Whitney Pocket / Gold Butte (Nevada)

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BruteForce
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Whitney Pocket / Gold Butte (Nevada)

Postby BruteForce » Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:48 am

For our annual Cabin Fever trip, we took our new truck and 5th wheel toy hauler on its maiden voyage.

Normally this time of year, we've gone down to Logandale, NV (about 30 minutes further south), but this time we thought we'd see what the Whitney Pocket / Gold Butte area looked like.

We departed Salt Lake in snow and low 30's on Thursday. Upon arrival in the Whitney Pocket area, the temps were high 50's/low 60's and full sunshine with no clouds to be seen. As the weekend progressed, temps hit a high of just under 80F on Sunday.

This sign is a bit deceiving as it was still 15 miles from Whitney Pocket and at least 30 miles from the actual Gold Butte location.
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The kids climbing on a big sandstone formation
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Our camp as viewed from the sand stone hill
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Sign pointing to our first stop, The Devils Throat
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The Devils Throat: A huge sink hole.
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Rock hounding at Gold Butte. This area has the largest collection of crystals I've seen.
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Riding a wash that we thought would take us to Lake Mead, but the trail was closed a few miles from the Lake (as were all the others we encountered).
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Indian Artifacts we found along the wash
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Camp on the first day
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My youngest clowning
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In the end, it was still great to get away, but it was disappointing that virtually every trail that seemed destined for Lake Mead was closed and fenced off. Not sure why dry washes would be fenced off, but the BLM seems great at fencing areas off and not so great at indicating legitimate trails or destinations.
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QMaze
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Postby QMaze » Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:01 am

Man how much fun would that be,,so cool. You could do some metal detecting for nuggets,,lol.

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BruteForce
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Postby BruteForce » Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:49 am

QMaze wrote:Man how much fun would that be,,so cool. You could do some metal detecting for nuggets,,lol.
As I understood it, the Gold Butte area in Southern Nevada still has a considerable amount of undiscovered gold stashed away.

An old fart we met up there kept us entertained for 20+ minutes elaborating on how the Spanish maintained slave Indians to work the mines and how they tried to hide various deposits.
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hemingray
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Postby hemingray » Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:01 am

Awesome country!

I wonder if the Lake Mead area is fenced simply because it's a National Recreation Area? Different use rules and all that. Gotta love our Federal management system.... (parks, forests, land - different agency for each)

The devil's throat pic was interesting, here is another Devil's Throat a few thousand miles away in Hawaii... (165 feet deep) I was gingerly holding the camera out as far as I dared. It may be lava, but it's crumbly. I imagine it's crumbly there too.

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EigerMike
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Postby EigerMike » Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:39 pm

very nice trip! really sucks about trails being closed.hope you guys had a good time anyways. :)

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auendave
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Postby auendave » Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:27 pm

nice pics looks like much fun darn those federallies they keep us out of everything.

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Postby DAVE » Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:52 am

Great family time..........
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Postby Mr. Green » Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:50 pm

looks like a good size area, ill have to look into it i drive down that way a few times a year. Thanks for sharing.

Over all how the new rig do? truck and trailer? any thing unexpected? looked like a good trip and had fun, to bad about not being able to ride down to the lake.

and nice commando look batman :lol:
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Not harping on ya at all. I carry as well but ccw.
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BruteForce
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Postby BruteForce » Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:52 am

Mr. Green wrote:l
and nice commando look batman :lol:
Not harping on ya at all. I carry as well but ccw.
Anytime I go out into no-man's land, I carry and take my entire chest rig. I've run into more than my share of crazy's living in the desert. I've also come face to face with Coyote, Mountain Lion and Bear.

I too have a CCW, but it's legal to open carry in the US.

Oh and being an Army vet, I still have plenty of clothing that gets used for riding. :D
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Ken
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Postby Ken » Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:24 am

That looks like a great riding area.
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BruteForce
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Postby BruteForce » Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:11 am

Ken wrote:That looks like a great riding area.
It's not too bad an area. Easily hundreds of miles of open desert trails & washes.

An old fart told me that I could have ridden 100+ miles into the Grand Canyon from that location. I may need to plan that out in the next year or so. (Fuel, water, gear, etc).
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Rider has ferocious attitude!

My blog site: http://utahbruteforce.com

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Postby DAVE » Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:58 am

Anytime I go out into no-man's land, I carry and take my entire chest rig. I've run into more than my share of crazy's living in the desert. I've also come face to face with Coyote, Mountain Lion and Bear.

Amen brother......No one is going to take care of you and your family..........but you.....only the strong survive.
DAVE

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