From Winnemucca, Nevada to Fallon, Idaho

On the Bloody Shins Trail

Still on the Bloody Shins Trail

Typical cattle guard

Livestock, meaning horses and cattle, can't cross a cattle guard without their legs getting caught between the bars.  The purpose of cattle guards is to keep livestock out of certain areas.

Before we drove out of Winnemucca, we stopped at the Bloody Shins Trail for a quick ride before the heat got into the triple digits.  The Bloody Shins Trail is on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.  The trail is not well-known.  It is located at the end of Kluncy Canyon Road off Highland Road.

There is a large gravel parking area which is great for horse trailers.  Plenty of room to turn around.  It is a mixed use area - the trails are used by bikers, hikers, and even ATV people - although ATVs are supposed to keep to the wide roads.

There is a cattle guard at the trail entrance (see photos above).  The trails are extensive and you could easily spend a day on the trails, but the view is pretty much the same regardless of where you are...sagebrush and cactus.  There are rapidly moving lizards and I am sure there are rattle snakes, although I only saw the lizards.  I kept my ears open for rattlers, just in case and we kept to the trails.

We only rode for about 30 minutes - it was in the high 80s when we started the ride and in the high 90s when we ended the ride.  Mostly, we wanted to let the horses stretch their legs a bit before we loaded them into the trailer for the two hour plus ride to Fallon.