Nevada Wanderings

[DrMoab]

Once we hit the bottom of that mountain we headed north a ways and had some easy highway cruising to Eureka for another refuel and some grub.

How can you go wrong with a place called Sloppy Joes?
Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

From here things got a little sketchy. We still had aprox 60 miles to go in order to get to Ruby Lake. We needed to get to Ruby Lake because the next day we had a long freeway drive to meet up with the IC chapter for the annual shooting day. We didn't want to spend all day driving.

When we turned off the pavement, this is what we were faced with. A whole valley of roads that were barely roads. Fun in a jeep. Not fun in a jeeps pulling trailers trying to make good time and losing daylight very fast.
DSC_2039 by drmoab, on Flickr

We finally got on some decent roads....for a bit. When it came time to turn off and head over Telegraph canyon (its basically the mountain you see in front of the jeep in the last pic) we noticed the road was barely a two track. Still 30 miles from camp with twilight setting in we decided to dig the maps out and have a little pow wow about how we wanted to proceed. We could still head over the mountain or we could take a detour on better roads but instead of five miles over the mountain it would be a good 40-50 mile detour.

Looking at the map.
DSC_2056 by drmoab, on Flickr

We decided to head over the mountain and it was grueling. Mile after mile of first gear, steep, rocky nastiness. When we got to the other side both the map and the GPS showed a better road heading toward Ruby Lake. Nope...when we got to it, it was the same crap we had been on for miles and miles.

We finally hit better roads right before the lake and decided we didn't even want to try and find a camp. Forest Service CG for $15 a night it was. In the condition we were in....totally worth it.

 

[DrMoab]

Day 7
May 16th 2014

We woke up and broke camp. Knowing we only had a few more miles of dirt, we got busy quick. The night before we hardly made camp. It was pretty quick to get up and get moving.

Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

Oh....remember that gun that fell off my dads roof? We finally decided to look at it. Ugly...
Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

We busted out and headed for Wells, then I80 for most of the trip home. In Wendover we stopped, gassed up one final time and split up with DaveW and my dad. Aaron and I had commitments the next day for the IC shooting day and my dad and Dave both just wanted to get home. Being a truck driver I had a few showers on my frequent fueler card and Arron and I decided to take advantage of that. I got him a shower and one for myself. I don't think anything has ever felt quite so good. After 7 days of dirt and grime with no real shower it was awesome.

One thing on Aaron's bucket list was to see Bonneville Salt Flats. Since we were right there, it was a no brainer.

We tried to set the worlds lowest speed record but there wasn't anyone around to record us. I'm sure we would have won.
DSC_2080 by drmoab, on Flickr

From there it was about 70 miles of mostly freeway to our last nights camp.
We enjoyed a nice fire with a bunch of dudes and got ready to bruise our shoulders the next day.

Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

 

[DrMoab]

Day 8
May 17 2014

Shooting day. For the last couple of years the IC chapter has got together to chuck a few birds, ding some still plates and let the kids plink with their .22's

Didn't get a ton of photos but here is Aaron taking a turn behind Israel's new Savage .338 Lapua Magnum. He still probably smiles whenever he looks at the bruise.
DSC_2094 by drmoab, on Flickr

From there we headed home. Aaron had to fly out the next day.

 

[DrMoab]

Of course... I couldn't let Aaron go home without one more little surprise. His flight didn't leave till evening so on the way to the airport (Literally on the way, his bag was in the jeep) I decided to take him up a local trail called Old Ward Canyon. Jerry Allen, the IC pres joined us and I'm kinda glad he did.

Heading up the rocky part of the the canyon.
Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

Jerry flexing his new long arm kit out a bit.
Untitled by drmoab, on Flickr

This is where things got a little interesting. We got up high enough to get into some snow. Of course I had to see just how far I could get and...sank to my door. I'm glad Jerry was there to yank me out or Aaron may have missed a flight.
DSC_2095 by drmoab, on Flickr

DSC_2097 by drmoab, on Flickr

Then I took Aaron around Salt lake city to kill some time and dropped him off.

The end.

 

[Israel]

Another trip I wish I had come along on. When is Colorado again?

 

[Lowrange2]

...when the kids are out of the house (In about 20 years from now) I'm moving out that way for a while. That's all there is to it.

 

[dukie564]

damn i can't wait to take a trip like this one day

 

[FlexdXJ]

...when the kids are out of the house (In about 20 years from now) I'm moving out that way for a while. That's all there is to it.

It's taken you 4 years to make the crawl.....the world will end before you make it out there! :gee:

 

[Lowrange2]

It's taken you 4 years to make the crawl.....the world will end before you make it out there! :gee:

You have a point.

 

[CAJJ93XJ]

I love me some Nevada. thanks for sharing

 

[High2by]

Great trip report Ryan. I want to make it out there myself again with my Jeep and do some more overnight stays. A week would be great!

 

[DrMoab]

Any time you are ready, Mark. I'll play tour guide.

 

[Westernhunter]

Very cool trip. I wish I was not so busy with work. Its killing me to see this. I could not even make the shootout.