Neale Wade
July 17-20, 2024
NOTE: I had to remove all of the images to send this email ... Sorry ...
Travel Day - Our group of four planned to meet at the Carson River Resort, on Wednesday, which is south of Markleeville CA about 6 miles. Interestingly, we're all driving different vehicles types (Jeep, Pinzgauer, Toyota, and Hummer) but we're all running manual transmissions. Very Cool! Between Markleeville and the resort was the planned entrance to the Barney Riley Trail, but my "Plan A" was already dead in the water as the heavy gate was securely locked, with signs indicating the road was "closed to vehicles".
After checking in with the resort office I drove to the campsite area along the river, only to discover that someone had already settled into my assigned campsite. I took site # 4 and let the office know, pointing out that there seemed to be two site # 9's. Connie drove down to the campsite area to investigate my claim, and noted that the rouge # 9 was not "like the others". Someone had nailed a number to a tree and she would have it removed.
All four of our campsites were beside the river, which was full, with fast moving water and with plenty of people fishing along it's banks. We saw quite a few trout carried back to various campsites. Ron's friend was unable to participate due to unspecified engine trouble that caused him to return home and schedule work on his Jeep. That meant the group consisted of the "Four Amigos"; Dennis, Ron, Neale, and Vidas.
Trail Day One - We traveled south on CA 89 past where it turns east, to the Barney Riley Trail entrance which was closed last year at this time. We were happy to find it open. The start of the trail was well maintained and smooth, inviting us to start our adventure, without indicating what was to come. The Barney Riley trail is affectively divided into two parts by the Carson River. To stay on the trail requires crossing the river in a couple of spots but it's not passable at this time of the year due to the depth of the river and and speed of the water. I was searching for a "bypass" trail called the Young's Xing Road that would hopefully connect the two halves, and avoid the river crossing.
The smooth road slowly deteriorated into a two track trail with smooth parts on either side of wide and deep crevasses, alternating with heavily rutted rocky areas, and sometimes both at the same time. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the river where Vidas took a swim and we ate lunch. The water was almost chest high, so no chance of a safe river crossing. After lunch we back tracked to Young's Xing Road which turned out to be more of the same, rough at times and smooth at times, but never difficult.
At some point I let my sight seeing get the best of me, and I ended up stuck in a section of muddy two track with my front tire against a rock and just deep enough to high center my rear differential on the dry berm. It was the perfect opportunity to practice a simple trail recovery and Ron gave me an assist using a short strap. Shortly after that Vidas pulled a small tree out of our way, that had fallen over the trail and was leaning into another couple of small trees.
At the end of Young's Xing Road, we transitioned back to the Barney Riley Trail. Near the end of the trail there is a narrow and slightly uphill rocky section that is enclosed on one side by a dirt wall and on the other side by thick green vegetation, and it can be a bit difficult because it's so rough, with small boulders rather than large rocks. I was glad to emerge from this section onto the the manicured Leviathan Mine Road that exists at Highway 395 in Nevada.
We all pulled over to rest for a moment and decided to air up, although not before Vidas was down the road another 100 yards or so. As we were finishing up and putting our air pumps away Vidas called on the radio to say he had a serious problem. His radiator had experienced a RUD episode (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) literally blowing up in his face and cutting his arm. When I reached him he was still rinsing and wiping his face and trying to get the taste of anti-freeze out of his mouth. He had heard the engine coolant boiling, and sensing a problem he was just opening the hood as a section of the upper plastic radiator tank separated from the radiator passing by his left arm. Luckily, he didn't have any burns on his face, so maybe the hood protected him as things came apart.
Ron to the rescue again. He towed Vidas' Jeep the rest of the way to Highway 395 where we met a wide load trucker and his escort driver, who were moving a large dozer. I found a radiator shop in Gardnerville, NV and Vidas used his AAA membership to have a tow truck meet us at the intersection. Vidas rode with Ron to follow the tow truck to the radiator shop and Dennis and I planned to drive back to the Carson River Resort to get campsites for another night. That's when I discovered that I too had a problem.
We stopped at a large service station with good gas prices, and after filling my tank I moved to a parking spot and crawled under my car to check the steering. My steering ram was shifting side to side about 2 inches when turning the wheel left and right, which resulted in quite a bit of play in the directional stability of my car. Not safe, for sure, but I had enough control to drive it back to the resort camp ground. After a short rest, I dropped the skid plates, tightened the mounting bolts that hold the steering ram in place, and then remounted the skid plates.
Trail Day Two - Vidas was told he might be able to pick up his car by noon, so we decided to do a short run in the morning. Last year, we came in Leviathan Mine Road from Highway 395 to the first Carson River river crossing. There was a drowned car mid way across the river and other cars on the other side. We wanted to see if we could find the route those cars took to reach that side of the river so we drove north past Markleeville to Airport Road and headed east, and then aired down where the pavement ended. A short distance further and Vidas pointed out a trail that seemed to be going where we wanted to go.
It couldn't have been the trail those other cars took to the other side of the river, as most of them wouldn't have made it. This trail had a very long very steep very rocky section that basically went straight up in a not so straight fashion with loose rock and gravel any where there wasn't a step or a hole. My car struggled in more than one spot and the radiator fan was fully engaged by the time I reached the top.
We stopped at the top where Vidas had cell coverage and he called about his car, learning that it indeed would be ready by noon. After a short break we eased ourselves back down the way we came up, continued north east on Airport Road and over to highway 88, where we went East to Gardnerville. After lunch we picked up Vidas' Jeep, filled up with fuel again, and drove west on highway 88 to the Silver Lake West campground. The campground was almost full, and so Vidas went on to Mud Lake while Dennis, Ron, and I settled into three camp sites.
I was ready for an early day and glad to have a spot this early in the afternoon. Eventually a ranger came over to talk to us, to ensure that one of us had paid for the site where the Pinzgauer was parked. He was a super nice guy and we talked with him for quite a while!
Trail Day Three - I was a bit slow in the morning, and not ready to leave until about 7:45 AM. We drove west on highway 88 another few miles, turned south, and aired down before proceeding to Mud Lake. Vidas had a beautiful camp site, and in fact had the entire campground all to himself. The other 8 or so camp sites were spread out along the west side of the lake. This is a super nice area! It has lake and forest views that are picture perfect, and Vidas said, "No mosquitoes".
We doubled back about a quarter of a mile and then headed for the Pardo trail head, which is about another 5 miles past the lake. At the "T" intersection, Vidas and I turned east and drove up to the overlook which had some more amazing views, and then we returned to the intersection which was now swarming with a group of ATVs waiting for us to arrive. They went their way and the four amigos continued west, which was supposed to be the "easy" way. It was tough, partly because I'm not used to rock crawling, and maybe because 15 pounds of air pressure was too much. I found the next ten miles or so to be fun in a super intimidating way, like the scariest ride at an rickety amusement park. Again, I was glad to reach pavement.
Travel Day Two - It was still early afternoon, but we were all tired and ready to go home. We aired up and headed to highway 88, where Vidas and Ron headed down hill to the west. I waited while Dennis figured out his route home which took him east on highway 88, and I turned west and headed down hill towards Jackson. By now I could tell that my steering issue was back, so I took my time and followed a medium sized truck with a large trailer load that was traveling about 45 mph. I stopped at the McDonald's in Martell to buy a large diet coke, rest, and crawl under my car again to tighten the steering ram ... again.
I think everyone had a great time despite the mechanical issues. Jeff's car is getting a new exhaust manifold and something else, Vidas' car has a new radiator, Ron's car is getting a new master brake cylinder, and my car wants a couple of days in the dealership spa while it recovers from it's scary adventure. Ron may have washed and waxed his 6x6 Pinzgauer already, and I plan to unload mine today and wash it tomorrow.
Neale Wade