HWY 6 or HWY 50 across Nevada

[aeo]

I need to cross Nevada next week on my way to Redwood City CA. Trying to decide the best route for the 300tdi 110 with a small pop up camper. I am purposefully avoiding I-15 and I-80 because we don't travel at interstate speeds well.

Thoughts on either route?

Also, any good towns to camp in along the way?

Thanks,
Alex

 

[xplorutah]

Great Basin National Park is on your way. Ranks as one of the least visited in America, yet it is very cool.

 

[chris snell]

Shit, there are dozens of great ways to cross Nevada and none of them are paved. A few board members and I drove from Salt Lake to the Monitor Range a few weeks ago and barely touched pavement.

In general, mountain ranges run north-south in the Range and Basin country. I recommend a good topo maps app (like http://topomapsapp.com ) and scouting the various dirt roads that run east to west. Most either cross a pass or go through a canyon. You can't go wrong with either.

For camping, we usually just took dirt roads from the valley floor up to the cedar line so that we could cut firewood. It's not hard to find good camping at all.

Belmont, NV is cool to check out and good camping is nearby. Go on a Friday night when the saloon is open.

The canyons along the east side of the Deep Creek Range that straddles the UT/NV border have some of the best camping I've ever experienced.

Where are you coming from?

 

[chris snell]

Also, what are you doing in RWC? My employer is there and I travel there for work regularly.

 

[aeo]

It's me and the kids so no saloon for them. Although it may make them easier to travel with. I'm not quite up for actual overlanding with them this year and our camper would probably rattle apart on a dirt road. We're still more of the National Lampoons kind of travelers.

We're coming from Boulder, hitting up RWC for a night to pick up a passenger and then head to Vashon Island for a week and then back to Boulder. We were going to do a much longer trip but our time line changed and we needed to leave later and get back sooner.

I'm leaning towards HWY 6 since I can take HWY 120 through Yosemite and then north to RWC. We plan to go up the Oregon coast to WA.

The 110 is happiest on highways cruising around 45-55 with the camper and the kids. That seems to be the sweet spot.

 

[bearskinrug]

Be sure to check the road closure info on the nps website before you leave. As of now, Tioga road (hwy 120) and the east entrance to Yosimite are closed due to snow pack etc.

 

[chris snell]

The Belmont Saloon (Dirty Dick's) is actually more of a family-type saloon. I'm pretty sure that kids are allowed in with their parents. It's a neat old ghost town from the mining era that's been rehabilitated by vacation home owners. There's a beautiful old stone courthouse and a lot of old mining equipment to check out. Highly recommended. There's fantastic camping just northeast of town that you could easily take your camper to.

The valley roads can easily be driven in a stock Subaru or 2WD car--they're just dirt. Many of the east-west canyon roads are easy drives, too. Hot Creek Canyon (near the 6) comes to mind. Very pretty and easy. Lots of wild horses everywhere.

 

[nas90tdi]

Hwy 120 is still closed according to the Park Service website. It doesn't always open until late in the season. I assume because they get little traffic from that direction into the income generator they have tried to turn Yosemite into so they don't bother clearing it.

If you go just a bit further north on 395 you can take 108 across at Bridgeport. Bodie ghost town is worth a look while you are there if you go that way.

108 is a pretty nice drive with a few places to camp along the way. It will drop you in The Valley around Sonora and ,well, it's the Valley and it sucks.