One of my favorite places to hike and explore – Elephant Land aka The Lava Beds
I have not included many 4×4 / Jeep adventures, mainly because these adventures on the blog are intended to be active adventures of hiking, biking, etc. There are a few however that combine 4×4 access with hiking and climbing exploration. In fact, we have a Polaris ATV and the most fun we’ve had with it is accessing normally hard-to-access places in remote Nevada (and few spots in California).
This adventure is one of my favorites, but you have to like the high desert of Nevada. If you do, you’ll enjoy Pronghorn Antelope, wild burros, wild horses and some really fantastic rock formations.
Betsy and I have put up some new climbs on the formations and on another trip our daughter and her fiancé came out with us to enjoy the magic of this place.
Ah yes, getting there? It isn’t easy. I tried giving written directions to someone and they got lost. I think the best way is find it on a maps program, and use it to get there. There is no cell coverage though, so you’ll need to know how to use offline maps off some sort. The official name is the The Lava Beds (even though all the rocks are granite). So google “The Lava Beds, Nevada” and you’ll probably find it. I just did that and I notice most of what is out there is written by me. Interesting. Know that it is not Lava Beds National Monument in California. That is different.
The roads are good gravel and turn to 4×4 only about 10 miles or so from Elephant Land. A rough 4×4 track circumnavigates the area and you can hike and explore from that. It is an adventure!
