Exploring the Middle of Nowhere Nevada in Renny - Our 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk

wayoflife

wayoflife

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There are a lot of things that Cindy and I love about the all new 2015 Jeep BU Renegade including the way it looks, its sub-compact size, significant fuel economy, stylish interior, great sound system and super comfortable ride. However, Cindy and I would never have bought ours if we didn't look at it as being first and foremost, a real Jeep and one that we could take off-road. Sure, the Renegade is no Wrangler but I don't think Jeep ever intended it to be and really, for our purposes, we don't need it to be. That being said, one of the very first things we wanted to do after getting Renny, our Red Renegade, was to get it out on the dirt and as soon as possible.

With less than 600 miles on the odometer, most of which was a result of driving our brand new Jeep Renegade home from Las Vegas the week before, Cindy and I packed up bags and headed out into the middle of nowhere Nevada to clock in some well needed exploring time in areas we have never been before. The plan was to make a big loop down to the town of Tonopah and back while making stops at old ghost towns, cemeteries, mines and even a dinosaur dig site containing the fossils remains of Ichthyosaurs. Along the way, we would rack up as many miles as we could on dirt and even put our bone stock Jeep Renegade to the test on some rougher terrain. The photos below our from our very first and epic 580 mile trip and I hope you enjoy them.

All packed up and ready to go.
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As luck would have it, snow started to fall just as we were about to leave.
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Heading east on old U.S. 50 - also known as the Lincoln Highway or "The Loneliest Highway".
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No sign of civilization anywhere - perfect!
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The only thing behind us is our dust.
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Out in the middles of Nowhere Nevada and loving it.
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Making our first stop over at the Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park, an amazing two for one destination that's literally hours away from the nearest real town.
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Established soon after a small group of prospectors discovered silver in the area back in 1863, Berlin was the smallest of four communities that sprang up to work the surrounding mines. Becoming a Nevada State Park in 1957, the town has been preserved in "a state of arrested decay" and stands much as it did over 100 years ago.
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Mrs. Phillips lived in this home until 1907 but the house itself was inhabited by Bill and Mack Foster up until the 1950's.
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A look inside.
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Bachelor Quarters where a group of Italians lived and is known for putting on a lively 4th of July celebration in 1906.
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Check out the old radio and alligator skin suitcase.
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Renny parked near the old Machine Shop and Berlin Mill.
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This old stove is the remnants of an old boarding house that once stood here and in the background, you can see the old Machine Shop.
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A closer look at the Machine Shop.
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Some old iron left behind.
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Built in 1900, the Berlin Mill once contained 30 stamps to crush the ore being dug out of the surrounding mines.
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Renny parked in front of the old Assay Office. The old Stage Shop can be seen in the distance.
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Thanks to this being a State park, Berlin has one of the finest collection of old broken glass, porcelain, tin and other historic trash.
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Piece of fine china.
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An old Crisco can.
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Paying a visit to some of the old residents buried in the cemetery at the edge of town.
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More pics below...
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

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Staff member
Moving along, we headed up the hill and further back in time to see the remains of Nevada's State Dinosaur, the Ichthyosaur. A marine carnivorous reptile that breathed air, bore live young, had enormous eyes and looked more like a modern day cetacean than a fish, the Ichthyosaurs fossils found in the Shoshone Mountains are the largest in the world and most specimens measure about 50 feet long.

Here's is a life size concrete mural of what an Ichthyosaur would have looked like and to give it some scale, we parked our sub-compact Jeep Renegade next to it.
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The dig site is located under this shelter.
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Unfortunately, we came at a time when there was no tour available but, there are window on either end of the building that allow visitors to still see the fossils embedded in the rock.
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Everything is mapped out, labeled and a legend is provided to help you identify the fossil parts.
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On the way back down the hill, we stopped to check out some of the old adobe homes that still remain in the old town site of Union.
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Out in this part of Nevada, there are long stretches of dirt roads that are as wide as highway and for the most part, smooth enough to travel safely at highway speeds and in some cases, smoother than most paved highways. Because of this, Cindy and I like to call them Nevada Super Highways but travelers of them do need to be aware of the fact that they aren't maintained or at least, see seldom maintenance so you still need to keep an eye out for unexpected surprises. This is a sign that explains as much.
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Jammin down the highway.
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Hmmm, which way do we go?
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This is an old mining camp that we stopped at along the way. If you know what it's called and/or know where it is, PLEASE DO NOT post it up on the internet. There are some places we keep secret for a reason and I would be grateful if you could please be respectful of that.
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I'm not 100% sure but, I have seen similar buildings to this and later discovered they were post offices.
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One of several large boilers.
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Not sure what these are but, the room next to the boilers was filled with them.
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Now that's a winch!!
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Powered by a small I-4 motor and manual transmission.
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Foot brake and hand brake.
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Clutch pedal.
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Foundry with anvil stump.
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Back on the highway.
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No gas for 163 miles? No problem.
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Again, for those of you who know what this place is and where it is, please keep that information off the internet. I know it's no secret but keeping places like this free of vandals is getting harder and harder and I would prefer to do what I can to slow down their efforts. That being said, here's a few shots of Renny just as the sun went down.
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Home for the night - the historic Mizpah Hotel
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The haunted Lady in Red room.
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BBQ dinner and Irish Red Ales at the Tonopah Brewing Company.
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And of course, a day like this wouldn't be complete without a whiskey nightcap at the Mizpah bar.
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More pics below...
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
The following morning, we topped off our gas tank for the very first time since Fallon just over 205 miles away.
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According to the computer, we had averaged 23.5 MPG.
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To the very top, we managed to put in 8.9 gallons of gas.
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Back on dirt, our first leg of our trip would be one that followed the original and historic Tonopah to Belmont Stage Route.
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While it may have once been the main thoroughfare over 120 years ago, the stage route today doesn't see much traffic of any kind.
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Making our way through an area known as Devils Gate.
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Before heading into town, we made a stop at the old Belmont Cemetery.
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It's amazing to see that some of the original wood headstones are still standing today.
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If you look real carefully, you can almost read the engravings.
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As is the case in most old mining towns, many of the residents in this cemetery were just children.
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Welcome to Belmont, NV.
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Pulling into downtown Belmont.
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Row of old store fronts.
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The old Belmont Inn.
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The old Saloon.
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Home next door.
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Relics from the past - old fire truck.
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Old grader.
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This looks easy enough to drive.
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Awesome old Caterpillar.
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Belmont was once the Nye County seat and a $25,000 courthouse was built here in 1873. "Built for the ages", this impressive courthouse was recently restored and is without question, one of the finest buildings you will find in any ghost town in Nevada.
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Additional jail cells made of steel behind the courthouse.
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Abandoned in the 1920's, most of the graffiti you see on the interior walls were left behind by vandals of the early 20th century.
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Over the hill and on the east side of town, we made a stop over at the ruins of the old Combination Mill. Built in 1868, this massive 40-stamp mill cost $225,000 to build and was given the title "Queen of the Southeast" by contemporary press. Today, just a few retaining walls, foundations and a tall brick chimney are all that remain.
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The vault like room behind this steel door was the bullion room and it locked up refined silver until fast freight stages could haul it off to Austin to the north.
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Some shots of the amazing chimney.
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Just to the south of the Combination Mill resides the old Monitor-Belmont Company 10-stamp flotation mill. Built in 1915, this mill was designed to rework old mine dumps and could treat an average of 120 tons daily.
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More pics below...
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
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On the move again, we proceeded north along the old Belmont to Jefferson Stage Route.
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Stopping for lunch at an old abandoned ranch.
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Climbing our way to the top of Jefferson Summit.
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On top of the summit and ready to head down.
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Traces of snow can still be found up here.
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Steep, rutted out, rocky and on a shelf road, Cindy and I were starting to have second thoughts about working our way down this side of the mountain in our very stock Renegade.
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So far so good. The 4WD takes a little getting used to but the 4LO and rock mode that is available on the Renegade Trailhawk's do seem to work surprisingly well.
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Things got a bit rougher the further down we went.
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The simulated limited slip differentials sure make a lot of noise but, they do get the job done.
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OUCH! Renny's very first battle scar and not even 1,000 miles on the odometer.
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Sure would be nice if the Renegade had a bit less of a bumper to get in the way. Certainly, it takes a bit more effort to wheel on the rocks than either of our built up JK's.
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Down in the canyon, nobody had been down this length of trail in a long time and the trees and brush got super thick. So much for the paint job.
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Civilization at last!
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Downtown Jefferson.
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Silver was discovered in Jefferson Canyon back in 1865 and the area was mined on and off until 1933. The town of Jefferson saw it's peak in 1875 and during that time, they had a post office, over 100 homes, a Wells Fargo office, general stores, hotels, bakeries, a brewery, a butcher shop, a barbershop, lumber yard and over 800 residents.
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West end of town.
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One of two large mill sites on the west end of town.
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The remains of a reclining chimney.
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If you look in the distance, you can see the other mill across the canyon.
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Fun little water crossing on our way down the canyon.
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Out of the canyon.
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Time to give our little Renegade a once over.
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Looks like we're gonna have some buffing to do.
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Ready to head on home.
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Home at last. When all was said and done, we had traveled 580 miles in two days, did over 100 of those miles on dirt and about 20 of those on terrain that had us using 4WD and 4LO on and off. As you can see in the shot below, we still managed to average 24.2 MPG over the course of our trip and that included off road miles. I can only assume this will drop with the addition of bigger tires, a roof rack and added weight but overall, I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the Jeep Renegades fuel economy.
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With just over 1,000 miles on the odometer now and with at least 100 miles of that done off pavement, what I can tell you is that the Jeep Renegade performs as well as I would have expected and in some cases, even better. On pavement, the Renegade handles significantly better than a stock Wrangler. Steering is tight and handling is responsive even when doing quick maneuvers. It drives straight as an arrow, can turn on a dime and stop on one by comparison too. The overall ride is firm but very comfortable without any of the slop and sway that you would feel in a stock Wrangler. Inside, the cabin is super quite, just as roomy as a Wrangler and comes with a much better sound system. Of course, all this added together with the kind of MPG it offers, the Jeep Renegade makes an outstanding daily driver.

As far as how the Renegade does off road goes, what I can tell you is this. Thanks in large part to it's infamous IFS/IRS, the ride is extremely comfortable even on rough dirt roads and even running your tires at street pressure. You simply do not feel every single stone or small rut the way you would with solid axles especially at higher speeds. If desert trails and fire roads are all you run, the Renegade will not disappoint you. On the rocks, the Renegade is no Wrangler by any measure but it still managed to do more than I would have expected. The biggest drawbacks are without question the lack of rocker guards, bumpers that are too wide and hang too low preventing you from nosing up to an obstacle without hitting it. Visibility is limited and that can make negotiating rocks a bit harder without a spotter. While the Trailhawk does have a low range, it's not as low as I'd prefer but the select a mode computer helps to compensate for wheel slip using the brakes. The only thing I don't like about that is that the braking can be real noisy and until I got used to it, it made me feel like I was grinding things on the rocks. Last but not least, the Renegade has absolutely NO FLEX what so ever. I am tempted to see if I can disconnect the sway bar just to see if it'll help at least give a bit more stuff and droop.

All in all, Cindy and I are super happy with Renny, our new 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk. It may not be for everyone and it may not be a Wrangler but for our purposes, we don't need it to be. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about this Jeep and, if I can think of anything I may have missed, I'll be sure to add them as they come to mind. :cool:
 
B

battleborn_jk

New member
Really great virtual tour of central Nevada. Some cool history out there! You've inspired me to hit the old highways and see what's out there for myself!
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks everyone! Glad you enjoyed our trip pics. As far as the Nevada pin striping goes, oh yeah, got a custom set all over Renny :crazyeyes:
 
MTG

MTG

Caught the Bug
Nice. A bunch of these places are on my to-do list. :yup:

Maybe I should sell knuckles and get a toaster? :idontknow:
 
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jmsuitter

New member
Time to replace bumper. Get trail jeeps or Evo to make custom one that others might like as well. Call it the renny special.
 
Petthefish

Petthefish

New member
Awesome report I'm glad to see people use jeeps for what they were meant for. And as for the dent in the bumper well bumpers were made to be bumped or they would not be called bumpers. And scratches down the side we here in Oregon refer to them as eastern Oregon pen stripping. Awesome stuff!
 
Danger

Danger

New member
Wow, inspired to say the least. This is such a cool country and world for that matter. It's easy to forget and hard to believe what people did to build what we take for granted today. Thank you guys for giving us a platform/guideline to document our travels by. Looking forward to the future 😊 "CARPE DIEM"
 
Sporadic

Sporadic

New member
What a great adventure in your new Ride! Awesome pictures! You bring breaking in a new vehicle to a whole new level.
 
rich67

rich67

Caught the Bug
GREAT pictures and writeup. Wonder if the Renny will get the aftermarket support it needs for people to customize it and make it more off-road compliant...
 
hinrichs

hinrichs

Caught the Bug
Looks like an awesome trip, would love to do something like that someday if I can bring the jeep out west with me.
 
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