Blackrock Desert, NV - 2006

[keptin]

Alright guys.....I was thinking about doing a blackrock trip in a month and a half or around two months. Its better to do it now when its 60deg in the day and 25 deg at night, then in the summer when its 35 degrees at night and 120deg in the day.

....as long as the weather is good then it will be a great time....and early-mid spring is the time to do it.

So....anyone interested?? Its blackrock desert, NV....the east arm of the blackrock desert is northeast of the town of Gerlach, NV. It would be a good drive for a lot of you guys, but I swear its worth it.....and I want to start to plan now so we can make it happen.


Btw, im pretty bad at planning this stuff, so if anyone would like to take over.......feel free. When we went out we just played it by ear....but sometimes its better to plan...


....one of my ideas this time is if we go far out to the 2nd section of the desert.....but it would require everyone to have at least one 5gal jerry can of fuel......so perhaps that is asking too much.


Anyhow...the blackrock desert is AMAZING...and even though it wouldnt be any off-roading in the sense of axle articulation and what not it would be a great trip. Since Dweb/EE had thier trip its time we had ours.

Also, as a bonus we can have a pit stop at the Pyramid Lake dunes....a good hour or so worth of great fun in thick fine sand.

Some pics from the fall trip;







Pyramid Lake dunes:

[Monty]

Count me in Josh.

[roverX]

Count me in too Josh. I have 3 or 4 jerry cans if someone needs to borrow one. Let's try to nail down a date as soon as possible so I can make arrangements at work.

By the way guys...this is a great trip for stock vehicles. This trip will be about great scenery, chances for great photography, and just hanging out with fellow LRO enthusiasts.

It would be great to get around 15 - 20 trucks going. Sounds like a lot of trucks and it is if you are running rock trails but with all the open land, it will not be a hinderance.

Once we have all the details down, I will also post this on the NorCal yahoo email forum.

[keptin]

Originally Posted by roverX

By the way guys...this is a great trip for stock vehicles. This trip will be about great scenery, chances for great photography, and just hanging out with fellow LRO enthusiasts.

Exactly! Thats what I was thinking. Plus its great fun...No speed limit. My rover's record is 96 MPH on the playa......probably worse now since I cut the bumper and killed my drag coef.....though I dont know if we want to go that fast....probably keep it at a good 60mph for safety purposes.

Also....if anyone has had plans to get a good camcorder or digital camera do it before the trip....you will regret it otherwise......It just amazing to wake up and your freezing your fingers off but you look out and see the whole desert appear before you; watching the sun rize at 6AM.

Also Id lke to get many shots of us in a row at the desert.....similar to the pics I already have but this time I will use a high quality camera, vs. a camcorder, and there will be much more of us. Such as this;



To let you guys know.....gerlach, NV is around 2 hours from Reno.....so some of you guys from Norcal would be in for a long drive. I was thinking we meet at Sams Club/Walmart to gas up cheap, then head out from there.....or if we want to just make it fast we can all meet at a gas station off the highway as we did before.....just please not shell; most expensive shitty gas ever. There is a small station at gerlach (and its a SHELL!...but the only station), but it is a bit expensive and they are sometimes out of regular (for those who use it in their rovers ) At this station they carry regular, premium, and diesel fuel. There is a town before gerlach that has another Regular octane fuel only pump....a real old school place...to give you an idea, the pumps are mechanical, not digital.

Btw, Im going to try and buy some jerry cans before this trip....perhaps I will buy 4 so I can lend them to others.

[roverX]

What possible dates do you have in mind Josh? Mendo XII (Joe Lucas Not-A-Rally) is already scheduled for April 28-30.

[keptin]

Then perhaps late Feb, early March.....the weather is usually not a huge concern by then....and this winter has been very light compared with last year.

It depends on if we want to spend one night, or two.....we did one night last time and it was plenty....we sayed until around 3pm the next day....but because you guys live far away, perhaps it would be better to stay a second night so you guys could leave early the next day or something.....its your call.

Also remember, everyone would have to pack warm....real warm.....I suggest everyone have zero bags or 20 deg bags....if they dont then they should bring a good coat in case they have to sleep with the coat on in the bag. It will probably be around 50-65 deg in the daytime on the playa, and around 20-30 deg at night time. To help with wind chill we would park in a circle formation with the tents in the center......hehe....kinda like a wagon train.

*edit* Keep in mind, the later we plan it, the warmer it will be......to give you an idea right now in gerlach its 37 deg in the daytime and 24 deg at night......way back in September, it was 85 deg in the daytime, and 26 at night on the playa....it holds in no heat at all. *edit*

Anyhow, these are the weekends I had in mind;

Feb 20-22
Feb 24-26
Mar 3-5
Mar 10-12
Mar 17-19
Mar 24-26

[roverX]

Originally Posted by keptin

Feb 20-22
Feb 24-26
Mar 3-5
Mar 10-12
Mar 17-19
Mar 24-26

March 17 - 19 works best for me but I can adjust if another weekend works best for others.

[keptin]

That is fine with me....its also late enough that the daytime temperature might pickup a bit....

..I edited the post above, make sure you guys catch that.....it seems as though the daytime temp is the only thing that is really effected by the date....and in the daytime we will be in our cars, so it wont matter a whole deal.

If we do a two nighter we can head half way out in the desert, camp first night, then head the second half deep into the desert, camp, then head back.....though I fear that might require each person to have two jerry cans.

For gas last time;

I filled up all the way at Sams Club, then I filled up again from around a 3/4ths tank at gerlach, then after one night and a whole next days of driving I filled up again at gerlach, from around a 1/4...maype 1/5.


So....one night or two? Or should we wait for more people before we decide?

[roverX]

Originally Posted by keptin

That is fine with me....its also late enough that the daytime temperature might pickup a bit....

..I edited the post above, make sure you guys catch that.....it seems as though the daytime temp is the only thing that is really effected by the date....and in the daytime we will be in our cars, so it wont matter a whole deal.

If we do a two nighter we can head half way out in the desert, camp first night, then head the second half deep into the desert, camp, then head back.....though I fear that might require each person to have two jerry cans.

For gas last time;

I filled up all the way at Sams Club, then I filled up again from around a 3/4ths tank at gerlach, then after one night and a whole next days of driving I filled up again at gerlach, from around a 1/4...maype 1/5.


So....one night or two? Or should we wait for more people before we decide?

My vote is for two nights. One night seems like a whole lot of driving. But I am open to either. We might just have to do one night if people can't get a Friday off.

[keptin]

or they could meet us.....we could always send two people out to meet them and bring them back or something.

I would much rather do two nights because then we can limit the driving and lengthen the whole "experience"....heh. Be able to soak it in more.

That would mean that everyone would be required to bring at least one 5gal jerry can of fuel, perhaps even two.

If people need to, they can always buy the cheap $12 5gal plastic cans at walmart.....so I dont think it will be a problem.

Btw, do you know where I can buy some jerry cans?? www.cheaperthandirt.com doesnt sell them anymore I think....I couldnt find them on thier site.


Also I forgot another bonus. There are hotsprings out at blackrock, my teacher went recently and he showed my friend (JP-the one with the Jeep) where they are...so hey, not just the blackrock desert, but sand dunes, and hotsprings! The only thing to keep in mind is that the sand dunes are not for vehicles that dont have good tires....you might bog down...it is soft deep in some places....need to make sure a couple people have winches.



Hot springs (not my pics);







Here is a site with pictures of the various hotsprings; http://www.stanwhite.com/blackrock.html


.

[Bene]

Josh, I just watched your compilation vid, and its wanting me to go.

I have a week of paid vacation sitting in my lap and was thinking of doing a trip somewhere around the Sierras.

if you guys want to set something up, pu me on the list. I have a couple of friends i could pickup along the way, I dont mind the drive.

[keptin]

Hey cool, the more the merrier! If they have rovers then thats even better! It seems as though March 17-19 would be good....I really want to call down there and ask someone if the weather is usually good by then....or if the playa is hard enough.

It would be terrible for everyone to make all these plans and then to get rained out......unfortunatly, rain could = death on the playa because enough of it turns the surface to quicksand.

...hehe...that is quite unfortunate.

[roverX]

Originally Posted by Bene

Josh, I just watched your compilation vid, and its wanting me to go.

I have a week of paid vacation sitting in my lap and was thinking of doing a trip somewhere around the Sierras.

if you guys want to set something up, pu me on the list. I have a couple of friends i could pickup along the way, I dont mind the drive.

Bene - I live in Modesto so we could meet up along the way.

[WineryRover]

Sounds like a blast! So is March 17-19 the plan? I will start to try to clear the time. The wifey has a digital SLR camera with lots of lenses that I could grab, we should be able to get some good shots with it.

Maybe we could get GriffSC to come as well, I know Santa Cruz is far but it would be good to get another D90 to go.....

Roxerx, I could meet up with you and others somewhere around hwy 80 in Fairfield, if you would be coming up that way.

[keptin]

Hey great....this could be a really cool trip...I just have no way of making sure the weather will be good.....sadly if it is raining hard or very recent to that date we might not be able to go because the playa wont be dry.

Anyone have any suggestions?? My jeep friend, JP Castel, has made me aware of this issue and how it might still be in the winter months. Its really not too got right now....I wonder if it would clear up by march?? The desert doesnt get much precipitation during the summer, if any....but during the winter it gets plenty.

Its kinda funny, the locals have an old story to tell about some land rover rep guys going out there in the winter with rovers.....saying that they can handle it. They got pretty far in but then one bogged down, and the other bogged down winching the first one out. Short story; they had to airlift the rovers out before they became one with the playa.

Hour-by-Hour Forecast for
Gerlach, NV

On The Spot Weather
Table Display Graph Display
Wed, January 18
Time Condition Feels
Like Chance
Precip Dew
Point Humid. Wind
2pm
Rain / Snow Showers
34°F
25°F 40% 32°F 79% From WSW 14 mph
3pm
Rain / Snow Showers
34°F
26°F 40% 32°F 79% From WSW 10 mph
Evening Commute See Pollen Hot Spots
4pm
Rain / Snow Showers
35°F
31°F 30% 30°F 76% From WSW 5 mph
Sunset 4:58 pm Check Local Pollen Forecast
5pm
Rain / Snow Showers
34°F
29°F 30% 30°F 79% From WSW 5 mph
6pm
Few Snow Showers
33°F
29°F 30% 30°F 82% From