Through the Gumbo to Jumbo
Friday, February 20th was a perfect day for a reconnoiter. My friend Graham C., of Big Pine, California, had been in town for several days now and we’ve already gotten our Toyota Tacomas pre-muddied up for another day of north-central Nevada exploring, my accounts already posted here on this forum.
Previous to this trip, in the past month, forum member “DesertJK” (Gordon G.) and I had struck up a friendship via email and phone lines, and so I had invited him along for the jaunt.
The meeting place for all three of us was Winnemucca’s own The Griddle café, which has an abundance of hominess, good cooking and hot coffee. Our meeting time was loose – between 8:30 and 9:00 AM. Graham was only coming from up the street from his motel, I was coming four miles up the road from home; but Gordon had a long 2.75 hour and 175 mile drive from his home in Reno. We all arrived within 10 minutes of each other.
After getting acquainted over food and coffee, it was time to turn our wheels to a path that I had already planned and mapped out.
Our wheels included:
Our itinerary included the Awakening Mining District about 30 miles northwest of Winnemucca in the Slumbering Hills. There were several localities I wished to take Graham and Gordon – Daveytown, the Alabama Mine, the Alabama Mine camp below, the ghost town of Jumbo, and several cabins and mills below Jumbo on the western side of the Slumbering Hills down into Desert Valley. We all had CB radios to chat and communicate with along the way.
- Graham C. – 2000 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4WD – mechanically stock.
- Gordon G. – Jeep JK Wrangler Rubicon – Lifted, 35” tires, 4:88 gearing, Warn 12,000 winch w/integrated air compressor.
- Myself – 2002 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4WD – mechanically stock.
The weather this date was mild – highs projected to hit right at 50° in Winnemucca, however snow from storms in December and January still linger in patches in town and in total coverage most anywhere on hillsides and in the mountains. We were expecting to have plenty of fun romping in mud and snow. We got our money’s worth on both counts.
Our group turned north on US95 for nearly 10 miles north of Winnemucca and turned onto Sand Pass Road. Here we aired down, for the remainder of the trip would be on dirt.
Knowing that we’d likely encounter mud and snow, I didn’t air down much – dropping down to 20psi while Graham dropped to 15psi and Gordon 11psi. My philosophy is that it’s best for tires to dig into the snow instead of trying to float over it. That’s why the old snow tires are skinny. But I wasn’t sure how much snow we’d encounter, and from the looks of things there wasn’t a whole lot of snow to be encountered. But I was proved wrong later.
The first stop would be the site of Daveytown, which was a milling center for the Awakening Mining District. Not much left at Daveytown except for one standing cabin and mill ruins. Piles of rotting lumber dot the landscape in a circumference around the remaining cabin, indicating its fallen mates.
Above two photos - Daveytown.
Our vehicles lined up at Daveytown – Left to right: Gordon’s Wrangler, Graham’s Tacoma, my Tacoma. The view is west into the Slumbering Hills.
Our sights were next set for the Alabama Mine, about 3.5 miles west of Daveytown as the eagle flies. The giant headframe of the mine can be seen from Daveytown.
The headframe at the Alabama Mine, viewing northeast across Silver State Valley into the Santa Rosa Range.
Lunchtime at the Alabama Mine. Gordon and Graham have a history of automobile racing, which dominated lunchtime conversation.
After exploring the Alabama Mine and having lunch, we drove a short distance horizontally and dropped quite a distance vertically to the mine camp of the Alabama.
A collapsed ruin at the mine camp for the Alabama Mine. The view is southeast across Silver State Valley to the Sonoma Range south and east of Winnemucca.
Our next goal was the ghost town of Jumbo, which sits atop the very crest of the 6,000 foot high Slumbering Hills. First of all, we had to head farther north along the Silver State Valley north of Daveytown.
Gordon and his Wrangler coming along the main road through Silver State Valley.
Jumbo faces west across Desert Valley and I figured would be snow free since it faces the western sun. However, I knew the roads into the Slumbering Hills on our eastern side were likely to hold snow. It proved to be abundant and at times several feet deep. We also found that where there was snow, was also abundant mud. This, and the steepness of the roads gave us some challenges.
Heading up one of the canyons of the Slumbering Hills. My Tacoma would sink into the mud, which caused considerable traction issues, even with my rear differential locker engaged.
Finally, after about four miles, I was traversing a long straightaway, which climbed at about a 25° incline, covered in varying depths of snow and mud. I came to a point where my Tacoma simply stopped forward progress and dug in.
The highest point I reached. Graham and Gordon stayed behind watching to see how far I’d get.
Having been this way before, and also having my Delphi NAV200 navigator unit showing me the layout, I knew the road would turn and double back above, then get into the shady northeastern part of the canyon where snow would be deep. There was no point in trying to go farther, as it was now solidly later in the afternoon and sundown was less than two hours away. Getting hopelessly stuck was not a good idea right now.
Then Graham asked how far we were from Jumbo and maybe we could walk. I checked my Garmin eTrex, where I had the coordinates programmed for Jumbo as a waypoint and it was showing we were only 0.47 mile away. So we decided to take up Graham on his suggestion.
I backed down to where Graham and Gordon were parked and we left our trucks where they stood. It was obvious no one had come this way and no one would likely be coming anytime soon. I grabbed my video and digital cameras, a flashlight, coat and gloves. The latter just in case sunset overtook us and we’d be walking back in the dark.
I suggested instead of following the road, that we’d simply head straight up the mountain and intersect the road at the high point, then over to the crest and we’d be in Jumbo. And that’s what we did. The straight up climb wasn’t too bad because we stuck to the sunny side of the ridge. However, once up on the road, the snow was knee deep and deeper in places. It was obvious that it would have been futile to attempt further travel by our vehicles.
Graham and Gordon ahead as we plod up to Jumbo.
Gordon is ahead of me and Graham has gained the crest and is about to look onto Jumbo.
A half hour was all it took for us to reach Jumbo. In sunny glory it was there for us and we only.
Jumbo ghost town sitting on its mountaintop perch.
Gordon snapped this shot of me and Graham (right) with my camera.
My Garmin eTrex was telling me that today the sun was to set at 5:32 PM and it’s been pretty accurate. By now it was nearing 5:00 PM and I knew the sun had already set on the other side of the mountain where the trucks were. So it was time to leave Jumbo. Our original plans - if we had been able to reach Jumbo with our vehicles - was to continue west down the mountain and into Desert Valley. Jumbo's ruins run all the way down - cabins, mining equipment, mill ruins, and collapsed buildings - but Jumbo's other ruins would have to wait for another day later in the year.
I take a last look at Jumbo, while Gordon and Graham converse in the background – still talking auto racing.
Walking over the crest we were back in the deep freeze. Though it was still light enough to see our tracks in the snow, I decided to try out the “cookie crumb” feature on my Garmin for backtracking to the trucks.
Backtracking with the eTrex. Silver State Valley and the Santa Rosa Range in the distance.
On the way back to the trucks, we found a large can dump. Graham spotted a small square can, pulled it up and found it was embossed “Ceylon Tea” on the bottom. Being of English birth and Australian upraising, this tickled Graham’s fancy.
Graham and Gordon examine the Ceylon Tea tin.
Finally, our trucks were in sight. It was all downhill from here.
Gordon and Graham ahead with the trucks in sight below them.
Now came the fun of backing up a quarter mile to a wide apex in the road with plenty of run off room to get turned around. Gordon got his Wrangler back first, he would then take the lead down the mountain. Graham’s turn came. He hit a squishy spot of mud and nearly lost the front end of his truck over the side, but sagebrush managed to keep him on the road. My turn came. I hit that same squishy spot and my truck slid laterally into the sage on the side. My rear diff lock was engaged and I eased on some gas and managed to straighten up and resume course. After we all got turned around, we visited some more and enjoyed the last light on the Santa Rosa Range in the distance. Then we hit the road for the bottom of the mountain. More snow, mud and slithering. But we all got down just fine.
Into Silver State Valley. Graham and Gordon are the light spot in the middle distance.
Down at the main road. It was time for me to resume the lead for the trip back to Winnemucca.
Our group raced on smooth bladed roads across Silver State Valley. The road would head to very near US95, then suddenly turn north to stop at NV140, which would then take us a few miles over to US95. We stopped at the end of the dirt road at NV140 and aired our tires back up.
Racing across Silver State Valley toward the Santa Rosa Range.
Gordon’s sweet setup – Warn winch with built in air compressor. Tidy and fast.
Graham airing up his tires with his SCUBA tank. After he finished, I used Graham’s tank to air up my tires.
After we aired up, it was then only 35 miles back to Winnemucca.
After arriving back in town, we stopped at Motel 6, where Graham had been staying.
Left to right: Gordon, Graham, and myself, standing in front of Gordon’s Wrangler.
Graham was at his “home.” I had only five minutes to drive to mine. However, Gordon had a long 2.75 hour drive into the night back to Reno. A fun time was had by all.
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1990 Jeep Cherokee a constant work in progress.............
Originally Posted by Explorer 1
