Adam and I started the day in the Santa Rosa Range north of Winnemucca where we both summitted Granite Peak in Humboldt County late the day before. We ended up camping for that night atop a small hilltop reachable by 4-wheel drive. The plan for today was to head north into Oregon and attempt Steens Mountain, the highpoint of Oregon's Harney County. So we got off the Santa Rosa Mountains back into civilization and then took a highway 70 miles northwest to a town called Denio on the Oregon line. There, as I was passing through the south end of town near the gas station, a house-cat ran out into the highway and I had no time to brake... I hit the poor animal, and killed it instantly, which I guess was humane. I felt terrible because I like cats, but I really had no chance on this one. We both got that sick nauseous feeling. I drove another 3 miles into the main part of Denio, but there were no other gas stops and the next town was Frenchglen, 80 miles away. So I felt I had no choice but to go back to the gas station and top off. While there, the attendants were asking eachother if they'd seen "the cat". Oh sh*t, I thought. Both Adam and I got a real bad vibe. We sort of milled around and then decided to just get the hell out of there. We aborted our Steens try and ended up back where we started the day, only about 170 miles later.

So then we decided to go south and take care of Star Peak in the Humboldt Range in Pershing county. From Winnemucca it was about 50 miles southwest along Interstate-80 to the Humboldt exit, and another 5 miles along bad frontage road to the dirt roads that swung east into the Humboldt Range. The guidebook I had says the road into El Dorado Canyon is two-wheel drive. Well... it may be, but it is pretty bad. It's mostly fist-sized creek-bed rock with some large boulders to make it fun. Even with my truck I managed to scrape the undercarriage once or twice. We drove in until we came to an abandoned house and buildings. So far, the map was in agreement with our route.

The biggest variable about this particular hike would be how far I could coax my truck up the 4-wheel drive road shown leading out of El Dorado Canyon and up the mountainside, where it gets as high as 9,000 feet, not far from the top. The worst case scenario would have been to get nowhere and start from the buildings at 5,700 feet, leaving us with 4,100 feet of gain in 5 miles (i.e. steep), and starting at mid-day in fairly warm weather. That option did not sound attractive to us but we kept it as our fall-back position. So, I mustered up some guts, threw my truck into 4-wheel-low and took on the 25-30% grades with much gusto and chutzpah! It was not too bad at first... steep, yes, but not overly rocky or with deteriorated portions. I was able to take us up 1,100 vertical feet and a mile in until a hairpin turn and a ridiculously steep grade prompted me to just park in a small pullout. We got our stuff together and psyched ourselves up for a steep, hot, dusty and exposed hike up to the top. We started in about 12:30 p.m. We were at 6,800 feet and had 3,000 feet of gain for the summit. The route on the map looked to be about 3.5 miles one way.

Ironically, by over-psyching ourselves into thinking we had a death-march ahead of us, the actual trudge by comparison was simple. It is not difficult or technical by any means, just steep and dusty and hot. We took lots of water, leaving other items behind to lessen the weight. We both essentially put out heads down, took baby steps and surprisingly made great time up the steep road. I usually segment the hike into manageable bites and just concentrate on the individual bits, not the whole hike. The first segment came quick: a flat portion on a saddle at elevation 7,280 feet (see photo). Here, I could see the next bit of road and the next segment, which would top us out at another flat bit at elevation 7,840 feet (see photo). In this 1,000 feet of gain we went from juniper-pinon woodland to shrubby sage, and the temperature was noticeably cooler. Nice! From the saddle at 7,840 feet, we could see the summit in full view, with the road snaking up the mountainside. This road pulled no punches: it was steep and didn't waste time meadnering all over the place. I also was glad I parked where I had; I didn't have the confidence or cojones to take my truck up to these points. No way! Adam and I took breaks at these saddles to drink and relax. We were making great time.

The next segment (in my mind) was a bend in the road at elevation 8,800 feet, which would mean another thousand feet gained, another thousand to go, and about another mile of walking. So we started in. Damn the road was steep! Even walking it was a pain in the neck. But again, we just shut-up and hiked and made out 8,800-foot goal in less than an hour. With the steep bits behind us, we walked the remaining road to the main ridge at elevation 9,000 feet, then followed the ridge line up easy (by comparison) slopes amid sage and large locusts to the summit, which we reached at about 3:20, less than 3 hours after starting. The summit is rocky and a large windbreak allows for a good place to relax, and we did, spending about 45 minutes eating, drinking and checking out the sights. I must admit that I was not giving Star Peak much credit; from below it looked like a bland desert summit. From above, it tops out a beautiful range with gorgeous views. Definitely a hidden jewel.

Coming down was shockingly easy. Aside from just having to watch the slipping on loose rock, we both essentially jog-walked down because the steepness made it difficult to stop. I think we made it down in about 1:20, and an overall time of less then 5 hours. In fact, when we started we figured 5 hours just to get to the top! It was now about 5:30 p.m., so all we needed to do now was get down off the range and back to civilization. Driving down those roads was a blast! In 4-wheel-low, all I had to do was just steer my truck- the idling speed of the engine was enough so that I didn't need to press the accelerator at all. The truck basically led itself down, and after about 30 minutes we were back to the old buildings and onto better road. We spent the rest of the day driving into Reno for our next day's hike up Mount Rose in Washoe County.

A final comment: the register was signed by a lot of people who mentioned taking ATVs or dirt-bikes up these roads. This seemed sensible. The roads really aren't for vehicles, in my opinion, unless the driver is extremely experienced and has a short wheel-base (so as not to have to make 13-point U turns at the hirpin turns). My truck was simply too long to handle these tight turns. But I could easily see an ATV like a quadrunner handling the road, again with an experienced driver.