If you don’t think it’s overlanding if you don’t spend the night, use your lockers and sleep on top of your truck then this might not interest you. But if you’re looking for a dirt road tour with great wide open views, cool caves to explore without super rough roads and miles of 4 wheeling, then read on.
In this episode we explore the Mopung Hills of the West Humboldt Range and visit Lovelock Cave, an archaeological site in Churchill County, Nevada. Lovelock Cave is easy to get to along a smooth dirt road to a parking lot with a pit toilet. It’s so easy to get to that they take bus loads of kids there during the school year.
A trail leaves the parking area and heads up and around the limestone outcrop following a short but steep and rocky route that leads to a ledge below a sheer cliff where you have access to the cave.
From the cave the trail continues on to an overlook with an interpretive sign and a commanding view out over the Humboldt Sink. Past here the short hiking trail loops around the limestone outcrop and back around to the parking area.
After lunch and exploring Lovelock Cave we headed north back the way we came to an unmarked dirt road that crosses the West Humboldt Range at Wildhorse Pass. This route was also easily passable and didn’t require high clearance or 4 wheel drive.
For GPS tracks and waypoints for this trip, please consider supporting our channel on Patreon. You’ll get early access to videos as well as full resources for trips like this.
Special thanks to the Masnick Family for running sweep and keeping in communication with me via ham radio. We appreciate the help and it was fun having you along.
We made our way north along the range to Ocala Cave, another excavated Archaeological site in the area. There are several more similar limestone caves that were inhabited by native people. Only Lovelock Cave is developed, and the others are not signed and only appear on some USGS maps.
The area is worth a lot more exploring, and would be a good place to return to in the Fall or early spring.
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