May 3-5, 2024 Sasha Magee contacted me with a couple of spring dates for a 3 day bike tour. He came out for my 2022 Rides with Friends tour through Fly Canyon. One piece of feedback he gave was it would be nice to have a longer tour for driving out from San Francisco. I agree completely. Spring weather can be so unsettled I suggested the later May 3^rd date. Next was choosing a location, the Sierras are still covered in snow, low points in the valleys are wet with sticky mud. Not far from Reno/Carson City, the Walker River area seemed possible. It is about 100+ miles to circle the East Walker River on mostly dirt roads. I tweaked the route to include rides I covered and stretched it west to include the base of the Sweetwater Range and Desert Creek. From a distance it is a wide loop around the Pine Grove Hills.

The highlights of the route include Wilson Canyon and the history of copper mining in the Singaste Range and the Copperbelt Railroad. The ranches of the Walker River State Recreation Area (Nevada State Parks) are opening to the public. The historic Wilson-Cambridge Mining District is a reward for crossing the Cambridge Hills. There is rumored (only because I hadn’t ridden to it) a great hot spring by the river. At the south end of the park is the famous Elbow fishing section. Then crossing over to the Sweetwater Range you are below Mt Patterson (11,673’). There are no shortage of high peaks in the area, the three Sister Peaks (South, Middle and East) all above 10,000′ just to the north of Mt Patterson and Mt. Grant in the Wassuk Range (11,239’). Then there is the beauty of Desert Creek, still a favorite. Water wasn’t going to be a problem on this route.

Sasha and I rolled out through Wilson Canyon. It is the start of RV season but everyone was sharing the road nicely. We rode along the West Fork of the Walker River before cutting across the southern end of Mason Valley. We crossed the East Fork of the Walker River just south of the confluence and left the pavement behind. We met up with Marc at the Pitch Fork Ranch Visitor’s Center of the Walker River State Recreation Area, Nevada State Parks. I highly recommend stopping in at the Visitors Center and getting recommendations and current conditions from the staff.

I first led a ride through here in September 2019, Ride Your Park, as a part of Adventure Cycling’s member organized rides. A huge shout out to the park staff who work so hard to create a great visitor experience. The developed campsites, trails, water trail, and huge aspirations for the properties will be a gem for all to use. The 2019 ride was about 100 miles as an out-n-back between the Pitch Fork Ranch and Bighorn Campground.

We rode past Rafter 7 and the Flying M ranches. The ranches were deeded to Walker Basin Conservancy who then transferred them to the State Parks. The Walker Basin Conservancy has done so much to watchdog for the sake of conservation. As a result of their efforts along with favorable meteorology, the level of Walker Lake has risen 20’. As a metric this has positive consequences for wildlands upstream. Check out their organization and the opportunities they offer to get involved.

We camped on BLM land between Mitchell Spring and (dry) Rattlesnake Creek. It was a 44 mile day with 2200’ of climbing. We climbed over the Cambridge Hills at the Cambridge Mine site. We were at the southern end of the Ping Grove Flat before we started a gradual climb to an elevated bridge between the Wassuk Range, Boddie Hills and Pine Grove Hills. We were watching the clouds and weather. So far the conditions were ideal.

Camp that night was peaceful, only a light breeze, clear skies. Marc was under his DIY tarp. Sasha was in his Big Agnes, Fly Creek. I brought my OR Helium hooped bivy.

We woke to the weather change we were warned about. High winds and bands of dark clouds, and a blanket of low clouds over the Sweetwater Range. But there were bars of blue sky as well. And often we were riding under blue skies.

This section of the route is the furthest from the East Walker River and climbs onto the eroded apron of the Wassuk Range. After 6 and a half miles of battling a crosswind/headwind and speculating when it will become a tailwind, we turned off to descend to the river canyon to visit the Walker Hot Springs. The descent was wild! Steep, lose, and twisty. The 4.5 mile road has a max grade of +/- 20% and a drop of 1,150’. But gorgeous! I can’t believe I haven’t heard anyone talk about this section of the river canyon. I hope I can plan a packraft descent of this portion.

Clearly people use this area. I am not an avid hot springer, but this was the most developed and well tended spring I have come to. I dubbed it the “eye of the lizard”. I would like to return and spend a day exploring the mining ruins in the area and to the north. The ride/hike-a-bike out seemed tedious but looking at the stats it wasn’t so bad.

The next section returns to Forest Service and State Park lands. There is a descent down a canyon wash that makes me think, this is where the mountain lions attack. How the mind wanders. Then you are in the river bottom with grand cottonwoods and lazy cows. We had a creek crossing, Rough Creek, that was running fast and cold, I mean refreshing! It was great cruising through the Elbow and Bighorn Campground. The area is well appreciated and used. We climbed above the State Park and exited along a stretch of the Carson River that is famous for its trout fishing.

Now we were on a six mile stretch of paved NV 338, Sweetwater Rd. I couldn’t find an alternative. There is too much private land breaking up Sweetwater Flat and the Pine Grove Hills don’t a dirt road along their base (but there are some great roads into the Pine Groves further north). We eventually crossed Sweetwater Flat and climbed into a cold wet storm.

The plan for the day was to get to Rissue Rd then climb to Desert Creek. It would have been at about the same elevation as where we decided to stop, but it seemed much wetter and potentially cooler in the canyon. So we pulled into the trees to find shelter from the wind and made camp. Pinyon pines offer moderate shelter. The wind was reduced and there were odd patterns of snow fall. We were at our temperature comfort limit as the temps dropped into the low to mid 20’s. I tried the ol’ hot water in a Nalgene trick. It offered some novel warmth but I am not sure it was worth the effort in this case.

Day 3 was originally planned to be a descent of Desert Creek, but with the low temperatures combined with numerous creek crossings, we decided to exit Rissue Rd to NV 338. That was a 12.5 mile descent through a beautiful Dalzell Canyon. A dirt alternative to the first 5 miles of pavement would be Garden Canyon. We we super impressed by the geology so now Garden Canyon has moved up on my list of roads to explore. We were cold on the descent. It was great to exit the pavement to cross Smith Valley low on the apron of the Pine Grove Hills. We were on the Hudson-Aurora Stagecoach route then turned onto Alluvial Plain Rd (FS 774). This took us across a meditative stretch of sagebrush (isn’t it all, really?) before it dropped us back into Wilson Canyon.

Our post-trip meal was at Rosie’s in Wellington. We were on the cusp of the breakfast to lunch switch in the kitchen so we had the whole menu to choose from.

By the numbers: Day 1,  44 miles, 2160’ of climbing. Day 2, 42 miles, 4960’ of climbing. Day 3 26 miles, 179’ of climbing (2,590’ of descending!) Totals: 112 miles, 7300’ of climbing. The route as proposed, Walker 100, is 108 miles with 7500’ of climbing. I highly recommend the route. It will inspire future routes in the area.

What I carried: My summer kit is pretty well set. I rode the Falconer, rolling on new Schwalbe Knobby Nics 27.5 X 2.8, Super Trail (durable = heavy), EVO (latest tech and materials = $, but what isn’t $$). The tire is a little beefier than I would prefer, but I like the volume and I think Schwalbe produces a quality product. I carried my OR Helium Bivy for light weight shelter. It is hooped, so like the smallest awkward light tent you can imagine. I think I can embrace bivy camping. The Sea to Summit 50^o synthetic quilt is perfect for my fair weather trips. Two new clothing items made it into my kit, Ketl’s Vent Lightweight Pants and Paka’s long sleeve baselayer. I also wore the Patagonia R1 fleece pullover. My REI lightweight rain jacket did its job on day 2. Everything else, sleeping pad, kitchen, food, water, first aid, and electronics are all pretty much the same.