Utah and Nevada trip report, April 2000
The bike and I made it back from a 10 day trip unscathed. It was long, beautiful and hot and dry.
The first day I drove from Santa Cruz, California to Carson City, Nevada. I got my scariest moment over with right away that day. During a high-speed pass of a big RV and trailer rig, the bike ran out of gas just when I was 2 bike lengths ahead of it while in the oncoming traffics lane. There was a bumper to bumper line of vehicles behind him, so my only choice was to instantaneously swerve across his bow and into the emergency lane, where it started right-up after switching to reserve. This was my fault, I knew I needed gas, but I still underestimated the mileage with a full load, strong headwinds and 70 miles per hour. I didn’t let my tank get too low after this fright!
Going-over 8573 ft. Carson Pass via the 88 was gorgeous, with very large snowdrifts piled-up on each side of the road. Leaving Carson City in the morning, I headed-out on the 50E, “The Loneliest Highway in America .” This was what I had been waiting for, huge open spaces, with mysterious looking mountain ranges in the distance. This is Basin and Range country, the mountain ranges run North to South, and one passes through many of them moving across central Nevada . All of them had lots of snow, the Toiyabe’s were especially impressive.
I couldn’t resist stopping at every BLM historic site, etc. and exploring the myriad of dirt roads running everywhere. Almost immediately, the schedule I had planned was falling by the roadside. It took me all day to get to Austin , approximately in the middle of Nevada . I went to Bob Scott campground in the Humbolt/Toiyabe National Forest, where I had camped in the past, but it was closed! Good thing I’m on a dual sport, I blasted-up a dirt road on public land and pitched my tent. As far as I was concerned, I was the only person in the world at that time. This was near the “Top Gun” range, and that night, multiple formations of jet fighters screamed overhead at low altitude, even including maneuvers where they were dropping chaff and flares which lit-up the ground like daylight. Very impressive. The next day was another long, dreamy trek across the endless desert, where you feel like you are standing-still at 80 mph. I did plenty of exploring, including some very well preserved petroglyphs at the Grimes site. I made it to Ely , NV and called-it a day.
In the morning I made the relatively short trek to Great Basin National Park , where I spent the day and camped in Lower Lehman Campground (the upper at 10,000 ft was closed for snow). This brought back great memories of living in Utah , when my Dad and I would come here and do the cave tour and climb Wheeler Peak (one of the highest in Nevada ).
The following day, I took-off down the 21 in West-Central Utah and headed Southeast towards Milford , where Jake Jakeman lives. I continued Southwes. Talk about remote, the BLM reports that the Wah-Wah Mountains have less than 150 visitors yearly, that’s less then half a person per day! I hardly saw any other vehicles on the road, off-road there was nobody and the remoteness and lack of facilities were high in your mind as you cruised around by yourself.
I left the pavement and explored the ghost town of Frisco, claimed to be the best preserved one in Utah . This was a silver boomtown in the late 1800’s for 10 years, where 23 saloons labored day and night to quench the thirst of the hardworking miners. Gun play was a daily occurrence in this rowdy town. One day, between shift changes, the foreman delayed sending the crews into the earth because he heard some strange noises, shortly afterwards, the main shafts collapsed with such fury that it broke windows 15 miles away in Milford. Nobody was killed because of the foreman’s foresight.
It was creepy arriving there; you see the cemetery first, with headstones amazingly intact. Sadly, most of the graves were children. I didn’t read anything about this, but I believe typhoid, diphtheria and cholera ravaged populations during this time period. How tragic to watch your children pass away in such a remote and desolate place. Scary incident #2 occurred after this as I rounded a corner at 55mph where a large, horned steer was standing in the center and shied away from me violently. Only 20 minutes for my stomach to calm down here!
From there, I went to Beaver, where I stayed in the world’s cheapest and sleaziest hotel. Sometimes it can be cleaner to just sleep in the dirt. At least the shower worked.
Now I’m nearing canyon country! While I have done some exploring of the general Moab area parks, I had always whizzed right by the Bryce/Zion area. Red Canyon and Bryce were beautiful, and I had caught-it just before the hoards arrived.
After spending the day exploring Bryce, I went to Kodachrome Basin State Park , where the campgrounds are incredibly clean in an outstanding location. Huge rock formations tower over you. I had a double size site with 2 bbq’s, parking for a 30 ft rig and double picnic tables. I managed to fit the KLR and my tent into this space. There are these really cool and large birds called Chukars cruising around, they are not afraid of people at all. In the morning, I explored part of the road which runs South from Kodachrome between the 12 and the 89 ( Cottonwood Canyon Road ). It is a good, high-speed dirt road which leads to Grosvenor Arch and continues approx. 55 miles south to the 89. I’d like to do the whole length, next time.
I left my gear in the tent and drove unloaded towards Escalante and Boulder and did some off-road exploring in the ”Hole in the Wall” area. This area is fantastic and lesser known, endless dirt riding is available. This was my lowest mileage day, and I still did 125 miles. I spoke with an Escalante sheriff who gets to ride a DR350 on-duty, needless to say, he loves his job!
At this point, it was time to turn around and start heading back. I headed back through Bryce on the 12, went South on the 89 and picked-up the 14 towards Cedar City . Now we are talking some snow. The summit is just about 10,000 ft, and there are huge meadows up there completely piled-up with snow. I felt like I was going on a ski trip by motorcycle. At the summit, there are incredible ranging views of the cliffs of Zion in the distance. Cedar Breaks National Monument was closed.
On the way out of Utah , I visited “ Iron Town ,” a location where raw ore was turned into iron. Most of the structures are still standing, including the beehive ovens where they burned local pinion and other wood into the charcoal needed to fire the furnaces.
I headed for the Extraterrestrial Highway and drove through Caliente, Nevada, but time was running short and I saved some distance by going South on the 93, where I stayed in Alamo, NV in a little hotel with a bunch of truckers and construction workers, a rough but friendly group.
The next morning, it was down through Vegas, where it was hot, dusty and very windy. As I approached the town on the I-15, an absolutely huge dust devil (more like small tornado) appeared to my right and headed across the freeway at high speed. This was going to put me right in the middle, and I’m telling you, this thing was picking up pieces of wood, not just dust and paper. I had one choice, and savagely rotated the throttle to full stop. As I hit 95, it crossed behind me and I instantly lost 15-20 mph as it tried to pull me back like a vacuum, then I was free and screaming down the freeway.
I only stopped in Vegas for gas, then headed for Death Valley . Here, on the 95, I encountered the worse cross winds that I have ever experienced on a cycle. Just brutal, extended riding at a 45 degree angle. I saw Apache/Cobra helicopters performing maneuvers off to my right, lots of military test areas around here.
Death Valley was hot and beautiful. Afterwards, it’s tricky to get back into my area because of all the passes closed by snow. So I headed to Lone Pine (below Mammoth) which entailed a very twisty run through the mountains leading out of Death Valley . I was very tired and headed west directly into a setting-sun, at the time this part felt more like work then fun, but that’s all part of the game.
From there, I took the 395 So. to the 178 W to the 155 W via Lake Isabella . Beautiful area, with lots of off-road riding available, including the BLM back-country byway “ Chimney Peak .” This area requires closer scrutiny. Afterwards, it was just a long, hot, high-speed cruise via the 99 and I-5, I hate interstates, but time was running-out. I made it over Pacheco Pass just before sunset and did Heckor Pass in the dark. I was back in moist and cool Santa Cruz , where it was raining lightly, a welcome change to my chapped and peeling skin.
A great trip. It was hot and dry, and this is only early April. As usual, I was lazy about sunscreen. I waited until I was already burnt, and it was very uncomfortable for the rest of the trip. An awesome trip, I could have stayed out there and explored for weeks more. It’s time to go back to work. This job isn’t allowing me enough time to have big adventures. Hey, I’m always looking forward to my next ex-job.
Charles Earl
http://dualsportmotorcycling.com/