I've started running the Pony Express trail in Nevada and figured it would be right up the expedition people's alley. So far I've run about 150 miles total of the trail in Eastern Nevada from the Dry creek sation to 10 miles west of the Nevada/ Utah border minus about 10 miles in Eureka county where I got lost coming out after dark. Most of the trail has been easy to follow and pretty mild. I'll share some of the things I've learned about running the trail.

For the most part I've run the trail from West to East and here's some of what I've found

I've tried to run the trail west of Dry creek and haven't had much luck though I need to spend a whole day in the the Austin Area. I went in at the sign for Hickson Petrogliphs and followed the 2 track before you get to the acutal Hickson area and found the trail and ran it east maybe 1-2 miles before it became a narrow up hill v that I wasn't so sure I wanted to take my pickup though it and I knew it would become a horse/ foot trail at some point. Trying to run it west from there didn't get me very far, I found 1 sign and then it turned into a really overgrown trail and I lost it again.


At Dry Creek (all most due north of the center of the state about 40-50 miles east of Austin NV) the trail turned into a foot and horse trail heading west.

Runing from Dry Creek east the trail is followable and I've run up and Over pony express pass though at night lost the trail going into Dimond Valley and ended up coming out on 50. Pony Express pass is overgorwn and you will be getting some scratches, my full size fit through it though. I'll go back in the day and find the part that connects pony express pass to hwy 278. Running from 278 across dimond valley is really flat and uneventful. Telegraph pass is a fun not super challanging but not flat climb and is also really taight like Pony Express pass. To find Telegraph pass the Thompson Ranch is on your left and it's the only right after the ranch, it looks like you are going through their ranch junk pile but it's actually the trail. Coming off of Telegraph pass it is a little hard to find the right trail to come out on to 892, you can see the trail all the way across the valley. If you loose the main trail and come out of 892 there is a wooden sign marker on 892 pointing you across the valley.

Runing the trail through Newark Valley it is easy to fllow the trail and there is a bit of silt but it's not truck swallowing bad. Going up and over Overland pass is a nice graded road and my dog enjoyed a stop at Ruby Lake Resivor for a swim. I would bypass the trail from where it hits 3 and head south on 3 till you see the sign for Blue Jay Ranch, head north there and work your way back to the trail. There is a bad, truck swallowing silt bed that I wasn't sure I'd make it though. If you do try the silt beds and the exact trail route there are a couple bypasses which help.

From Ruby Valley to 93 the trail is really well marked and pretty much 2wd graded roads and 2-tracks besides a couple non turck swallowing silt beds. The trail comes out at 93 and there is a rest area with some information boards about the trail.

The next 13 miles of the trail are graded dirt roads any car could make it through. From there the trail goes over rock springs pass the highest pass on the trail, it is a little rough but not bad.

On the Eastern end of Nevada about 10 miles from the Utah Border you hit the Goshute Indian Reservation, the trail runs right into a fence with a sign say No Tresspassing Indian Land, I tried to go up a bit and get on 34 (about a mile up the fence and the trail adventually runs back into 34) to run across the reservation but it has the same sign and I figured it wasn't worth getting scalped. I'm not sure if it was legal to run on the county road or not so I decided it wasn't worth risking it and to head home. I'd like to get the Utah map and try and run some parts in Utah. By the time I hit the reservation it was time to head into Ely for some dinner anyways.

It also looks like in theory you could run the trail in Western NV from Dayton NV to Sand mountain though I'm not sure how much private land you would have to deal with. On the map it also looks like a lot of Alkali flats. From Sand mountain the trail turns into Hwy 50 till you get closer to Austin NV where it turns back into a trail, I'll try this portion of the trail at some point as well.


For the most part it's a pretty easy trail and I have been running most of it in my 2500HD that's stock besides some 33" mud terrains. I think it could all be run a stock 4x4 though pay attention to the silt beds and I wouldn't want to run them when they are wet. In the flats there are some sility spots, nothing real bad besides the 1 spot in Ruby valley. At the first sign of silt I pop my truck in to 4 hi just in case. I wouldn't want to pull a trailer through some of the passes though the rest of the trail would probably be doable with a small trail trailer.


The Bench Mark Atlas for Nevada shows the trail and is pretty accurate/ makes it pretty easy. The trail is marked to some degree and lots of the cross roads have wooden signs with arrows as to where the trail goes, other spots have ramdom metal t-posts, Concrete monuments with Poney Express Trail engraved, old wodden sign posts with the signs removed, brown or faded to orange plastic markers with Pony Express stickers and from Ruby lake East the trail has brown BLM markers and it's trail XP.

Fuel can and will be an issue for some people. Today I fueld up in Eureaka, went up to Newark Valley to catch the trail, ran 100 miles on the trail and looped back to 93, I was at about 250 miles on the odometer by the time I got to Ely NV for fuel, 1 of the bars on 93 does have a gas pump, no clue if they actually have gas and I'm guessing it's in the $4+ a gallon range. Otherwise plan on 24 hour fuel in Austin, Eureka, and Ely for the eastern part of the state. You aren't going to find a whole lot of water along the trail and most of it is cow water, I'm sure you could boil it and not die but be prepared with some extra, temps can hit 90-100* during the day and it's all ready dropped into the 30's at night here in Eureka and it's only the begining of September. Another thing to think about is the sun, if you are trying to run the trail from east to west about 4pm it starts to become real hard to see and it gets dark by 8pm to the point you would be setting up camp in the dark.

The eastern half of Nevada would be a fun trail to run in 2 days. The 100 miles I did today from Newark Valley to the Reservation took me about 6 hours. I was running at about as fast a pace as a stock 2500HD could run and not stopping any where but closed gates. If anyone wants to run it I might be convinced to make another run in the next month or 2 before the snow comes/ it gets too cold to camp.

This trip is on my list of "Trips to Take"

Let me know if you want to do it soon, it'll get too cold to camp pretty soon. You could probably run it in long 1 day if you wanted to and limited sight seeing stops. I've run all but a couple miles in dimond valley as of now and I think I could make the last couple miles work/ might try them today.

I've heard of people running it from Utah to Cali.

...I've heard of people running it from Utah to Cali.

That describes us :cool:

We'll be running it that way in a few weeks. Starting in Salt Lake, we'll be forced to stay on the pavement past the Indian Ford & Camp Floyd where we will pick up the dirt starting near Faust (gas available in Vernon). From there we will do our best to stay on the original route all the way to Carson City/Lake Tahoe. We are allotting ourselves 5 days, its a lot of ground to cover but we are all fast movers and have done many similar trips. I've personally done the section from Faust to the Utah/NV border quite a few times, and have gone all the way to Ruby Mtns along what we could best figure as the original route. The Goshute Indian Reservation is passable, or at least we've never had any issues there. Fuel is available in Ibapah.

Your information is very helpful, each member of our group is planning out a different day, I'm forwarding this to the others. I'll be sure to update you after our trip.

That describes us :cool:

We'll be running it that way in a few weeks. Starting in Salt Lake, we'll be forced to stay on the pavement past the Indian Ford & Camp Floyd where we will pick up the dirt starting near Faust (gas available in Vernon). From there we will do our best to stay on the original route all the way to Carson City/Lake Tahoe. We are allotting ourselves 5 days, its a lot of ground to cover but we are all fast movers and have done many similar trips. I've personally done the section from Faust to the Utah/NV border quite a few times, and have gone all the way to Ruby Mtns along what we could best figure as the original route. The Goshute Indian Reservation is passable, or at least we've never had any issues there. Fuel is available in Ibapah.

Your information is very helpful, each member of our group is planning out a different day, I'm forwarding this to the others. I'll be sure to update you after our trip.

:D Just one more week!

That describes us :cool:

The Goshute Indian Reservation is passable, or at least we've never had any issues there.

Your information is very helpful, each member of our group is planning out a different day, I'm forwarding this to the others. I'll be sure to update you after our trip.

No problem, it's a fun trip. As far as the gosute reservation goes when you go form west to east what I believe is the "correct" trail dead ends into a fence with a no tresspassing sign and then the graded road that goes through the rez has the same sign. I'm not sure how recent they are, they are "offical" signs put up by the tribe, it might not hurt to give them a call and ask, I couldn't find anything on line about it.

PM me if you want my number/ address, I have tools/ welder and you guys are welcome to fill up on water/ shower here.

Camping at Ruby lake would be nice and isn't very far off the trail. Watch out for the silt bed in that area, I'd bypass it by hopping on the main road through there for a bit.

So far the weather has been nice and a little warm this direction, we hit 96* in Eureka at 6,500' last week. No snow yet.

A buddy and I are running the eastern half in NV the last weekend of October dependent on weather if anyone wants to go.

Let me know if you want to do it soon, it'll get too cold to camp pretty soon.



Most likely, before I die, but no absolute real plans yet

I'm headed that way now, it's dropped to twenty at night already eh?
Where is that below zero sleeping bag

No problem, it's a fun trip. As far as the gosute reservation goes when you go form west to east what I believe is the "correct" trail dead ends into a fence with a no tresspassing sign and then the graded road that goes through the rez has the same sign. I'm not sure how recent they are, they are "offical" signs put up by the tribe, it might not hurt to give them a call and ask, I couldn't find anything on line about it.

Hmmm, not sure where your referring to. We've followed what is listed (by modern maps albeit) as the correct route through the Goshute Reservation a handful of times without any issues with trespassing. I think there is a spur to an old station on the reservation that is not public access but the route itself?

Watch out for the silt bed in that area, I'd bypass it by hopping on the main road through there for a bit.

The silt beds were far worse than I remember from previous trips, a few of us made it through hauling ass in 2WD but the rest had to lock it in and two had to be strapped. That stuff was nasty deep.

We had a great time along the route. There were only a couple of sections we found that were not drivable, I think that if we had more time we could have routed through them but it came down to sleeping that night :D

I need to spend a few minutes and jot down my notes and GPS log of the trip, I would love to do it again and even try to nail down a more 'correct' route. Eventually it will end up on expeditionnevada.com and expeditionutah.com as a feature trail. It will be a couple of years though as I've got a million other places I want to see in the meantime :D

I was back on the Pony Express Trail last week with a team from Wide Open Baja, we did the Faust to Ibapah section (all dirt). Ibapah was out of gas on our Labor Day trip and again last week, thankfully for this trip we had the Wide Open chase truck ready with fuel. While topping off the buggies and my truck we were greated with the grand tour of the Ibapah Trading Post, some of the buildings there are Pony Express era and the store keeper had some neat stories to share about the history of the area.

I appreciate all your advice and offer to help :cool: