Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by FosterVS
The road looks like you could do it in a SUV. I haven't been to that gate, though I did hang a right and drive that north bound road that you used to
get around the small hill nearby.
I would suggest a 4WD SUV with some clearance. There were a few iffy spots. My vehicle was a Dodge Caravan minivan, so I was trying to be as careful
as possible. Not somewhere I want to get stuck at. Parked here and rode in: 37°32'24.36"N, 115°40'44.31"W
Two gates here, visited both.
Note that your waypoint doesn't correspond to the border shown on the Garmin topo. The Garmin topo has been pretty accurate for border points
in that area.
I pulled the coordinates off GE, not from my GPS. Umm, what Garmin topo are you referring to?
FYI, my Garmin Nuvi 255 actually shows most of these trails, as well as the border. I wouldn't trust it though...
Looking at my waypoints, I take photos of Bald at
N37 29.513 W115 41.543
That lines up nicely with the border on the topo. Other spots that I have been to but don't use much is
N37 29.635 W115 42.082
and
N37 29.503 W115 40.406
For the last waypoint, they can't see you from Baldie due to the angle, but there is a panable camera mounted nearby. They don't move the camera
often, but I was out there with two other vehicles once and they had to pan it to see all of us.
These 4 gates, I have listed as Bald Mountain Gate(s) 1 - 4, and I didn't get to them. Somewhere along the way, my small emergency jerrycan of gas
lost the bungy and bounced out of it's holder, and I had to backtrack to find it. Not that I really needed it, probably could have ran all day with
what was in the tank, but I am extremely paranoid out there. Pisses me off, I have these gates on my bucket list, and STILL have not been to all of
them.
37°29'38.06"N, 115°42'2.26"W
37°29'30.77"N, 115°41'32.73"W
37°29'30.77"N, 115°40'46.98"W
37°29'30.74"N, 115°40'24.69"W
There are other spots where they can't see you due to terrain. You can leave a scanner on 1030MHz, AM mode if you can do it, and listen to the
ATC interrogation frequency. When you can't hear it, you are blocked by terrain. Or you can just watch the golf ball on the mountain. The big one
holds the ATC gear.
The dudes usually drive up from the guard shack on Savio. Sometimes they come up what I call main Black Tank Road. Garmin has Black Tank attached to a
few side roads.
Met them here on the way out:
37°32'37.33"N, 115°39'33.44"W
Waved to them, they both waved back. And the second time that day, I noticed a logo on the side of their truck but STILL was too preoccupied to try
and get a pic of it, or at least see it.
Garmin shows the roads as washes. They are somewhat decent dirt roads. Not as good as Black Tank, but not really challenging either. One driver
had some trouble on Savio in a pickup with 2wd, but pickups have poor weight distribution. You do need some clearance (height) back there.
Some day, I will be back there with a motorhome pulling a nice Jeep rigged up just for exploring those back roads. COME ON, Lotto!!!
