Thursday June 12, 2014 McDonalds Ranch Camp NV.
Posted at Owyhee, NV. at the computer lab building.
I’ve posted four more days of adventures, so those who want to read in sequence, go to the bottom of this page and click on older posts. There are two posts per page, reading from the bottom post up to stay in sequence.
I’m headed south from here likely over to somewhere around Maggie’s summit, just below Mountain City, NV.
Next posts should be in Winnemucca, maybe around Sunday or Monday?
Exploring the high country
The wind was already blowing this morning when I got up. I took my time, but eventually got on down the main dirt road. I didn’t have to go far on the main road as I planned to turn right onto a road that went up to the high hills headed to McDonalds Creek. I knew the wind would be stronger up there, but maybe I could find a camp in the trees or some protected area?
Nice road up
The road up was single lane, but not too bad. I putted along in low range, low gear most of the way taking my time enjoying the scenery.
One of my views traveling up the road in my van.
Checking out future camp sites
I stopped here to check out this camp site for some later date? It looked ok. There aren’t too many camp spots up in this area. This was in the Taylor Creek area on the way up.
One of the places I stopped to check the maps. Good thing I have a GPS on a laptop or I’d really be lost up here as there are roads, but not many signs.
Getting higher
I’m starting to get up into the high hills where the flowers are blooming.
I’m up in the high country now, that’s the road I’ll take down there to the left. I think that might be Enright hill?
Scenic
Traveling along, I came to this spot where I could see this road headed up there to the top, maybe I could find a camp site down there in the valleys?
Up to the high country
I passed one camp spot that I thought I’d come back to, if I didn’t find something else, so I headed up a road that started heading to the top country.
This is that road and my view as I traveled along in my trusty van.
I did some exploring too
I passed this old shed on the way. There is a creek I’m about to cross in front of the van.
Time to camp
Eventually, I decided the road wasn’t going the way I wanted to go, so I turned around and went back to the camp area I saw on the way in and set up camp. It was a nice area, with a little wind protection, but not much as the wind was blowing up here in the hill tops. I had to to puts rocks under the tires to get things level.
Decided on an evening van cruise
I walked around the camp area a bit and had a nap and after a few hours decided to go on an evening van cruise up the road to check out the McDonald Creek Area. This area was just a few miles up the road and maybe I’d find a better camp site?
The road was nice, as it was more of a main road.
McDonald Ranch
I was thinking this must be the McDonald Ranch as I approached it and maybe it would make a good camp site for the night.
I stopped to check it out, then continued on down along the McDonald’s Creek until the road left the creek, where there was another camp site, but not as good as the ranch site, so I turned around and drove back to the old ranch area.
Water in the creek
I stopped and looked at the creek where the road crossed it below the ranch. It was flowing nicely and looked rather lush.
Tonight’s camp
I pulled into the old ranch area and orientated my van so the sun wouldn’t shine through the windows in the morning and warm me up too early.
I walked around the ranch area a bit. This shed is put together with some rather old construction methods, and seems to have held up over time very well.
That was a nice day cruising around and exploring up here in the hills. I haven’t seen a single person all day.
Tomorrow, I plan to continue heading on south through some more high country. I’d like to spend one more night up in these parts before heading back over to the Duck Valley Reservation where I might get my kayak in the water.