Black Rocking with Friends of Nevada Wilderness Part 1: Burnt Springs

Morning at Burnt Spring, looking toward the west.

I've had the chance twice this summer to go out into the Black Rock Mountains with the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and both times to part of the range that i had never been to before. These are some of my favorite mountains in the world, partly at least due to the distinctive humped nature of the mountains range's peaks, and partly just because, well, it's awesome! There's no way I can cover both adventures in one post (even each adventure in one post is going to be tough). So here's the run-down on our Burnt Springs weekend fixing and enclosure to keep out livestock and wild horses to protect a sensitive spring.

Battle Creek Ranch, Pinto Mountain, the playa, and the Jackson Mountains from the road to Burnt Spring.

The north end of The Pillars.

We left Reno at about noon or so on Friday and all went smooth, we met the BLM representative, Sandy, at the turn off for Leonard Creek Road (to get to this site we drove right through the ranch) and then drove past the ranch and turned into the mountains near the place that I call The Pillars (sometime I'll have to post a blog about hiking among the cliffs and even (!) waterfalls in there), and headed into the mountains.

It was a lot farther into the mountains than we thought, probably about three hours of continuous 4-wheeling to get to the springs, which were on a ridge top looking almost into Paiute Canyon. It was really cool though because we drove past a cabin and the basin in the upper reaches of Battle Creek that I had never been past before too, so it was a lot of new country in a mountain range that I thought I knew pretty well.

We ended up setting up camp nearly at dusk, just in time for the desert light show and a great lightning storm off the south, which luckily didn't pass us as we were camped right on the ridge top. But it made for a great light show.

In the morning we made quick work of repairing the exclosure fence and removing trash from the previous barbed wire fence and then we had the whole afternoon to wander. Renee and I hiked out on the tablelands toward Paiute Canyon, which was really cool because I wanted to get some perspective on the canyon, which I had ridden my bike through before (and driven through with my parents as a kid, but I don't really remember that. The views were incredible, although it was hot, and we were pretty happy to get back to the shade.

The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting, reading, writing, until a great dinner. The next morning we were visited by the rancher in his helicopter, who was looking for Sandy, but she had already gone. He wasn't overly friendly, but was nice enough. He apparently had been a crop duster in California before moving out here, hence the helicopter. Then it was back to Reno. Thanks Renee and FNW for a great weekend!

Last light the first night at camp.

Renee directing the set up of camp.

Early morning light.

Amazing sky our first morning in camp

We did do some work, as much as it might not look like it from the rest of my pictures!

Looking toward Paiute Canyon and Peak.

Hiking across the tablelands.

Rims and tables.

Canyon leading toward Paiute Canyon and the playa.

Rimrocks.

Breaks of Paiute Canyon and Peak in the background.

Evening sky second night in camp.

Evening panorama.

Passing through Battle Creek canyon on the way out we had a curious saddle horse checking us out at the cabin.

Rims above Battle Creek Canyon.