Reconnoitering in the Great Basin & Eastern Sierra By 4x4 - Trips

RECONNOITERING IN THE EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA & GREAT BASIN
BY 4-WHEEL-DRIVE
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RESN&GB4x4 Trips:

Forty-Five Minutes of Fun on the Way Home

My own back yard. Big, unexplored. You know ... those roads and trails you see every day and wonder where they go? It was a gloomy day and snowing lightly. I worked until early afternoon. Nearly four hours of daylight left after work. Why waste it?

I didn't note mileage or use a GPS – heck, the trail started only a mile from my house anyway. And I maybe ran 1.5 miles back before the road ended at a creek at the mouth of a steep canyon on the western face of the Sonoma Range about three miles south of Winnemucca. It was just muddy enough, slick enough, snowy enough to kick in 4WD low range and the rear locker for good measure (and a chance to give it some work instead of it rusting into oblivion from non-use). It all took 45 minutes out of my commute home from work (all 4.5 miles of it).

I didn't start taking photos until I got to the point I turned around. The view is east into the Sonoma Range. The huge wildfires of July 2007 visited this section of the Sonoma Range; but a few junipers and trees managed to escape the flames.
The view west a bit further along back down into Grass Valley. Since it was snowing lightly, the distance is obscured somewhat, but the East Range can be seen to some degree. Acres of cheat grass grow where the wildfires of 2007 burned out the sage.
Viewing back east into the range. You can see charred stumps of juniper burned in 2007.
The view northerly to Winnemucca Mountain, its top exposed atop the fog bank laying over town.
Another view east into the Sonoma Range.
Getting ready to drop down to the end of the trail. My home is near the center of the image.

Page Revised: 01/26/2010