A hot week in April

[MojaveGeek]

Some fun looking ridgerunning there, MG. Psyched to follow in your steps out to Colville some day. Did that trail seem to continue beyond down toward the valley? I am wondering what its purpose is and why it is cairned? Peakbaggers...?

So Colville is just a ridge, with a bump at the end, before it drops more steeply. I was really surprised first time there to find a register at all. And with only a bit more then one party a year (at least signing) it's not a peak bagger's kind of trail. And it's too well marked - some decent sized cairns, not little piles of duck rocks. From the far (north) side, stuff is very loose and slides a lot, so track tend to get wiped out, but there's a pretty clear use trail down towards the first saddle, but then it sort of vanishes. I called it an "Indian trail" because I saw one or two signs of temporary dwellings (rock circles) out there and I have read that the Timbasha went up to the forest for the summer. But I don't know of any water source up there.

Nor do I know of any mines in the area, and I don't see any marked on the map. All in all, rather mysterious, and I was sure rather surprised, but grateful! when I first found the trail across the scree.

[Candace66]

AFAIK there is still no AT&T service from the SPW tower.  I have an AT&T prepaid phone so I'm definitely well aware of which areas are blanks on their coverage map...and DV for the most part is one of them.

I do have service up on Panamint Butte, which I suspect is coming from the Cerro Gordo area.

The proposal for overhauling the facilities on Rogers Peak includes a bid by AT&T to put wireless antennas up there.

To have a better idea where AT&T has towers, use their coverage map but be sure to choose "AT&T Prepaid coverage" from the dropdown:

Coverage map

That shows no coverage in the heart of DV.  However, it also doesn't show coverage around the Hwy 6 - Hwy 265 junction (west of Tonopah), and I was just there and know for a fact there's a random AT&T tower there!  So it's not completely up to date. 

But it is correct in showing that I still have nada in Tonopah.   In fact, there's a large swath of Nevada that isn't covered.  Fortunately my T-Mobile hotspot helps me out there!

UPDATE:  when I passed through Beatty a few days ago, I found that there now is AT&T service there!  I got a message notification while making my Eddie's World pit stop.   Took a peek and sure enough, 4G LTE!  

Maybe all my griping to AT&T is finally paying off. 

[MojaveGeek]

I don't doubt your experience, Candace, but something was certainly different at SPW this year from last. At the front desk they said "The AT&T tower was damaged" but... the only tower I know there looked fine. My friend, who has At&T not pre-paid was getting a different sort of connection, and it was not clear to him if he was roaming or not. I, with T-mobile, could previously get zero service there, but now I was getting voice + text on some network with a name consisting only of digits. I've never gotten a thing there before. I could get this out to near the mouth of Cottonwood, pretty much localizing to the SPW base station. There used to be a network showing as USA-ComNet which I'd pick up, as a roam, at FC and Beatty, and I could reliably see this from the Panamint Crest between, say, Telescope and Bald. Not this year.

I dunno. Just shows it is better to not rely on anything!

[Candace66]

I've also been told in the past by local staffers that the SPW tower is AT&T.  Going back to a "tall tale" about how the AT&T truck bringing the critical pieces into DV crashed on the Daylight Pass Road.  

But it definitely has never been AT&T.  Not sure what might be going on with it now.

Back in the days when I had Tracfone, I had service in DV.  Since I switched to the AT&T prepaid I've been OOL.  But if AT&T does put a tower on Rogers, they'll be blasting a signal all over the place!  

[MojaveGeek]

It may be that the SPW staff is confused between the cell tower and the microwave comm links that go from FC to the hill a bit to the east of SPW, to SPW, and whence up to the Grapevine RS. I believe that handles telephone as well as some NPS communication, and it may be maintained by AT&T. At least, I've seen a couple of AT&T trucks parked near the hill. If you look at the hill on sat images you can see that it's got solar with backup generator.

Eric's phone is AT&T but not prepaid, so it may well play better with other networks. Me, I was quite surprised I did not connect with FC when up on the crest between Wildrose and Mahogany. I've certainly had good signal before. Eric had a good signal at the parking area for the kilns, but that may well have come from Cerro Gordo or some place. I've connected with a tower some place near Bakersfield down around the Amargosa crossing. It's all a tad random.

And in the mean time, you're a bit SOL if you break down somewhere and don't have a sat communicator. One of the reasons I like to have two way (InReach) is if my car does break down, I can hit the SOS but then communicate that it's not a matter of life/limb, but that I need a tow, and will stay with my vehicle.

[jesportland]

Hmmm. Until a few years ago I did get very slow ATT 3g in the park, valley floor. For the last few years, in far SE Oregon and central Nevada and DV my ATT shifts to off network 3g. Works ok, just real slow. I do get ATT Dante's View, Tea Kettle Junction, other high up places 4g/lte. Can't remember in Beatty late March what I got!


Late March there was a tower down they said and service was gone for a day or two.

[John Morrow]

Good views though.  Next one is looking south.





OK, next day, back to the forest, and out Colville Ridge from Mahogany Flat.   You cross a huge scree slope, which look very daunting, but there is a cairned trail (Indian??) across it, and if you follow that, not bad at all   Hint: the trail starts fairly high on the slope as you approach it, or ask me for a way point.



Nice views out at the end.  And there's a register.  We'd been t here 6 years earlier and 9 parties had signed in.   Not a lot of visitation.

Well, stupid of me to not have checked back at this TR prior to us repeating your first route.  That limestone outcrop is where the Pets are.  In fact, is that a circle petro element in your photo, MG?
I saw that scree slope from above, trying to spy a trail through it but it was well disguised.  I had forgotten you spoke of it but saw that a "traverse" from Mohagonay would have to have passed across it.  Oh well, always good to have a "next time"!

[Candace66]

It may be that the SPW staff is confused between the cell tower and the microwave comm links that go from FC to the hill a bit to the east of SPW, to SPW, and whence up to the Grapevine RS.  I believe that handles telephone as well as some NPS communication, and it may be maintained by AT&T.  At least, I've seen a couple of AT&T trucks parked near the hill.  If you look at the hill on sat images you can see that it's got solar with backup generator.

...Eric had a good signal at the parking area for the kilns, but that may well have come from Cerro Gordo or some place. 

This vintage video provides details about the microwave link that provides "landline" phone service in DV.  I posted it on the old site as well, but it took me awhile to find it again!

Click for video

I also believe there's an AT&T cell tower on or near Cero Gordo.  Among other places, I had service on the entire west side route on Panamint Butte. Even down the road a ways from the Big Four Mine area.