My family has spent Thanksgiving at Sand Mountain in Nevada since I was in high school. Don’t worry we have turkey, we have pumpkin pie; but we also have high desert scenery, nights around the campfire, and races on the sand dunes.

Our typical ATV ride includes throttling up steep hills, riding over whoops, a few rest breaks, and from time to time actual breaks. A great reminder that Tread Lightly! includes planning ahead so you can fix breaks or at least limp back to camp with help from a friend.

For our last ride of the trip I turned on my GPS and tracked our journey. We rode up to Monument Point, then headed east, but didn’t make it too far before a break turned us around. Since it was our last ride a few of us circled the mountain while the rest of the group towed an ATV back to camp. Along with a map, my GPS gathered these stats:

Distance: 12.8 miles
Low point: 4,012 feet
High point: 4,946 feet
Max speed: 33 mph

Next time I’ll send the GPS with my brother and the stats will be much more impressive.

Until Next Thanksgiving,
Trails

P.S. Nevada has the best sunsets hands down. Thank you atmospheric particles!