I haven't set the date yet. If anyone has a preference for a certain weekend, let me know. I was planning on a Saturday run. I last did this run in September of 2011. Plan to take most of the day.
Whatever date we pick, we'll meet at 8:30 at the Terrible's/McDonalds at the top of the hill on highway 95 through Searchlight. I'm going to park on the far south edge of the parking lot, to keep out of traffic. Plus, there will be the most parking along that edge.
We'll roll out of there are 9:00AM. We'll be taking Route 164 toward Nipton, and leaving this road for the dirt a few miles outside of Searchlight.
The trail heads through a beautiful forest of large Joshua Trees. Part of this forest, though not the part we're going through, is officially called the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area. Wee Thump is Yuman for “ancient ones” , and it refers to the ancient Joshua Trees of the area. We'll take a brief detour from the main trail to see some petroglyphs, and stop to inspect an old cattle corral that has a curious water tank. The trail eventually dips down into a wash that winds its way through the Highland Mountain Range. We'll stop at Cow Spring, where there are some old stone walls/foundations, and a spring that may have a bit of water. We'll also take a side trip up to a very large guzzler maintained for Bighorn Sheep. This site overlooks a rather stunning dropoff. Eventually, we'll end up on a powerline crossroad. Folks can either hoof it from there back to Route 95 north of Searchlight, or, continue on the dirt while longer. The ever-more-adventurous folks can even hook up with Beer Bottle Pass if they want (if this is still open - I've heard rumors it is not). However, the official run will end at the site of two impressive solar power stations: Nevada Solar One, and Copper Mountain Solar.
Here are a couple of websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_powe ... ave_Deserthttp://www.birdandhike.com/Wilderness/W ... eThump.htm
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. Only kidding. Haha
That,s the same weekend we will be staying at the White House with Barack and the family. We,ll be staying in the Lincoln room you know. 
Maybe next time. T.T.F.N. 
