Recap of trail scouting trip.

The plan for this trail scouting trip was to see if the route posted would be good for a planned over night weekend to see several ghost towns of the course of a weekend. Sadly while the trails was a BLAST this would not be a good trail to use for the planned overnight weekend. I will be looking for another route to use which can accommodate all types of vehicles.

The group was made up of myself in a brand new stock raptor, my buddy and his wife in is four door Jeep with 37 inch tires and a friend from the drives group in is Dodge Ram 1500 with a lift kit and 35’s and his buddies.

The trail itself was a mostly hard pack dirt and with the usual rocks all over the place. A few areas of the trail were washed out from the recent monsoon rains in the area a few weeks ago. We were able to navigate a path through the wash areas with some very “extreme” routes. As long as you had 4x4 on you were able to navigate the crazy sections.

It took us about 5 hours to complete the entire trail which includes a lunch stop, bio breaks, and a firearms session to take out some evil oranges. Once we are out of the adventure trail we headed to Ludwig where we hit the fast section of off road which was what I was looking for.

---For those who see this and wish to join future off road trips and or help scout routes for future expeditions. Sign up for the emails I am creating for trail adventures at [url=http://www.raddrives.com/offroad.html[/url] ---


Start of the trail.









Short stop to defend the group against killer oranges. Time to break out the fire power.















The following images are as we worked our way over the mountains before descending down to hit the flat land to Ludwig.

 

Out of the trails and off to the baja section

 

redid images

 

Nice pics

How long did it take you from A to B? Do you plan another run before winter sets in?

 

LOL says in the post about 5 hours. We probably could have done it in 4 but with the stops made as noted.

I plan on doing 1 or 2 more if I can get a weekend free.I am shooting for the 27th to scout a different section for the start or the last section before overnight. I will post them up when I am sure I am going.

 

So, you stated you're looking for a trail for "all types of vehicles"? I get it. I thought you were looking for a 4x4 trail.
There are a couple of more trails that might be more what you're looking for. Out of Bridgeport, Ca, take Hwy 182 to a dirt road junction near Sweetwater Summit There is a road that goes to the town of Walker, Nevada. I can't remember the name of it but it goes by the ghost town of Aurora. Much gentler road. There's another at Blackwell Canyon, near Walker, Ca that goes across the Sweetwater Mountains to Smith Valley, Nv.
Another one might be Sunrise Pass out of Minden, Nv (Johnson Lane area) that takes you across the Pinenut Mountains to Smith Valley. There are lots of dirt roads deeper in the state of Nevada that go for miles and miles of flat, straight road through huge valleys, then windy roads up over more mountainous passes. I'd suggest buying a Nevada atlas that shows unimproved roads, however. On some of these roads in central and eastern Nevada it's possible to find yourself turned around and a bit lost. Yes, they are that long. Lots of open country out there. I've explored some of them while I was a wildland firefighter looking for fire assignments. Easy to see the smoke and negotiate the network of roads on the way there but finding the way out can be challenging.

 

Thanks Tim,

I am using Google and sat maps to make routes that loop. There what I call "jeep" trails that lead to no where. I am trying to string loops together so it is one path. I found the route I think I am going to use for my organized weekend trip. Just need to drive a few section to see how they are.

 

I just re-read, sorry I was mesmerized by the pics

 

How active is the off road community on this forums. I joined about 15 forums to start organizing things like this and so far all of them are pretty dead.

I guess I am used to the sports care forums being active.

 

Being that you're journey is on the Eastern Sierras, it is a lengthily drive for most Northern California Chapter members to travel. California's a big, spread out state so even getting a group together over in the main, populous valleys can be a challenge, but when you have to cross the Sierra Mountains it gets a little more difficult to gather a response. Especially with fuel prices as they are.
You might try including an invite to folks in the Nevada Chapter as well. There might be some interest from the brothers and sisters to the east to join in.

 

I guess it depends on where most of the people are. If most are in the bay area that makes sense but Sac and region is a day trip.

In either case I will plan trips and put them out there. If people come great and if not hopefully one day.

 

Thanks for the pics and map, looks like a great ride! Some interesting ruins too. With hebrew graffiti, nice 'easter egg', so to speak. That environment of half Sierra and half Death Valley can be darn pretty, can see for miles. Easy for the full size trucks like mine too. That's a bit far for me (Bay Area) but otherwise it is the type of ride I'd enjoy, be great to tag along some day. Up here I've camped out toward Indian Valley Reservoir and would like to get up to Cow Mountain, but the developed places like that don't hold the same attraction.

Head up 395 toward the east side of Lake Tahoe and I can recommend Genoa Trail, pic below.

Not really much trail info on the web so thanks for the Barney/Deer Valley links Tim!

 

Fixed the images for those who missed them.

I will be scouting a few other trails maybe later this month or October for future group off road trips. I will post them once I have a date.