2005 Nevada Desert Trail Dispatches

Segment X: Black Rock Crossing
Leader Bob Ellis

May 27-30, 2005               

What a Great Time We Had! - A double-punch dust storm, a three-hour rain and thunder storm, two wade-in-the-mud river crossings, some heat, two hot spring dips, inspiring support, the entire east side of the playa to ourselves, miles of wide open landscape, historic and pre-historic discoveries, and oceans of flowers!

Jon Wilkinson, Bill Harper, Lawrence Wilson, Ingrid Crickmore, and Bob Ellis made a four day backpack crossing of the Black Rock Desert Playa Memorial Day weekend. Our trip was made possible by the assistance on site of Jerry Goss (heroic water cacher and GPS guru), Paul Menkes, Dave Holten, and Steve Tabor who set up our shuttle cars and allowed us to start our Desert Trail Relay segment right off on Friday from Trego with an assured water supply
mid-route.

We got the news fast at Bruno's Cafe in Gerlach Friday morning: THE BAD: A large lake of water remained on the playa draining off from the Spring rains and mountain snowmelt. No direct access across the playa was possible to either the Black Rock or Double Hot Springs.  THE GOOD: Jerry Goss had spent an entire day bumping along four wheel drive roads up to Soldier Meadow and down the east side to spot twelve gallons of water just south of Double Hot Springs where a bog blocked the road. Steve and Paul would drive our shuttle car to the trail end and Steve had already walked the four miles to Trego Hot Spring, both tasks we thought would
occupy our time Friday. We were therefore able to start immediately and allow three nights on the trail, giving us more slack for unexpected circumstance.

Friday: With four colorful umbrellas raised we started across the flat salt-mud-crusted playa edge heading directly for the Black Rock 15 miles away. Gradually the salt and dampness disappeared and we were on the smooth dry light tan silt surface of the playa. After a few miles the mirage surrounding us was well formed and the lower edges of our horizon showed as water-like blurs or upside-down reflections. In the vast openness our perspectives became altered with our bodies having a discrete scale separate from the surrounding white table surface. The heat was not bad, in the high 80s with a slight breeze.

We saw no evidence of the large water body also on the playa to the west and north of us. We were enclosed in mirage. Eventually some tree-like objects appeared in the distance, signaling the course of the Quinn River. In most past years by this time the Quinn's waters have dried and a few ditches are the only obstacles expected. This year we feared many water channels and wet mud in this area. We turned somewhat east and came upon the main Quinn River. After a couple tries and some muddy feet and legs we waded across a point thigh deep using trekking poles to steady ourselves in the slick goo. Nervous about other wet spots we started again to discover only one small wet crossing was required. The ground while sometimes soft and puffy was generally dry. We camped at the playa edge by a small dirt berm. Dark thunderheads had by now formed south at Trego where we started but it was clear for us.

Not for long - a dust cloud we thought had arisen from drivers on the other side of the playa to the northwest became larger and larger. We realized just in time that it was a dust storm heading southeast blowing toward the dark thunderheads. Gritty gusts blasted us for half an hour as we rode out the dust storm. It cleared showing towering dust columns to the south. We had barely congratulated ourselves when the wind changed and the whole thing blew back over us! This time the half hour of dust was followed by three hours of rain, lightning and thunder. It was late in the evening before things calmed down and some sleep was possible. We were lucky that no
equipment blew away and that our bodies and psyches survived the assault. Now we were surrounded by a sea of mud as an inch or more of the playa surface was wet slick goo.

Saturday: By morning the playa was again mostly dry. The billowing clouds were not threatening, and away we went. Five miles of playa, mud/sand greasewood hummocks and some rocky alluvium got us off the flats, to the Black Rock and the nearby Black Rock Hot Spring. Jon who got here first met a cowboy on a Suzuki Samurai from the Soldier Meadows Ranch looking for lost cattle. He was surprised to meet a foot traveler.

It was a bit hot, we had a soak, and headed north after lunch to the water cache and Double Hot Springs. Now we could see the lake of water on the playa to the west keeping out other holiday celebrators. Our route followed the old Applegate High Rock emigrant trail north past a couple warm springs under the dramatic cliffs of the Black Rock Range. We five took the twelve gallons of water Jerry had left with none to spare as we planned our next two days. About six pm we arrived at Double Hot, with no other people to be seen, and nice hot tub waiting.

Sunday: A nice slow start as we headed north again, this time angling northwest along the wet meadow area draining from the hot springs. The grass around the springs began to fade as we got onto larger bare but mostly dry mud flats. Another muddy river crossing allowed us to get to the west side of the Mud Meadow Wash. Here the flowers, which had been starting to show up the previous day, became a dominant feature of the trip. We hiked north atop remnant vegetated sand dunes covered with shades of yellow flowers of many species (bee plant predominant).

Even though we had some ups and downs and some soft spots, the going was easy. We were cheered by the variety of green shrubs, purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow flowers. Our main problem was the necessary stops for each new species encountered. Competing with the botanical attractions were the frequent findings of prehistoric artifacts and remains of recently demised meadow denizens. We had lunch at a deep cut channel Steve describes as walkable and a source of shade. We found it flowing wall-to-wall with mud-water.  We had to crouch under sagebrush for sun screen. By late afternoon we came to a berm giving some shelter to a growing north wind and
settled down for our third night. Here the highlights were two: the thunderheads bypassed us and no rain fell; "Cecil," the horse-bone sea serpent constructed by Bill, met Lawrence's well-traveled teddy bear. No words were spoken.  Monday: Nice weather, a bit cooler - we had a beautiful flowerfilled (white desert evening primrose, purple nama and more) six mile hike to the Wheeler Dam trailhead. As the dam neared we could see Dave Holten's truck waiting for us and we pushed through the last tall sagebrush barriers for a great trail's end welcome just after noon. Enthusiasm was running high and the reality of sore muscles, mosquito bites and red skin would not find us until the next day. We felt we could accomplish whatever came at us: Veterans of the Black Rock Crossing 2005.