[Vegas_Nick]

I am thinking about the last week of April/first week of may or somewhere in that time frame about heading up to Goldfield, then back down to Bodie Rd and stopping in Aurora, then on across to Bodie. It may have a one overnight camping stop in there somewhere and will be stopping along the way for photos. That is the main point in the trip is to gather some really good landscape and ghost town photos and enjoy the back roads. This would be my first long "expedition" as I guess you could call it.

Anyone interested in doing something like that? I can offer more of a firm date as I see how my work schedule pans out by then.

Nick

 

[Vegas_Nick]

Finally adding some more details as we go along. So far here is the plan:

The route will take us from Vegas to Rhyolite, then Scotty's Junction. Stopping and the abandoned airfield in Armagosa for a few photos.
Scotty's Junction and continue to Goldfield, where I am working with the Historical Society to gain access to the Hotel and High School then up to

Tonopah

Coaldale (an abandoned modern era ghost town)

Mina/Sodaville

Loop through Candlearia and Belleville (offroad trips)

An optional short 6 mile excursion in the desert to Silver **** then Hawthorne where we will camp for the first night.

Then we'll hit the trail for the 60 mile trip through to Aurora, Fletcher and Bodie.

From Bodie, I want to go down through the Mono Lake area and to Big Pine, then cut back East on 168 to 266 and then to Lida and on to Gold Point. we'll more than likely camp in Gold Point or nearby Stateline or Oriental (Old Camp)

From the Gold Point area, we'll be taking trails across the mountains to the Rattlesnake Mine are and end up at Bonnie Claire. That will be on 267 which will take us back to Scotty's Junction and the 95 South back to Vegas.

We're making all the preps now including the addition of on board air, and an external 12gallon fuel tank. My daughter and my 7 year old grand daughter are tagging along with me. So far the route measures out at a littleover 800 miles. I think our biggest expense is obviously going to be gas!:lol:

At any rate, we'll be leaving Vegas before sunup on June the 11th should anyone want to follow along.

Nick

 

[H1TSS]

I did a similar trip back when I lived there. For a couple of bucks, that will give the family hours of fun exploring, I recommend a trip to the book store. It's called "Where to find Gold and Gems in Nevada" (Even has several excellent day trip from LV locations listed). If you want to PM me an address I'd be glad to send you mine, I'm looking at it now and the memories flood back, I miss Vegas...

 

[Vegas_Nick]

That would be awesome! Thanks!
Yeah, I love it here. Not orginally from the area but married a native and this will forever be home no matter where we may go.

I'll be sure to post up plenty of pics when we get done. I've even bought a 5 pack of TMAX400 B&W film to take along.

 

[Vegas_Nick]

Final tweaks to the plan:

Here is the final layout we came up with:
Leaving JUNE 10 at about 0400. Heading straight to Goldfield. We'll spend some time there and hope to gain access to the hotel by then. From Goldfield we're headed up to Silver Peak then Blair. We'll head out from there to stop for a bit it Coaldale. From Coaldale we'll go to Candelaria and Belleville and off to Mina and Sodaville. We'll camp for the night either in Hawthorne or somewhere along Lucky Boy Pass. (not sure just yet)

The next day we'll head across to see Aurora and Fletcher and down to Bodie. After we're done at Bodie, we're headed south to Big Pine to get 168 back over to Nevada and on to 266 to Lida and then on to Gold Point. Herb is going to be out of town but has already made arrangements with one of the town keepers for us to stop in and say hello. We're planning on camping at Stateline if the cabin is empty. If not, we may still stay in the tent there.

That next morning we're headed out to see the Hardluck Mine castle and Rattlesnake mines and then to Belleville. After Belleville, it's back over to 95 and back home.

As far as offorad, it will be on and off. I'd estimate 100 or more offroad miles on the trip. We'll be dodging on and off road a lot after leaving Goldfield. 3 days total, 2 nights camping. Approximate 800 miles total.


Finally got the external fuel tank, the new shotgun, and some new camping gear this past week. Still shopping for the perfect camp stove/grill since my daughter wants to cook steak in the trail!

 

[Vegas_Nick]

Built a Facebook page to track progress of the trip:

Ghost town tour 2011 | Facebook

 

[treetopco]

I might be interested. I'm not terribly familiar with most of the areas you mention, but sure sounds fun. What level of challenge would you say the off road is, my FJ is mostly stock.

 

[Vegas_Nick]

I'd say as ratings go, most of the trails would be a 2. Stock friendly by all means. Maybe some slow areas due to larger rocks on the trails heading into Bodie, but other than that, not bad at all.

 

[Vegas_Nick]

Under 30 days to go. Anyone interested in following along, drop me a PM so we can meet up and talk about the run.

Date is JUNE 10! Not July. My bad!