Kawich Wilderness Pre-Run
Story & Photos by Denis & Sandi Inman, Pahrump Valley 4 Wheelers
With a nice, early 4:00 AM start, we were in Tonopah to top off our tanks at about 6:30. Traveling East on Highway 6, we stopped at Warm Springs to see the bighorn sheep gathered there. After that quick break, we turned South on the Extraterrestrial Highway 375. When our group reached the road marked Reveille, we consulted the map and the GPS and guessed that the road did not traverse the Reveille Range, but armed with more information now, we’re pretty sure it does.
Knowing that the Cedar Pass entrance road to the Nellis Range connected with Reveille Valley Road, we put on the extra miles to be conservative. Arriving at the road that would take us between South Reveille Wilderness and Kawich Wilderness, we found the carcass of a cow, obviously mutilated by aliens from Area 51, that is located just to the South. They not only mutilated the poor beast, the ETs picked it to the bone. From the site of the interstellar feast, our trio of explorers headed North. At Reveille Mill, we wandered West up the canyon to Eden Creek Ranch.
Returning to the main road, we again forged on in a Northerly direction. Arriving at Cow Canyon, the short procession of Jeep Wranglers took a Westerly course across the North side of the Kawich Wilderness to Bellehelen Canyon that brought us to Stone Cabin Valley. Along the way, we did some reconnaissance of Craig Canyon and Mike’s Canyon. I imagine the folks living up there make certain they get everything on their shopping list at the market, because it’s a long ways to travel for a quart of milk.
As Jeremy and Deanna in their Rubicon followed me South along the Western edge of the Kawich Wilderness, we came across a couple photographing a large herd of wild horses. We crept through the middle of the equine gathering so as to not further spook the horses that were already in an agitated state. Lunch was at the Gold Bar Mine where we also added the contents of our Jerry cans to our thirsty tanks. After our Noon meal, the three of us passed through Golden Arrow Mine on our way to Stinking Spring Road and East to Silver Bow Mine.
The Air Force was doing some training over the Nellis Testing Range and were actually flying down through the canyons we were exploring. Silver Bow was our final planned destination, so that task being accomplished, we began making progress Northwest back to Tonopah. It was a long day. I didn’t arrive home until well after 6:00. Jeremy and Deanna stopped in Beatty for something to eat, so their day was even more protracted. In my humble opinion, it was an enjoyable day for all and the area we investigated has a lot of potential for a PV4W club run in conjunction with other trail runs and several nights in Tonopah.