NV Mustang Tour June 17th!

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What is the best date for this trip?


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    3

Wolfy

Rank V

Advocate I

1,723
Reno
I am not able to make it this coming weekend (because fathers day weekend) but my daughter and I just came back from Virginia City area this past weekend. We ran the road to Como and Sunrise Pass. Gorgeous out there. We came across three different herds of Mustangs out there on old Como road.....then of all places we saw a group of 8 Mustangs just wandering through the town of Virginia City itself over by the cemetery yesterday afternoon. It was VERY cool!!!

With the frequency we saw Mustangs this past weekend I am thinking you guys will have a great chance of running into them. I will say though, the past winter has done some damage to the Old Como road trail. Not sure if you are headed out that way but what was a fun trail was now a bit challenging in a few spots. Going downhill through the Canyon to meet up with Sunrise pass was slow slow going and had to take my time and watch tire placement for a good 2 mile stretch. Slipped off a good size boulder and put a rather large dent in my factory Tacoma transmission skid plate that scared the you know what out of my kid LOL (but the truck was fine). Now I have a reason to get some "real steel" skids!!

We had a great time...hope you guys do as well. Hope to make this trip in fall if you run it again.
Thanks for the report! We'll be North of VC so won't hit Como, but the roads all over are worked over pretty well.

Rained all weekend, but it's supposed to be hot again by Saturday!

-M
 

Kent R

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Looks like it will be a hot one! ill be at the meet up 0900 hrs Saturday.

Can I get some air after the trip my compressor went out last weekend in the Bodie Hills?
 
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Wolfy

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Looks like it will be a hot one! ill be at the meet up 0900 hrs Saturday.

Can I get some air after the trip my compressor went out last weekend in the Bodie Hills?

I know! It's been SOOOOOOOOOOOO Nice all week, and it SNOWED last week.

EVERYONE BRING WATER! As mentioned this is primitive camping. There is no services of any kind, no water sources at all. Not even really camp sites for that matter. But I know you guys can handle it because you're all #overlandAF.

I will have a compressor that you can use.

-M
 

Kent R

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I know! It's been SOOOOOOOOOOOO Nice all week, and it SNOWED last week.

EVERYONE BRING WATER! As mentioned this is primitive camping. There is no services of any kind, no water sources at all. Not even really camp sites for that matter. But I know you guys can handle it because you're all #overlandAF.

I will have a compressor that you can use.

-M
Thanks CO2 won't be here till Monday.
 

Alan Gomez

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3903

Sorry for the late notice but I can't make it. I'll try for the fall


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Wolfy

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OK, guys, here's the official report for the first Virginia Range Mustang Safari!

Meetup

Meetup went as planned at the I-80 freeway offramp at Lockwood. We arrived to find @Kent R waiting in his white JKUR. My crew consisted of myself and my wife, Danielle and our boys, Rocket (2) and Lightning Dragon (7). They wandered down to the river access park just off the main road to get wet and sandy. In the future this is where we should meet rather than the off ramp. I'd just forgotten that it was there. Eventually @DaveD rolled in. making a total of 3 rigs for the safari.

For LITERALLY the first time ever all three drivers were licensed radio amateurs, but I'f forgotten to bring my radio. Fortunately, Kent had a spare Yeasu FT60 for me so we didn't have to slum it on CB. I went and collected my family from the river and we were off!

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Before we rolled, Kent asked what I thought the chances were that we'd see horses. With the above report from @Slamson00 I felt confident enough to say 100%...

Lousetown Road

The road takes off up lousetown creek just before the Cemex mine. It's rough for the first 100m but not bad. The whole of the trail is pretty rough compared to years past. The only real obstacle on the first section are loose ruts that get your suspension all crossed up. I usually don't have trouble, but my new tires are a bit large and were rubbing all the time.

We saw a few mustangs just before getting on the trail vindicating my bold prediction. We then spotted a few on the hillside across from the road. Fortunately Kent and Dave both had the foresight to bring binoculars, so they were able to view the wildlife from afar the whole way.

The road ascends out of the creek bed and we made a vista stop at a mine site up on the hill.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Lagomarsino Petroglyphs

We made it to the petroglyph site for lunch. It was a bit warm, but not horrible. The petroglyphs as usual did not disappoint. This is truly one of the most impressive petroglyph sites I've ever seen.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Long Valley Road

To get back to Virginia City we decided to take the Long Valley Road instead of Lousetown Road. Lousetown is usually the faster route, but after the wet winter it isn't. Dave and Kent were up for following me on Long Valley Road which I'd done, but didn't have a GPS track. If you spend any time following me around you spend a lot of time getting lost and backtracking and wondering where the heck I think I'm going. But they didn't know that..

And they lucked out as I did not get lost!!!

We stopped at the water trough for the boys to play in the slime and scout for horses.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

On the way out, Dave got a flat right when I sighted a band of 30+ horses. So he got to change the tire with an audience.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

We took a quick stop for Ice cream in Virginia City, then took off on the Jumbo Grade Road to find camp. I vaguely had an idea of a spot, but nothing for sure. Of course I didn't tell them that...

The Jumbo Road follows contours up our of VC to the summit, then we turned right and headed up the Ophir Grade road following the ridge of the Virginia Range. As we got close to the prospective camp site, we spotted 3 mustangs in the meadow.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Scoping the mustangs by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustangs at Camp by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr
 
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Wolfy

Rank V

Advocate I

1,723
Reno
AWESOME CAMPSITE

So if I have a super power, it's the ability to find awesome campsites. As we were admiring the charismatic megafauna, an SUV drove past from the knoll where I was hoping to find a camp. When we checked it out, we found a great campsite with a fire ring and flat land enough for our tents and an AMAZING view of Washoe Valley and the lights of Reno.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Also, wild flowers were great on this trip!

The night was nice and cool with very little wind, thus making it the white whale of epic campsites in Nevada.

Mt. Davidson

In the morning, we broke camp and headed up to Mt. Davidson, the highest point in the Virginia Range. The road is rocky and rough, but not challenging. There are a few spots where you can't quite see where you're going, but you eventually find a parking area on the ridge with awesome 265 degree views of Reno, Washoe, Carson Valley and Virginia City.

We made the short hike to the summit.

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Mustang Tour by Mike Henderson, on Flickr

Jumbo to Washoe

So the plan was to head down Jumbo Grade Road to Washoe Valley to finish the safari. I expected there to be a little damage to the road, which you can see here, was not all that bad in recent years...

Well, there are several diversions and re-routs around what has become impassible to all but a full on 4x4 with major mods, or a tracked vehicle of some kind. I have some video of these sections, so stand by for that...

We aired up in the OHV Staging area and parted ways.

It was a great trip and it was great hitting the trail with @Kent R and @DaveD! I will definitely plan on leading another run of this in the fall and again in the spring. Perhaps make it a yearly outing!

Have a great week guys and thanks for checking in our little adventure!

-M
 

Kent R

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Great trip!!! Thanks to Wolfy AKA the Camp Spot Whisperer for leading. And thanks to his two young boys for providing great entertainment.
 
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Slamson00

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Beautiful photos and write up. Looks like you guys got to see lots of horses as well. Glad to hear.

Looking forward to seeing the videos of the Jumbo grade. We almost went that route to Virginia City last weekend we were there but with it hailing and snowing that morning I decided to play it safe since I was by myself and took the paved way into VC.

Looking forward to doing this trip if I can in the fall. Hoping to get some inside knowledge from the camp spot whisperer as well as I love this area and would love to not have to stay at established camp spots all the time.
 

Kent R

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Pathfinder III

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El Dorado, Ca
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Kent
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Reynolds
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K6KNT
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Retired Firefighter
Wolfy Ill post my pictures as soon as I resize them.