AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Yeah, we didn't go into the campground, but there was a steady stream of cars at the viewpoint even. Being there reasonably early and in the middle of the week helped, I think.

And thank you again for your openness to letting us leave the truck there; I really wish it'd worked out.

I definitely need to do more Nevada exploration. My experience prior to this was just with the corridors down to DV, really. Super boring. But getting off the highways...I definitely want to do.

I'd love to do NVBDR. Shout if/when it's something you're going to run. I prefer to do it all in one trip, but whatever .

This. I think when a lot of people think Utah, they think Moab, National Parks, etc. Those are more crowded than a lot of NV. But, you can definitely get remote in any of the western states - even CA - if you find the cool spots.

 

There were a few nice BLM campsites we found about 30 minutes North of the State Park that we might try to go to next time and just visit/hike instead. Cheaper and more seclusion I’m sure.

Not a problem, always open to you and others on here (if we’ve met before) if needed.

Like I said above, we’re considering it during Memorial Day weekend but time will tell. The wife and I’s work schedule will greatly decide if we can get enough time to do most of it. We for sure would get 4 days but I’d like to set aside a full week to try and cover all of it at once like you said.

 

I think the big trip would be to complete the link of the Arizona, Nevada and Idaho BDR's.

Actually Arizona links with Utah but there is no current established route extending into Montana.

 

Currently in Apple Valley for work but flew into Vegas and drove over and damn it sure is beautiful on this side of the US. Wish I would've gotten something other than a car so I could do a little bit of exploring

 

Would love to do the Nevada BDR or any other, and don't care about COVID, I think back country camping is safe and allowed. Bike trip and Moab meet canceled so looking for a trip.

 

I think the longest you could do right now would be SoCA to NV to Idaho, but then you'd miss half of the SoCA one. I figure one at a time is good anyway - since the real gems of the BDRs aren't the routes themselves, but rather side trips off of them...so one BDR can be 10+ days easy.

So, I'm curious - how was flying these days? What airline, how full was the flight, all that stuff?

I don't think any of us are looking at this trip for the next little while here... While I don't think it's appropriate to panic about covid-19, I do think it's right to care about it and be aware of our actions and the example we set for others.

 

How goes the battery charging?

 

Wasn't bad. Atlanta TSA is typically horrible (like 30 min waiting to get to the scanners) took me 15 minutes to get all the way thru. I flew Delta and it was a direct flight to Vegas, was a little under half full. One of my coworkers were saying that if people were sitting too close the flight attendant would make them move. I just stayed away from people and washed my hands a lot/used hand sanitizer.

 

Set it and forget it, hahahahaha.

With @mini.turbodb home from school, week days are much fuller so I never went out to check it until you just reminded me of it now. Still at step 7, but I think that really means it's done. I've left it on for now, and I'll take the multimeter out tomorrow and see if I have some sort of parasitic drain. I don't know how I would - the battery is directly connected to the fuse box and the only two devices are the ham and cb radio...but it'll be easy enough to pull the fuses and see if the current draw changes...

 

Torrential Rain Sends us to Gold Butte - Mojave East #2

The rain that had started just as we crawled into bed persisted throughout the night - a consistent patter on the tent, its rhythm never letting up. This was no surprise, really - near enough to town that we had cell service, we'd seen that several flash flood warnings were issued for the area, and we hoped that we'd be able to continue our adventure in the morning. In no rush to get up in the deluge, we lingered in bed an extra hour or so, hoping that the forecast - which was for rain the rest of the day - was completely wrong.

Note: it wasn't. Forecasts for the next 10 hours are generally right.

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Once we'd resigned ourselves to the fact that hoping for sun was different than actually having sun, we dressed and set about the job of putting the tent away in the rain. This is - of course - my favorite way to stow the tent. For obvious reasons, really - I mean, the act of getting cold and wet while putting the tent away is great; the water trapped on the tent, stewing all day under the cover is pure goodness; and naturally, the dampness of the mattress the following evening is always a joyous feeling.

Thoroughly drenched even after a record-setting tear down, we huddled in the Tacoma with the heater on to warm and dry ourselves while we re-evaluated our plan for the day - and the remainder of the trip. A check of the news informed us that while the Covid-19 situation was getting more serious, it still didn't seem as though we needed to head home immediately, so we checked the weather to our south and west - the direction we planned to head the following day - and found it to be significantly drier. That meant skipping a couple cool hikes and a visit to the edge of the Grand Canyon at Whitmore Overlook, but it would also put us in better shape to finish much of the rest of our it's-always-too-full itinerary before heading home.

So south we went, into Arizona and down the road that leads to the old Mt. Trumble schoolhouse, the views...a bit limited by the fog and rain.

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This road - the Mt. Trumble Loop Road - is generally in pretty good shape. It's wide and well graded given the (relatively) heavy travel it sees - but like many roads in this area, its nemesis is continuous rain. You see, while a little rain is great at keeping the dust down, a lot of rain turns that same dust into a sticky, gooey, slimy, muck that quickly clogs up even the most aggressive mud terrain tires and leaves you slipping all over the road.

Undeterred, we pressed on, the fog lifting at times to give us just a glimpse of the beauty around us.

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The mud though - while not constant - was relentless. We were clearly the first along Old County Road 101 which would take us from Arizona to Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada, and even in the nice yellow dirt, we were leaving our mark.

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In the red dirt - clearly the dirt of the devil - the mark was left on us. And this - I remind the regular reader - is after I changed wheels to solve the mud problem.

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We'd covered 30 of the 80 miles on our westward journey when we hit what would turn out to be our sketchiest mud patch of the day. As we powered through it and finally out, I stopped the truck to take a look at the map before continuing on. And then, I looked back the way we'd come. And no, I hadn't been drinking.

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Slippery when wet.​

The remaining 50 miles wound its way through washes and over Whitney Pass, and we had no idea if we'd make it. With the rain continuing to fall at this point, we decided it was in our best interest - as a single vehicle - to retrace our steps and enter Gold Butte National Monument from the north. We'd later discover - as we talked with a NPS ranger also out exploring Gold Butte - that the we'd turned around just after the muddiest section of the road. The rest of the route, he said, was much rockier, including the wash. You win some and lose some I guess, and in the end, it didn't matter since we still had a great time!

So, it was back the way we'd come and then west to Gold Butte National Monument. Established on December 28, 2016, the monument was created at the same time as Bears Ears National Monument and now encompasses nearly 300,000 acres of land featuring a a collection of intriguing destinations including rock art, sandstone towers, the always-amazing red rock, and several historical artifacts from previous residents.

Just a few miles west, the weather was still cloudy but it was mostly not raining - a nice change - and since it was lunch time we pulled over for a quick bite to eat along the side of Gold Butte Road, the landscape rising up around us toward the clouds.

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The road into Gold Butte was paved at one point - many years ago - and was a mixed bag as we climbed back in the truck for the remainder of the journey. On the one hand, it meant that there was mostly no mud on the way into the monument. On the other, the potholes - from years of neglect - were so bad that mud might have been less torturous!

Still, cresting the final hill before entering the valley surrounding Whitney Pockets was a fabulous experience - the colors of the rock pockets punching through the dreariest of gray and reminding of the omnipresent silver lining of any adventure!

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Pulling up to Whitney Pockets, we were surprised to see a NPS ranger's truck parked just off the side of the road - we were after all on BLM (rather than NPS) land. And, as we were parking the truck in a nearby pull-out, the ranger - Greg - came walking out of Whitney Pockets to say hi. We chatted for quite some time - 20-30 minutes - about all sorts of topics related to the area, and it was during this time that he informed us that we'd made it through the worst of the mud, apparently twice, earlier in the day. Greg was great and regaled us with crazy stories of the Bundy's and his experiences with them. You see, it turns out that their ranch is just north of Gold Butte National Monument that we'd driven right by without noticing - something we'd have to remedy on our way out. Eventually Greg took his leave and we turned our sights to exploration of the pockets area.

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The highlight - at least as far as I know about - of Whitney Pockets, is a cistern built by the CCC. Tucked into the rock outcropping, it captures rainwater behind a dam, presumably for use through dry months. Greg had informed us that it held more water - some 5 feet or more - than he'd ever seen, an indicator of how much rain we'd gotten in the last 18 hours!

A short slot in the canyon led to our first view of the cistern, and the steps that led to its top. The risers on these steps were surprisingly tall, making the experience of climbing them more ladder-like than stairs!

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From atop the cistern, we took in our surroundings. Under normal circumstances, it's my understanding that you can continue up the canyon behind the dam, but there was no way that was happening today. The views from up here were dramatic and we spent a good amount of time hopping around to find the best perspective.

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By now, it was squarely mid-afternoon and though I'd planned to have us camp in the Whitney Pockets area, it was clear that we still had a few hours of light that we could take advantage of for exploration and discovery. After a quick discussion, we decided that our best bet was to head out towards a group of hikes we'd planned for the next day, perhaps knocking one off the list before setting up camp for the night. So, back in the truck we climbed, and through the eye-turning rock, we continued.

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Our first stop - one that I knew was going to be a quick one - was at First Rock petroglyphs. So named because this is the first rock outcropping along the road, the petroglyphs here aren't all that amazing, but the enormous raptor nest is!

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Within fifteen minutes, we'd fully explored the site and were back in the truck, making our way south along Black Butte Road for several miles. Our destination was a reasonably short hike several miles away: 21 Goats Petroglyphs. Located up a short side-wash off of the road, we found the very lightly visited trailhead reasonably easily, just as a few drops of rain started to pelt the roof of the truck.

Hoping the weather would pass, we decided that with three hours of light remaining, this would be the perfect time for a nap. Perfect because any time you can take a nap is the perfect time for such a luxury. So, out came our Kindles and we read and rested our eyes for an hour or so, as drops continued to fall from the fast-moving clouds overhead. Finally, around 5:30pm, I looked to my right and suggested that we might as well just give it a shot - even if it was still raining lightly.

We climbed out of the truck, donned our rain coats, and started up the wash. Purely by luck, it stopped raining about three minutes later!

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The hike to 21 Goats was not difficult - at least as our hikes go. We followed the wash for a mile or so, keeping our eyes out for the rock art that we knew was hiding somewhere along its banks. Then, as we rounded a curve, I happened to glance out of the wash to a nearby rock face - and there was the panel! Excited, we headed over to take a closer look.

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Now, though the name of this panel is 21 Goats, the petroglyphs here are actually Bighorn Sheep, and there most definitely are not 21 of them - there are closer to 30. Or more. Not to mention all the other figures and patterns that were painstakingly chipped into the sandstone face - all quite well preserved through the passage of time.

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Being the first really nice panel that @mrs.turbodb had seen on this trip, and given that we didn't have anything else planned for the day, we were in no rush and spent a good amount of time admiring the work, as well as discovering a few other petroglyphs on nearby outcroppings.

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Another "goat."​

Eventually though we decided that we should head back - to try and get dinner made and cleaned up before it got dark - and so started back down the wash towards the Tacoma. The trip back was just as pretty as the trip up-wash, and we stopped frequently to admire our surroundings.

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Back at the truck we had a decision to make - it was clear that we had about 20 minutes before the sun went down, and we could either use that time making dinner, or we could head over to the summit of a nearby hill to enjoy the little bit of sunset that it looked like we were going to get - the clouds just starting to clear along the western horizon. Perhaps predictably, we opted for the later, knowing that dinner could wait, but a sunset wouldn't!

I'm pretty sure we made the right choice.

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With the light dim, I set about deploying the tent - still wet from the night before - as @mrs.turbodb setup the kitchen and got dinner started. It was, again, a dinner of tacos and guacamole, and boy, were they tasty! A warm light breeze blew through the wash as we cleaned up after dinner, helping to dry the tent quickly. We did a bit more reading and I transferred photos from my camera to computer before calling it a night and climbing into bed.

For a day that had started ominously and wet, we'd gotten quite a variety of experiences and several unique sights under our belts - it had been a great day. Little did we know as we fell asleep under the clearing night sky - the next two would bring adventures even more special than today!

 

gathering all this up into one place...

Thank you both! Fun trip and lucky we were able to do it when we did. A couple weeks later and...no way.

As am I with your rebuilds .

Oh, I can imagine. Even dry, seems like it'd be horrible on a bike. After pressure washing when I got home, I wasn't able to get quite all of it off the insides of the wheels, and I could tell they were out of balance on the freeway. Had to remove them to clean the caked on mud just yesterday.

 

Falling Man, Kohta Circus, Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs - Mojave East #3

While camping in a wash less than 12 hours after the national weather service issued a series of storm warnings for the area may seem foolish to any normal person, it actually turned out to be one of our most pleasant nights of the trip.

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Of course, I was reasonably confident that was to be the case when we setup camp - this wash didn't appear to have had much in the way of water as we'd hiked it the previous evening, and we were several feet from its low point should water have started to flow.

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The trailhead we'd camped at wasn't far from our first hike of the day, and with the tent now fully dry, it was a quick operation to stow it away while @mrs.turbodb made breakfast and packed up the rest of the truck. A little after 7:00am, we were on our way, the sun at our backs, illuminating the red hills to our west as we set off towards Black Butte Rd.

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I'm sure the truck had warmed up by the time we arrived at the trailhead to the Kohta Circus petroglyphs, but probably not for long. Located around the south side of Black Butte, this was the hike I was most looking forward to prior to making the 20-hour drive south. Or maybe the second most.

We set out through the desert, our trek south departing from the colorfully decorated side of Black Butte - weaving in and out of various washes, up and over various alluvial fans. Through a Joshua Tree forest, and past long-abandoned fire rings and camp sites.

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As we did, the views in the distance were as dramatic as our immediate surroundings - dark mountains on the horizon, shaded by the clouds above; sunlight streaming through from time to time, illuminating the brilliant geology rising up out of the Mojave's desert floor.

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After two miles of early-morning enjoyment, we found ourselves descending into the maze of canyons protecting the panels that make up Kohta Circus. There are several distinct panels at this site, and we started at the lowest of them. Approximately 80 feet long, it contains so many figures that it took us 15 minutes to just make our first path along its entire length. I wouldn't use the word cluttered to describe it, but I wouldn't fault you if you did!

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This is the panel that gives Kohta Circus it's name, presumably due to the large number of animals that are depicted along it's length. It's tucked along the southern wall and the petroglyphs are at a height comfortable for viewing along its entire length. I did my best to capture the entire length of the panel, but in the end, anything longer than about a third of the panel got too small in a panorama to shine through online. The story appears to show a migration, with bighorn sheep and many other animals moving to the right on the top portion of the panel, and then to the left along the bottom. In many places, the animals are connected from head to tail with lines - perhaps lead lines to keep the group together. Many other symbols also come into play at various points throughout the story, indicating that they are not randomly placed, but have a deeper meaning that has been lost to time.

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And, a few of my favorite glyphs...

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Man shooting a bighorn sheep.​

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Unlike the majority of animals, this was the only deer/elk depicted in the panel.​

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A few of the dozens of sheep moving in a line.​

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Turtle.​

As we'd come into the canyon, I'd already spotted the upper panel on the western wall - and it was dramatic. Poised 80 feet up, it was high off the canyon floor and difficult - if not impossible at this point - to access. This of course was a good thing in our minds, since it would keep people away and help to protect the glyphs. This was my favorite panel of all that we'd see the entire trip, and I wasted no time doing my best to capture it from several angles. None of them seem to capture its magic entirely, perhaps due to a lack of scale, or because part of the magic is physically being in such a special place.

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Getting some of these angles required a bit of climbing, and in doing so we continued to uncover even more of the artwork that adorned the canyon walls. And, while much of the art has survived nearly unaffected by time, there were a few places where we could see slabs of sandstone that had sheared off in the middle of a panel.

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Having drug out our exploration as long as we felt we could, it was time to head back to the Tacoma and on to our next stop. Hoping to make the hike into a lollipop-shaped loop, we followed the wash containing the glyphs as it made its way up-canyon. We didn't know if the route would be passable, but even if it wasn't, it was sure to be a beautiful extension to the hike so far.

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After a mile of following game trails up the canyon, we finally came to the constriction of the walls. Luckily, this wasn't an impassable dry fall, and with a little scramble we found ourselves on the upper plateau that we'd hiked out to the Circus an hour before.

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Even the hike back was enjoyable, the views now different from our new direction. The geology here really is amazing, the white and red offsetting each other so dramatically everywhere we turned.

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We'd gotten an early enough start on our first hike of the day that it was barely 10:00am when we found ourselves back at the truck and headed to our next destination. This section of Gold Butte National Monument is packed with petroglyphs and I had another hike planned - less than five miles away - that I hoped would be nearly as dramatic as the last: the Falling Man petroglyph.

This was a hike that I knew contained more than just a panel or two of rock art - it was an entire trail of various panels and glyphs. Clearly, this was an area that had been inhabited - rather than passed through - by earlier people, and there had been plenty of time to carve intricate stories into the rock. Our first stop however was at a formation known as the rabbit ears, for obvious reasons.

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Next was Calvin's Rock. Named for Calvin Meyers - an environmental activist and former Chairman of the Moapa Band of Paiutes - this boulder is literally covered in art, and it's understandable that Calvin had a special connection to this boulder.

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From there, we continued on. Walking through a maze of rocks and sandstone crags - the surrounding plateau eroded over thousands or more years - we admired the passage of time witnessed by the vibrant colors exposed over the years, enjoyed by those who left carvings on their surface in the same way we enjoyed them today.

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Our wandering eventually led us to a tunnel - not a surprise for me, but something @mrs.turbodb was excited to learn we'd be climbing through, rather than just viewing and moving on!

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The view as we emerged on the other side of the tunnel was one of the more dramatic we'd seen, the rainbow of rocks against the bright blue sky, enough to stop both of us in our tracks for a moment.

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Through the tunnel, a 10 foot ledge continued around the outcropping, beckoning us forward. I - however - knew we needed to show restraint. Somewhere along this ledge was the namesake for this hike - the Falling Man. Not easily discovered due to its positioning behind and above the adventurous hiker, we eventually found it, the man dramatically contrasted with the weathered rock behind.

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It is of course unknown what the story of the man truly represents. Perhaps a memorial to a friend or family member who suffered a tragic accident; or perhaps a simple warning about being careful on the ledge.

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One of the great things about this area is that no matter where we turned, we discovered more petroglyphs. Some were in better shape than others, but all of them fun to discover as we scurried over and between the rocks. And adult Easter egg hunt of sorts. ::

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We explored our way through the next quarter mile or so, down past several tinajas - full from the recent rains, and eventually to the next well-known panel in the area - Newspaper Rock. Named for the large collection of petroglyphs on the flat panel, Newspaper Rock stands overlooking the canyon, quite an inspiration for the creators of this massive piece of art.

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From Newspaper Rock, our path curved back up and around the next outcropping where several more interesting stories presented themselves. The first was what's known as the Bigfoot - or Hang-Ten - glyph. Carved into a flat boulder that's broken off of the overhang above, the namesake was too big to fit on the surface, the toes wrapping around the edge of the rock, as though hanging ten on a surf board.

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Then, another big foot and one of my favorite - I'm not sure why - carvings: man-with-two-slingshots-at-waters-edge.

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Finally, we made our way around to the back side of the outcropping to discover two more enormous panels - one above the other. Like the upper panels at Kohta Circus, these were high above the nearest flat surface, suggesting that whoever developed the carvings must have done so using some sort of apparatus. These too contained some of my favorite petroglyphs so far in the trip, once again well preserved by their inaccessibility!

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Look closely for the upper and lower panels here.​

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Upper panel detail - one of my favorite.​

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More from the upper panel, a ladder and scaffolding depicting the apparatus used to create these works?​

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The lower panel, weathered over time and yet still the figures, geometric shapes, and patterns vibrant to this day.​

We'd spent another two-and-a-half hours wandering around this amazing site and only our grumbling tummies pulled us back to the truck just before 1:00pm. There, we broke out the fixings for turkey sandwiches, chips, and some of the best Cosmic Crisp apples (try them if you haven't!), which we enjoyed in the truck's shade by the side of the road before retracing our path north on Black Butte road towards Whitney Pockets.

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It had been short, but our time at Gold Butte National Monument was over - at least for this trip. I'm sure however that we'll be back - this place is quite obviously another - if slightly smaller - Death Valley type location for me. By that, I mean that I planned my first visit to be my last, but quickly realized that I've only scratched the surface. As with Death Valley, there is much to see in Gold Butte National Monument, the best of which is likely hard to find without some inside knowledge and tips!

We had one more stop to make as we exited the monument the way we'd entered - something that was especially intriguing to @mrs.turbodb who is a pop culture fanatic - the Bundy Ranch. This is where the standoff between the wacko Cliven Bundy and the BLM took place in 2014 when Bundy refused to pay his grazing fees and lost countless court battles. While perhaps interesting in itself, the Bundy's were even more interesting to us, since we'd visited the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge shortly after it was reopened after the Bundy's occupied it in 2016 in another display of dumbassedness.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, their ranch was a rundown dump, and their flag was in tatters.

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And then, a little way down the road, another strange sight.

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It was early afternoon as we aired up our tires - our next destination some two hours to the south and west, in the Valley of Fire State Park.

As the ARB compressor chugged away, we made a decision that would impart a lasting impact on the remainder of our trip. Over the previous few days, news of Covid-19 had continued to snowball, Seattle Public Schools had closed, and ideas as dramatic as closing the borders to Washington state were starting to be floated. Airlines, rightly understanding that people shouldn't be - and were afraid to be - flying were allowing cancellations with no charge.

Our plan - as regular readers may recall - was to fly home in the middle of the following week - leaving the truck with Brent @PcBuilder14 in Las Vegas - flying back a week later for another several days of adventure. But, with all the news, we began to wonder if flying back would even be an option. If airlines stopped flying - or if borders were closed - would we be stuck at home without the Tacoma?

In the end, we made the tough call to cancel our flight home and thereby cancel the second leg of our adventure - for now though, we'd continue to explore. We had lots to see in the next 24 hours - at which point we'd head north, making it home by the time our flight would have landed. The decision was both a bummer and a relief - especially for @mrs.turbodb - and with the logistics taken care of, we soon pulled into the Nevada's Valley of Fire - because with a name like that, how could we pass it by?

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I need to make another trip out there as well! The last time and only time I went was for a couple of days with a 4 week old which is a bad idea by the way if you're not the type to stay in one spot for a weekend....So no sights were seen by us other than Whitney Pockets and Devil's throat.

Valley of Fire is beautiful as well, but sadly I've only been a few times since it costs money to get into versus all of the free areas also nearby. Some great views to be had though. If you're ever near Vegas again you should definitely check out Red Rock Canyon. Definitely more populated but some spectacular views if you do the right hikes.

 

From Valley of Fire to a Flooding Buffington Pockets - Mojave East #4

As you may recall, we'd just cancelled our flight home due to the unknowns of Covid-19, but were still in exploration mode as we entered the Valley of Fire State Park in southeastern Nevada.

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Our trip to the Valley of Fire was somewhat opportunistic to say the least. A year before this trip ever even crossed my mind, I'd seen a photo on Flickr that had caught my eye. Sharp as ever, I completely forgot to save the photo or a link to the photo , but - luckily for me - the photo had been geotagged and I'd saved a point of interest in my Google Earth map of Nevada. I'd noticed that point as I'd planned this trip, and mapped out the route, excited to see what nature had in store. So yeah, apparently, I'm not always as dumb as I look. In researching Valley of Fire, I also discovered a second hike -rumored to have petroglyphs - and since it was on our way to the main attraction, we decided to stop off there first.

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Called Mouse's Tank, we pulled into a parking lot packed with cars and people. Socially distancing themselves from downtown but not other people, seemingly half of Las Vegas out enjoying nature and the nice weather. As much as we may think it strange, seeing so many people on this hike does make me understand the closing of parks at a time like this; people gathering in near proximity to so many others, even outside, is no different than gathering at a concert or convention.

We aren't generally thrilled by crowded spaces when adventuring anyway, but we were here and figured we might as well check out the petroglyphs - so we headed down the well-trodden trail while keeping our eyes peeled...and distance from other people. It wasn't long before we spotted the first set of rock carvings on the walls above us.

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Running with Spongebob.​

We continued along, equally entertained by the plentiful petroglyphs as well as the company - many of them so thoroughly out of place and completely oblivious to their surroundings that they wondered what we were taking photos of as we'd stop to look at the rocks around us.

The sandstone here was redder than what we'd come from in Gold Butte National Monument, but the towering spires were no less dramatic.

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With all the foot traffic, the petroglyphs themselves were a little worse for the wear. Not to say we couldn't find some nice ones, but on average the less-than-careful clientele of this region had clearly taken a toll on the aging rock art. A few of our favorites:

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After a half mile or so, we reached Mouse's Tank - a natural basin in the rock where water collects after each rainfall. Named for a Southern Paiute Indian - Little Mouse - the story goes that he was a renegade to the white settlers and even an outcast among his own tribe. One night after drinking, Little Mouse fired on an Indian camp, was captured, and then ferried across the Colorado River to Arizona. Allegedly, he escaped and killed two white prospectors and sought refuge from his pursuers in the Valley of Fire. Lawmen conducted several searches to try to bring him to justice with no success because of the Valley of Fire’s rugged landscape. Perplexed as to how the Indian could remain in the Valley for so long with no water running through it, they eventually realized that he'd found this natural depression in the rock and used the captured rain water to stay alive for months. However, in the summer of 1897, law enforcement found Little Mouse and ordered his surrender. Unwilling to give himself up, a one-hour gunfight ensued and he was eventually shot and killed.

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Mouse's Tank.​

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The view over the dry fall atop which Mouse's Tank sits.​

The tank was full given the recent rain, and after waiting our turn to get a series of reasonably uncluttered photos, we turned ourselves around for a quick exit off the trail. No photos on our way back, our pace was significantly faster than those around us, and we reached the trailhead with little fuss. Well, except for the herd of Bighorn Sheep that we saw along the way and spent a few minutes tracking as they hopped from rock to rock.

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Heading north to our next destination - the Fire Wave Trail - we made only one short pit stop at Rainbow Gorge. Here, at the top of a ridge dividing the northern and southern halves of the park, the landscape unfolded before us, all the nooks and canyons reminiscent of The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, and a likely a tremendous place to explore at less crowded times.

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As was the case with Mouse's Tank, the Fire Wave too was reasonably crowded on this Saturday afternoon in mid-March. We couldn't blame anyone, really - it was after all a sunny day in the mid-60°F's - but it did mean we did less meandering and more getting there and back on the three mile hike than we might otherwise have done.

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But wow, when we did get there, the Fire Wave itself was extremely cool. Set on the edge of a sandstone monolith that rose out of the surrounding landscape, the pattern was discernable and nothing special from above. But, by moving just a few dozen feet down, into the wave itself, the perspective changed into a magical swoosh that we sat and enjoyed for longer than I think either of us planned.

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As we'd driven through Valley of Fire, one of the things we'd noticed was that there were no camping signs everywhere. Unlike the BLM land we'd been on the last several days, the increased visitation to the state park meant that camping was only allowed in the designated campgrounds, and of course that was of little interest to us. Instead, we headed further south and west - back onto BLM - into the Muddy Mountain Recreational Area via the Bittersprings Backcountry Byway.

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As had been the case the previous evening, my hope was that we could perhaps do a short hike prior to finding camp for the night, and position ourselves well for the following morning. The plan would require reasonably good roads - so we could make reasonably good time - to the trailhead, and we were happy to discover that for the most part the roads were in pretty good shape - with a few fun-but-not-difficult sections thrown in!

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It was 5:15pm when we arrived at Buffington Pockets for what would be our fifth hike of the day! Clearly, the abbreviated timeline of the trip had lit a little fire under our bums, and squeezing in as much as possible was the order of the day.

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The trailhead here starts off at a concrete dam similar to The Cistern that we'd seen in Gold Butte National Monument. The obvious difference was that someone has painted an enormous owl on the face of this structure - once again raising the question - art or vandalism? (Hint: it's the later, though that doesn't mean it cannot be the former as well.)

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In normal times, the hike up this wash is simple - you climb the wall next to the dam, and then hop down the other side into the reasonably dry stream bed. These however, were not normal times. With nearly an inch of rain in the previous 48 hours, we arrived at the top of the dam to find it nearly overflowing with water, the wash collecting runoff from many of the surrounding hills.

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Still keen to make our way up-wash, we looked for a bypass to the south - a class 3 climb, up and over the southern escarpment and then down into the wash 1000' above the dam. It took some doing to find a passable route, but find one we did, enjoying the high views in the process.

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Once down on the other side, we almost immediately stumbled upon ruins as we headed up the wash. These are likely more recent than any of the Petroglyphs we'd been seeing, but we still wondered about their history, and why in tarnation the structure had been built in the mouth of a side wash!

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Our stroll up the wash was a fun one. Narrower than some of the other washes we'd been in on the trip so far, the terrain alternated between washed gravel and polished stone, some places mixing textures for even more variety.

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And then, our eyes constantly peeled, we stumbled upon that which we'd been seeking - a well-preserved petroglyph panel a dozen feet off the ground.

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This section of the wash had several panels and we spent a few minutes poking around, joyous exclamations of discovery as one or the other of us would find another panel. Eventually of course, we remembered the time, and that unlike our previous evening's hike, we were not currently parked in our camp site - so we headed back the way we'd come and found the truck bathed in evening sun as we returned over our cross-country route around the dam.

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Back on the Bittersprings Backcountry Byway, our evening's destination wasn't far. As we ticked away the miles, rising and falling with the undulating land, we got glimpses of what we hoped would be one of our most dramatic hikes the following morning - rocky outcroppings of alternating red and white sandstone.

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To windy conditions we pulled into what we'd decide was camp right around 7:15pm - we'd made it! Dinner and camp deployment were quick affairs, and we had them completed before the last of the light left the Muddy Mountains around us. Cloudy skies meant there wasn't much of a sunset, and windy skies buffeted the tent as we took refuge in the truck to read and download photos for an hour or so before climbing into bed.

Thankful for our earplugs, and a weather forecast that called for wind-but-no-rain, we did our best to grab some shut eye between particularly gusty moments throughout the night. Those moments - along with excitement of what the next day would hold - meant that this would be the worst night of sleep for the entire trip.

It would of course, be worth it.

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It's probably just me but none of the images are showing.

 

They all showed for me.

 

I see them all.

 

Now they are there. It seems to happen every once in a while.

The owl on the cistern must be fairly new. I don't remember it being there about 2 years ago.

Next time you come through Vegas I'll take you to a canyon with so many petroglyphs. Unfortunately it is close to town so it gets a fair amount of traffic.

 

Thanks for the offer! Always up to see some amazing rock art. (and glad the pics started working for you)

Thanks man. I use an 80D, but that's only part of the picture so to speak. I wrote up a post about photography here:

What I shoot - if you take enough photos, some are bound to be decent

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You won't regret going! Go during the week though, for smaller crowds!

 

Cool Glyphs. What appears to be a "Lizard on a leash" and the dude with bow and arrow facing goat are maybe my faves.

Those Mountain Goats tho'. Amazing shot!