by Gage Smith, the Picon Guy
In mid May, a small group of SXS riders decided to spend a long weekend at Nevada’s newest park, Walker River Recreation area near Yerington — close enough to get to without a five hour drive.
The park encompasses 12,900 acres and is made up of four separate ranches: The Flying M, The Rafter 7, The Nine Mile, and the Pitchfork, all of them once part of the sprawling Barron Hilton land holding. This will be a considerable work in progress as the years slip by. The only developed or semi-developed parts of this are the Nine Mile (commonly called “The Elbow”) and the Pitchfork where we stayed.


The East Walker River road is dirt, but pretty well maintained as it meanders along the river. Once you get to the Rafter 7 & cut off, you can head west and then hook up with the Rocklin/Pine Grove road. If you have never seen these two ghost towns, it’s a worthwhile trip. There are ruins in each place that offer some interest and you can make it a loop to see both.
Pine Grove, since it is so close to me, is usually an annual thing. We ride from the west side and always seem to arrive there around lunch time. We take the road climbing north to the Pine Grove Cemetery. There are quite a few graves and headstones as well as iron fences; it’s worth the look-see. We usually eat our lunch there; I call it “Dining with Dead People”.

According to my mapping program, we could have made a loop but on the return we ran into some rough washouts and were forced to turn back. Not a problem, the best way to see an area is to see it from both directions.
