Tl:Dr
I almost died (and so did Carmen, the Paiute Indian, who helped rescue me/my vehicle) attempting to off road to a mountain I wanted to climb for sunset. (Indian was his nomenclature)
Things I learned:
- Heed red flags / obvious warnings
- Don't go on private property (see #1)
So... was it worth it? No.
Watching the sunset from the summit.
What started off as a great Saturday, turned into a serious issue by nightfall.
After hitting first chair at Mt. Rose and getting 10 excellent runs in, I was ready for my afternoon adventure.
My buddy Evan came into town and the plan was to off road to this nearby mountain and climb the peak for sunset. Simple. Adventure.
First Obstacle
We went through our first unlocked gate and be came upon a wide semi frozen stream. It was a muddy boggy marsh about a foot deep on one side and a sightly frozen deeper side around 3 feet deep. After surveying it briefly, I charted my path and charged through. No problem.
This image shows the crossing.. on the day of the rescue, we had this stranded vehicle here as a nice omen.
A bumpy boulder section with rocks the size of bowling balls came next which we slowly crawled through.
Then... A locked gate. Private Property. No Trespassing. Should've turned around and gone home. Nope.
Evan looked to the left and saw the barb wire fence had been downed in one section with rocks laid on top. Took the traction mats out and put them on top of everything to ensure no issues while rock crawling through this section up and over the fence.
As we slowly snaked higher up this canyon, I saw some movement up ahead behind a wide spruce tree. Rounding the corner, we saw a giant Golden Eagle hoping up the mountainside. It appeared to be hurt initially, but took flight in a beautiful display of power and grace. Average wingspan is about 7 feet.
Red Gate
Rounding a few more bends through this canyon, we can upon a red gate with the familiar signage, Do Not Enter. It was also locked. This seemed like another perfect place to turn around, hike another spot, drink some beers, call it a day. Not happening. After surveying possible ways of taking the Land Rover up and around this fence, Evan noticed the gate was in fact NOT locked. Success.
We happily bounded up the mountain now going through an incredibly steep big boulder section. It was pretty technical given the degree/slope of the mountain we were climbing and the size of the boulders.
After climbing the big boulder section.
After surmounting the never ending bumpy rocky road, we can upon this giant dry alpine lake bed. The road continued right through it which was a bit nerve racking. There was snow littered here and there, but wasn't too keen of getting stuck in this. With consistent gas and in Mud / Ruts mode, we made it easily.
Evan took over driving as we sneaked our way ever closer to the top. As we passed through a saddle of the mountain, the summit was tantalizing close. We began our descent down into this high canyon area which would lead us to the peak.
Snow
The descent changed drastically. We were in the shadow of this great mountain ridge on the North side and were suddenly looking at a lot of snow. Evan charged on as the road descended rapidly in 3 foot drifts of snow. The LR4 wanted to keep sliding into the high chaparral, but he took a continuous solid high line and gravity helped us slowly plow through. That was stressful. There was a high probability of sliding perpendicular and being stuck sideways on a very steep decline... which can lead to an easy way of flipping and getting totally screwed.
This was not the same snow section. Just one of the few photos I did take in which we happened to stop and there was snow.
We continued forward for a comparatively uneventful while through this odd flat canyon area. There was random corrals and giant tires as water troughs that were completely frozen over in thick icicle chunks.
The Summit
It was 4PM and we had 30 min to make it to the top before the sunset. I also wanted to hurry up and move as quick as possible as last light was around 5PMish and winter is here. Plus being tired, driving on unfamiliar gnarly roads at night with snow adds a few other elements of potential complications. The sunset looking SW was beautiful. The snowy mountains and vast ranges around were glowing in the dying light. Cheers!
Behind us was an amazing view of Pyramid Lake with a fiery pink sky pictures will never do justice. The trek back to the car was easy and fun as we bounded back with a feeling of success.
See if you can spot the rover.
Hardscrabble
And then, that feeling started to fade. As we began heading down the shortest route of 3 potential routes of exit, things started getting rough. Burnt trees were yearning into the path scratching my car screechily as we trundled further down snow, rock, and a stream strewn road. Multiple times we had to survey obstacles to create and reinforce our way across. Digging and pilling up rocks to allow enough clearance to get through some of these obstructions was taking its toll; physically and from the perspective of time. This road was failing us big time.
After we did work on several more eroded creek areas to make it passable, we realized we had a longgg way to go still and were going so slow, it'd take us days at the current pace. Scouting out ahead, we concluded the 10-15 foot deep ravines where this road had over been was completely impassable. It was time to quit and find another route out.
Fun Times
In the process of turning around in this hellish scene of burned chaparral and scattered snow, I somehow punctured my rear tires high in the sidewall. This didn't become apparent until we came to an obstacle several minutes later and Evan said "Dude your back tire is flat". I groaned jumping out and heard a horrible soft whooshing sound and saw the back tire on my driver side was flat as well. They were draining air fast. I yelled to him to jump in and I began manically charging through these technical and treacherous crossings. My heart was pounding as we made it through several more eroded brooks as I knew I was pushing my luck with the tires and the Rover. Then we came to a very steep and massive uphill section of snow and dirt. I set the mode to Snow and low gear and began to climb slowly. I could feel the truck barely getting a grip as the from two tires did all the work. Slowly switchbacking the car in the narrow single track road and flooring the vehicle, we inched upward ever so slowly. It was evident as we barely crested over, that the end was near for any further movement on these tires. I pulled over into an area that was relatively flat and that was our landing place for the night.
Image of one of the flats the next day.
Now What
We knew we were both screwed. The goal was to stop at a brewery on the way home, get some rest, and hit the slopes early Sunday. Now... We were trying to figure out a completely different situation.
Luckily, Evan's phone had enough service to place / receive calls. After filling my Dad in our predicament and walking him through the topo to show were we were, he said "you're screwed." Thanks Pops. After several hours of back and forth deliberation with him and the local towing service he found, we realized it was evident we needed to hike out and I needed to guide the rescue guy to my truck...
Sleeping
I had some backpacking and general survival gear in my truck, so we were decently comfortable. There was 7 different freeze dried dishes to choose from and we still had beer so things weren't too bad, but it was getting cold.
We decided after eating dinner to hit the hay so we could make an early start on Sunday morning for the hike out. We calculated we were around 7 miles to follow the creek down the canyon and out to Pyramid Lake.
I mentioned I had my backpacking gear, well that is just for one person. I gave Evan my sleeping bag / pad and he was warm / comfortable. Naturally, I took the ground mat for the tent (tarp), the tent, and rain fly as my blankets. It was cold. A very sleepless night followed as I tossed, turned, and froze. Even as I huddled next to Evan for warmth, I was stoked to see the orange glow in the horizon. Nonetheless, I couldn't take it any further and turned on the car to heat it up. Even though I knew at 1/2 rank left, I needed to spare every drop of gas, this was important so I didn't get frostbite (again).
Rise and shine.
The Hike
We enjoyed the warmth for about 15 minutes with butt warmers doing their job magnificently. The new day was dawning and we knew what we had to do. We ate an egg breakfast skillet and Maple oatmeal that was pretty good (for freeze dried food that is). We drank all the water we could and began melting snow to re-fill out bottles for the hike. I initially wanted to bring my SCAR, P226, generator, and all my other expensive things with me (in case someone broke into my car), but realized this wouldn't bode well if we ran into some people. We ended up with one backpack and the traction mats as our load out. I brought the traction mats just in case we had to come the same way again for the rescue.
It was a beautiful, crisp, clear Nevada morning in the high mountainous desert. Our first mile or so was the incredibly steep and snow/mud hill we barely surmounted the night before. It was incredible seeing some of the things I had charged through the previous night at speed and with 2 back flat tires.
This is way steeper than it looks.
The hike was gorgeous. Not a single person on the road err trail (ha) and we came across a wide cascading waterfall. The erosion from last seasons historical snow fall showed some serious power in how it did this canyon even deeper. My head wasn't fully on so I missed taking these pictures, but there were impressive ravines where the road had once been. It made the trail a little tricky in places, but we had no real issues. The fire had burned a few small homesteads and there were interesting remnants.
We made good time and it took us around 3 hours. We were early for the pre-arranged pickup time with Carmen, so snacked as we waited on the side of the road looking like vagrant hitch hikers.
Carmen picked us up shortly thereafter and drove us back to Reno in his Toyota Land Cruiser. We had decided on our hike to grab a beer / dinner so did just that shortly after arriving at my condo. We reminisced about the adventure and I began thinking about the future. I was supposed to fly out to Mountain View in the morning for my company's Q4 meeting. That's not happening now. Evan left shortly thereafter to head back to Santa Cruz as he had work on Monday. I began researching the other routes to see if there was any possibility of making it out the other ways. What if my vehicle was stuck back here forever?
Day 3 - Monday
I was lucky enough to have made contact with my Land Rover guy and he had an extra set of 19" wheels/tires I could use to rescue the vehicle. First stop with my Uber was to British 4x4 and then off to Crosby Lodge at Pyramid Lake where I was to meet Carmen at 9:30AM. I made it there perfectly on time. My nice old Uber driver was worried for me and stuck around for a while before I gonna convinced him I was OK and the tow guy should be there soon.
Carmen arrived around 10:30AM and I was itching to go as I knew we had limited time, sunlight, and I was still quite unsure of the probability of us being successful in the vehicle rescue. After my review of the routes the northern route seemed like the best bet. Shortly along our journey up the nice dirt road, we can along a massive iron gate. Locked. Great. There was no easy way around and we had 2 other routes: the way I initially came (which I did not want to do again) or the unknown NW route. After some deliberation, we decided we should go the same way I initially went. We had just wasted about 90 minutes of sunlight. The clock was ticking.
After some time driving and chatting, we came upon the first obstacle. The big creek crossing. Only this time, it was a bit more ominous as a Jeep was stuck high above the running boards and had barely entered.
Great.
A lot of the ice from the day before had also melted. Had the ground softened that quickly? I pointed out to Carmen my path and the speed, etc at which I took to make it across. As he kept looking for alternatives (there were none), the owner oh the Jeep came bounding up to us with shotgun and sidearm hanging relaxed. He spotted us from afar and came running when he saw us approach. Carmen pulled him out with no issue, minus his front bumper being ripped off given his vehicles position in the muddy creek. The guy thanked us and it was now Carmen's turn to cross. After a false start and reposition, he charged it hard. It was like a metallic explosion inside as tools banged against each other as the car splashed and jarred through the creek. He had also left good window open so some mud and water splashing inside made the experience even more realistic. I could feel us slowing and had a sinking sensation so was yelling "Gas gas gas!!!" He gave it more power and we ripped through the sucking mud across to the other side. Safety. I started laughing as I told him we were in for a journey as he looked at me like what have I gotten myself into to.
We slowly rock crawled through the next section and made it over the first barb wire gate no problem. As we continued onward, we ran into the formidable red gate that almost stopped Evan and I two days prior. I confidently got out to untangle the mass of chains and locks only to find that this time, it was actually locked. This was a serious problem. Two routes were now blocked and locked. The third route was easily another 2 hours away away of backtracking which would've postponed the potential rescue to Tuesday. The road paralleled a brook and upon surveying the barb wire fence, I knew I could undo it and put it back together in about 15 minutes. The path through the brook had a few treacherous tall rocks, but with me a spotter it shouldn't be a problem. After breaching the fence, Carmen carefully needled his way through the brook and rocks back up to the road.
A well maintained rocky section on an incline.
There next section was a very steep and super high clearance rock climb that we very slowly traversed. As we came over this ridge to a high valley, we had an amazing view of where we had just come from. All Carmen said was "Wow man, look at that." Shortly thereafter, we saw a beautiful wild horse starting at us like how did you get back here?
We continued through a large dried lake that seemed muddier than when I had driven through it previously. Luckily, no incidents except for more mud and character are to the vehicle. We began climbing up the spine of the major ridge that eventually turned into the peak. As we were crossing over the ridge, we can saw two big bucks (4 pointers each) and three does galavanting about. We admired their beauty and grace for a bit before they bounded away.
As we began the descent down there morth face, the snow began. I warned Carmen of the impending snow drift we forged through and to stay high on the track so we didn't flip or get stuck sideways. We began in low 4 wheel and everything was going well. Then as the incredibly steep slope and gravity took hold, the line Carmen too was not high enough and the vehicle started to slowly spin going perpendicular to the road. We were about to tip and then roll down this massive hill, but somehow, Carmen got his tires back in my high track and the vehicle did neither of those. We made it through the rest of the way with no problems except for him being shook up and us both realizing there was no way we'd make it back up that snowy incline. No chance whatsoever.
There was 2 routes that paralleled each other through this high valley we were in and I decided we should take the one I had not taken the other day because it seemed less difficult. I was right and it was generally easy going for the next few miles. Until we came upon another giant snow bank. Luckily, this one was a very small hill and after several attempts, we crested through.
We were getting closer and closer now. The probability for rescue was getting higher and higher every mile we got. Until we were about 0.5 miles away from the LR4 and we got a flat tire in a steep decline rock crawling section. Carmen wanted to keep charging, but I didn't want his car to get stranded when we were this close, so we put his full spare on.
So close, but so far.
Finally we arrived at my vehicle. It was 4:30PM.
The sun had set behind the mountains. It was getting cold. After I moved the vehicle from the rocky area it was to a more flat section, we began to work. We kept running into issues with soft ground and my Hi-Lift jack so he used his little under the car frame jack additionally. As he was loosening the lug nuts on one tire and I on the other, he exclaimed there was a locked nut and we needed a key to get it off. My stomach dropped. I knew of no such key in my vehicle. After rummaging through all the places it should be, no key was found. I sat down in disbelief that we had made it all this way just to fail because we were missing a key. What would I do now? I began running scenarios through my head as the cold and depression crept in.
"I got it!" Carmen yelled to me. We whooped and hollered. The nut was trash, but the thread was still ok and the wheel could come off. There was still a chance we'd make it out that night. About 45 minutes later, both wheels were set and we were ready to begin the trek out.
The Exit
We surveyed the topo together and decided to go the North route as the NW route would take us so far out of the way, we were unfoundedly going to run out of gas. Also, it was imperative we didn't get another flat tire. As we began crawling our way back slowly via the route we had come, I was taking care to get out and move any large or suspiciously sharp looking rocks to improve our chances of success. After we survived climbing back into the high valley near the peak, I felt God tugging at my heart to get out and pray with Carmen. I got out and told him I'd like to pray together and we embraced and prayed. It was an incredibly selling feeling and a new peace and calm seemed to fall you both of us after we each verbally prayer aloud. Things were looking up.
We slowly lumbered onward with a new hope and began on a dirt road I had originally not ventured on. Luckily, there was a faint track of a previous vehicle that had trekked through the snow so there was some confidence there. I also had this incredible topo / GPS app, so I knew I was on the Jeep trail I needed to be on it was 9 miles to the ranch where refuge seemed to exist. Even though we knew there was a locked gate to exit this ranch area, we figured we'd knock on someone's door and tell them the (brief) story and to please let us out.
We came to a fork and the tire tracks went left, to the far NW route. To the right was via the North route and the one we decided. I turned right and we got closer to our destination. I started to get nervous as we trundled down this snowy single track road that seemed to have been completely forgotten. As I passed an abandoned excavator and then a rusty old grader, I started to fear this incredibly steep road would lead us into a dead end. And a dead end would mean a literally dead end. The slopes of this road was so steep, there was no way we we would make it back up. The only chance was that the road went through or we'd have to abandon our vehicles for the winter and wait until next year to try and complete the road (assuming thatb was even feasible). We were driving so slowly and letting gravity pull us through. So many sections were so steep that I could only see ~15 feet ahead of me and then the road simply dropped off into oblivion. It also didn't help (or maybe it did) that we couldn't see to the bottom of the canyon that paralleled this very narrow steep road. Luckily, the road continued onward.
The entire time we were slowly trekking down this road, I was fervently praying aloud. We came upon a near right angle turn that had a third of the road washed out. I knew one tiny mistake or miscalculation of approach would be the end of me or Carmen as we'd fall into the abyss as our vehicle would be twisted and crunched into a new unsightly shape. Since there was no way back or any place to even attempt to turn around, I had to go forward. I surveyed this sharp turn and knew I had to bring the vehicle near sideways with half up the mountainside and the other half on the crumbling snowy dirt road. God took the wheel and we both made it. It was incredibly frightening after making it through watching for Carmen's lights to appear behind me. I pictured seeing a slashing blaze of light as his vehicle careened down the canyon. I also pictured from his perspective of what he might see if that was my vehicle. We came to several more of these sections and made it by. After each, we'd get out, make sure we were OK and checked our tires. Carmen brought his hands less than 6 inches apart and said I was that close to the edge and falling off. Given the freezing conditions and having God on our side, this played a key role on letting us roll through this road that shouldn't have been passable. The road began to flatten and through a muddy brook, I could see tire tracks ahead. Thank you Jesus!!! Someone had started coming up this road somewhat recently and saw how gnarly it was and turned around. I knew we were safe. Plus we were only 2 miles away from the ranch which would've been easy at this point.
We both hugged once we made it to the flat section thrilled and in shock with what we just went through.. and that we survived.
Beautiful view, but not worth dying over.
We were so close now, nothing could stop us. The road going was seriously slanted at an angle and there was a large drop off nearby, which sounded like a brook was below. As I went high through this section, my vehicle almost tipped, but I gave it more gas and charged it through banging some good size chart on my passenger side. It's not a Land Rover if it's not scratched I've been told. I got out per usual to explain to Carmen the obstacle and somehow upon backing up, he got another flat tire. No joke. We were now almost to the exit from the madness and we had to abandon his vehicle. He grabbed his essentials and we pushed forward.
As we were driving through this strange ranch of dilapidated and forgotten buildings, a car came driving up the road and we flagged them down. After a brief discussion, the kid who was on his way home, said he'd get his truck and let us out. He did come back in his truck, but with a seriously pissed off Dad who looked like the epitome of a rancher from any Hollywood film. Big cowboy hat, wide busy mustache, spit and tobacco flying as he cursed us trying to figure out what we were up to on his property. It was 10:30PM and they are out in the middle of nowhere. I could easily understand his frustration, but it took some time to calm him down and tell him the story. I went to climb a mountain on Saturday, got two flat tires, hiked out Sunday, and now we just rescued my vehicle, but we had to abandon the rescue vehicle as it now had two flat tires. He didn't fully believe it and took photos of all our information. Finally, after some time and discussion they said they'd let us out.
Freedom
We made it! The gate closed behind us as we traveled back to reservation land to meet up Carmen's brother who lived nearby. We sat in silence going over the crazy day we just had. After dropping him off at his brother's and saying goodbye, I couldn't believe I was driving on my way home. The entire drive felt like a dream. So many events had taken place. Multiple times I thought we were going to die. God continually answered prayers and brought us through. The entire experience left me speechless.
I dropped my vehicle off at the Land Rover specialist and was on a flight to Silicon Valley that Tuesday afternoon. Still in shock. It's been a few weeks and the experience still had me in a strange feeling and sensation of shock.
I met up with Carmen the other day and he had no issues getting his vehicle back. Apparently there was an easier way simply through a field, so he had no chance of tipping. Needled to say, a new friendship was forged in these extraordinary circumstances. Carmen said he never did anything like that and hopes to never have a rescue like that's again.
Carmen, the legend.