May 2024
I met up with a few other bikepackers to ride to Lava Beds camp. This was a joint campout with Wildwood Open Lands Foundation, - WOLF. The Lava Beds is located approximately 19 miles east of Gerlach Nevada and is somewhat of a misnomer being that the topography consists of granitic outcrops with numerous springs.
Fri. 5/10
Kurstin, Miles, Meghan and myself all met up at Trego Hot Springs and bikepacked ~30 miles into the the Lava Beds camp. Kurstin had prepared the route for us and, I confess, it was nice being more or less a passenger with no planning duties this trip. He had made several bikepacking trips to the area and was very familiar with it. At the camp we met up with WOLF founder Jeff Rosenfeld and his entertaining young son and Tim and Josh who all had arrived via some type of overlanding vehicle. Land Rovers and Toyota Tacoma's were well represented. Later Dan and his son showed up. We were met with smiles and cold beer, a precursor to the incredible meals and hospitality that was bestowed upon us by the WOLF team. I never lit my stove or was forced to filter any water the entire trip. It just so happened that this weekend was also the occurrence of a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event where unprecedented solar flares had occurred and was expected to produce a visible Aurora Borealis event at these low latitudes. I got up around 2am and was treated to an amazing display. It occurred the next night as well. I didn't get photos expecting that my camera wouldn't capture it. But I was wrong. Several of the group got some amazing cell phone shots!
Kurstin, Miles, Meghan and myself all met up at Trego Hot Springs and bikepacked ~30 miles into the the Lava Beds camp. Kurstin had prepared the route for us and, I confess, it was nice being more or less a passenger with no planning duties this trip. He had made several bikepacking trips to the area and was very familiar with it. At the camp we met up with WOLF founder Jeff Rosenfeld and his entertaining young son and Tim and Josh who all had arrived via some type of overlanding vehicle. Land Rovers and Toyota Tacoma's were well represented. Later Dan and his son showed up. We were met with smiles and cold beer, a precursor to the incredible meals and hospitality that was bestowed upon us by the WOLF team. I never lit my stove or was forced to filter any water the entire trip. It just so happened that this weekend was also the occurrence of a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event where unprecedented solar flares had occurred and was expected to produce a visible Aurora Borealis event at these low latitudes. I got up around 2am and was treated to an amazing display. It occurred the next night as well. I didn't get photos expecting that my camera wouldn't capture it. But I was wrong. Several of the group got some amazing cell phone shots!
Sat. 5/11
The day started off with a stewardship project centered on Pete's cabin and the camp. Some of the skilled types worked repairing decking and railing while I and other unskilled types cleaned up much of the old wire and other trash strewn about the site. After the project, Kurstin had a ride planned. Somewhat oddly there was a permitted motocross race scheduled the same weekend. Kurstin planned a great route out to Elephant Head rock, the premier formation of the area and we avoided the majority of the motocross only running across the 'kids' race. These were some talented young riders for sure!! Returning to our camp we opted for a stretch of super fun single track. As I've mentioned many times, what's a bikepacking trip without some hike-a-bike. This is where we found ours. But really fun trail!
The day started off with a stewardship project centered on Pete's cabin and the camp. Some of the skilled types worked repairing decking and railing while I and other unskilled types cleaned up much of the old wire and other trash strewn about the site. After the project, Kurstin had a ride planned. Somewhat oddly there was a permitted motocross race scheduled the same weekend. Kurstin planned a great route out to Elephant Head rock, the premier formation of the area and we avoided the majority of the motocross only running across the 'kids' race. These were some talented young riders for sure!! Returning to our camp we opted for a stretch of super fun single track. As I've mentioned many times, what's a bikepacking trip without some hike-a-bike. This is where we found ours. But really fun trail!
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| P.C. Kurstin |
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| P.C. Meghan |
The video below was shot by Kurstin
Sun. 5/12
After another stunning display of Northern Lights, Sunday dawned perfect yet again. Megan opted to stay to watch the adult race while virtually everyone else packed up and headed out. It was an easy ride back to Trego using a different route Kurstin had planned as the return. All in all a very fun and satisfying short trip! Many thanks again goes out to the WOLF team for taking such good care of us and thanks to Kurstin for a great biking route. Can't wait to do it again!
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| Meghan, Miles, Kurstin, Doug PC Meghan |
If you love your open lands and have the means to do so, please consider donating generously to WOLF or your local open land advocates.
Bikes:Doug- Binary Gordita Fatbike running 27.5x4.0 tires.
Miles- Blaze running plus tires (2.8 or 3.0? don't remember)
Meghan- Tumbleweed Prospector running plus tires.
Kurstin- Custom Falconer running plus tires.
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