Mordor v4.0 MAY 9th 2019 Golden Spike National Monument

[Wolffarmer]

Update April 7th. We are starting May 9th in Snowville Utah meet there 2pm at the Sinclar station. Been a number of changes. Be ready for a tail that is generally smooth but some deep dips into washes. We have at least one vehicle ticket to the May 10th anniversary celebration at Golden Spike and one for the 11th. We will figure it out. First night I am planning to camp about Locomotive spring south of Snowville.

Up for another one of, what ever these are?

I have three ideas. That I can share anyway.

One is to go to the Baker Indian Caves and Wood Road Kipuka. Not to far from Minidoka Idaho. Three days and two nights would be good for this. Thinking of setting up Base Camp near the Wood Road. That is a decent hike, about 6 miles all to gather, no great elevation changes.

The Baker Caves is not very far into the lavas but not a great place to camp.

Idea #2 is to do the old Transcontinental Rail Road from Lucin Utah to Golden Spike. Next year will be the 150 anniversary of the joining of the rails on May 10th 1869. There will be a bunch of to do at the Headquarters on May 10th but that is a Friday. Meet there and head west to Lucin? Could make a slow boat to China trip to Lucin 4 days and 3 nights. Can hit a bit of the salt flats but to early to drive on them and camp on them. In my opinion. I have driven and camped on them in October. May would probably be to wet. For this I would say to leave the trailers home and tent/tarp/sleep in the open. Lots of places would be hard to drag trailers through. Special for 69 year old fatties.

Or #3. Camp for a couple of days at the City of Rocks at Almo. A nice relaxing place to kick back and watch people climbing rocks. Need to think ahead for this as will have to get reservations. And need to know how many can commit to paying even if their plans change. I like sights 36,37, 39.

Thoughts?

Randy

MAJOR EDIT Feb 13th 2019 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OKAY finally decided it will be May 10th 2019 starting at Golden Spike National Monument, Utah and then we will drive west on the rail bed. Weather permitting. The 150th Anniversary of Joining of the Rails is that day and they will put on a show and both engines will be running. The celebrations start 9 am but don't worry if you are not right there at that time. They last until 5pm. The engines are a great photographic opportunity.

I may or may not have my trailer but we will figure out how to find each other in the crowd.

About fivish we will head west for a few hours for the first camp. Next day should make it almost to Lucin Utah and 2nd camp. 3rd day to Lucin, Maybe the Sun Tunnels. Have plenty of gas. Pretty sure there is no gas in Park Valley. Montelo Nevada might have gas. Bring shovels and towing equipment. ATV ramps might be handy.

If you can get a copy of Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like it in the World" be a good read explaining some of what we will see. I have a copy can mail it someone.

Salt flats will probably be to wet to drive on.

Randy

[tony.latham]

Baker Caves?

Jeez, Randy, I had to Google that up.

https://tig.iri.isu.edu/ViewPage.aspx?id=647

How those old folks negotiated the lava fields via moccasins will remain a mystery. At least to me.



Tony

[ghcoe]

All three sound like a good trip. Love the City of Rocks. Been meaning to get back for a few years now.

[robfisher]

It all sounds pretty good. I think I would vote for #2 or #3 before #1. But my dismal record of getting to these doesn't warrant me even having a vote.

[Wolffarmer]

Any ideas about the timing? I am house/livestock setting sometime in July.

[ghcoe]

Memorial, 4 th of July, August is taken up for me already. September was nice in the desert not sure about the City of Rocks though.

[Wolffarmer]

Sep at the City of Rocks would still be nice weather and crowds would start to thin out.

[Jen123]

Can anyone go? If newbies can come, I'd like to. My trailer will be done by April. I'm game for anyplace the trailer can go.

What does Mordor mean?

[Wolffarmer]

Any one can go. Open to all. Do not even need a trailer. A good sense of humor often comes in handy

Mordor is the volcanic waste lands in the Lord of the Rings books.

[Jen123]

Great. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

[capnTelescope]

I like option 2 best. The Golden Spike side trip is in my "saved for later" pile. I blew by that on my way to City of Rocks and the original Mordor Mudbog.

Close second best: Option 1. I can do Golden Spike on the way to/from.

For me, City of Rocks was a really nice stopover after a long drive, but not a destination for me. I don't rock climb or otherwise defy gravity if at all possible.

When? It would be nice (for me, at least) if Mordor 4 were to be close to the date of WTW (if any) to squeeze them both into one trip.

All that said, I'll go when/where the crowd goes.

[Wolfgang92025]

Has Slow or Sagebrush set a date for Walk the Winds 2019?
Not finding anything on my search.

[Photophobic]

i think everyone should come north
i'm not too sure what my plans will be, i'm planning a trip to colorado so will probably plan that around either this or walk the winds.

[ghcoe]

I have been thinking since this is called Mordor it should stay in the same general area. If a gathering is planned for a different area then a new name should be applied to it. If you know a good base camp around the Wood Road, I think that would be a cool spot to camp. Just my opinion of course. George.

[Wolffarmer]

I have been thinking since this is called Mordor it should stay in the same general area. If a gathering is planned for a different area then a new name should be applied to it. If you know a good base camp around the Wood Road, I think that would be a cool spot to camp. Just my opinion of course. George.

Good point, and one I been mulling over. Mordor and area was a vast waste land so I could call the salt desert of the Great Salt Lake Mordorish. This May 10th they ware having a celebration for the 150th anniversary of the joining of the rails. 9am-5pm. I was there in 2009 for the 140th that happened to fall on Mothers Day Sunday. Meet there and head west on the RR grade.

A little iffy on road conditions that early but they are often dry by then, unless it rains, {Mordor v 1.0}. I was out there one year when many many flush toilets was delivered during the night. Where I was the roads where basically gravel and I did not have trouble driving on them. Big problem would be where we have to go through draws that might be wet or freshly washed out. It has been at least 10 years since I can remember driving though some. Last time I had my trailer out there about 2014 was with a small SUV. I did not have any problems but it did have a transfer case, something my Subaru does not have and that might make it bad, I do have other things to bring or tent it.

It could easily be an adventure or not at all if rains, I kind of think the bad draws are on the western 1/3 of the route. I would advise to not even try to drive on the salt that early. I have twice but it was in Oct.

So what do you all think? There are many places to camp at the wood road and they are not far at all from civilization. Early June is usually good weather, rarely heavy rain, or days on end. Or do the RR thing later and miss the crowd at the Monument. They run the engines daily except for boiler wash out days.