I was on the road a couple hours before the sun came up this morning headed for a three day golf outing in Pahrump Nevada. I made this ride this last year but the road was closed (washed out) north of Trona, California. Instead of turning around and going back through Ridgecrest to 395 and up to Olancha, I opted for the detour. That detour was, according to the gas station attendant, “a very good dirt road – no problem.” Most of you have heard this story so I’ll just say that the detour road would have been “no problem” if I’d been driving a 4×4 Jeep – on a big full dress motorcycle it was a BAD JOKE; It took everything I had, some incredible luck, and a considerable amount of fancy language to navigate those 27 miles of hell. I won’t be doing that again…
This would turn most people around – I should have been one of those….
This time I checked the status of the Trona Wildrose Road and it looked like everything was good so I thought I’d try it again. Leaving so early gave me enough time to make a couple photo stops along the way and still make my tee time in Pahrump.
This will probably be more than you ever wanted to know about Trona, California.
Trona was officially established in 1913, as a self-contained company town, wholly operated by its resident mining company to house employees. The mine started as a borax facility but now processes sodium carbonate (soda ash) from the mineral “trona” in the nearby dry lake bed at Searles Lake. Soda ash is most widely used in water softeners and in the production of glass.
Trona is known for its isolation and desolation. Because the searing heat and highly saline soil kills the grass, the Trona Tornados (from the 162 student high school) play football on the only dirt field in the USA (other than Alaska) . At one point Trona boasted an 18 hole golf course that was all sand except for the “greens”, which were a softer grade of brown colored dirt. Wonder what a membership there cost??
Sunrise at the Trona Pinnacles. October 10, 2014.
Consisting of over 500 spires, some as high as 140 feet, the Trona Pinnacles are the most outstanding examples of tufa (porous rock formed as a deposit from springs of streams) in NorthAmerica. The Pinnacles are about 10 miles south of town; 6 miles of which is dirt road. Not bad, glad I went – but I won’t be signing up for that again any time soon.
The Pinnacles are recognizable in more than a dozen hit movies. Over thirty film projects a year are shot among the tufa pinnacles, including backdrops for car commercials and sci-fi movies and television series such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Disney’s Dinosaur, The Gate II, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes.
Still pretty warm on an October morning.
After Trona the ride goes through the Panamint Valley and then up over the Panamint Range and down into Death Valley. Hwy 190 is the road into Death Valley from the west and the climb up over the Panamint Range is a wonderful motorcycle road. Big sweeping turns and virtually no traffic so you can really have some fun if you want. My buddy said that he used to take these turns at 90mph; I was a little closer to the speed limit in my trip up. I did manage to get my GoPro camera working and shot a little video for you – the videos and music splicing should get better – this is my first attempt.
I decided to ride home after golf on Sunday instead of staying until Monday like most everyone else. I stayed on Hwy 190 all the way to Olancha and took Hwy 395 south which really helped keep the sun off to my right & out of my eyes. Although an enjoyable ride there wasn’t a lot of time to stop and smell the roses or take pictures.
Until next time…