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| Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific http://nevadabackroaders.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1804 |
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| Author: | Outgoin68 [ Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
So a friend of mine was telling me about these two places. I am sure that a lot of you know them or have done the runs. but i would love to check them out sometime. Remember I am only off on wednesdays and thursdays. so if anyone would like to lead one out there it would be awesome. i know no details of time or distance. so let's dicuss dates and details! B 
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| Author: | JJ [ Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
devil's racetrack is the place in Death Valley where it looks like the rocks move by themselves. they sit on the dry lake bed, but have tracks like they move. I wouldn't go to Death Valley this time of year at all. 
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| Author: | mac [ Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
sounds like a winter trip would be fun!! toooooooo dang hot till winter. 
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| Author: | sunrunner [ Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
A few of us went out there last Labor day when it was 115 in the valley but you gain a bit of elevation up there and it had cooled down to hi 90's. It's 27 miles along washboard road heading southwest from Ubehebi crater. You can follow a mostly well graded road from the Racetrack up over Hunter mtn to the backside of DV for a really nice trip. Plan for an all day trip and go with 2 or more vehicles and make sure you fill up before going out that way. You won't need 4wd back there unless you take the wrong road. If you ask at the visitors center they'll give you a good backroad map and show you where to go. I'd avoid the Hunter mtn pass in the winter if it has snowed. Late Oct would probably be a good time to go |
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| Author: | Outgoin68 [ Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:52 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
That sounds awesome! Can we plan a trip out there sometime when it starts to cool off?? what about that union pacific/ caliente route? is it nice too? |
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| Author: | famgeo [ Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
Following the tracks to Caliente is a nice drive. You will need to do some research on where you can go. In the last 2 years they have done a lot of work on the roads that follow the tracks and put up a few gates. I work for Union Pacific and might be able to get a list of where the gates have been put up. It is a very nice canyon to visit though. |
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| Author: | brad/duuuude [ Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
as i understand it after the big rains of 2004/2005 a great deal of damage was done out there since the right-o-way is in the meadow valley wash. since then i understand the railroad has done repairs but there is a dispute over weather or not the blm got back it's row thru the area so travel is restricted to where the u.p. will let a vehicle pass. blm wants an open row parallel to the rails all the way to caliente and i haven't heard if that has been settled or not. 
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| Author: | Jeepgal [ Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
Just drove through Rainbow Canyon and south of there last month. Didn't see any gates and the road is very passable .
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| Author: | Outgoin68 [ Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
I had some friends that just went through there not to long ago and was telling me about it. that's why i thought it was ok to go through. but i leave it up to you pros to find this good stuff out. but i am so ready to go out there! i hear it's just beautiful
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| Author: | brad/duuuude [ Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:31 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
if you don't "speed" thru the section north of glendale you might catch the rock art sites, there are several. unfortunatly i don't have gps coordinates for them so it's a matter of looking for them as you go. blm usually puts "protect our history" carsonites so watch for them. |
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| Author: | GaryB [ Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
You "can" get through Rainbow via Kane Springs Road to Caliente. I say "can" as it's passable, yet technically closed to through, non local traffic on the asphalted section. There was a real heated debate over who owned the asphalt road into Caliente (has very large, Jeep swallowing sections gone from the floods) but I hear the state is supposed to fix it since the Bradshaw family turned the Elgin "one-room schoolhouse" over to state parks, as an addition to Kershaw-Ryan Park. Haven't got a confirmation on that yet though. The "old way" was from Moapa to Elgin along the tracks, and up the asphalt road from Elgin or even by continuing to hug the tracks. Like famgeo says, the UP has been closing off sections all through Rainbow, Kane, and Clover Creek Canyons. I've run into many a locked gate recently. Sucks really, as the whole trip was quite interesting, and I've always wanted to run the rail to Utah from Moapa. Depending on where you leave Vegas from, it's about 150 miles to Caliente by highway. The Kane-Elgin cut off cuts something like 35 miles off. IIRC it's around 65 miles to the cut off, then 38 miles of gravel to Elgin, then 11 asphalt/gravel/bigfreakinghole! miles to Caliente. There are numerous rock art sites in Rainbow Canyon, and their location is listed in the Lincoln County site. http://www.lincolncountynevada.com/index.html |
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| Author: | GaryB [ Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
As a side note, I have some routes I intend to plan out in the Kane Springs Wash area once I have adequate 4x transportation
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| Author: | famgeo [ Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Devil's racetrack and caliente/union pacific |
If anybody does plan on going, pm me and I might be able to help you with some of the issues stopping vehicles. Also we had a derailment between Carp and Leith Wednesday so there will be a lot of crews working up there for the next couple weeks. |
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