Disaster at Elephant Mountain
Our peakbagging trip in Nevada in June 2025 took us from Tonopah to Ely, Wendover, Elko, and finally Winnemucca. We had good weather and had been successful climbing a number of peaks, some on the Great Basin Peaks List and others Wilderness highpoints. About 75 miles northwest of Winnemucca lies Big Mountain, also known as Pahute Peak. This remote peak has greater than 2000 ft. of prominence and was one of two in Nevada I had not climbed. I wasn't sure I was up to a 15 mile hike, but we decided to drive in and take a look. If I didn't want to try Big Mountain there was another easier peak nearby, Elephant Mountain, which looked like a simple climb.

After getting gas then ice and food at the large Walmart we drove north on route 95 which leads into Idaho. We turned west onto 140 after 30 miles and continued another 35 miles to a rest area on the right which is a junction for Leonard Creek Road. We followed this road which is paved, but then turns into a good, wide gravel road after 7 miles. The road goes west then south passing by three ranches. At about 40 miles we see a dirt track on the left with a sign "Designated Route". This looks like a BLM sign. The road to the right ends at the Pahute Meadows Ranch so the dirt road offers a way around that to the Big Mountain trailhead.

The road goes past Elephant Mountain, a large rounded summit on our left. It's getting late so we find a barely usable camp spot by the road and decide to try Elephant the next day. The wind was fierce with dust swirling around our trucks so I don't bother to set up the table and we each ate dinner in our camper shells.

The next day is clear, calm and great for our climb of Elephant. The route goes east across open sage brush terrain and then up to a saddle and left up a steeper slope to the rounded summit. It is about 1.4 miles each way with 1300 ft. of gain. We find a register, but very few climb this remote peak. There is a good view west to Big Mountain about 18 miles distant. The hike used by most climbers is15 miles round-trip with a gain of 4200 ft. The temperature was climbing and was supposed to be in the low 90's. This is quite warm for such a long hike so we decide to skip Big Mountain and leave the area.

On the drive out on the dirt track I take a dip too fast and the truck lurches left, drops down, and comes to an abupt stop. On no!! I had an idea that it was a serious problem and when I got out I saw the left front tire bent at a weird angle and dug into the sand. The left side suspension had collapsed. This happened to me a couple years ago on the right side in eastern Arizona. I radioed Shelley that there was a big problem and I was not going anywhere. Fortunately, we travel in two vehicles so she would be able to take us out to the paved highway. We were 45 miles from a paved highway with no cell service.
If your vehicle looks like this you have big problems!
I knew a tow truck might want GPS coordinates of our location so I saved a point. I gathered up things I might need since it was obvious we would be spending some time in a motel. Out at the rest area we found we had cell service. I called 911 and this was a total waste since the operator connected me to an automated response system at the Nevada highway patrol. So we searched for towing companies and after some false starts, including to a company in Indiana that said they would be right out, we found one in Winnemucca that would send a truck out, but we weren't sure when that would be. There didn't seem to be a need for us to stay there so we drove into town and got a room.

Later I got a call from the driver who was on his way. I gave him the coordinates and a description of the route. He seemed confident he would find my truck. Later he called again and said the coordinates were way off and some 40 miles from the location. I knew this couldn't be right and felt he wasn't using his GPS correctly. Later were at Big O Tires where we wanted him to drop off the truck. We found he had the truck and was on his way. When he arrived he said he ran acros a rancher on horseback who told him where the truck was. He had to back down for several miles down the road since there was no room for him to turn around where my truck was. We were so glad to see my truck and appreciated his determination to bring it in. I didn't mind the $1100 fee since it was a long way from town and the driver had spent most of the day doing the job.

Big O Tires was really swamped with work and so couldn't get to my truck for several days. That was way optomistic and we had to wait for 8 days till my truck was fixed. We got to know all the museums and casinos in town and squeezed in two additional hikes in the spare time we had. I learned a lession to be a bit more carefull on rough roads. The truck can only take so much.