The Long and Lonesome Road

January 31, 2009 was one of the more challenging days of my life. It started out perfectly with a pre-dawn drive up to Pyramid Lake in Nevada. I caught the first glimpses of sunlight coming across the southeast side of the lake which made for some nice images. Then, I decided to drive north up NV route 447 to find and photograph the Black Rock Desert, site of the annual Burning Man festival as well as the place where folks do things like break land speed records.

The desert and much of the surrounding mountainous wilderness is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is accessed by heading on Rt 34 north of Gerlach, NV. There are several access points to the desert playa off of Rt. 34 (which is flat cracked dirt that’s fun to drive on). Before hitting Gerlach, there is a small town called Empire, NV — there’s a store and a closed up gas station there. The sign on the station reads “Welcome to Nowhere“. This was an omen. After visiting and photographing the playa, I decided to head north on Rt 34 to county road 200 (Soldier Meadows Road) and head up to Soldier Meadows Ranch and Lodge where the BLM map indicated was a restaurant/place to eat.

Thus began a trek of 50 miles on a dirt road to the ranch. I passed some of the most amazing landscapes I’ve ever scene. A truly beautiful drive. So, I arrived at the ranch at about 10 minutes past noon, only to find nobody around except a couple of cute dogs. I was getting pretty hungry and the diet coke from breakfast (6 hours previous) was about empty. After examining the BLM map, I decided my best bet was to head north on Soldier Meadows Road and pick up Summit Lake Road over to NV Route 140 past Summit Lake. From there, I could head down Rt 140 to I-80 where there would definitely be food.

About 10 miles past the ranch the road started getting a little hairy. This was now a muddy dirt road that was starting to show signs of snow, especially as I increased elevation (not indicated on my map). I was driving a two wheel drive (front wheel) rental car and was starting to get worried. As I was driving, I decided to keep momentum until there was a place where I could turn around and then follow my tracks back. Five white-knuckled miles later, the snow started to get deeper and I ended up getting stuck in a rut that a previous vehicle had left in the snow. Not one of my more brilliant moments.

It was 1PM and I was now screwed. I was on the Summit Lake Indian Reservation and there was nothing around me except sagebrush, snow, and mountains for as far as I could see. I tried to push the car out of the snow, no luck. Then I tried to put the floor mats under the stuck tires. No luck. I then tried to dig out the part of the car that was stuck on the snow… nope. I used the car’s jack to lift it up and put more dirt/snow under the tires and then the floor mats and further clear snow… same outcome. In the meantime, when I needed a rest break from digging, I would honk the horn of the car for a while in hopes that somebody could hear me and maybe even help me out. Thankfully, during the day the temperature was in the 40s and despite having to work in the snow, I was staying warm. About 2 hours had passed and I needed to make a decision. My options were keep working on the car and hope I could clear it out by sundown or to start hiking back to the lodge I passed earlier. If I stayed with the car and was unable to free it, I would be spending the night in the wilderness with no food, no water, and the only shelter being my car. Option B required hiking 15 miles through less than easy terrain (even on the road).

I decided that I would hike to the lodge and hope that someone there could help me. Before leaving my car, I moved my valuables into the trunk, including all of my camera gear (except for the Canon G9 which took this blog photo) and wrote a note that I placed on the dashboard. The note gave my name, the phone number of the people I was staying with in Lake Tahoe, and the direction I was headed. Before I left that morning, the very kind folks that I was staying with in Lake Tahoe loaned me a pair of snow shoes and poles in case I needed them while out exploring. Boy did I need them. I also brought along my winter coat, sock hat, gloves, map, iPhone (which didn’t work because the nearest cell tower was 140 miles away but did have a very useful feature: built in GPS), G9, Canon 580ex flash with extra AA batteries (to signal at night if need be).

Thus began one of the toughest journeys of my life.

For the first couple of miles, I kept wondering to myself “Am I doing the right thing?,” “Did I make the right decision?” I’ve seen several survival stories on tv where people were in similar situations and left their car and ended up in a world of hurt. I’ve also seen several tv shows (aka Surviorman and Man vs. Wild) where the key to survival is finding a road (check) and heading towards civilization. I knew exactly where I was in the world and exactly how far I had to go. I’ve run 40 miles before (2003) and many many runs in the 10-15 mile range when I was in HS and college. The gamble of finding help/shelter at the ranch was easily offset by the very real prospect of spending the night in 10 degree weather in the middle of nowhere.

About 4:30PM clouds started rolling in and blocking the sun. The temperature also started to drop a bit and my winter coat and sock hat were welcome companions. Just before dark, I cleared the snowy portion of my hike and was now on dirt, mud, and rocks with the snow shoes hanging on ski poles, off my back, hobo style. I started getting pretty thirsty, and knowing that I was probably dehydrated before I left, I seriously considered eating some snow. I decided against it and put my mind towards the next landmark that I remembered ahead of me (a random wrecked old car in the middle of the sagebrush).

Every 30 minutes or so, I’d fire up my iPhone and check my progress via the GPS app that I installed. I had the rough coordinates of the ranch stored because of the historical marker that was out front (a major project of mine is to photograph and document GPS coordinates of historical markers across the country). When I got to approximately 11 miles traveled on my hike (about 4 miles to go), I came across the BLM boundary sign (photo taken in the day on my way out) and shortly thereafter saw a light shining in the distance. I knew this was the ranch and that really lifted my spirits.

The clouds in the photo above eventually created a very nice pink, purple, and blue sunset. The temperature was dropping noticeably and I buttoned up my coat, put on my hood and started a mini-jog to stay warm. Thankfully, shortly after sunset, the clouds cleared and there was a crescent moon that provided a decent amount of light — enough so that I could see a couple of feet in front of me. I have never seen the stars with such clarity as I did that night. I fully appreciated just how much light pollution is effecting the night sky — even in “remote” areas back home in Virginia, one could not see the stars as well as I did out in the Nevada wilderness.

As I neared the lodge, previously dull pain in my feet began to really get my attention. I stopped, took off my boots, found my blood soaked socks, put the boots back on and really tightened the laces and kept moving forward, albeit at a much slower and hobbled pace. Finally, I approached the outer fence of the Soldier Meadows Lodge and knew it wouldn’t be long. Lights were on in the various buildings which was a good sign. About 1/2 a mile down the road, I came across the historical marker I photographed earlier in the day, and then had about another mile to walk to the entrance and down the long driveway to the buildings. As I approached, I saw several people on a porch smoking cigarettes and laughing.

This is where I met the ranch crew — they were surprised to see me and immediately took me inside. The folks that live and work on the ranch are some of the nicest people I have ever come across. Without any questions, they took me in, got me warm, gave me water, and later a wonderful dinner (steak, potatoes, salad, pasta), gave me a change of clothes while they washed my filthy and wet clothes that I came in with, a warm shower, and gave me a very comfortable and warm place to spend the night. I was happy to pay their lodging rate for the evening — their prices were very reasonable (at that point I would’ve given an arm and a leg for the treatment they gave me). I woke up to clean clothes, a wonderful breakfast and a ride back to my car from one of the ranch workers, a 24 year-old Minnesotan named Thon.

It took a good while to get back to my car, and as we drove in the 4-wheel drive pick up, I kept thinking to myself, “what a stupid idea it was to keep driving on this road.” We finally reached my car, and hooked the body up to the back of his truck and he easily pulled me out. I turned around and headed back down the road — thankfully without further event. Interestingly enough, looking at the Soldier Meadows website, the lodge was due to be closed for all of February 2009. Good thing I got there before midnight on the 31st of January! (The folks were so nice, that I’m sure they’d still help me out even if the lodge was closed).

The lessons learned through this ordeal are pretty obvious. I really screwed up in the preparation part of things — which I normally don’t do, and hopefully won’t ever do again. That said, I’m thankful that I was able to come up with a plan to get out and that I was able to fully execute it. My legs and feet will remind me for the next several days of each of the 15 miles I hiked, but I’d like to think that I’m hopefully a little wiser for the experience. I certainly intend to head back out to Soldier Meadows later in my life — this time with a plan, supplies, 4-wheel drive, and better weather.

Gallery of photographs from my trip to Nevada