2011 Trip Report - Wild Bill takes us to Mina, Nevada
Mina, NV
6/10/11 to 6/13/11
Leader: Bill Gossett
By Mal Roode
When we met Bill Gossett at Sunrise RV Park in Mina, Nevada on Thursday afternoon he said he planned on 'overwhelming us." I thought that was a pretty strong word at the time. But as the days progressed, I WAS completely overwhelmed (but in a good way)! What a bunch of fast-moving, long exploring days we had! Bill is a great trip leader and he really kept us moving. In the group were: Bill and Barb Gossett, Steve Marschke and Debbie Miller, Mal and Jean Roode, Bob and Sue Jaussaud, Jeanne Murrin, Mignon Slentz, Glenn Shaw, Sunny and Jean Hansen, Dave McFarland and Vicki Hill. We saw too many cabins and mines to mention them all. We also saw some of the most unique Petroglyphs I have ever seen in Rattlesnake Canyon.
On Sunday we were treated to our very own air show as a 1940s era Stinson Station Wagon that was tied down at the RV Park took off and flew intentionally right over us! Bill talked to the pilot and his wife before they took off and found out he was a Rancher and they were flying out to see if they could find some of their lost cattle.
Our first stop on Sunday was the Horny Cattle Company's Lost Burro Ranch. The guest book said "stay for a good time not for a long time." This cabin had 3 rooms and was very well stocked with about everything you would need to stay there including a collection of lanterns of all types.
Our next stop was a ruin of a cabin that was made of rocks and mud. It had all four walls and a fireplace but not much of a roof. It was here that Jean Hansen noticed the rear leaf spring on their pop-up camper was protruding about 5 inches. Further inspection revealed that it was broken in 3 places. Bill, Bob and Steve patched it up with bailing wire and duct tape. Bill said it would be okay for the rest of the day, but Sunny opted to head for home and replace the springs. We waited there for Bob and Sue to escort Sunny and Jean back out to the pavement.
As we started down the road we spotted some burros on the left. Bill stopped and said on the radio he was going to check them out because some were laying down in the wash about 100 feet from the road. One was real young, maybe 1 year old or so. Well when he turned around and headed back to his truck they all started running away from us into the wash where we could see them better. The last one of the group of 5 was braying real loud as if to spur them on! All of the sudden on the radio I hear "it's mating season!" There was a reason the female burro was laying down, she didn't want to be bothered by the hormone-raging male burros. We nicknamed this part of the trip "Wild Bill's Wild Animal Kingdom."
On several occasions throughout the trip we saw antelope, but on Monday we saw wild horses twice. The first group of 20 or so was near the 90 degree water hole we stopped at. Then in the afternoon we saw a group of about 8 wild horses and they ran right across the road in front of Bill. I got some pictures and they were some healthy looking horses!
Jean and I had a fantastic time and we want to thank Bill for an awesome trip….again! A special thank-you to Barbara Gossett for all her work in the planning of another great adventure.
Website editor note: this was a private trip and was not advertised in the Newsletter