The Mobius Trip

[corsair4360]

Dr Rock.

As one who spent many summers working for the Forest Service near Jackson Hole, those who work around travelers can get really cynical and put out quickly. I'll not describe the situations I dealt with in the campgrounds, but the net was that we concluded tourists left their manners, common sense and any other social skill on the door step when they left home.

Your case is very different in details, however those who work and know the country tend to treat outsiders like most of them they see, as dumb idiots who cause endless problems for them. That does not excuse a rant, profanity, or stupid driving.

I found that the vast majority of people were wonderful some exceptionally so. A few rotten apples ruined things however fairly often.

[CBAT]

[QUOTE=DR. Rock;19211847]

Where we ate lunch,

M3-2009:



M9- 2012:



Same light blue/white Ford pickup in both shots. Must be the cook.

[Slug.go]

Read entire thread since Wednesday, I'm caught up, please continue!

[DougZ73]

Originally Posted by DR. Rock

the wind blows one of the chairs over, and/or dave's tent fly comes down... he gets up and starts dealing with all that.

We're in our tent, and see light flashing, hear the wind howling, and think.. oh shit, did the fire spark up??? did the rancher come back???

A cliffhanger, really????? What happened?

[redog1]

Originally Posted by DougZ73

A cliffhanger, really????? What happened?

[el' hefe]

Dr. Rock was referring to Dave.

Originally Posted by DR. Rock

the wind blows one of the chairs over, and/or dave's tent fly comes down... he gets up and starts dealing with all that.

We're in our tent, and see light flashing, hear the wind howling, and think.. oh shit, did the fire spark up??? did the rancher come back???

What great report! Thanks for all the work you have put into it over all of these years!

[DR. Rock]

Originally Posted by DougZ73

A cliffhanger, really????? What happened?

It was just the wind, and Albertastrom stumbling about with his flashlight. We'd been pretty rattled, though.

[DR. Rock]

We woke up in a rather rebellious mood. Just wanted to make sure the fire wouldn't spark up and cause any trouble...



Today we'd continue across the deep abyss of the Great Basin. The range-valley-repeat sequence would be the order for the day. It was a day of thrills and chills, adversity met, and contingencies implemented. It was the kind of day that adventures are made of.

We saddled up, and dove in, (for the record, I have a vast collection of really great mixed metaphors)

[DR. Rock]

stretched out before us,



we turned our focus to the next objective, Diamond valley:



I'd scouted out the most direct route across, but that proved to be barely visible at ground level. We ended up taking a little longer detour around Garcia Flat. Looking back towards Union Summit;



It wasn't like out go-around was any kind of superhighway,





Once we got down on the valley floor, you could really appreciate how big it was... we're at the north end of the valley, looking south, the mountains in the distance are 50 miles away.

[DR. Rock]

Fesh fesh, call it what you like. It certainly keeps things interesting.



Once across the first valley, we entered a canyon over Railroad pass.



this section was nicely graded. If I had to guess, there was once a railroad here. DAMHIK.



Cool rock formations, though.

[DR. Rock]

picking up the Pony Express trail. To do so, we'd be following the next valley south to intercept it.



This was the only time in the two weeks that the new Garmin Montana hiccupped. The next waypoint was actually NOT 4277 miles away.



There are all kinds of historic trails criss-crossing this area. Besides the Pony Express trail, we crossed the Elko-Hamilton Stage coach route while we were on the Hastings Cutoff.



Imagine this in a covered wagon:



It didn't seem to be giving LDF any trouble,

[7thson]

[QUOTE=DR. Rock;19268864]We woke up in a rather rebellious mood. Just wanted to make sure the fire wouldn't spark up and cause any trouble...



Today we'd continue across the deep abyss of the Great Basin. The range-valley-repeat sequence would be the order for the day. It was a day of thrills and chills, adversity met, and contingencies implemented. It was the kind of day that adventures are made of.



"adversity met, and contingencies implemented." THIS is the Mobius!!

[DR. Rock]

how appropriate it is for this to be an auto-tour. I wouldn't want to take a passenger car here.



we felt like real pioneers.



Finally, at Big Wash, we joined up with the Pony Express route.



Next: Overland pass... it was an excellent one - no rocks - not very steep, and the road very firm. Right on the summit is a spring of only tolerable water.

[DR. Rock]

Coming down over the pass, we spied our next set of landmarks, The Ruby Lake Wildlife refuge, and Station Butte (6319ft.) both of which we'd be clipping to the south.



What a beautiful day! To our north was the Ruby marsh,



but we were heading for the hills on the other side of the valley,






Looking back across the marsh, there's still snow in that range, the peaks are above 10,000ft.

[DR. Rock]

on Overland road, which was pretty cool,







then got spit out of Murry canyon into Long Valley at its northern end.



The road signs are far and few between, and kind of randomly placed.