Plateau, Hemlock Mine & 559A Spring

By Denis & Sandi Inman

Vic had never been to the spot our club calls the Plateau, neither had his friend Chris, so Jeremy set up a trail run and I was invited. At 0700, we left the Nugget, started up Wheeler Pass Trail then turned off into a dry wash Jeremy found that was both interesting and a little challenging. When we reached the trail to Buck Spring, we continued on up to the Plateau. Normally the view from that spot is breathtaking. Today, due to the pollution, it was not so nice. We could still see the awesome rock formations above us through a light haze of smoke, but it was difficult to make out much below us.

On the way back down, we stopped at Buck Spring to see if there was any water in the trough. No luck. Returning to the top of Jeremy’s Wash, we turned East and drove up to Clark Canyon. At the junction, our trio of Jeeps made a hard right turn and headed West on Highway 52. Arriving at the spot where the Wheeler-Wallace Cutoff goes South off of Wheeler Pass Road, the four of us went North. Eventually we made it up to Hemlock Mine and did a little exploring.

Once again descending from the Spring Mountains, we took a trail that led us through several small herds of horses and dropped us off at the end of Trail 559A at a spring we named 559A. By now it was time to start making tracks towards Pahrump. We went our separate ways at Basin and the high voltage powerline road not far from the Elks Lodge and were home by 11:30. Despite the smog, it was a pretty good run.