Bikepacking Sheldon NWR. Massacre-Virgin Valley Loop

 

October, 2021 

Finally temps are cooling off in Northern Nevada. Time to get out for a bikepacking trip! I maintain a spreadsheet of trips I want to do and most already have the routes designed and ready for electronic navigation upload. This was one of them.

The Massacre cabin is open for public use and makes a dandy starting and ending point and a good place to leave your vehicle for a few days. On my arrival there, there was a group of ranch hands using it as a basecamp for making their annual winter roundup. It was cool talking to them and getting some insight into ranching life. They were using horses and riding 20-30 miles a day! I asked how they knew where to go and they explained to me to their use of strategically placed watering troughs to help manage where the cows go. Brilliant! And of course a strategy probably used since ranching started.

Day 1. Riding out the next morning (on my bike 😁) I began passing and being passed by BLM law enforcement type vehicles. Eventually a helicopter made an appearance and it dawned on me what may be occurring. I stopped next to a group of vehicles and asked what was going on. Wild horse roundup was the reply. I get that this is an unpopular event in the mind of the general public. But the BLM guys disclosed that it hadn't been done in this area for 10 yrs and they were overpopulated by 400%! Horses, as iconic a symbol of the west as they are, are not native and can overpopulate an areas ability to support a healthy herd, not to mention damage to the desert resources. Google has more info.

I continued on my way and encountered virtually no more traffic. After 23 miles I turned off on a less used 4x4 track, Little Catnip spring rd. Since this 'road' was more of just a 2 track across the the desert and not improved in any way, it was literally just littered with obsidian and chert. Scenically the landscape was much more interesting now. I made a minor detour down to "Andy's Place", a random place name on the map that piqued my curiosity. Not much left, but it was interesting never the less. I passed a couple of springs and then loaded up about a liter of dirty water for later filtering.  Finally I made it out to 34A and rode over to Catnip reservoir for the night. The water level was somewhat low and surrounded by exposed mud. Happily I filtered the liter I had previously gathered and didn't need to obtain water from the reservoir, although you could if necessary.

Day 2.  It was surprisingly cold overnight and I didn't really get moving until the sun broke the horizon. My water bottles had a pretty good layer of ice on them so I set them out in the sun while I packed up. My ultimate destination for the day was the Virgin Valley warm springs. I had read glowing reviews of this place and I was really looking forward to it. Apparently the whole Virgin Valley area is also known and mined for Opal. I finally got moving and backtracked about a mile until hitting new ground on 34. At about 10 miles I took a totally unnecessary alternate route up onto Catnip mountain. You can easily bypass this alternate if you choose to. I however was glad I didn't because a couple miles into the alternate I discovered my first petrified wood of the trip. Large pieces were exposed along the track I was following. Cool! I took some pictures and continued up onto the shoulder of Catnip mountain, the high point of the trip at roughly 7k. After lunch I started the downhill and then stopped again at Gooch spring to filter some water. The water was clear and clean. Afterwards it was relatively quick to get out to hwy 140. This is where I first saw any vehicles again and before long made the turn off over to the warm springs and campground. As I rode by the pool I was practically quivering wanting to get in there so bad. Hurriedly I put up my tent and settled some camp chores, then rushed over to the pool. Oh how delightful! Crystal clear and warm bathtub temperature! And BTW, both the springs and campground are open year round and free!

Petrified Wood

High point of the trip on the shoulder of Catnip mountain

Virgin Valley Warm Springs pool and shower house

Another pond

Day 3. It was a little hard to leave the delightful surroundings of the Virgin Valley camp, but of course Greyhound doesn't run here so there was no getting back to my truck unless I did it myself. It was mostly a flatish mellow ride until passing the turn for Royal Peacock Mine, (a public pay-for-camping-and-rockhounding site) and then a legit hike a bike climbing up out of the canyon. I knew today was going to be the physically hardest day and the terrain proved me right. Lots of up and down, but through the most scenic terrain yet. More petrified wood discoveries were made today and an awesome stop at the Badger spring and cabin to filter some water. The cabin here is not public but there is a public camp just around the corner. My original goal was to make it all the way to Stevens Camp, but I knew that was a stretch before I even got started. My alternate goal was to make it to Wall Canyon area which I was able to accomplish, camping about an easy mile short at the beautiful Wheeler Springs camp. Water was available but I didn't need any so didn't bother with filtering. Wheeler camp is in a beautiful setting with larger deciduous trees and a small flow of water down through the creek bed. I was tired here but still couldn't help wandering around exploring the nearby landscape. As it got dark, nature took over and  I crashed out, hard.

Climbing out of Virgin Valley

Petrified Wood

Badger Cabin

Badger Spring

Wheeler Spring camp

Day 4. The push back to my truck. Even though there was still significant miles to get back to Massacre cabin the riding proved to be mostly easy with again, a few short steep pitches here and there. I opted not to detour the short distance to Stevens Camp. I have been there before and also didn't need any water. I again discovered some petrified wood along the way and also ran across an old stone cabin that I was unaware of in my pre-ride planing. In relatively short order I was on the final stretch back to Massacre and my truck. A few more moral busting ups and downs and I was back. I broke out a somewhat still cold beer and chilled on the front porch of the cabin for a while before finally breaking down and packing my gear for the drive home.

Leaving Wheeler Springs in the morning

Petrified Wood

You don't have to be good if you're lucky!

Epilogue. This is a really fun and not hard route of a remote nature with historical and geologically interesting points of interest. Additionally there is almost no vehicle traffic except on the short 9 mile section of hwy 140. There is no resupply with the possible exception of the store at Royal Peacock Mine. I did not go over to check it out. Water was easily available at the plentiful springs in early October of a very dry year. I highly recommend the route as a great intermediate bikepacking route. Link to route: Massacre-Virgin Valley Loop  

Ride stats according to my Wahoo Element Bolt

Miles - 129

Elevation gained - 8439

Bike setup:

Bridgit (29+ Trek Stache hardtail copy in carbon)

29x3" tubeless tires, Reba 120mm front suspension.