I drove a rental car 110 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats last week-end. We were driving by on our way to go climb the Ruby Dome near Elko, NV and I could not resist. It was only 6 miles off the interstate. I let my oldest son do the same on the way back to the road. It was probably one of the most stupid things and yet, most fun things I have ever done. It was pushing that 4 cylinder pretty hard. Maybe a land speed record for a GMC Terrain... Note: Don't buy program cars from Nevada or Utah. lol
I probably should not have let him ride his bike over 50 miles per hour down that canyon road either. But....he did. Guess we all have our risk tolerances. By the way, he is 20 years old.
Drive off the end of the road and go as far and fast as you want. Flat as a pancake and nothing else for miles and miles.
Beautiful country. We did not see any game while climbing Ruby Dome, but my son saw a huge mulie buck while biking in Lamoille Canyon. In fact, he was descending at nearly 45 mph and it ran across the road in front of him. We saw lots of mulies in the valley and in the town of Lamoille. We also saw a lot of Pronghorn between Lamoille and Elko.
One of the big problems with seeing game towards Ruby Dome is the amount of hikers up there. If you go one or two canyons over, there is one good herd up there. That's my hunt in a couple of weeks. I see the antelope almost every night on the drive home
Have you been to the top of Ruby Dome? I was surprised at the amount of climbing that it took. I thought I was going on a hike and found out that there was a little more climbing required. That 800 foot rock shoot we had to climb near the summit was kind of intimidating for a guy that lives at 850 feet above sea level. I was amazed that I did not feel the altitude at all. Even at over 11,000 feet I felt like everything was completely normal. Does the extremely dry air have anything to do with that? I figured I would be panting like a dog. Especially since I am now 25 pounds over weight. The views from the peak were beyond description. We hit it on a clear day and it was surreal. I will start a thread next week to post some pics. For now, I am heading to Galena, IL to play golf at Eagle Ridge for a couple of days. I have to recover from my vacation! lol
I was stalking you..... It wouldn't be the same if you knew I was there! I was in Salt Lake City just long enough to pick up a rental car at the airport and head for NV.
Not only can you speed around on the salt flats, but there are also sand dunes to play on and if you want to go 200 mph on the real roads you can pay into a charity/state police supported 3 day speed around Utah event. (The Utah Fast Pass) You'll get a ticket, but you can frame it. :D
