rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
My son and I went camping at Wentworth Springs over the weekend, kind of a last minute thing.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures, the reason for this thread is more to relay a few interesting discoveries we made.
We rolled into camp at around 12:00, drive time from S Reno to the Springs was about 3-1/2 hours. That last few miles of dirt was slow going with the tent trailer. I could probably shave 1/2 off that time with out a trailer and by airing down. Also the Writes Lake road was closed so that would cut the drive down another 1/2 hour.
When we showed up the camp ground was completely empty. Not to common for most campgrounds at mid day on Saturday. I know from past trips that it gets pretty full on Friday but empties out Saturday morning when everybody heads out to the Rubicon. This is a good thing to keep in mind if your looking for a last minute place to go camping.
Once we had camp set up we headed out to look for a hiking trail I've seen on a few topo maps but never had a chance to look for in the past. It runs from WS to the Loon Lake spillway roughly following Gerle Creek. We didn't find the trail but it's a fairly easy <1 Mile hike just bushwhacking it.
From the spillway we followed the Rubicon trail across the Granite Bowl. The trail is very easy to follow across the granite now. There are a ton more reflective markers than I remember from past trips.
From the junction with WS road we hiked a bit further up trail to Ellis creek and took the FOTR survey. At this point there is a forest service road that comes very close to the trail, again I have seen this on topo maps for years but never taken the time to look for it. As it turns out there is a spur road that comes within 20 or 30 yards of the trail. we found it with no issue because there was a bunch of construction equipment parked at the turn around. Once we hiked 10 or 15 yard off the trail we saw it. It's pretty clear they have been using that access to do trail repairs, there was a pile of rick rack, and end loader, a bob cat and small backhoe, and some "thing" that looked like a tank and a dump truck had a baby see attached pic.
The road itself looks like your typical FS road, suitable for a completely stock SUV. Some time I'd like to drive in to this point on the FS road system. We scouted around and found where there had been a rough access trail to Ellis Creek which is now blocked off with brush and logs. It looks like they take a fairly random path through the woods with the equipment to prevent making a new trail.
From there we hiked back down WS road to camp. The trail hasn't changed much until you get near he end. Once you get past the sluice area below the Post Pile the road turns into a superhighway. There is a new section of trail that completely by-passes that first set of ledges. The road has a probably 40 or 50 yards of rick rack filling all the low spots. So it's basically the same quality road as from where the pavement ends to the campground. If they continue this I'll be able to camp at Ellis Creek with my tent trailer.
Right where the new section of trail starts we ran into a couple with a broken Jeep. The steering box had broken off the frame and was just hanging there. The guy asked if we could give them a ride back to pavement, of course we did. Along the way back to camp I mentioned that we had been looking for the trail from WS to Loon, he knew where it was and pointed out where it started as we passed by. It looks like "they" are trying to discourage it's use. The signage only mentions no motor vehicle traffic but the trail is piled with logs and brush as far as I could see.
We got our new friends to their other car at the Loon Lake turn off and returned to camp. Later a group of four mini trucks showed up and took the group of tables on far side of the camp. I think they were pretty well done in between trail breakage and overindulging the night before because we barely heard a peep out of them all night. Other than that we had the whole camp ground to our selves the whole time we were there.
The bottom line is if your looking for a place to camp with easy access for a stock rig don't overlook Wentworth Springs, it's a pretty camp ground, lightly used other than the Friday night "Rubicon Rush Hour", and has a lot of great opportunities for hiking and exploring.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures, the reason for this thread is more to relay a few interesting discoveries we made.
We rolled into camp at around 12:00, drive time from S Reno to the Springs was about 3-1/2 hours. That last few miles of dirt was slow going with the tent trailer. I could probably shave 1/2 off that time with out a trailer and by airing down. Also the Writes Lake road was closed so that would cut the drive down another 1/2 hour.
When we showed up the camp ground was completely empty. Not to common for most campgrounds at mid day on Saturday. I know from past trips that it gets pretty full on Friday but empties out Saturday morning when everybody heads out to the Rubicon. This is a good thing to keep in mind if your looking for a last minute place to go camping.
Once we had camp set up we headed out to look for a hiking trail I've seen on a few topo maps but never had a chance to look for in the past. It runs from WS to the Loon Lake spillway roughly following Gerle Creek. We didn't find the trail but it's a fairly easy <1 Mile hike just bushwhacking it.
From the spillway we followed the Rubicon trail across the Granite Bowl. The trail is very easy to follow across the granite now. There are a ton more reflective markers than I remember from past trips.
From the junction with WS road we hiked a bit further up trail to Ellis creek and took the FOTR survey. At this point there is a forest service road that comes very close to the trail, again I have seen this on topo maps for years but never taken the time to look for it. As it turns out there is a spur road that comes within 20 or 30 yards of the trail. we found it with no issue because there was a bunch of construction equipment parked at the turn around. Once we hiked 10 or 15 yard off the trail we saw it. It's pretty clear they have been using that access to do trail repairs, there was a pile of rick rack, and end loader, a bob cat and small backhoe, and some "thing" that looked like a tank and a dump truck had a baby see attached pic.
The road itself looks like your typical FS road, suitable for a completely stock SUV. Some time I'd like to drive in to this point on the FS road system. We scouted around and found where there had been a rough access trail to Ellis Creek which is now blocked off with brush and logs. It looks like they take a fairly random path through the woods with the equipment to prevent making a new trail.
From there we hiked back down WS road to camp. The trail hasn't changed much until you get near he end. Once you get past the sluice area below the Post Pile the road turns into a superhighway. There is a new section of trail that completely by-passes that first set of ledges. The road has a probably 40 or 50 yards of rick rack filling all the low spots. So it's basically the same quality road as from where the pavement ends to the campground. If they continue this I'll be able to camp at Ellis Creek with my tent trailer.
Right where the new section of trail starts we ran into a couple with a broken Jeep. The steering box had broken off the frame and was just hanging there. The guy asked if we could give them a ride back to pavement, of course we did. Along the way back to camp I mentioned that we had been looking for the trail from WS to Loon, he knew where it was and pointed out where it started as we passed by. It looks like "they" are trying to discourage it's use. The signage only mentions no motor vehicle traffic but the trail is piled with logs and brush as far as I could see.
We got our new friends to their other car at the Loon Lake turn off and returned to camp. Later a group of four mini trucks showed up and took the group of tables on far side of the camp. I think they were pretty well done in between trail breakage and overindulging the night before because we barely heard a peep out of them all night. Other than that we had the whole camp ground to our selves the whole time we were there.
The bottom line is if your looking for a place to camp with easy access for a stock rig don't overlook Wentworth Springs, it's a pretty camp ground, lightly used other than the Friday night "Rubicon Rush Hour", and has a lot of great opportunities for hiking and exploring.
