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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 10:27:24 GMT -5
A great run - Explored six different ghost town sites along the eastern foot of the Seven Troughs Mountains. My daughter, the ghost hunter, could find no signs of ghosts - Very cold! Snow on the way but had not gotten to us yet - REPORT LATER TODAY - or tomorrow Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:31:00 GMT -5
Land Rover Trek 200 – 24 Fe3bruary 2011 – Farrell to Tunnel Camp Exploring all of the canyons and ghost town sites It’s Ben and Rhonda in the Montero Sport; Victoria and I in the Discovery. We leave Fernley and head towards Lovelock at about 0800. We arrive in Lovelock at about 0900 and top up. It’s a cold windy day that promises the possibility of snow. Our first destination will be to head west towards Sage Valley and then north up to the site of Farrell; 40 degrees 31 minutes north by 118 degrees 44 minutes west. There are two old pickups at Farrell; a 1935 Dodge and what looks like an old Studebaker. Continuing past into Stonehouse Canyon we pass Wildcat and American Flat Canyons. There is an old, probably no longer used, cowboy line-camp in Stonehouse Canyon; a cookhouse; a couple of bunkhouses and a bar/shed at the corral. We continue past the line camp another couple of miles until the left over snow from last week gets a bit treacherous. We double back and turn into American Flat Canyon which has a small scale gold mining operation from probably the 1960s. I should mention that my daughter, Rhonda, is a ghost hunter. She has some equipment that supposedly detects ghosts and such things. She found no indications here. Continuing south along the eastern foot of the Seven Troughs mountains we pass a small canyon which I had explored a year or so ago that ended at a small creek crossing. At that time there was a cattle trail that continued over a small saddle and down into Burnt Canyon. Another mile or so south and we turn north-west into Burnt Canyon. The first mile is several cattle stomped, muddy wash crossings. After a mile and a half I can see that the saddle crossing now has some tire tracks. We’ll explore that on the way out. A bit further along and Burnt Canyon passes thru a narrow gorge and the road/trail climbs steeply up the side of the canyon. The first climb in slick snow causes a lot of wheel spinning but we get to a relative flat spot. A second climb is much steeper but shorter. I give it a try but only get about 50 feet up when all four wheels lose traction and with no control from me the truck just slowly slides backwards to the flat. After I turn around, Ben decides that he can do it. He gets exactly to where I got and his truck slides back much faster than I did. On the way out we take that new trail over the saddle. There are a couple of muddy/snowy water crossings the second of which is really slick and off-camber. I just plow through throwing mud. Ben decides it needs a bit of help so we pile some timbers that are nearby in it making a sort of bridge. Success! Two more water crossings and we return to Sage Valley. A couple more miles along the valley and I decide to by-pass Wild Horse Canyon as it is very steep, snow covered and doesn’t seem to have anything worth exploring except for a couple mine shafts a couple miles up. We finally reach Seven Troughs Canyon and the site of Mazuma. It was a gold mining town that was destroyed by a flash flood in 1910. The only thing remaining at the site is the bank safe. My daughter could not detect signs of ghosts. Continuing up canyon we come to the mining town of Seven Troughs. There are lots of deep mine adits and shafts; a winze; a head frame; but no ghosts. Our final stop is at Tunnel Camp, about 3 miles from Seven Troughs. Another of the old cabins and some of the cottonwoods have been removed by the Bureau of Land Management. We take lots of pictures, explore all of the buildings and find no signs of ghosts. I’m beginning to doubt my daughters fancy ghosting equipment. She can “feel” and detect ghosts in relatively modern homes but cannot find any in a half dozen ghost towns. Well better that she discover this than to bring her ghostly club up here and waste their time. With the strong wind, cold temperatures and slight flurries of snow we cannot stand walking around any longer and head back to Lovelock. We arrive about 1500 and have lunch in a warm restaurant. Photo = Farrell Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:32:01 GMT -5
Photo = Wildcat Canyon Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:32:53 GMT -5
Photo = Burnt Canyon Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:33:54 GMT -5
Photo = Wash crossing Burnt Canyon Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:34:48 GMT -5
Photo = the first climb Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:36:51 GMT -5
Photo = Ben sliding backward - He's still in first gear low range trying to go forward but sliding backward at about five miles per hour - Quite a puckery; out of control feeling! Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:38:43 GMT -5
Photo = the makeshift bridge Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:42:01 GMT -5
Mazuma safe Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:42:45 GMT -5
Seven Troughs Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:43:22 GMT -5
Tunnel Camp Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Feb 25, 2011 15:44:01 GMT -5
Tunnel Camp Attachments:
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Post by ronnv on Mar 1, 2011 11:08:44 GMT -5
Hmm - Methinks I'm the only one to post on this site in almost a week. Are we going the way of MuddyOval? Are sites like this a thing of the past? Are you all trying to dig out of a snow drift? Are you all twittering away on Facebook? By the way - If you want to see all of the pictures of this trek, go here: www.landroveraddict.com/smf/index.php?topic=393822.0 |
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Post by discoverylover on Mar 1, 2011 11:30:26 GMT -5
Maybe zombies have finally started to overtake the U.S., it was only a matter of time I guess.
Or everyone else could be someplace protesting.
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Post by ronnv on Mar 1, 2011 18:05:15 GMT -5
Maybe zombies have finally started to overtake the U.S., it was only a matter of time I guess. Or everyone else could be someplace protesting. That's gotta' be it - They're marching in the streets in Libya, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, etc..... |
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