Returning to the desert – Nevada and Oregon 2012

[MasterMarine]

Last year, we had a great time in Nevada and Oregon. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that ride:
































We had a great time and went a lot of really cool places. There was still a lot to see.



How could we not return?

[kramsetac]

Bring it.

[Bob]

In!

[MasterMarine]

I stared at these pictures for a year. I began plotting routes on the map. With one of our goals left unrealized from our 2011 trip to Nevada and Oregon, Duckspanker, Dr. Dan and I knew we had to return in 2012. We had to make it to Jarbidge! It had thwarted us but would not do so again. With that in mind, I plotted away. Reading even more books and spending countless hours peering at maps and ride reports thru the winter, I found a more direct route to take us in that direction. I came up with a huge route that would take us from one side of Nevada to the other, from the northern edge down to the center of the state. We would ride in 4 states. It would be epic. I was thrilled.

I discussed my plan with locals to gain more of their golden “local knowledge”. The route got even better! Then I talked to my co-riders. As some of you may know, Duckspanker suffered a terrible injury to his foot last fall while trail riding at Gifford Pinchot National Forest. His injury was always on my mind as I considered routes so I thought it would be best to ask him how he felt about this epic route I had in mind. He was well on his way to recovery. The stainless steel rod was not sticking out of his foot any longer. Physical therapy was progressing well. He was sure he would be ready to ride in mid-June of 2012. Unfortunately, he did not think he would be up to the massive route I had planned. So, it was back to the drawing board…

[Dorian]

[Mtn^^West^^DS]

Very good preview pictures. I am all in and anxiously waiting for the full report!

[trailrider383]

Bout time, just as I'm headed to Nevada next Tuesday.

[MasterMarine]

Duckspanker thought it would be better if we had a similar schedule to our 2011 trip. In 2011, we left Denio Junction and did a 4 day loop camping off of our bikes to the east. Then we spent the remaining 4 days doing day loop rides from Denio Junction to various destinations. This allowed us to go long on our big camping loop if necessary without having to rush back to get home. It also would give us some time to fix anything we may have broken on the big loop and still get out for some riding afterwards. It was kind of like having a half time in the middle of our ride.

With this in mind, I went back to the maps. I came up with a 4 day route over to Jarbidge and then back that would use some of the routes we had used before and some fresh territory as well. The big problem I had was 2 water crossings way out in the middle of the desert between McDermitt and Owyhee. There was no real way to know how deep they would be flowing until we were standing on their banks. I asked for info from everyone I talked to, the BLM, local ranchers, local riders and attendants at the gas stations I contacted to find out if they had fuel. I also came up with some other new day loops and decided to extend the Gerlach loop to be an overnighter since it had been a very long day in 2011 with the mileage nearing 300 miles.

After returning home from our ride in 2011 and sharing our stories with all of our riding buddies, we had several people who were interested in making the trip in 2012.

Eventually, the riders ended up being:

ugo1st (aka WildBill and/or Highmarker)




On his Kawasaki KLR650




Kramsetac




On his Husqvarna 610 (with backup Husqvarna 310)




Busdriver



On his Yamaha WR250R which he likes to call “The Bruise”




Duckspanker



On his Suzuki DRZ400




Dr. Dan



On his Suzuki DRZ 400




And me (MasterMarine).



On my 1995 Kawasaki KLX650C




We settled on a date and began the preparations to our bikes, camping gear and ourselves. I set into finalizing our routes and getting them into a format to put into our GPS units. Everyone had a Garmin unit so that made it a little bit easier. I wanted to get everyone the info before we left so any issues with the files could be sorted out.

[RedRockRider]

[kramsetac]

So where are we going, Mike?

[Dorian]

[Baja Ho]

Great area to ride in, looking forward to this one. Was the bike still running after this creek crossing? That looks deep.

[MasterMarine]

Originally Posted by Baja Ho

Great area to ride in, looking forward to this one. Was the bike still running after this creek crossing? That looks deep.

It was still running after that. Those pics are from our 2011 trip. Here is a link: Exploring Amazing Northern Nevada and SE Oregon 2011


More of the 2012 trip is coming!

[muddyJ]

Hmm.. some of those bikes look familiar..

[ugo1st]

Good riding with you guys this year. The high desert is an amazing place! I thought 'desert', ya ya I'll bring my klr, roads and slab and stuff no biggie. Klr was great but I didn't suspect so much stand up technical riding (nice ) we did about 1200 mile offroad on scars I think Mike found on google earth! two track where there is only 1 good track. To me the ride basically was connecting mt ranges together by crossing big expanses. So lots of up and down through gullys and over primitive passes.



even hit some snow patches here and there (WA state flag flying proudly on my fairing)




visited a bomber crash site, lots of bomb testing done in this part of Nevada



found great unplanned places to camp each night




it's nice to know road builders think like us,,,




we actaully saw other people at this nice lake!




who says a KLR can't run low on gas? paid 7 buck a gal for this swill from a rancher, metered from a good old fashion dusty jug (Scott went 1st so got all the big chunks he he)





enough for now, other pics coming, cheers wB