Is it Dark Sky’s or Dark Skies? At the start of the trip we still didn’t have a name for the route. Doug liked Dark Sky’s( or Skies?). I chose Dark Sky’s because I wanted it to say the route belongs to the Dark Sky. One may assume the route offers a lot of dark skies, and it does, but I wanted to give the name a twist. The night owns the terrain.

How do you tell a story about 15 days, 570 miles, and 36,000’ of climbing and descending a dozen mountain ranges, crossing at least as many valleys, and rural communities? I did take some daily shorthand to remind me of the trip’s details. The details include sandy, dusty roads, steep rocky hike-a-bikes, heat, wind, flies… I’m not selling it. Why do the negative details standout? The challenges slow you down, the slower you go, the more time you have to contemplate the why. The slowing conditions stick with you better than that quick zip down that smooth road. But the trip was fantastic, no challenges were so monumental that we were tempted to throw our bikes off a cliff or sit by the road and have a good cry or even get snippy with each other. Short of that, the trip was outstanding, a well planned route, full of pleasant and shocking surprises!

Doug Artman invited me to join him on this route he had been working on. Last October we rode his route Sagebrush Ripple, 370 miles in the middle of Nevada. This route continues east from where we left off. The smoothness of the route is a testament to Doug’s diligence to the study of maps.

Eureka – Preston/Lund Days 1-6 We drove past the start of the route, into Eureka, to have our pre-trip meal at the Owl Club. I have driven past the OC in the daylight, middle of the night, and in a snowstorm with the snow piled high on Eureka’s main street. The OC always looked inviting. With a full belly we camped at the start of the route, the county gravel pit. We climbed Yahoo Canyon and I always have this feeling of commitment at the beginning of a trip, here we go! The Mahogany Hills and Mountain Boy Range could be a spot to ride on its own. This is a repeated sentiment with each major mountain range we passed. The dusty run through Antelope Valley was punctuated with pronghorn antelope. We easily filtered water at Segura Ranch before climbing into the Antelope Range. We then made the long descent through Little Fish Lake Valley before entering Box Canyon, now in the Hot Creek Range. We spent 3 days in the Hot Creek Range on this trip, one day on the Sagebrush Ripple route, so it’s no wonder Doug claims the HCR as his favorite.

We climbed Kiln Canyon, about  1.5 miles and 1.5 hours of hike-a-bike, 800+’ of climbing up to 20% grade. Steep, rocky, and loose – again I’m not selling it. But the views were outstanding! Crossing the range, the descent into Tybo was a wild ride. Our expectation of water in Tybo Creek was a disappointment, but I recorded water in the creek the year before. The mostly ghost town of Tybo is worth a visit. Our next climb was Sixmile Canyon. It is a beautiful canyon with several kiln sites. It is washed out from years of snowmelt floods but it is ideal for adventure bike travel. There is abundant water that holds brook trout. But it gets steep and loose. In less than 6 miles we climbed over 2000’ with significant hike-a-bike. It took about three hours and really put a dent in our daily mileage goals. But I would do it again, and I might even checkout some some of the side roads. Doug wanted to climb Morey Peak (10,246’) but with so much of the route ahead we decided it would be prudent to skip. The colors in the aspens at the pass were fantastic. Fall colors were an added bonus to the trip. The descent of Six Mile Canyon North was a wilder than our cognitive maps had imagined. Sandy wash crossings mixed with distracting views and the challenges of fully loaded bikes made for full senses (full contact?) descent.

Popping out of the range we made a slight excursion to the petroglyph site near Moore’s Station. We passed it up on the Sagebrush Ripple but I am glad we included it in the Dark Sky’s. Next stop was Pritchard’s Station which seems to have consistent water. Then it was the grand traverse of the Sand Springs Wash to the Duckwater Indian Reservation then Railroad Valley to Currant, between the Grant and Horse Ranges and across the White River Valley into Lund/Preston.

Lund could have been a resupply point, but COVID took out the the small store in that community. Luckily there is an All-In-One truck stop in Preston. It has a motel, RV park, c well stocked convenience store, showers, and restaurant. We took full advantage of the motel, convenience store and restaurant. It felt good to support a business that supports travelers and had everything we needed.

Preston-Cave Lake-Schell Creek Range-Ely-Preston Days 7-11 Leaving Preston took us through the Egan Range via Sawmill Canyon. This was our first major climb without a hike-a-bike. What a joy! The road is well maintained. The canyon is being developed into Nevada’s next sport climbing destination. Then we dropped over into the Steptoe Valley via the Lone Pine Swale. We made our way into Cave Lake State Park to the Elk Flat Campground. The Egan Range was a marked change in geology and flora the pinyon-juniper forests are being replaced by white pine and mahogany and the granitics were replaced by limestone. That became even more pronounced as we traveled through the Schell Creek Range. Then we had a re-route decision to make, there was a storm on the horizon, potential snow storm around the time we were scheduled to cross the 9000’ pass at Kalamazoo. So rather than continuing to the Utah’s Snake Valley we turned north through Spring Valley on the eastern shoulder of the Schell Creek Range. Day 9 began with a 3000’ climb up Kalamazoo Canyon but we were rewarded with the most spectacular climb of the trip when comparing fall colors. And mountain lion tracks. In anticipation of the storm and taking advantage of Ely’s hospitality we spent 2 nights at the Four Sevens Motel and enjoyed two dinners at Racks Bar and Grill, and rested a full 36 hours off the bike. We left Ely under heavy skies and a biting wind. The freezing temperatures and snow on the ground were such contrast to some of the hottest sweatiest climbs I could remember just days earlier. At this point the route looped back on itself at Preston. We arrived with a tailwind but we were expecting to leave turning into the headwind. I suggested we stay the night and let the wind speeds drop from 20-30 mph to 5-10 mph. No shame, the 16 mile route out of Preston was much more enjoyable.

Preston-Shermantown-Fish Creek Valley-Antelope Valley Days 12-15 I was mesmerized by the White Pine Range from a distance, but then we were in it for almost 40 miles. These 40 miles included active rural ranches, Washburn’s Stagecoach ruins, the ghost towns Eberhardt and Shermantown, and Cathedral Canyon. While it sounds extraordinary, and it is, it was not exceptional – this is how the entire route stacked up. Leaving the White Pine Range, the Green Springs Ranch and Reservoir was a real oasis. We traversed the Pancake Range and Antelope Valley and again our cognitive map was predicting a boring traverse. Not so, every turn tempted stopping to take photos. Last campsites, last climbs, last surprises. The trip was coming to an end. Just as every trip inspires the next adventure each day of this trip inspires adventures to come.

By the numbers Doug’s route on Ride with GPS is 630 miles with 37500’ of climbing. With our re-route we rode 567 miles with 35400’ of climbing. It checks off all of the boxes as an all-in-one Basin and Range Route. There is great flora and fauna. The diverse geology of the Great Basin is represented. There is reliable water. The route links a variety of rural communities past and present. There is both extreme solitude as well as complete resupply. Because the route loops back on itself there are plenty of ways to customize the route or have an emergency bail-out. These were all goals of Doug’s as he built the route.

So what is next? I propose combining the Sagebrush Ripple and Dark Sky’s Routes. And because we have already had a great overnight between Middlegate and Berlin-Ichthyasaur State Park I re-drew the route to remove as much of the Gabbs Highway as I could to round out the route. The Dark Sky’s Ripple is a little over 1000 miles with 61000’ of climbing. I hope to set aside the time next October to ride this.

What we rode, what we carried The kit has become fairly standard. I did weigh a few options when packing for this trip. I chose my Patagonia ½ sleeping bag and Down Sweater over other quilt and puffy jacket options. I chose my OR bivey sack over my tent or tarp tent. I made some weight weenie choices regarding stuff sacks and ditty bags, first aid kit, and bike repair kit (included them of course, but what do I really need?). Clothing wise I really like my KUHL tops and bottoms for function and fashion. I wore my Merrell Moab waterproof shoes for the cooler temperatures and the waterproof  membrane keeps the grit out. They have been great shoulder season shoes. I rode my Falconer B+ with a traditional set of bike bags from Nuke Sunrise Bike Bags.

Doug rode his Binary Cycles Ti Kinetic and carried his standard kit but was trying out the Firemaple Stove and Big Sky Soul tent. Both got good to great, but not perfect reviews from Doug. His reviews are solid, with realistic expectations and honest opinions. Check out his blog for route reports, tips and tricks, and reviews along the way.

The Rant There is always a rant or two on a long ride. What did we talk about? Zippers. How do we keep zippers going, especially those used in light weight gear? If zippers are a known chronic problem the industry needs a solution. Otherwise it contributes to our disposable/throw away society and runaway consumerism. We also talked about how do we get more people into bikepacking, or keep them bikepacking, or what do people really want in an organized trip? With 15 days together we had plenty of time to get nowhere with these questions.