102 Miles - Peavine, Dog Valley, Bordertown Railroad Tracks

[GrizzlyGuy]

I felt like doing a long ride yesterday so I plotted a route from Boca to Hallelujah Junction (Hwy 395 & Hwy 70). I figured this might be part of my route to Oregon. Unfortunately, the key road I needed north of Dog Valley was closed:



I quickly came up with a Plan B: head down towards Bordertown and see if I could find another route north. All the roads were private roads. However, there are some abandoned railroad tracks paralleling 395 north so off I went (this is looking back down the tracks to the south):



I made it a couple miles, then it dawned on me that if a cop happened to go by on 395, I might be toast since I was in plain view of the freeway. I turned around and started back up into the mountains from Bordertown. This sign greeted me on the road I had ridden down:





Not wanting to get my vehicle impounded, I hit the gas figuring that law enforcement could never catch me anyway.

I turned onto a random road heading south toward Peavine. I wandered around a bit and was then able to pick up Kendo's track heading up the mountain. Wow, that was a fun one! There is a hill climb along the way that IS TO DIE FOR. Long and very steep. Coming back down that thing would be suicide, but it's fun going up.

I made my way to the top and got some nice views from the various peaks. There was still snow on the north-facing side:





After hitting all of the multiple peaks and exploring a ton of trails, I came down a different way. There was another steep hill (although not nearly as steep) and I basically slid down it in 4-low with my brakes locked up. This was a scary couple minutes of ATV riding, as I was basically out of control and only making suggestions to the Grizzly as to which way it should slide.

I played around in Dog Valley, mapping out roads and trails that I hadn't ridden before, and zipped up to Crystal Peak for another nice view:



Peavine is in the distance in this shot (Dog Valley is center-left):



A good day with 102 miles total, but I'm disappointed that I was denied on my Oregon route. Looks like I'll have to head back to Plumas NF and push further north through there.

[EigerMike]

awesome ! great pics

[Kodiak]

that is awesome Grizzly Guy,
that peavine peak sounds like a blast

did you encounter any snow drifts?

Angelo

[auendave]

nice pics sound s like a great ride

[Ken]

Moved it for you.


Can you email me the KMZ for Google Earth? I'm interested where you went, in relation to Moonrocks and Kendo's ride.

I seriously doubt Highway patrol in Nevada would give a rats...since the tracks are private property. Only the Train police (and yes, they have them) would do something. Possible encounter, but highly unlikely. That said, I don't blame you.

[GrizzlyGuy]

No Angelo, I didn't snow any snow drifts at all. Just a few patches off to the side of the trail. Don't worry, there is still plenty of snow up in the high country to the west. The north-facing ridge here at the house is still mostly covered.

Ken, I just E-mailed you my tracks in GPX and KML format. I've already updated my GPS map with the new stuff I discovered (plus Kendo's). Angelo loves my GPS map: every time it had an error and/or I misread it and took a wrong turn, we ended up riding something fun.

If anyone hunts quail, there were a ton of quail up there too. I waypointed some of the spots I hope to visit in the fall with my 12 gauge.

[Kodiak]

yes i do my favorite "wrong turn" took us up a trail next to a creek but the creek had overflowed its banks and was running down the rocky trail it was pretty cool.

[GrizzlyGuy]

yes i do my favorite "wrong turn" took us up a trail next to a creek but the creek had overflowed its banks and was running down the rocky trail it was pretty cool.

Yeah, that was a good one! I had somehow omitted it from my map and I thought we were on the next one over. Here it is for people who ride that area (red stub trail that my arrow is pointing at):



We also missed this one (wasn't on my map) that was nearby and heads up the side of Crystal Peak:



I hadn't ridden it in years and completely forgot about it. I rode it twice on Thursday, once from the Tahoe side and once from the Toiyabe side (from up above Dog Valley). It's a 2-track for most of the way. The views from the top of it:

Looking south:


Looking northeast:


Oh well, we'll hit it next time.

[Ken]

Got it Eric,

Thanks. I'll call at some point. It shows points, not tracks on Google Earth. So I'll just tell you what we were trying to do. We can look together and see what your opinion is....

[GrizzlyGuy]

Ahhh... I didn't realize you were part of the Kendo party that discovered that flippin' awesome uphill!

OK, here is a screenshot from my GPS map source file that combines Kendo's tracks and my tracks (plus editing and color-coding for size/difficulty of each trail or road):



I came in from the trail in the upper-left and you guys came in from the one in the lower-left. You guys turned at NTOPEAVINE and rode north to the junction I labeled STODOGVLY. That's where I picked up Kendo's track.

I followed it and went up the steep/fun/gas-on-don't-let-off hill that I have labeled EXTREMETOP. At T21509CLIMBB, you guys hung a right, rode down the trail along Ranch Creek, and then went south off my picture along the trail with BOOM16/BOOM15 waypoints (and down below the bottom is where you hit the gate at the border and had to backtrack).

At T21509CLIMBB, I continued straight, wandered to the north, then came up on Peavine via T12507 and T21508T41642. I futzed around up on top, then eventually came down the thing I have labeled SCARYTOP/SCARYBOTTOM and that is what I slid down.

That wouldn't be scary at all going up (wasn't as steep as the other hill) but my quad doesn't seem to want to hold the hill on down slopes with anything loose on the slope. Either my tires suck or all the weight I'm carrying turns me into a sled.

I have those two trails color-coded yellow so that I don't accidentally turn onto them and ride down them. There are trails and intersections all over up there, it is kind of confusing. Next time, I need to explore the stuff to the NNW from the peak.

[Ken]

No...I wasn't there.

What I was doing...Kendo gave me his tracks...and I had tracks riding around Moonrocks.

If you could get North of Cold Springs and cross 395, you could make it to Moonrocks.

I'll send you a KMZ of moonrocks...so you can see it.

[hemingray]

What waypoint was your first picture at - TOI003?

I'm amazed how close Moonrocks is to your Chilcoot ride. All there is to cross is the RR and the highway

As for your sliding - I know the 700 is a whole lot lighter on the front end than my 660. I have to remember to load the front with some weight or it wants to wheelie on some climbs or rocks going uphill. I wonder if you just aren't getting good braking traction on the front (assuming you are in 4-low) for loose stuff. After going up the sporty trail to English Mountain, I was sweatin in 4-low coming down that thing on the stretches of loose shale-y stuff.

[GrizzlyGuy]

Interesting. Instead of riding the tracks north from Bordertown, I should have turned onto the pavement and tried to cross 395. It looks like there are some trails on the sat view that would get you around Cold Springs.

I plotted a different route to Moonrocks from Peavine. You'd go up and over Peavine and come down the main access road to 395. You'd have to blaze across the 395 overpass on Red Rock Road, but then it would be back on dirt when you turn off and head into the Granite Hills.

The green line here is the road from Peavine, and the black dotted line is the possible route. Right around GRANITE07 it would be the same as if you went from Bordertown and around Cold Springs like you're talking about:





Of course I have no idea if any of that is gated off.

[Ken]

Friday?

[GrizzlyGuy]

Sure, we could give it a go on Friday.

Good news: Google Earth has street view photos of the paved side street at REDROCKSILVER. Put in these coordinates then look at the photo while you are pointing west:

39.62794 N
119.91882 W

The pavement ends at a cul de sac and there is NO GATE on the road that heads into the Granite Hills. It looks like about a 1000 ft. dash across (under) 395 on Red Rock Road, take first left, 800 ft. to the cul de sac, then back onto dirt.