Trail Runs in Vegas-Early August (10th &13th)

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:32 pm

I might get new tires by then so if you want I can sell you my stock tires for 10 bucks each! hahaha Then youy can just drive you car. That will be my gas for the run

mrkake · **Posted:** Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:47 pm

TXBOY wrote:

Ummmmm..... So I'm the only freak I know that loves to swoon over my KJ in VEGAS! I'm really hoping to get out there with ya'll! (TEXAN)
Only problem for me right now.... Stock and BALD! So maybe one of you buds has a navigator seat available...... I'll trade for a free night stay at my Hotel!
Reply for details!

You should come out and join us! The trail is basically a graded dirt road. We will be looking for some side trails to play on, but that would be strictly optional.

In my experience, there are many levels of baldness when you are talking about tire tread. :wink:

If you are showing the cords, you may want to think twice about taking it off road, but if you just don't have tons of tread you should be fine.

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:58 pm

ok i have been gone 4 a while due to the Military. so where is the trail at?

Inc · **Posted:** Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:10 pm

Woo Hoo! Another one! Hope you can make it. PM sent too! :wink:

So where do we stand now anyway?

August 10th-Potato Ridge @ 9:00 am:
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Xodius
5. Doug (50% but hopeful)

August 13th-Wheeler Pass or Bitter Springs @ 9:00 am:
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake (80% sure right now)
4. Doug (50% but hopeful)
5. Xodius (50% but hopeful)

Hopefully we'll have TXBOY, KJ TAZ, and now 0311_DoC join us as well. You guys add your name where appropriate if you can make it:D

All the guys with percentages by your names, do you know if you can or can't make it yet... or is it too soon still?

mrkake · **Posted:** Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:32 am

I'm down for both. I got the days locked up last night. Here's how it looks right now:

August 10th-Potato Ridge @ 9:00 am: (meet at the gas station where highway 160 and Blue Diamond split (mrkake can give directions if needed).
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Xodius
5. Doug (50% but hopeful)

August 13th-Wheeler Pass or Bitter Springs @ 9:00 am: (Trail and meeting place TBD)
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Doug (50% but hopeful)
5. Xodius (50% but hopeful)

I was already to run Bitter Springs this morning and it started raining :cry:

. If I had my new tires mounted I would have gone anyway but worn out KO's + wet sand and rocks = No Bueno :evil:

mrkake · **Posted:** Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:14 am

Okay, so I ran the Bitter Springs Trail today. I took a bunch of pics but I haven't tagged them yet. If you want to look at them anyway they are on my PhotoBucket site here: http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p192/mrkake/Bitter%20Springs%20Trail/.

I arrived at the trail head at almost exactly noon and arrived at the paved road headed towards Lake Mead just before 4:00. The first part of the trail is graded dirt road and then it turns to single track for the rest of the way. It is supposed to be 28 miles long, but the route that I took was closer to 40. There are numerous side trails that beg to be explored and this is an area that I will be spending more time in for sure. I lost the trail about 2/3 in. It follows a bunch of washes and dry river beds and the markers disappear. There is supposed to be an old borax mine that still has some foundations, cisterns and tunnels but I couldn't find it. I even back tracked when I reached Bitter Springs but couldn't see where I went astray. I will have to consult a USGS map and see if I can get some GPS coordinates next time. Anyway, this is a much longer run than the Rocky Gap trail but there are some pretty cool rock formations along the way, the gravel river bottoms are fun to play in and it looks like there are a few side trails that might offer some challenges. Overall it was a very easy ride. I don't know how well stock tires would do in the loose gravel. It's over a foot deep in some places. I aired down to 25 psi just to soften the ride and it definitely helped in the loose stuff. If we stop to play along the way we could easily spend more than 6 hours on the trail. Then it's about 40 miles back to the edge of town. You drive through Lake Mead National Park for the first 30 miles and it is pretty cool if you are into unique geological formations (I am). I hope this helps the group decide whether to do this one or Wheeler Pass. I know its not a great write up, so if you have questions post up.

Inc · **Posted:** Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:22 am

Cool pics. I love those rock formations.

So what does everyone want to do? Bitter Springs or Wheeler Pass? I honestly don't care, either way will be fun. It looks like from the pics, Wheeler Pass offers a bit more of a challenge in that there are some pretty good obstacles that are an option to take and Bitter Springs offers some really cool landscape. So, which to choose?

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:51 am

I have done wheelers pass and it was pretty cool. I deff like Rock gap better. So my vote will go to bitter springs because its longer and I have never been before. Put me down for bitter.

Xodius · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:54 pm

Just got back to town last night....those pics look pretty cool. By any chance did you get some GPS cords on the way out there? I am curious if there are some caches out that way.

I am headed into work tomorrow

but I will request the second trail day off. I will keep you posted. Not sure what is planned thus far at my office. Still could be a 50/50 chance.

Inc · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:59 pm

So it sounds to me like Bitter is the consensus.

August 10th-Potato Ridge @ 9:00 am: (meet at the gas station where highway 160 and Blue Diamond split (mrkake can give directions if needed).
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Xodius
5. Doug (50% but hopeful)

August 13th-Bitter Springs @ 9:00 am: (Trail and meeting place TBD)
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Doug (50% but hopeful)
5. Xodius (50% but hopeful)

So now we need to figure out where we want to meet before the Bitter Springs run. I have zero ideas. I am not entirely sure where it is to be honest

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:04 pm

Well your gonig to take the 15 towards Utah and there is a firework store / gas station on the turn off we have to take to get there. I would think that would be nice so we can stop get some drinks and gas if need be and its RIGHT off the hwy. So you cant miss it. Then from there you take the hwy towards valley of fire and I guess you vear off onto the dirt road and the fun begins.

mrkake · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:57 pm

Yup, you have to drive right by the gas station/store to get to the trail head. It is located just off exit 75 on I-15. It's the perfect place to meet. The trail starts 2 miles away from there. Since I am about as far away from there as you can get and still be in Clark County (added to the fact that I am usually still in bed at 9am

) would anyone be opposed to pushing the meet time back to 10am? It's going to be an all day ride anyway. . . so . . .?

Xodius - I had my GPS in trail mode, but I erased the trail at the end because I knew I missed a turn somewhere. Anyway, if you have (or want to install) Google Earth (or if your GPS unit can read kml files) here is a link to the trail that a guy posted.

http://dirtopia.com/w/images/4/41/USA_Nevada_Clark_BitterSprings.kml

If you look at the trail were there is a sharp left turn (lat 36°20'8.53"N, long 114°39'13.37"W) this is were I strayed. I stayed to the right following the dry river bed and eventually caught the trail again at 36°16'57.77"N, 114°31'33.02"W. So if you look at it in Google Earth you can see that I spent about 5 miles or more in the sandy river bottom instead of the hills :evil:

.

Inc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:06 am

10 is not a problem for me. We won't be staying really close to this trail either so the little later start won't hurt. Like you said its pretty much an all day run.

So, everything sounds perfect. 10 am at the gas station/store.

Unless anyone has issues with this setup.

August 10th-Potato Ridge @ 9:00 am: (meet @ gas station where highway 160 and Blue Diamond split (mrkake can give directions if needed).
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Xodius
5. Doug (50% but hopeful)

August 13th-Bitter Springs @ 10:00 am: (meet @ gas station off exit 75 on I-15 headed North)
1. Incubusmike
2. PoorMtnKid
3. Mrkake
4. Doug (50% but hopeful)
5. Xodius (50% but hopeful)

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:50 pm

10 sounds good to me. I will get some breakfest before I head out!

Xodius · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:20 am

So, here I am tonight downloading geocache cords for tomorrow morning and I realize I have loaded nearly all the ones that we would want to do in the area for tomorrow so I start looking over near Lovell canyon...well, I found a ton over there. that is until I realized I was on the trail head just past Lovell, lmao. However, I did locate around 10 that are near the trail we will be on so all is well

Can't wait. I am going to seriously need a break from work. Found out yesterday that my bosses dog which I take care of more often then not has cancer. He is going through Chemo, yes a dog going through chemo, and is hanging in there but as we all know that can quickly change. As for the Weds run, it is looking more and more like I will not be able to go. Due to this, this is one of the days that they are thinking of having a treatment. However if that changes I will be there. So keep me on the list

<----brain is mush now so I will log. See you all very soon, muuuuaaaahhhhhh

Xodius · **Posted:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:53 pm

DOH! Got stuck twice yesterday. First time easy to get out of, got hung up on a rock that wanted my rear axle. The second loose gravel swallowed one rim and I was teeter tootering on 2 wheels. Made for an interesting afternoon.

Before swallowing.

Then balancing...

At the time of the pic the jeep settled on the drivers side. However, it was surprisingly easy to rock it back and forth, lol. Took 3 hours to get out of this one. Started with 6 liters of water in the morning and when we got free we were down to .5. So it was a little...unnerving.

Inc · **Posted:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:30 pm

Dude, your KJ looks awesome. I think these are the 1st pics I've seen with the new tires.

So where were you when all this fun took place?

Xodius · **Posted:** Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:58 pm

Up near Mount Charleston. One was on trail road 530A which runs in a NW direction the other runs more W-NW. They might actually be the same trail just 2 different directions.

They might be the first pics I have posted actually. I do love they way it looks, much better than stock that is for sure. Perhaps some Moabs in the future along with a few other goodies to help in case of issues like this again, lol.

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:05 pm

So is everyone ready? Only 5 days until the first trail run!

Xodius, do you have any more info on whether you can run on Wed., and what happened to Doug? Can you run either day Doug? What about KJ Taz too, he was in the move process I think but not sure where he is and if he can make either run. Then there is TXBoy, 311_DoC and cfreelv711. Not sure where they are either.

PoorMtnKid · **Posted:** Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:23 pm

So Ready! Time to test the lift

Trail Runs in Vegas-Early August (10th &13th)

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