Sheldon WR 7th Leg, Brrrrrrrrrrr

Sorry - no pictures. I lost my media card from my camera before I could download pics from this trip. I may be able to post some later from previous trips.

Well, we planned and coordinated a 5 day period starting on a Friday thru Tue with the intent of knocking out at least 50-60 miles of the border mostly West of Sheldon Wildlife reserve. We had hoped to get to the CA/OR/NV corner knowing that this was likely the last oppoortunity we'd get till next fall. I reconfigured a small utility trailer I have to carry the mini-bikes so we would not have to constantly load and unload into the camper as we'd done the last time out. Worked out pretty well and we also had room for some of our supplies and pioneering gear in the trailer. We got over early enough on Friday that we dropped the trailer and headed out to knock out about 12 miles along a high plateau called "Big Springs Table", east of Greaser Lake, north of the Sheldon refuge. Weather was threatening, but we were hopeful. Turns out we shouldn't have been optomistic as mother nature did it to us again. We finished the 12 miles in the dark with the snow blowing in our faces as temparatures dropped and bad weather moved in. We loaded up and quickly headed back the 20 or so miles across the high desert on two track dirt roads now covered with 3-4 inches of fresh snow in the dark and nearly whiteout conditions to get back to Hwy 140 at the border crossing point. Timing was critical as we had to cross several alkali lake beds that are impassable when they become wet. Fortunately, it was cold enough and the snow new enough that the moisture had not soaked in and softened the "road" and so we didn't have too much of a challenge. Once we hit the highway, with 6 inches or so of fresh and unplowed snow, we decided to head west and drop down into the Warner Valley, find a place to sleep, and see what the morning would offer us. We went to Fisher Hot Springs at the NE corner of Crump Lake about 11-12 miles off the highway from Adel. Dwane had never been there, so I figured worse case we'd at least get to see the hot springs and take a quick soak, which I did in the dark and blowing snow. Fisher is near an old abandoned homestead and grave site overlooking the low valley. The springs consists of two small creeks separated by 50 meters coming out of the hillside at 123 degrees and a hundred plus gallons a minute each. The creeks combine and flow out into the desert floor towards the lake a mile distant although some of it is piped out to a cattle trough a few hundred meters from the lake shore. The area is a sensitive one and no longer signed by BLM due to vandalism of the numerous petroglyphs on the large boulders which dominate the landscape at the eastern edge of the valley floor. These indian artifacts are thousands of years old and despite the remote location are threatened by the careless acts of folks traveling thru. In the morning we arose, ate something accessible and considered our lot. There was snow on the ground even at this altititude, perhaps 1500 ft below he track of our planned hiking. It was obvious we'd have at least 30-40 miles of slogging thru 3-4 inches of wet snow for the next 2-3 days, something neither of us considered acceptable, so we came up with a plan B and decided the hiking was not to be. We unloaded the bikes and headed off to look at the glass house, which I'd discovered about 7-8 years ago on a small desert hill down the valley and north of Crump Lake. It was about 5 miles distant. The road leads across a few fence lines and desert pastures passing two additional abandoned homesites which we explored. The glass house, as we call it in my family, was built on a small hill in the narrow part of the valley between Crump and Hart Lakes by somebody with a passion for metal art. The entire house is set in a 5 foot deep rock cut about 20 feet wide running north-south across the top of the hill with views of the whole valley and Hart Mtn's west escarpment. The structure is made with 2 inch angle iron and plexiglass panels. It's obvious someone occaisionally uses it - this time I could see the bed had been made and recently used. I've often meant to leave a note to whoever owns it and keeps it locked up asking them to post an explanation for their creation on the inside of the wall as it is certainly a curousity. I don't think there is a well on site, but there is a small solar cell system and batteries with propane tanks. The inside is built with an open dining/entry area, a bedroom area, a bath and toliet all around a central island wall with a large steel fireplace and chimney. The driveway is well graveled up the hill a 1/4 mile to the house from the dirt roads, 15 miles in either direction to get there, and the sides of the cut in the hilltop are landscaped with rock and cemet walls. A huge deck of probably 50 by 75 feet extends from the poured cement patio to the SE. I'm thinking the builder must have enjoyed the stars, or envisioned having star viewing nights. There is metal art around the whole place and integrated into the structure. He/she used probably a hundred feet of 10 inch channel iron inverted with "ribbons" of 2-3 inch flat iron welded on edge to the surface to border the approach from the parking area. The drive/walkway is wired with small led type lights on it. I'd love to know what they were thinking. After poking around there for a few we went on north driving down the two track trail and tried to find the fording point at the north end of this rise where it's possible to cross the stream connecting the two lakes and head out west to catch the Adel-Plush highway by crossing a couple of ranches. We bopped around out through the tule weeds, but didn't find a point shallow enough we were willing to get wet and muddy while crossing. Had a few interesting moments crossing through the reeds and wet marshlands that dominate along the low creek lands. We headed back to the hot springs and took a different track across the pasture and field areas instead of tracking along the edge of the valley and homesites. I wanted to see if it was possible to get near the Crump Lake water's edge, so we explored. What a kick. Other than throwing my chain off twice we had fun blasting through tall stands of dried tule reeds while trying to get close to the lake's edge without ending up in the large muddy flats. Found a point from which I'm determined to try and get my boat into the water in the future and see if there is Crappy in the lake. The only warm water fishing I've ever done was on one of these Warner valley lakes - Campbell, now dried nearly up, a few years back. Black Crappy are as good tasting as bass and a kick to catch if you can find them. I'm guessing since Crump is the first of the lakes it might yield a few, but I've never seen anyone on it. We made it back to the truck, loaded up and headed to Lakeview for food and fuel. Forgot to mention that we had a surprise in the morning when we discovered that three of the sides on the trailer had broken loose and the entire load of mini-bikes, boxes and gear had shifted off center when we'd driven the 40 miles or so the night before. Basically, one bolt kept the whole load from coming loose and being deposited in the middle of the road and leaving us with an empty, small flatbed trailer. We'd likely never have know it happened since the trailer isn't visible from inside the truck while driving. We hit Subway and gassed up in Lakeview then headed north to Christmas Valley. I'd decided to show Dwane "Crack in the Ground", a interesting geologic feature about 8 miles west of the small desert community of Christmas Valley. We drove out to the sight and stayed the night in the trailhead parking area and got up for an early start on exploring the "Crack". This was Dwane's first look at the feature. It's on BLM managed property and consists of a small rift of 6 to 15 feet wide varying from the surface to over 60 feet deep running for a distance of about a mile through a volcanic rock flow. The bottom of the crack is sandy, but requires an occaisional clamboring over boulders or squeezing thru crevaces to traverse the length of it. It's a very cool floor perhaps 20 degrees below the above ground temperature and there are places where it's obvious the natives used to camp and make their fires in its sheltered corners. We explored a while, then drove up over Gren Mtn stopping at the lookout to take some breathtaking pictures before heading back north and east into the Christmas Valley. Neither of us had ever seen the Valley's Sand Dunes and we drove the 10 miles or so over to the recreation area, also managed by BLM. What an awesome place. Large desert dunes with acres of ATV playground. We were not optomistic they could navigate the soft sands, but we unloaded the mini-bikes and at least figured we'd give it a try - what a blast. We were surprised to find that they'd climb even the tallest of the dunes if we avoided the softest areas and hit it flat out. Road around, almost blasted up and over a sand cliff at one point, and headed back to the truck to load up late in the afternoon. Made it back to Crewswell fairly early in the afternoon, so Dwane headed back to Shelton. So much for our hiking till probably Sept. Dwane isn't likely to get any more time off till the fall. We're hoping our Mom, she's taken a fervent interest in our project out of her own sense of jealousy over our explorations, will be able to join us as support for the next hundred or so miles. Riding the mini-bikes is great, but the shuttling eats up so much of the daylight we'd rather be dropped off or picked up by a support vehicle. We'll see.