4R Trek 283 - 26 July
150726 – 4R Trek 283 – Ramsey-Comstock Mines – 26 July 2015
Early Sunday morning with a grey sky due to some fires burning to the west in California and blowing over the top of the Sierras. A slight breeze is blowing. I drive to the USA Parkway (Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park) and top off the tank. Five miles up the road the pavement ends. At 9.6 miles I turn off the graded gravel road, drop her in low range, turn on the A-Trac and remember to turn off the side curtain air bags. For the next 7 miles I’ll just leave everything this way. Oh, and I reset the fuel economy gage just to see how bad the fuel economy is on very steep loose tracks at above 5000 feet 9for future reference).
After about ¾ miles I stopped in a little saddle at about 5500 feet, got out and climbed to the top of San Juan Hill. It’s about 6200 feet. The ten mine shafts indicated on the topo map seem to have been filled and sealed. It’s a lovely view from the top. Returning to the truck I drove down a little canyon about another ¾ mile to the site of Ramsey.
There is nothing left in Ramsey except for one deep shaft and two adits. All of the tracks crossing washes take a little reconnoitering to spot the best line. There have been some pretty violent thunderstorms the past few weeks. After leaving Ramsey I pass a sign saying that I’m leaving private property; Oh well! I investigate a couple of side tracks before rejoining the Ramsey Canyon Road and find a couple more adits.
I run down Ramsey Canyon about a mile until it is obvious that I’m headed for the Silver Springs/Stagecoach Area on the south side of the mountains so I turn around. Incidentally, I’m in the Virginia Range. I head north-west towards the Ramsey-Comstock Mine.
The Ramsey-Comstock must have been fairly successful; there are a lot of tailings, a lot of holes in the ground and old scary roads all over the place. On a couple of the tracks I try I am forced to get out and lever some big rocks out of the way. Eventually I’m back to where I first turned off the graded road and put the truck back into 2wd.
So you want to know? 7 miles in low range; A-Trac ON; between 5000 and 6500 feet over the course of three hours equaled 8.9 mpg.
From the top of SanJuan Hill
I left the truck at the bottom
Yep - we do have trees around here - but you have to be above 5000 feet and below 6000 feet
Creeks had mucho water last week
Hmm - that one got missed resizing
A Ramsey Adit
another adit
a deep one
