Desert Survivors NV Desert Trail Dispatches
This page will have the dispatches from the Desert Relay as they are sent in from the Trip Leaders.
DISPATCH FROM THE 2004 NEVADA DESERT TRAIL RELAY
This page contains Segments M-P.
DISPATCH FROM THE
2004 NEVADA DESERT TRAIL RELAY
Segment M-P
June 04-12, 2004
By Bob Lyon
DISPATCH _ LAST NEVADA DESERT TRAIL RELAY SEGMENTS M-P Day 1, June 4-5. David Serviss drove Skip Smith, a retired dentist from Oregon, Bruce Loeb, a classical musician from Berkeley, and myself, Bob Lyon, aging trip leader, to the trailhead in Dixie Valley. We arrived after midnight, Saturday, June 5, threw our sleeping bags on the ground near the road and slept. By 6:00 a.m. we were on the trail with heavy packs filled with eight days worth of food and a gallon and a half of water.
After an hour I realized we were on the wrong trail headed for Coyote Canyon. We turned south across a broad alluvial fan until we reached the high gravel banks of East Lee Canyon. The detour had cost us an hour and the day promised to be hot. At 10:00 a.m. we rested at a vertical rock outcrop, which would be our only shade until late afternoon. We began to see hundreds, then thousands, of Mormon Crickets, scattering through the Arrow leafed balsamroot in our path. These crickets would be constant companions for the first three days. Late in the afternoon we reached the upper end of the canyon and turned north to begin a serious climb toward the southern peaks of the Stillwater Range. We found a trickle of water in cow tracks near Northside Spring and filled containers with silty brown water. By 5:30 p.m. we climbed to a point near Aspen Canyon Saddle and took shelter from the strong wind in a sparse Pinyon grove. Tired from the long climb we fell to sleep without ceremony.
Day 2 began with hard climb directly up the slope of Mt. Lincoln. We climbed slowly with heavy packs and left a peak register at the summit. Descending we could see our next objective, Job Peak, several miles ahead. We hiked along the bare ridge again accompanied by Mormon Crickets tumbling clumsily in front of us. We rested in a Pinyon grove where Skip used a broken branch to repair his broken pack frame. I was out of water long before we made the steep climb to Job Peak. We left another peak register beside the Sierra Club register I’d signed on a Survivor trip in 1999. The hike continued in heavy wind along the ridge until we made a steep drop on the loose talus slope into Poco Canyon. The cool, relatively clean water of Upper Poco Creek was a welcome relief. The first two days had been much harder than we had expected.
Day 3. We passed up water at Big Box Cabin to save time, since we had filled our containers at Poco Creek. A rattlesnake slid across the path near the microwave relay. Hard climb to Cox Peak, Double Peak, and Dogleg Peak. From our camp on Silver Hill we saw dust rising hundreds of feet from Dixie Valley and Carson Sink stirred by ever-present winds. It had been a better day and we felt less tired.
Day 4. We hiked down Silver Hill breaking dead branches in the thick Pinyon forest and were rewarded with a beautiful walk along the ridges. We dropped our packs and hiked down Shady Run Canyon to collect water. My water bag looked like an aquarium with a beetle and several water bugs swimming in the silty water. We continued by hiking the transition to the Wild Canyons Segment. Got lost among the trees near Poorview Peak and found our way down the canyon leading to Buffaloberry Spring in Fondaway Canyon. The spring was badly fouled by cattle. Since we still had water from our earlier stop we decided to wait to refill in Cottonwood Canyon the next morning. During our evening meal about 8:00 p.m. a light rain began. We put up two tarps. Skip had brought a large tarp and Bruce had no shelter so they shared the space. A hard wind drove rain into our shelters and blew the tarps down several times.
Day 5. By morning the rain had turned to snow and the surrounding hills were covered in white. I was up at 5:30 a.m. too wet to sleep. Bruce and Skip thought we ought to wait to see if the rain would let up. By 8:00 a.m. it was clear the rain wasn’t going to stop, so we packed wet gear and set off for Cottonwood Canyon. The ground was wet and thick mud clung to our boots. So much for lightweight footwear. We started down the extremely steep drop into Cottonwood Canyon mostly sliding instead of walking. The poor footing was cause for a conference. Bruce and I had hiked Wild Canyons last August and knew we had two deep canyons to negotiate. If the rain continued our situation could become dangerous. It would be nearly impossible to climb out of the canyon on steep hillsides, which had already turned to thick gooey mud. Safety and common sense dictated turning back. We hiked in rain and mud back to Buffaloberry Spring to refill water containers and then we hiked down Fondaway Canyon to Stillwater Road. Turning back had been a highly emotional decision. I hated the idea of not finishing the route, but the risk seemed too great. By the time we reached the mouth of the canyon the rain stopped and we joked about going back. But there was now the lure of showers, dry beds and restaurant food. Skip had brought a cell phone and we managed to make several calls. I reached my wife, Mari, to tell her of our decision. She would come to pick us up in the morning. By then the sun was out and the skies showed patches of blue. We decided to continue by walking to White Cloud Canyon and hiking the North Stillwater Segment. Unknown to me Mari had called Steve Tabor, Dave Holten and Skip Smith’s wife to tell them we had aborted the trip. She had also called the Churchill County Sheriff to be on the lookout for us. Fortunately the cell phone lasted long enough for another call to tell her we had decided to continue by an alternate route. We hiked along the road then across the alluvial fans to reach the ruins of Coppereid at the mouth of White Cloud Canyon before dark. The stream was running and the water was welcome. We had light rain during the night but morning dawned clear.
Day 6. We hiked through the rock pools and narrow walls of White Cloud Canyon, through thick riparian tangles to Mineshaft Spring. Bruce and I sank to our knees in water mixed with cow dung. The spring, which had seemed so pristine the year before was literally covered in cow pies. Hope the iodine works. Then we turned north on a Jeep trail and began a steady climb to the Ridgecrest. Beyond a meadow in an old burn area we camped on a knoll. Our spirits were good and we felt rejuvenated. We put up tarps again but no rain came.
Day 7 began with a 700-foot climb to White Ledge Peak. The climb seemed inconsequential compared to the climbing we’d done in the past few days. We were on the home stretch. The rest of the trip would be mostly downhill. Cowflop Spring turned out to be much cleaner than most of our water sources on the trip. We paused at an old corral made of stacked untrimmed logs and wondered how a cattle operation could have operated in so remote a place. Shortly after, we were lost in thick forest. Unable to see landforms through the trees I used the GPS for the first time to find a saddle. We were unsure if this was the correct route until we reached Muddy Spring. Beyond the spring we found a Jeep road and easy travel to Copper Kettle Creek. The creek was barely a trickle and the water tasted badly, but it was enough to wash off the grime of the past seven days. We slept under a Juniper on the bank and dreamed of creature comforts.
Day 8. We started purposely late in order to meet the greeting party. At 9:15 a.m. we were surprised to see Dave Holten walking up the wash to meet us. We talked briefly and took photographs. Dave continued walking up the wash and the three of us hiked westward toward the Carson Sink. We were preoccupied and missed the turnoff onto an old double track. Looking south I saw several moving figures about half a mile away and realized we had passed the hikers who had come out to meet us. By this time Skip was in gallop mode and far ahead. I signaled to him and we headed cross-country to reach the hikers. They had seen Bruce’s orange pack and stopped to wait for us. A joyful reunion ensued. Solar shower Mari brought for us, twenty dollars. Cold beer and agave tequila to celebrate forty dollars. Hiking the Stillwater range _ priceless.