High and Dry

Elaine Margarett · May 7, 2011

Anyone familar with the high mountain desert? Ely, NV is my new home away from home. Hubby loves it; he's a (cough... obsessive) rock hound so he wants to hop on back mountain roads and go exploring. This is way out in the middle of nowhere, like 30 mile stretches of road with no sign of other humans. Lots of elk, antelope, big horn sheep and oh, yeah, cougars.

I'm not big on straying too far from areas without lots of nasty human scent that keeps wild animals at bay. I prefer established state parks with well-marked and somewhat maintained dirt roads. John prefers steep rock canyons with twisty goat paths they laughingly call roads.

Being paranoid? I love to hike in my native Maryland,or anywhere on the East Coast where in five or ten miles you eventually bump into civilization. Nevada is nothing like that. You look accross the empty valley floor between mountain ranges and you think it's a few miles when actually it's more like fifteen.

Absolutely beautiful but a little intimidating. Any advice on how to safely enjoy the area. We're near Great Basin Nat'l Park but plan on exploring all over the state.

TIA,
EM

CACTUSWENDY · May 7, 2011

Always carry water with you. ALWAYS. Make sure your auto has some extra stored in the trunk along with some health bars. The desert gets cold at night so a blanket would be wise also. I can think of a ton of things you might keep with you. Might be wise to get a desert survivor book and do some reading up on things in your area.

You just never know if your car will have a break down and you may need to be there awhile.

I live in Arizona and would always go prepared if doing an outing like that. I would also take a hand gun along too. But that's just me.

Stlight · May 7, 2011

Keep an eye on where you have cell phone service and where you don't. I'd make a map to keep handy. That way you'd know how far and where to walk if need be. Keep the phone charged.

Elaine Margarett · May 8, 2011

CACTUSWENDY said:
Always carry water with you. ALWAYS. Make sure your auto has some extra stored in the trunk along with some health bars. The desert gets cold at night so a blanket would be wise also. I can think of a ton of things you might keep with you. Might be wise to get a desert survivor book and do some reading up on things in your area.

You just never know if your car will have a break down and you may need to be there awhile.

I live in Arizona and would always go prepared if doing an outing like that. I would also take a hand gun along too. But that's just me.

THIS(!) is what I tell hubby. I've done search and rescue so I know how easy it is to get lost. I'm replacing my compass with a new one (will keep the old as a backup) and boning up on map and compass skills since it's been awhile.

Just this morning I saw something on CNN about a woman found alive not far from here who's been missing for 7 weeks! She and her husband were on some gawdawful back road and got stuck. Her husband left on the third day with a GPS and hasn't been seen since.

I should have woke my husband up so he could see it. Then again, they'll probably replay it, again and again.

Regarding the gun, John and the rest of the people working on the project - building a wind park- was told to get pepper spray becasue of the cougars. Pepper spray!? We checked into buying a gun but because we're out of state the gun shops and dealers can't sell to us. We can buy a gun through a private sale. Sounds backwards, doesn't it? And if we carry the gun it has to be out in plain sight. No concealed weapons here.

EM,
who needs to have another talk with hubby, lol.

Elaine Margarett · May 8, 2011

Stlight said:
Keep an eye on where you have cell phone service and where you don't. I'd make a map to keep handy. That way you'd know how far and where to walk if need be. Keep the phone charged.

It's weird but we have pretty good cell coverage here. Must be all the cell towers on the mountains. Back home I get lousy cell coverage.

We're in a valley but the valley is at 6500 feet. And I just found out I'm seriously afraid of heights. <eek>

regdog · May 8, 2011

Agree with always carry water and use bug repellent especially on your feet and legs. There are a host of nasty pathogens spread by bugs.

Snowstorm · May 8, 2011

1: It takes some getting used to, being away from humans. You're out of your comfort zone. Give yourself time and practice, and very likely you'll be comfortable in the wild. We get some folks at our B&B that are terrified to be in the wilderness (one couple cancelled their second night because they couldn't handle the area.)

2. Too many people think GPS and cell phones solve all their problems. Like in this area, GPS DOES NOT WORK. There was a couple from Germany who trusted their GPS rather than a plain old map, and ended up in a mountain ghost town on some two-track road not designed for cars. They made it to their destination absolutely lost and terrified. You can't beat real maps, especially topo maps.

3. Pepper spray is good to carry. And a gun is handy too, but only if you're familiar with it and practice with it.

4. There are small books that can give you advice on how to handle wilderness emergencies (lost, hurt, bad weather, etc.) that might be handy to get and become familiar with.

Have fun.

Elaine Margarett · May 9, 2011

Snowstorm said:
1: It takes some getting used to, being away from humans. You're out of your comfort zone. Give yourself time and practice, and very likely you'll be comfortable in the wild. We get some folks at our B&B that are terrified to be in the wilderness (one couple cancelled their second night because they couldn't handle the area.)

.

I never thought I was afraid of the wilderness; hike all the time, horseback ride; etc.

But this is sooo different than what I've experienced before. I though Michigan's UP was wilderness, ha! It's nothing compared to NV.

I'd love it if we could hook up with a guide. I want someone from the area to tell/show me where trouble is and how to stay out of it. Hubby is just too excited to go off-roading for my comfort. I can just see one of the locals shaking their head while viewing our dead bodies saying, "Stupid easterners. No one does that!"

benbradley · May 9, 2011

Stlight said:
Keep an eye on where you have cell phone service and where you don't. I'd make a map to keep handy. That way you'd know how far and where to walk if need be. Keep the phone charged.

You (or someone someone) said cellphone coverage is good, but for remote areas a satellite phone might be useful - it's an old service that just about died when cellphone service got cheap, fortunately they kept the satellites up (Yes, they had decided to bring them down!) and someone bought out the service. Phones are hugely expensive, but I'm wondering if one could be rented for a reasonable amount, and taken "just in case." Calls are something like $5 per minute, but that's of course a bargain to a lost person.

Elaine Margarett said:
THIS(!) is what I tell hubby. I've done search and rescue so I know how easy it is to get lost. I'm replacing my compass with a new one (will keep the old as a backup) and boning up on map and compass skills since it's been awhile.

Just this morning I saw something on CNN about a woman found alive not far from here who's been missing for 7 weeks! She and her husband were on some gawdawful back road and got stuck. Her husband left on the third day with a GPS and hasn't been seen since.

I should have woke my husband up so he could see it. Then again, they'll probably replay it, again and again.

Google some related keywords, there's surely a print story on it, maybe even a video at cnn.com. You'll probably find other similar stories.

Snowstorm said:
...
2. Too many people think GPS and cell phones solve all their problems. Like in this area, GPS DOES NOT WORK. There was a couple from Germany who trusted their GPS rather than a plain old map, and ended up in a mountain ghost town on some two-track road not designed for cars. They made it to their destination absolutely lost and terrified. You can't beat real maps, especially topo maps.

Oh, you mean the electronic maps stored in common GPS units don't work. As long as you've got a view of the sky, GPS should give you coordinates. One would think those would be MORE accurate and up-to-date than printed maps, and have extra info such as paved-vs-dirt and how well traveled a road is ("This road has only one car per month driving it, and the car never comes back."). Apparently they only keep the database accurate for high-traffic areas, which is what the overwhelming majority of people buy them for.

High and Dry

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

Stlight

ideas are floating where they will

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry

regdog

The Scavengers

Snowstorm

Baby plot bunneh sniffs out a clue

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world