Bernice Canyon, Nevada, 11 Feb 06

[RockyRon]

King Solomon Mine, NV, 11 February 2006

Met and underway at about 9:20 from Harmon Junction just east of Fallon, NV. The group included; Rocky (Trail Boss) - LR Discovery; Trish – Jeep Rubicon, Tom – Jeep Cherokee, Brian and Nancy – LR Freelander, Mike and Ida – Kia Sportage, Bryan and Makita – Jeep CJ. We’re headed east across the Eight Mile and Four Mile flats passing Sand Mountain, up and over the Sand Springs Mountains then passed Labou Flats and finally turning north up 221 near Chalk Mountain and up the Dixie Valley.

At about 10:45 we turn onto dirt and start across the abandoned ranch town of Dixie Valley. The town was bought up by the US Navy, in the sixties I think, and is now an extension of the bombing range to the south. Instead of staying on Settlement Road to cross the valley from the west to east sides, I was experimenting with some smaller two-tracks. We stopped for a few minutes to play on an old anti-aircraft artillery tank and then headed east again. Arrived at an intersection with a sign “Tank Trail” going north and a locked gate going east across some dunes. Mike got a bit panicky, suggesting that the dudes in uniforms and guns might not be too happy to find us here. So I turned around and took the suggested route via Settlement Road.

As we continued north east along the foot of the Clan Alpine Mountains, we decided to turn off at Dyer Flat Well and explore six miles up an un-named canyon, just north of Deer Lodge Canyon that showed a spot named Lofthouse Mine on the topo. As we got to the top of the alluvial fan at the mouth of the canyon we spotted a herd of about thirty wild horses coming out of the arroyo. We didn’t get any good photos of them as the stayed about ¼ mile ahead of us heading south. We stopped for a few minutes at an old shack at the rim of the arroyo and then headed on. As we neared the head of the canyon, I missed a hidden fork in the trail and we continued about another ¼ mile to the end of the road at a second abandoned cabin.

We turned around, backtracked to the fork, and headed up a zigzagging shelf road and finally arrived at the Lofthouse Mine at about 12:00. Here we decided to take a lunch and look-around break. The mine is all surface workings in the face of a cliff. It appears that they one day just stopped in the middle the job. There are several working faces full of drilled blast holes that were never blasted. After lunch we headed back down the canyon towards the valley and great vistas of the Humboldt Salt Marsh with reflections of the mouth of White Rock Canyon opposite. From the canyon mouth it was north east again past Bob Canyon and finally the entrance to Bernice Canyon.

Bernice Canyon became fairly rugged almost immediately. Bernice Creek and some of the side tributaries have been chopping up the trail pretty well. In fact, a couple of the creeks cut banks were exactly the width and depth to hang up a Discovery. I would carefully drop the front end into the wash, start across and then just as the front wheels were about to pull up the far bank, the rear bumper would settle onto the rear bank. Then as I powered out of the hole the back bumper would flex, mash its self, pop off the rear quarter trim and spit out the tail lamp assemblies. I eventually just removed both bumper lamp assemblies for the day to prevent destroying them. It seems as if the Disco was the only rig of the six with exactly the wrong wheelbase to overall length ratio. Eventually, we arrived at the mines.

The King Solomon and Antimony King Mines are situated on opposite sides of the Canyon from each other. None of the tunnels on the King Solomon side looked inviting at all. The Antimony King did have some tunnels that were reasonably safe looking. Most of us entered a short tunnel that meandered into the cliff face. In fact, Mike went all the way through and came out a different adit about 100 feet away. Eventually, we headed up canyon again.

After another two miles, we came to an un-named mine just below the Marguerite Mine #2 where the road seemed impassable. After a bit of looking around, Mike found a crossing, and on we went, eventually arriving two miles later at the end of the trail. We were at a very nicely preserved cabin. We’re at about 5700 feet at the point on the topo that shows the end of the Bernice Canyon Trail. The topo also shows a couple of roads that head south towards the Blue Eagle Mine. We didn’t go there as it was already after 3:00 and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover getting out of the canyon back to Dixie Valley, and I’m not too keen on some of the creek crossings in the dark.

Heading back was going pretty well until the last creek crossing just before the King Solomon. Here Mike had some problems getting the Kia through. Evidently the Kia wound up with both bumpers against the two opposing cut-banks. He just kept bashing back and forth until he cut a ramp. Finally at the very last obstacle, a narrow shelf with the creek to the left and a sharp rock formation to the right, I goofed! I went about an inch or two too far right and my right front tire exploded!

It took the gang working together about ten minutes to get the spare mounted up front and we were on our way again. [On Monday, I replaced the Michelins with a set of BFG Rugged Trail TA 265/75-16 load range E. I had planned on the TA/KOs but comparing the two, it looked like a better choice – Time will tell.] At about 5:00 we were back out in the valley. We aired back up. Now my old trusty $25 air compressor died just as I had topped up the fourth tire.

The rest of the trek was in the dark. We arrived back in Fallon at about 7:00 after about 198 miles.

Some of Brian’s photos here:

http://www.pbase.com/brhunt/king_solomon

Also ripped off the old bumper today and fabbed up a cheap and simple Ron version - Photos soon.