By Denis & Sandi Inman

Rick was able to get a couple days off during the week, so we scheduled an all-day trail run for Thursday. Rick & Mary’s son Ricky was in town for a visit, and he came along. Sandi and I were already in town, having made the trip to Moapa Valley on Wednesday. After our 8:00 AM meeting, we headed to the northernmost trail head and aired down. I had a labyrinth of a plan that would enable us to experience most of the main trails without back tracking, but I got lost at the most southeast corner of the trail system causing us to miss several of the segments.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

On Thursday, Sandi and I have a trail run on the Logandale trail System in Moapa Valley. For those who don’t mind big city traffic, it is only a 2 hour drive from Pahrump, through Las Vegas, to Logandale. We took the alternative route that goes through Shoshone, Baker, Kelso, and Nipton in California. From there, we drove to Searchlight, Cottonwood Cove Marina, back to Searchlight, up the 95 to Highway 165, East to Nelson and then on to the Colorado River.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

We had a pretty good turnout of Jeeps despite the short notice for the run. Jeremy was riding with Brian, Jim was with us, and Mike & Patti were our tail gunner. From the 7:00 AM meeting at the Horizon Market, we drove North to Last Chance Canyon and began our tour of the valley surrounded by the Last Chance Range.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Due to a conglomeration of technical and logistical complexities (writing the wrong starting time on my calendar) I missed last Wednesdays scheduled trail run. On Monday however, I only had to complete our weekly trip to the market, that doesn’t open until 6:00 AM, get our purchases home, switch from the grocery getter Patriot to the Wrangler and make it to Terrible’s Lakeside before 7:00. Mission accomplished. Is it possible that I only have a mild case of Alzheimer’s?

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Andy and Ann had some family over and they wanted to go for a short, easy trail ride. I suggested Crystal Spring & Wood Canyon and they didn’t even have to coerce me to lead the way. Matt, AJ and Becca were staying with Andy and Ann, so we met there at 8:00 AM. After some coffee and chit-chat, we headed up Highway 160 towards Johnnie, turned East at Road 928500 (the road needs a better name), then took the Crystal Spring Road fork.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

We were to meet at Zabriskie Point to air down at 8:00 AM and everyone was prompt, except me. On Wednesday morning, to save a little time, I decided to use my shop compressor over my trail unit to air up from our snow day on Monday. That resulted in quite a struggle with my frozen supply hose. While I eventually won the battle, it took longer than I anticipated, so Jim, Jeremy, Vic and Brian were waiting for me when I got there at 7:58.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Hello?
Wha’ da’ ya’ doin’?
Nothin’, wha’ da’ you doin’?
Nothin’. Hey, ya’ wanna’ go up to the Spring Mountains and play in the snow?
Sure!

By Denis & Sandi Inman

After completing the weekly shopping and putting our groceries away, I swapped vehicles and headed out to Charles Brown Market in Shoshone to meet the others. Everyone was there promptly at 8:00 AM so we could proceed to Dead Man Pass. Once we had crossed the summit and made our way to Furnace Creek Wash Road, we turned North for half a mile then West again on Gold Valley Road.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Not having been to the Shadow Mountains for almost a year, it was time to take a quick run out there to investigate the trail conditions. I checked out a number of dead end roads that I had never been on before and even found some trails that just petered out to nothing, but the terrain was such that I could drive cross country to connect to another equally vague route. After several hours of off-roading, I had a flat. The tire went down quickly, but I was able to patch it and air it up. Since the puncture was in the sidewall, I’ll be getting a new tire tomorrow.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Once again, we were shooting for a 6 AM start, but since Jeremy and Deanna showed up at 5:45, just as I completed topping off my tank, we left a little early. After a quick stop in Beatty, we had a 20-minute wait at the road construction site on highway 95. When we reached Cat Road, North of Scotty’s Castle Road, we aired down and headed West in the direction of Tokop. Once we had thoroughly investigated the various towers, the group headed West to Oriental Wash.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Isolating at home was getting excruciatingly boring, so we decided to go on a trail ride. It would be a long one and the logistics would necessitate that the little Esmeralda Market in Dyer would have gas when we arrived there, late in the afternoon. I called ahead and they were confident that we would not get stranded in Fish Lake Valley. Riding with Jeremy were Deanna, Vic, and Janice. I drove solo.

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Since several others were invited, we waited until 0700 to leave Maverick’s and hit the trail. Jeremy, Brian, and I drove East on Winery until we reached Parson’s Road that we drove North to the Wheeler Wash and took the riverbed Northeast to the quarry road. Continuing on the road from the Wulfenstein gravel pit to Wheeler Pass Road, we only followed Wheeler for about 1000′ before dropping down into Wheeler Wash again on the Wheeler Wallace Connector Road.