Barney Riley May 3, 2014

Been on a great Adventure tear!  Mammoth last weekend; Hiked horsetail falls on Thursday and now we are geared up and ready to go tackle a 4X4 Trail with Nate’s Friends.

We had actually heard about the hotsprings on the East Carson River via instagram on a picture that someone had posted with the geo location being quite close.  Nate did some research and found out access to the hotsprings was limited to rafting the river or a high clearance four wheel drive trail..  Well that was all he had to find out – next thing he was on the phone with his offroad buddies talking about how we HAD to go out and find these hotsprings. 

With a little bit of planning we were set to head out at 4pm on Saturday afternoon to the trailhead by markleeville, California.  The trailhead was only about 1 hour and 15 minutes away, but we tried heading up Morman Emigrant Trail to pass through and were stumped by deep snow in the last mile before the locked gate.  After and hour of inching our way closer we decided to turn back and head up highway 50.  Although we could have made it, it was not worth the lost daylight while we fought for ground up through the snow covered road on Iron Mtn.

We took a slight detour down Light Canyon Road connecting over to the Kyburz Campground on Highway 50.  Although the gate was locked the Camp hosts were present and nice enough to unlock the gate for us to get out.   So on we went!  

 

After passing Markleeville, we turned left to stay on Highway 89 like we were going over monitor pass, but turned left  about 4 miles in on Loop Canyon Road.  This is where it gets tricky.  There are a ton of Forest Service Roads,  all very well marked, but our directions were vague to say the least.  After a couple hours of getting turned around and ending up in Nevada by 395, we found the correct trail and stayed on it for about 1 hour before we found the East Carson River.  It wasn’t the exact location of the hotsprings, but we were ready to set up camp. Unfortunately for us, all of the turn arounds and backtracking had made the 2.5 hour drive into a 6 hour journey that wore on everyone.  All we wanted to do was go to sleep.  And sleep we did!  

 

 The next day we woke up and found out that all of our Eggs had broken.  Bummer! Nate was looking forward to a big Chilaquiles breakfast!  Too bad we made do with other snacks and food and even blended up some Strawberry smoothies.  Nate went on a short hike down river to search for the hotsprings as they were still about ¼ of a mile down river, but the trail that we had followed crossed directly into the river – which was much higher than we had expected.  Nate came back to report that he had found the hotsprings and the looks of a trail leading to their location.  But he was a little hesitant before saying there was still one major obstacle.  The hotsprings were located directly across the river.  Keep in mind this is the beginning of May.  Snow is melting off of the Sierra Nevada’s directly into this river that we needed to cross.  It was FRIGID.

Well after shooting some guns and doing a little bit of target practice we loaded up the trucks again and headed onto the new trail to get closer to the hotsprings.  It was much more enjoyable in the light and being able to take in the views.  Although these trails were not very technical, there were a few hill climbs and tight spots that would require some 4X4 knowledge.  We parked across the river and started scanning for low places in the river to cross.   After some brief discussion we decided the best course of action would be to walk across the river as it was very muddy and impossible to tell depth without actually walking through it.  After a couple half hearted attempts and walking into the icy water Nate managed to cross all of the way without falling and being carried downriver.  It was deep enough that the water came up to his hips in the deepest part. About 3.5 ft deep; Way too deep for the trucks to make it through safely.   He had barely made it without falling in so there was not much hope for the girls Kate and Michelle (Shane’s girlfriend) to try and cross.  This was confirmed about 20 minutes later when Chance tried to make the crossing, but fell and decided to turn back.

Eventually Nate crossed back over and started scanning farther up at the river for another point to cross over.   We found a diagonal path that all three trucks were able to navigate across.  Although it was a little sketchy as the backs of the trucks were getting squirrely in the deep fast moving water. 

   We were all able to enjoy the riverside hotsprings over a few beers.  Mission accomplished!