Ron4RNevada
New member
150205 – 4R Trek 268 – Three Hills Valley in the Hot Springs Range.
This is the shortest and quickest of the five treks since I exchanged the ’04 Land Rover for the ’13 4Runner SR5. I had a few hours to kill this morning and as it is supposed to rain tomorrow I decided to go for it.
As most of you know; Fernley is at the western edge of the Fortymile Desert in northern Nevada. About three miles east of my place is the southern edge of the Hot Springs Range. The range is about 25 miles long south to north and about 10 miles wide east to west. It is a geothermal area with quite a few commercial geothermal wells throughout the range.
The rock is mostly andesite and basalt lavas. 12000 years ago this desert and all of the mountain range below 4400 feet in elevation was under a pleistocene lake covering about 8800 square miles. Once the lake dried up all of the silt and sand on the bottom has been blowing all over the place filling up all of the nooks and crannies of the mountain. So what we wind up with is a young volcanic mountain range with a lot of very fine sand covering the low spot on the leeward sides.
Anyhow, today’s trek was driving three miles on the pavement to Black Butte, then putting the truck into 4 wheel drive and exploring a little rift valley I like to call Valley of the Three Hills because it has three volcanic cinder cones running along the center of it. I drove about twelve miles in 4wd most of it in low range. Then I drove the three miles back home. 18 miles total in about three hours. Enjoy the pics.
THASS ALL FOLKS!
By the way: For 99% of trails in northern Nevada a stock SR5 gets the job done - As long as you equip it with some E-Rated (10 ply) aggressive tires.
You don't need a Trail Edition or a locked rear diff or KDSS or a lift or special shocks or light bars or extra skid plates or rock sliders or special wheels or steel bumpers or even a winch - - -
That other 1% of trail will need something entirely different than a 4Runner SR5....
This is the shortest and quickest of the five treks since I exchanged the ’04 Land Rover for the ’13 4Runner SR5. I had a few hours to kill this morning and as it is supposed to rain tomorrow I decided to go for it.
As most of you know; Fernley is at the western edge of the Fortymile Desert in northern Nevada. About three miles east of my place is the southern edge of the Hot Springs Range. The range is about 25 miles long south to north and about 10 miles wide east to west. It is a geothermal area with quite a few commercial geothermal wells throughout the range.
The rock is mostly andesite and basalt lavas. 12000 years ago this desert and all of the mountain range below 4400 feet in elevation was under a pleistocene lake covering about 8800 square miles. Once the lake dried up all of the silt and sand on the bottom has been blowing all over the place filling up all of the nooks and crannies of the mountain. So what we wind up with is a young volcanic mountain range with a lot of very fine sand covering the low spot on the leeward sides.
Anyhow, today’s trek was driving three miles on the pavement to Black Butte, then putting the truck into 4 wheel drive and exploring a little rift valley I like to call Valley of the Three Hills because it has three volcanic cinder cones running along the center of it. I drove about twelve miles in 4wd most of it in low range. Then I drove the three miles back home. 18 miles total in about three hours. Enjoy the pics.
THASS ALL FOLKS!
By the way: For 99% of trails in northern Nevada a stock SR5 gets the job done - As long as you equip it with some E-Rated (10 ply) aggressive tires.
You don't need a Trail Edition or a locked rear diff or KDSS or a lift or special shocks or light bars or extra skid plates or rock sliders or special wheels or steel bumpers or even a winch - - -
That other 1% of trail will need something entirely different than a 4Runner SR5....
