Jarbidge or Bust - "Overlanding" Nevada 2015 (1 Viewer)

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^ the photo makes it look so...benign :D
 
What am I: Chopped liver?! :flipoff2:

Anyhoo...its just the opposite...he's got a big work assignment and trying diligently NOT to get fired :D Lest he have the best reason ever to relocate in a more westerly direction ;)

He'll be back to recap the last day or two...stay tuned.
 
Tom was strapped up to the rocks sideways. Hard to want to document this recovery in the heat of the moment.

Strapped-up.webp


Strpped-up-2.webp
 
BTW, on the way out on pavement and to Hwy 93 from Murphy's Hot Springs enclave you get a very impressive overlook/view of the East Fork of the Jarbidge River Canyon with the Jarbidge mountain range in the background. It is already on my "futures" explore...as its every bit as impressive of a canyon/area as the West Fork of the Jarbidge River Canyon...but without the enclaves of Murphy Hot Springs and Jarbidge townships.

This photo is courtesy of Gary O. Grimm (Google Earth)

Screen Shot 2015-06-19 at 10.17.34 AM.webp
 
I'm confident :)D) we can roll south along Pole Line Road and eventually cross the EFotJBR...and get into some equally spectacular scenery...and then drop into O'Neil Basin (as we did in '10 when we came in from the SW side). Of course the Elk Mountain range looks worthy too.

Of note: Per the bartender gal at the Jarbidge Bar two weeks before we were there...there were "a couple hundred Elk" camped out and grazing on the north side sage bench I wanted to get us to...that was another driving/motivating factor ;)
 
Cam, we have to hear the telling of the final night campsite search and subsequent recovery from your perspective!

This thread was totally hijacked (kidding...kinda).
 
The thread-jackers were actually hired guns since I wasn't present for the recovery. However I could sense Murphy's presence before it happened.

After leaving the Outdoor Inn,

Outdoor Inn2.webp


... we went to check out the campgrounds that the old ladies of Jarbidge kept telling us about. Those campgrounds were disappointing, so we went off to search for something worthy of what would be the east-coasters final night to camp on the most-epic of adventures. That search took us to the experimental trail that tried to swallow Tom's truck.

I was already on high alert. Alex and I were leaving the next day. I knew that the only place to go was up, and that meant my engine & transmission temps would climb. I spent a lot of unnecessary energy stressing, (maybe not stressing per se, but mildly concerned) about the temps I saw while climbing. As mentioned before, they weren't really that high, but I didn't know that at the time. Also, we have already had an epic day, and we have reached the promised land, Jar MF'n Bidge by Gawd, and we hadn't busted. Yet. So now is the obvious time for something to happen. I know from multiple previous experiences, and the more recent Subaru Meadows episode being absolute proof, of what happens when you try to do one last trail of the day.

Did I mention Alex & I were leaving the next day? In my mind my truck is a ticking time bomb. I've been beating it hard since the minute we pulled out of my driveway, and I'm sure I'm on borrowed time. It's held up so far, but I also know the guy that put it together. It's still unproven in my mind, and I don't want to find it's limits today, our last day of the trip, on one last epic trail. I've already had my fun and am starting to mentally check out, ready to get back on the road. Not because I want to, but because I know things are piling up back in the real world. Plus, a mysterious engine tick has developed in the last day or so. I'm pretty sure it's just the exhaust, but who knows, it could be the famous DOD engine failure I've been warned about. Hopefully not since it's still running fine, but that was just one more thing in the back of my mind.

I don't want to sound like I jinxed it or called Murphy from the payphone at the bar, just to say that the conditions were ripe for something to go wrong. I was assuming it would be me.
 
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So here we are lining up to enter the tiny trail, I'm fourth in line behind Andy, and hear Tom & Dan tell us to hang back and wait for them to check it out first, so that we don't all have to back up single-file down the mountain.

Soon the distress call comes over the radio. Things sound serious. Not life or death, but serious. I hang back (I've got Andrew with me for one thing). I know one more person in the way isn't going to help, plus I'll monitor the radio in case they need something from one of the four trucks down here at the bottom.

Just like in Subaru Meadows, it becomes apparent that there will not be a quick solution to the problem. Andrew & I decide to hike up and see what's going on. We get up there and there is barely room to squeeze past Dan's truck to get to Tom's. Sure enough, his front tire is practically dangling over the valley and his rear tire looks like it wants to see the view too.

I look inside and Tom is as cool as a cucumber. I offer to take Clive back down to the bottom. I can tell this will be a while, and should things go south there's no reason to send Clive down with the truck. Plus, all of our trucks are blocking the trail down there, and all are probably unlocked and easy prey should those old ladies stop by, angry that we aren't staying at the campground in town.

So, Andrew, Clive and I head down to the bottom. Minutes turn to hours and hours turn to an eternity. We aren't getting much of the story over the radio, so we have to use our imaginations.

Alex comes back down and we wait another eternity. We hear an engine approaching in the distance, from below. It's getting closer and closer until a four-wheeler finally appears. It is actually another one of the ladies of Jarbidge (are there no guys here?), but she is not as friendly as the others. She makes no small talk, she just kind of stares at us.
We are completely blocking the trail, but Alex and I might be able to move and let her pass. She says that she'll just turn around and go back out the way she came. But she doesn't. Not really sure what's going on, we try and make small talk. It turns out she is one of the 16 residents of Jarbidge, and a third generation resident at that. Her grandmother ran a "boarding house" (brothel?) in town for the miners back in the day.

Eventually, she does turn around and leave. We hang out for yet another eternity. We can tell from what little radio chatter we hear that things are under control, but just progressing slowly.

Eventually we can hear that they are headed back down. Pasquale & Dan appear and later Andy and Tom.

I remember some tense discussion about where to go from here, Dan wanting to find something with a view, Andy wants to go stay at the campground in town and risk the almost certain reverse panty raid that the ladies of Jarbidge are planning for us.

I think Dan's plan won, sort of, but not totally, the last thing I remember was flying down the dirt roads of Jarbidge, hopefully going the right way, only a cloud of dust to guide me.

A public campsite has been located, and it is muuuuch better than the one in town. We don't quite have the view, but we have a view and we are right on the bank of the East Fork of the mighty Jarbidge River. So we pull in and stake our claim.
 
And then I received a text from Cameron that him and Alex were on their way home. I missed all of this action.

:meh:

We're still 16 hours from leaving, don't send us home just yet!


I'd been feeding Beno pics the whole trip, sending a few whenever I had a signal. I don't think I had a signal after Subaru Meadow (the new official name of that meadow) until we climbed out to go home.
 
great thread....
 
^ ditto Alex!
 

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