I'm not sure "on Earth" is really true, and there isn't really a hill, anymore, but we'll get to that in a moment. Butte was by far the largest city - or town, if you ask @mrs.turbodb - that we'd pass through on the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route (MTBDR). Being the hub between Stage 2 and Stage 3 was nice, as it meant that anyone who had run into trouble on the first couple of stages could pop into a local auto parts store or shop to get those issues addressed, before tackling the final six stages. And the three…
31 CommentsTag: gold mine
Virginia City - a self-described ghost town; full of living people. After surviving the sloppy descent into Virginia City, we wasted no time in fueling up and getting back on the road. We'd covered significantly less ground than we'd planned to on the first day of the Montana Backcountry Discovery Route (MTBDR), and @mrs.turbodb had informed me that we would need to cover 200 miles per day from here on out if we were going to complete the route in the time we'd allotted. That's a tall order - even for us - but we hoped that the long mid-summer…
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Energized after our morning climb up Striped Butte, we'd pretty much wrapped up everything I'd planned for our three days in Butte Valley. Still, a big part of a visit to this Shangri-La is the 4wd route through Mengel Pass and Goler Wash - both of which had been heavily impacted by storms in late 2025 - so exiting out to Panamint Valley would give us a chance to check out the road conditions as well as a couple other attractions that I was curious about along the way. Goodbye, Striped Butte, you were as mesmerizing as always! Making it…
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I was so excited to be camped in my favorite spot in all of Death Valley National Park - with an amazing view of Striped Butte - that I was ready to go even before our alarm went off in the morning. Is it time yet? Knowing that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, I wiggled my way out of bed and down the ladder to grab my phone and a battery pack that I could use to set up a timelapse of sunrise in this special place. Good morning, Striped Butte. Like the feeling of relief that…
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We were parked on the alluvial fan of Warm Springs Canyon, which is a fancy way of saying we'd voluntarily set up camp at the mouth of a wind tunnel. A tunnel that - not long after we got settled in bed - was, predictably, performing flawlessly. Luckily, we'd oriented the tent in such a way that we were in no danger of it folding up with us inside, so after closing the door flap - to prevent direct hits from the oncoming blasts - we were rocked to sleep through the remainder of the night. We'd both wish we'd…
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After a fun morning finding an abandoned tractor high above Snow Canyon, we tucked ourselves into the Tacoma and set off for what I knew would be a much harder hike. As the crow flies, our jumping off point in was less than a mile from where we'd found the tractor, but constrained to the unmaintained road system that reaches into the Argus Range, we had upwards of 15 miles to reach the trailhead in a way that didn't entail jumping off a cliff. Our departing view from Snow Canyon was pretty nice. As we entered Canyon, Lookout Mountain towered…
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There are a lot of weird things in the desert. Thankful for a few minutes of rest after summiting Argus Peak, we settled into our comfy scheel-mann seats and pointed the Tacoma toward the Nadeau Trail. The Nadeau Trail is named after freighter Remi Nadeau, one of the many unsung heroes of the Death Valley days. Although seldom acknowledged, freighters played a vital role in the development of remote mining communities by providing economical transportation to haul out their ore and bring supplies on their way back. Nadeau moved west in 1860, and over the next 20 years, forged a…
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For the third morning in a row, I woke up along Steel Pass Road. Unlike the previous days, the Tacoma was the only vehicle in sight, and I was alone in the desert. I'd hoped for a repeat of the clear skies I'd had the previous morning, but the nicely tinted clouds were a reasonable substitute. Today was going to be the day that I summited Waucoba Mountain - the high point of the Inyo Mountains - but I'd gotten a glimpse of it from Saline Peak the previous morning and it was covered in snow that looked to be…
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Of all the hikes I'd planned for the few hours I'd be in the Funeral Mountains, my anticipation was highest for my journey to the King Midas gold mine. There isn't anything particularly special about the King Midas mine itself. It's not a very large mine. There aren't many artifacts left to investigate. Getting there is nearly impossible. Rather, it was the hike - climbing just more than 1,700 feet of elevation in a smidge over two miles - that had me excited to go. And I was excited about the hike mostly due to the King Midas being in…
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Echo Canyon is not one of Death Valley National Park's lesser-known places. Quite the opposite. Its main route is one of the most heavily traveled dirt roads in the park and - unlike all but a few of the most popular canyons - campers must reserve a numbered camp site in order to spend the night. But I wasn't headed to the usual spots in Echo Canyon - at least, not entirely. Sure, I'd pass a couple of them along my route - watching as the folks already there wondered, "Where's that guy going, he didn't even slow down?" -…
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Last spring, on our final trip to Death Valley - and our first time exploring the Backside of the Black Mountains - I mentioned that after every visit to my favorite National Park, I always seem to come away with a longer list of places to see than I had going in. Of course, it happened again. After wandering around the Black Mountains for three full days - which included driving every road in the entire area - and before I'd even posted my stories of the adventure, I knew of several more places that I would take longer to…
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I figured that the next leg of my adventure would be a rather predictable one. In fact, as light faded from the sky as I drove toward through the Marietta Wild Burro Reserve, I sort of wondered what I was going to do for most of the following day. A slight rearrangement of my schedule. My destination - deep in the Excelsior Mountains - was one where I would have told you that, with near 100% certainty, I was going to find my first fully-functional, rolling ore cart. I say would have, because I'm getting about an hour ahead of…
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I always look forward to winter. Not to the snow - though a day swishing down the slopes is always enjoyable - or for the cozy afternoons enjoying popcorn and a movie, but because they mean that it is time - once again - to explore the desert. Having wrapped up the last of the work on the Tacoma - a new 5th gear and some major repair work to the bed - while it was housed at home, the end of October meant that it was time for the long drive south to escape the cold, wet weather of…
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After climbing into our tents under smoky skies, we awoke to a morning that was much brighter - and much bluer - than I think any of us expected. No one mentioned it - we're all too superstitious for that - but I'm sure this raised our spirits dramatically, as it meant that we wouldn't be going home until the next morning. One of the camera-shy marmots I've ever encountered. For now though, our focus was elsewhere. Today, Mike was one of the first out of his tent, the potatoes that he contributes to the group breakfast requiring more prep…
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For years we've travelled south to explore the Mojave. More times that I can count, we've cruised south - and north again - along US-395 through the Owens Valley or followed US-95 through Nevada. On every one of these, we've passed by the White Mountains, their sharp peaks - often dusted in snow - reaching high into the sky. And yet, even as we've stopped to explore areas near these mountains, we've never taken the time to wander into them. This trip would change all of that. We'd finally discover what we'd been missing, as we wandered the White Mountains.…
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I've been wanting to run the Swansea to Cerro Gordo Road - to visit the uppermost control tower of the Saline Valley Salt Tram - ever since we attempted to hike to the lowest control tower on the Saline Valley side in 2019. While the road itself has its own reputation for a few dangerous and technical sections, it was only a matter of setting aside the time - and figuring out what else to explore in the surrounding area in order to make the trip worthwhile - that'd kept me from visiting. Today though, that would all change. I'd…
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Making my way south from Furnace Creek, I wasn't in any rush as I putzed along Badwater Road. With tourists swinging into the other lane to pass me by, I soaked in the ever-changing western face of the Black Mountains. Is it just me, or does it look like that guy is fishing in Lake Manley? No fish out there buddy! After passing the parking lot at Badwater, traffic thinned out significantly. Sure, there was still a bit - heading to or from Sidewinder Canyon or south towards Jubilee Pass and Las Vegas - but by and large I was…
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It's extremely rare that we camp in the same location two nights in a row, but our second night in the Jumbo Rocks campground was - being essentially windless, and certainly snowless - so much more pleasant than the first, that it was as if we'd driven for hours and camped somewhere entirely different. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that the tent was dry. It was still cold, so a thick layer of frost had formed on all the exterior surfaces overnight - a situation that we'd ignore as we packed up a few minutes after sunrise - requiring us to…
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Having climbed into the tent by 7:30pm, exhausted after nearly two days without sleep, we fell asleep quickly despite the tent flapping wildly in the wind, the entire thing swaying - as I imagine a train car might - with each gust. Still, with warm feet and ear plugs, everything was dandy until just after midnight when I heard the pitter-patter of rain. Or was it? Rain, it turns out, isn't so bad as long as it stops early enough in the morning that the rain fly can dry out by the time we need to put the tent away.…
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I could have included this stuff in the main East Mojave Heritage Trail stories - and usually I would have - but they were already getting long. Plus, I know that most would prefer YouTube videos anyway. Not that there will be any YouTube videos here, if I just got your hopes up. Anyway, this is a mishmash story of a few things that weren't explicitly part of EMHT Segment 4, but that I experienced during that same span of time. The Copper Glint Mine As I was leaving Las Vegas - my body and the Tacoma both resupplied after…
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