McDermitt - 3rd Leg

We made it down Friday evening about dark, had dinner at the McDermitt Casino (Some pretty good fish and chips and friendly service), and headed out to the point we'd started from about 20 miles west of the state line. Got there about 9:00, found a spot for the evening a mile or two from our attack finish point, and camped overnight. Next morning we were able to drive a mile or so north to the planned finish point for the day through a foot of snow because it had frozen up overnight and we were able to drive across the top few inches of the snow. The point we picked was actually a half mile south of the fence line we wanted. Unloaded our two mini-bikes and headed east to the three corners start point. Interesting three sided monument out in the middle of nowhere. This point was established back before 18880. Most survey markers are from 1911-1922. We left the bikes and headed west. Pretty level and desert terrain for the first 10 miles or so. We started climbing a little and began crossing some really pretty canyons and small streams. Beautiful country overall and the weather was great. Sunny, but cool. Saw several herds of Antelope sprinting across our path or away from us. End of the day wasn't so fun. Last three miles or so were across snow fields of a few inches to a foot or so and soggy desert bottoms. Got muddy and wet as we slogged along expending about 3 times the effort of climbing small hills. Made it to the truck about 7PM intending to drive back to three corners and get the bikes. We made it about 2-300 yards and buried the truck in the snow. Just too soft at above freezing temps. We shoveled, jacked, hauled rocks, etc for an hour so until conceding we were not getting out easily until it froze up again. Camped for the night and got an early start at it in the morning. Used my four 2X6 planks for my bunk to put under the tires after we jacked it up clear of the deep snow. Had to do it a couple of times to get some momentum going forward until we got down the road into shallower snow. Drove the 20 miles on out to the corner and picked up the bikes and headed back into town for lunch. After lunch we picked up and headed west of McDermitt to the point we'd left off the first weekend. Since we'd gotten such a late start we planned on only 4-5 miles continuing west and thought we'd check out the next days end point. Drove all the way 2o miles west of McDermitt, met a charming couple at the end of the road at their farm near where we figure we'll have to wait a couple of months as the route climbs to nearly 8,000 feet and there's tons of snow up there. The Zimmermans have been married some 67 years and their son has the other ranch further up the valley. Nice couple - we stopped by to explain we'd be leaving a rig near their ranch and driving across it up into the BLM lands at our end point. They were all friendly and helpful with directions, suggested we camp at their place and leave our rig there - wish we had. Anyway, we had a few hours of daylight left so we drove back towards town and found a beautiful canyon that intersects the line about 4 miles west of our attack point. Left the truck, jumped on our 196cc "Hogs" and headed west to the start point. The bikes make 23 mph, 24 down hill, and they don't pull up very steep hills. We struggeled to get up jeep trail to above the cliffs we'd left off on back in January, but made it by walking beside the bike and its spinning tire while climbing the hill. We headed from milepoint 195 westward back to the truck. Beautiful day. Made it to the truck with enough daylight to be able to drive back towards town and crawl up the rocky hill to retrieve the bikes. Spending tonight in the Hotel. Figured after two nights - three days we were getting gamy. Tomorrow we complete the last leg still possible at these altititudes below about 6500 feet out to the Zimmermans and then we'll relocate over to Denio.