Black Rock Country is 1.2 million acres of protected high desert landscape. Within Black Rock Country is the Black Rock Desert – High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. This is the largest National Conservation Area (NCA) in the lower 48 and protects 120 miles of the Applegate-Lassen Emigrant Trail as well as 900 miles of primitive designated routes. The playa surface is at 3,900 feet, and the highest peaks in the area, Granite and King Lear, are just under 9,000 feet. This landscape contains 10 wilderness areas that are stitched together with roads, providing unique access for bikepacking.

This loop starts at the southeast corner of the Calico Mountains Wilderness on Soldier Meadows Road. You are riding on the stolen lands of the Northern Paiute. Once known as the Harlequin Hills, the colors of the Calico Hills are the namesake of the area. Mine tailings dot the mountainside, reflecting the appetite of hardrock miners seeking their fortunes. On the right is the vastness of the Black Rock Desert. Traveling north, the obvious features on the horizon are Ol’ Razorback Peak, Black Rock Point (the namesake for this area), Big Mountain, and Morman Dan Rock. Along the route are “cherry stem roads” that are designated routes or fingers into the wilderness that are worth experiencing. To venture deeper into the wilderness, leave your bike behind and go on foot.

At mile 13.5, you leave Soldier Meadows Road, and start to climb into the Calico Mountains, and now you are north of the Calico Mountains Wilderness and south of the High Rock Lake Wilderness. Wilderness technically begins 50 feet on either side from the center of the road. At mile 13.9, you pass a micro-playa with its own unique texture. At mile 16, the road crosses a private parcel with an old homestead. At mile 19, there is a spring feeding a water trough. By now, you have climbed thousands of feet above the Black Rock Desert. Your perspective could only be matched in a small aircraft. To the east and southeast, you are looking over the Black Rock Range, the Jackson Mountains, the Kama Mountains, and Seven Troughs Range. All these mountains rise from the Black Rock Desert, the lakebed of ancient Lake Lahontan. At mile 23, there is a grove of aspens along Donnelly Creek that provides an excellent spot for dispersed camping.

The route’s saddle is just over 7,000 feet, and to the south are Division and Donnelly Peaks. Now the views change from Black Rock Desert to canyonlands; to the north are Little High Rock Canyon, High Rock Canyon, Fly Canyon, and Box Canyon. The loop is completed through Donnelly Flat and along the edge between the agricultural properties of Hualapai Flat and the Calico Mountains Wilderness.

This route was ridden in June 2022 as part of a series of rides sponsored by the Friends of Black Rock High Rock to foster public land stewardship through bikepacking.