There are three Lahontan Cutthroat Trout waters that qualify for the Western Native Trout Challenge within 100 miles of Elko Nevada. The closest is Pearl Creek, about 40 miles away. The middle target is Gance Creek, about 50 miles away, and the furthest “close” creek is Mary’s River, about 90 miles away.
Gance Creek ends with an unmaintained road so that is out of the question. Pearl Creek is the best choice for now and I headed out enthusiastically knowing that I only had to drive 6 miles on a National Forest road. Well, Google Maps took me to a beautiful little farm, with a closed gate, and a corgi barking at me. I turned around as this definitely wasn’t NF-117.
As I turned around Google Maps gave me an alternate route heading out on a wide dirt road that had a 45 mph speed limit, although the road was too choppy for my van to travel at that speed without rattling totally apart. After ten miles or so, I ran into a fork in the road, so I stopped in the middle of the road to check my phone. Shocked, I heard a beep behind me to find a white, double decker bus, with no windows, right on my bumper. I pulled out of the way and the bus headed out at 45 mph. I read the writing on the back of the bus and it was something to the effect of “blah blah blah Corporate Transport”. So, a windowless corporate transport bus was traveling a dirt road 30 miles from Elko? Was I near an Area 51 type black site? Really weird.
I made it to the NF-117 Pearl Creek fork and was very disappointed. I did not dare to take a one-track road 6 miles into the hills with no way to get turn around. Arrgghh 1. I should have just gone to Mary’s river as I planned. 40+ miles back to Elko, a refueling, and then off to the path to Jarbidge only to take a fork in the road on the Deeth road towards Mary River.
The best Choice: Mary’s River? 52 miles on a paved highway, 20 miles on a dirt road, 10 miles on the Deeth fork dirt road, and then 10 miles on a National Forest Road to Mary’s River to catch a Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Yay. The Mary’s River road turned out to be okay for the first couple of miles. Then washed out sides of the road gulches, deep enough to bottom out my chassis were becoming way to common for my nerves. Traveling 5 to 10 mph max, stopping and determining the best choice to ride over gulches without sliding into them was getting really stressful. If I got stuck, I was 80+ miles from Elko, 35 miles on dirt roads, with no shovel or cell service. An emergency call and extraction would be super expensive.
I had one slide out and almost got stuck about 7 miles along the forest road. At 8 miles I came upon a hill that was so eroded that I did not think a 4 wheel drive could make it up without an expert driver with a crew. I was also, apparently unable to turn around as there was a gulch / trench just off my right rear wheel.
I set the van in reverse and backed straight out, missing the gulch until I hit a gulchless flat section about 40 feet behind me. Conducting a 32-point turn and smashing both ends of my van into foliage, I made a 180 degree turnabout and only had 80+ miles to backtrack back to Elko.
About 100 yards heading out, my van slid off a high point and into a trench. I could not get out as my left rear tire just happily spun instead of grabbing traction and freedom. Planning to spend the night here, and calling out in the morning (it was dark night by now), I moved the gears towards park and when in neutral the van started rolling backward. Luckily I was shocked and didn’t put it into park and allowed the van to roll back about 5 feet, still in the trench. Gritting my teeth I gunned the van forward and crunched the bottom of my van greatly, but I escaped. Hopefully I could limp back before any leaks in the fuel lines or brake lines stranded me a second time.
So, how could limping back, in first gear, bring a bright spot into this long, aggravating experience. The road out reminded me of my two years at the Audubon Starr Ranch where I conducted my Master’s research on Western Screech Owls in southern California. During my drive back, owls flew from the bushes and rabbits ran down the road and I felt a kind of nostalgia as I concentrated on not getting stranded on the road.
And then, I stopped as I saw a toad hopping across the road. As the “toad” hopped into the bushes, I though I saw a very long tail attached to the “toad”. My gosh, I thought I saw a Kangaroo Rat for the first time in my life. As I moved along Mary’s River road, I saw a second, then a third mouse cross the road, but couldn’t see a tail well enough for identification. By the time the 6th mouse / rat crossed the road, it was kind enough to get confused in my headlights, moving across, then back, then across, then back, and finally across the road. I was able to see a beautiful tail with a tuft of hair on the end. Wow, these really were Kangaroo mice / rats crossing the road. Not a bad experience at the end of the day.
I limped my van back into Elko and stayed with many larger RV brethren for the night. Quite a day. However, I still had not caught a fish in Nevada for the WNTC. The only other spots for Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Nevada are in the Northwest portion of the state. How can I complete the challenge?
The Plan: Catch a Redband Trout near Jarbidge, nullifying the Redband caught in Idaho. Go the Southeast corner of Idaho and catch a Bonneville Cutthroat trout (which was going to be one of two fish for the WNTC caught in Utah). Drive into Utah and complete the Utah Cutthroat Slam, getting one fish from Utah instead of two, and then meet/visit Gwen, my granddaughter.
Not the original plans, or the best. But possibly doable and getting me to my granddaughter at the prearranged time. Yay. And, I saw 8 Kangaroo rats/mice last night. Not too bad.
Tight Lines!