down out of the hills

budman said:

Always love a good DesertChick story.

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Thanks, budman! Feels good to get another one down!

Butch said:

You guys are such the AwesomeRideCouple... and KillerFotoChick too.

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Aww... I just feel lucky to still be doing it, although not as often as I'd like.


AlmostDoneChick

'Tis the week to be thankful, always thankful for StoryChik.

This looks great! Thanks for sharing, all the info and the great pics!

Incredible ride, thanks for sharing!!!

berth said:

'Tis the week to be thankful, always thankful for StoryChik.

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And I'm thankful I can still get out there to ride sometimes and come home with a story to tell! Thanks for checking it out, berth

kneedraggeroldy said:

This looks great! Thanks for sharing, all the info and the great pics!

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Thanks, `dragger! Glad you're diggin' it. This is just what I like to do

Biga said:

Incredible ride, thanks for sharing!!!

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Thank you, Biga! I'll try to finish it up tonight


GratefulChick

ooops double post

You really need to consider publishing a Woodschick coffee table travel book. Pictures of the places you have been the people met interspersed with a few stories. No need for specific details about how to get anywhere, just the inspiration to get out there and look for the adventure.

As always

Thank you for taking us along on your ride.