Up into the Mountains!

Okay, so maybe the whole Gerlach thing isn't going to happen.

Mainly, the sheer distance involved from Carson to Gerlach is enough to raise an eyebrow - attempting to go from Gerlach back to Vegas would be nothing short of a nightmare. Then attempting to do it the day after the Rally, all in one day as the dinner is Saturday night.

The solution? Find another peak!

But, I had plans already to try and map out the dirt road between Spooner and Kingsbury, since it is an awesome road and a lot of fun to go exploring. We attempted to head up via the Ranger Station - errr, the gate's closed. Well, crud. So, back to Spooner Summit where the rest area has a back road up into the mountains.

We bounce along the road, possibly the first ones up there since the snow melted, until we came to that annoying No Tresspassing sign. The trail blazers go right past it, the snowmobile posts go right past it, and the blasted ROAD goes right past it. Dad, however, was having none of that, so we turned around and headed back. I asked if we could, since we were heading back, go check out White Hill and see if it would be large enough for an event.

As we make our way to the road for White Hill, we passed by another road that my map shows going right past the Private Property area and connects back to the road to Kingsbury. Score. So we summit White Hill (easily done as the road goes right to it) look around and try to judge the size of the area, take lots of pictures, and generally admire the view from up there. I did also attempt to refind RenoHiker's cache that had been archived, no such luck. I looked around for some places to place a ammo can, though I think that's going to require a collaboration of creative minds to puzzle that one out. Back down the mountain to the newly found road and off we went.

Apparently, this new road also reconnects with Hwy 50 - though our exploration today didn't allow us time to find out where. We bounced, slid, rumbled, and overall wheeled our way past Logan Creek and up to the main road again. Oh, so close to Jeeper's Genoa Peak cache, but it was in the wrong direction. We turned south and continued on our way. Thankfully we were passing within a 100 feet of another cache, but my GPS wouldn't give me a GoTo on the map screen, so I just arrowed to the cache and let the little distance gauge tell me how far I needed to go. Not an exact science, but it got me into the right area and geo-sense found the cache in the end.

We continued through areas that I was beginning to recognize, having been up there before for the other caches, until we came across the paved road that led down to the trailhead at Kingsbury. Left at 5 from Carson and arrived at the end of the road at 8 - not bad for finding one cache, having to turn around, talking with MooseMob, and hanging out on White Hill. We rounded the corner, ready to head back home...

WHAT?!?! ANOTHER $&*%@&*# LOCKED GATE?!?!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Both Dad and I stared at the gate in question in total disbelief. I even walked out there to see if the possible drive around was open to us, it wasn't - a 4Runner was parked right where we could have squeezed by some boulders. Back to the truck, disgusted, and now running out of day light, we flew back towards Spooner. Just before the road that cut around the private property, Dad asks what we should do. You know, it's late, it's dark, we're tired, and hungry. Screw the sign, we want to go home.

One hour later we're back on Hwy 50 heading into Carson. Wow, Dad can drive like me! Afterwards, called MooseMob to report my findings and sent him the tracks and pictures. Good day all around, any chance to go exploring is a good one. Though now I want to find out where the Logan Creek road comes into Hwy 50 near Glenbrook.