Henness Pass Road to Verdi then Moon Rocks

[JCWages]

We had planned to tag along with a small group doing Barney Bailey Trail last weekend but those plans fell through so Trevor and I quickly formulated a new plan to finish off Henness Pass Road from Camptonville, CA to Verdi NV with some camping mixed in. If all went right we would camp at White Rock Lake and then at Moon Rocks outside of Reno. Trevor handled the navigation using his trusty California Backroads & 4x4 Trails book.

The heavy smoke from the "Camp Fire" near Chico obscured most of the magnificent views along the first half of Henness Pass Road but we couldn't feel let down when so many were losing so much to that catestrophic fire. :(

We stopped at Jackson Meadows Lake to check out the outflows from the dam and consult the navigation book.

The outflow from the dam is pretty awesome!

We had planned to stop at Webber Lake before heading to the much more remote White Rock Lake but all of the access to Webber was blocked off for the season so we pressed on. A few miles in we came across a bunch of trucks and large trailers hauling christmas trees. There were quite a few people cutting and loading trees on the trailers including a large number of boys. Turns out this was a Boy Scout troop procuring trees for their christmas tree sale fundraiser and not a remote child labor situation. lol

The trail to White Rock Lake lacks proper signage but someone had painted arrows and the letters WRL at each intersection so the path was easy to follow. After awhile the road forks and you can continue on flat groud to the right or head left up a pretty steep hill. We chose left and from that point on the trail becomes more technical and more scenic.

There are 2 sections where the trail becomes narrow with trees and rocks. You may or may not need a spotter here depending on the width and length of your rig. Our midsize trucks made it through no problem. Anything much larger may need a spotter. After than there is one semi-steep drop then turn with some roots and rocks in the trail. It's not difficult but it's a good idea to stop and take a look before charging through.

After that turn you run another 50yards or so and boom! You are greeted with this beauty. White Rock Lake.

We decided to skip the campsites in the trees and set up on the beach instead. A decision that we would later come to regret. But it's so Instagram worthy right?

We did a little fishing and my pup had an absolute blast running free to play with rocks and sticks. Dinner was comprised of mandarin chicken I had pre-cooked the night before using local organic mandarins and local honey. Served up on a bed of boil-in-a-bag white rice. Haha

To be continued.....

 

[JCWages]

Fishing didn't produce any additional protein for dinner but Trevor got to play with the flyrod a bit while I practiced casting. For someone who has never used anything but a bait-casting setup for largemouth bass, flycasting was completely alien to him so it was fun watching his reactions which mirrored my own not long ago.

As the sun slipped behind the ridge the cold crept, no slammed home quickly. We sat around the fire for awhile while Ellie darted in and out of the light carrying rocks and sticks and simply loving the fact no one was telling her where to lie. lol Around 7:30pm we called it a night and retired to our tents. That's when I noticed Ellie was shivering. I let her sleep in the tent with me and I even brought an extra sleeping bag for her just in case it got too cold. Well dogs are not like people I guess and she wasn't producing enough heat to stay warm even covered by the sleeping bag. :( After awhile I became really concerned and there is no way I'm going to fall asleep with her so cold and obviously suffering. So like a good dad I partially unzipped my sleeping bag and coaxed her inside. She's not the kind of dog that curls up with you so the fact she so readily climbed in beside me and laid down was very telling. She promptly fell asleep and the shivering stopped. Now it's my turn to get cold. While the 2 of us in the bag was enough to keep my core warm, my feet were going numb with cold and so is my right hand because I can't fit it in the semi-mummy bag with us. To try and reduce heat loss though my feet I put on a second pair of wool socks which seems to help. But now my body is starting to ache from lying in one position too long, I can't really move around with her in the bag but I can't kick her out either. Around this time I hear a loud howl as a gust of wind glides over the pass and then the tent starts shaking violently! The wind lashed against the tent for a few moments and then suddenly ceased. Then I hear the howl which was followed shortly by another violent lashing. This went on for another 30min or so when I heard Trevor ask if I think we should move our camp into the forest. I tried using my geography knowledge to figure out why the wind had suddenly picked up and if it would die down in a predictable amount of time like wind at the beach. I didn't have an answer. It was so damn cold. Then I noticed the wind had stoked the fire we thought we had extinguished and now it blazing again! Shit!!! If any embers make their way into the super dry forest....... I flew out of the tent and grabbed a Rotopax off the tailgate and started dousing the fire. Thankfully 2 gallons was all it took. Trevor had fallen asleep and didn't notice.

Ellie is not amused.

Exhausted and twice as cold I climbed back into the tent and got Ellie situated in my bag and resumed trying to fall asleep. I must have dozed off for a few minutes between wind gusts because I was started by the sound of the wind slamming into the tent and suddenly forced semi-upright as the ladder section of the tent was pushed upwards by the wind and probably would have slammed it shut had Ellie and I not been crushed in the middle like the meat in a Tepui Taco! I get us extracted from the bag and open the tent flap to see the ladder is now past vertical and slightly under the tent. Seriously??? How the hell am I going to get down now? I tried unweighting the bottom of the tent while simultaneously pulling on the ladder to try and get it more vertical but no dice. I could wake Trevor and ask for help but no. I can do this. Somehow I manage to get to the ground without breaking my fool neck and I straighten out the ladder. I climb back in the tent and resume trying to sleep despite the wind. After another 30min or so I hear Trevor yell something that sounded full of curse words then his tent fly unzipping. He's saying he's going to walk over to the forest campsite and see if they wind is less there. At this point I'm fully ready to break camp and set up somewhere else. He returns shortly and says there is zero wind at the campsite. So we both hurriedly collapse our tents and throw gear into the bed of the trucks and move to the new site.

The new site is almost 100% sheltered from wind but we need to get his truck situated on flat ground. After some maneuvering and rock stacking he gets it level and we set our tents back up. We crawl back in to our tents and try yet again to go to sleep. The wind howls above us but now it can't touch us. But the cold can..... Suffice to say I got zero sleep that night and I had to pull the truck out onto the beach in the morning so I could run the heater and seat warmers without bothering Trevor.

The new sheltered campsite

We get our gear packed up and hit the trail. I've never tried navigating obstacles on a trail with numb feet before and it was quite interesting. :)

Apparently Trevor had a hard time feeling the gas pedal too. A little front end hop and some dust and up he goes.

In the middle left of the image is Signal Peak.

It was still 24F at 9:22am! Brrr

Back on Henness Pass Road. We are warmed up and enjoying the scenery.

Had to stop quickly for some glam shots between traffic coming up the road.

We make our way to Verdi, Nevada. Also home of a Cabella's store which sells the Mr. Heater Buddy propane heater! We stop and I pick one up. I'd rather die in a tent fire than a slow death from cold. Our next stop and final camping spot is Moon Rocks just outside of Reno. As we get close to our target the paved road turns to gravel and we pull over the air down then off we go.

This spot is a favorite for rock crawlers and motos including trials bikes of which we saw 3 hopping on and off boulders. Trevor use to come here when he rode motos and he didn't waste any time taking us into a steep gully for fun.

He then leads us around this crazy outcropping of rocks with all sorts of trails and obstacles most of which are way too technical for our rigs but that doesn't stop him from threading a tight gap. lol

We played around for a bit and I cringed every time my front tires scraped the wheel wells. One scrap was particularly loud but other than being embarrassing no damage was done. She looks mean though.

We found a sweet camp spot between rock outcroppings. It's right in the path between trails but since everyone was packing up and going home we figured we'd be fine until the morning. We set up camp, started a fire in the existing fire pit and gobbled down some bratwurst for dinner. We then sat as close to the fire as possible to stay warm as the already chilly temperature dropped further. After awhile the coyotes started "talking" to eachother all around us so we sat in silence and listened. I don't think Ellie was as delighted as we were....

That night temps dropped to around 15F. The Mr. Heater Buddy was a lifesaver. It comes with a cost though. The amount of condensation it creates is staggering. I woke up in the middle of the night and felt the walls of the tent to find they were wet. When the sun rose and I could get a better look around the tent I found ice puddles on the floor and some ice sheeting on the walls! Putting the tent away wet sucks but a few hours in the warm sun at home dried it out nicely.

Before leaving I had to snap a few more shots and then we headed back to Cali and home.

Trevor apparently wasn't done playing. He jumped up off the gravel road onto a dirt trail that paralleled the main road. lol

I didn't get far before I noticed one of my RTT straps flapping around and banging into the side of the truck. Grrr The velcro is wearing out and it won't stay tight so Trevor grabs some zip ties and secures the strap enough for me to get home. Thanks bro.

 

[McGrizzly]

My brother in law and father in law always do the Moon Rocks for their rock crawlers...im so excited to see a road around the back side, that we can camp and visit. thanks for the review!

 

[Captain Chaos]

With the Camp Fire burning near by, why would you even have a fire?

 

[JCWages]

My brother in law and father in law always do the Moon Rocks for their rock crawlers...im so excited to see a road around the back side, that we can camp and visit. thanks for the review!

I'm told there are plenty of places to camp in the area. We lucked out and the place died down late in the day so we were able to camp right in the middle of some of the rock formations. It's definitely not where you would want to be when people are crawlin. :)