The prior week I mentioned to my friend Will (a Reno boy) where Justin and I were planning on hunting, and he had a few interesting remarks. First, we should be prepared for flat tires. Second, he considers the area to be one of the most beautiful in Nevada. And, third, we should definitely drive across the playa.

Hunt Unit 34 encompasses almost the entirety of the Black Rock Desert and adjacent mountain ranges. It took little time to deduce that our odds of finding mule deer were highest in a zone called the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Natural Area (LCTNA). On Google Maps, the LCTNA renders as a series of broad sagebrush hills broken by rocky canyons and thickly vegetated perennial springs and streams. Perfect mule deer habitat.

To get there though required quite the drive. From the remote town of Gerlach (most widely known as the last outpost for the yearly migration of Burning Man attendees) we would have to take Soldier Meadows Road over 70 miles to the north. This extraordinarily remote dirt road was the only thing that gave me pause. Will caught my attention with idea of cutting off dirt road miles by zooming across the open playa. I kept the idea as a surprise for Justin.

It was an experience unlike any other, made all the more surreal by the thick smoke from nearby California wildfires obscuring our views of the surrounding terrain. Flat, seemingly endless, and the perfect texture, it was an absolute blast to put the pedal down and float across the expanse.

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