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We love adventure. The smell. The tingling sensation that starts at the back of your neck and creeps down your spine that tells you, you're committed to this. We love the idea of being in a place few people ever see and less people even know about. Forging our own trail instead of following someone else's. That's why we loved the idea of heading out to the Secret Basin Roadless Area in the Southern Toiyabe Range for the holiday weekend. The Toiyabe Range conjures up images of Arc Dome and the Toiyabe Crest Trail for most folks, Secret Basin is a little different. Instead of sweeping mountain vistas you'll find sage brush over six feet tall and VERY LITTLE WATER in some spots. But again, we love adventure.
 Our trip began from the Tom's Canyon Trailhead at the edge of the Arc Dome wilderness. From there we hacked and thrashed our way along Barney's Creek until we could hack and thrash no more, the choke cherry and other brush was just too thick. After assessing our options, we decided our direction should be up and out of the canyon. This decision led to a climb of 1600 vertical feet out of the canyon and away from our reliable water source.
Once we gained the ridge we were treated to sweeping views of central Nevada. Arc Dome was to our North, the Toquima Range was on our East. We followed the ridge along to Barney Meadows where our maps told us we find an abundance of water. Well...that isn't exactly what happened. We found the water eventually, but only after finding several dead springs first and then digging for the one we did find. But oh did that water taste good!
 The next day we hiked out of the meadows and into Cottonwood Basin, where again Cottonwood Creek promised to hold an abundance of fresh mountain water. Well...it did sorta. The creek flows above and under ground intermittenly. This was not totally unexpected but the abundance of desert rose bushes certainly was! We're pretty sure those plants can grow on either water or human blood depending on the day and what is more readily available. But we also discovered entire washes full of "old growth" sagebrush over six feet tall! We were also promised a pack trail, which we were able to find but sometimes resembled the path of an inebriated bovine.
Our greatest reward was the cool and shaded grove of cottonwoods that marked the end of our fun adventure. There the breeze was always cool, pools of water collected to chill our dusty feet  and sweaty brows, and our recent hardships turned into jovial memories.
If you are interested in seeing more pictures from the area please go to our photo gallery. We love people who come hiking with us, so please check our Events page to see when and where the next Wilderness Values Trip is taking place.
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What We Do 
