Trail Overview

This trip starts you at the Marrietta site with some ruins in various steps of decay. There are a few people that live there, watch your speed and dust. The whole area around Marietta is the Nation's first formally recognized Wild Burro Range. The 68,000-acre range is managed for between 78-104 wild burros. There are several different ways to approach the cabin under a rock, this is the most direct route. The canyon between the Marrietta area to Little Huntoon Valley is often washed out after storms. Summer and early fall are the best times. Use caution with the seasonal washouts and switchback shelf roads, full-size vehicles are not recommended.

Photos of Cabin Under a Rock

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Difficulty

4wd is needed. The trail goes through the canyon where and gets washed out after storms. This trail is not recommended in wet conditions. In some areas, the trail is a narrow shelf trail with long drop-offs.

History

Cabin under a rock is a unique mining camp in the Excelsior mountains. The cabin was built under a large rock. The couple that built the cabin was Albert and Anna Bass and they worked the mine from 1908 to 1930. Albert and Anna retired to Tonopah with their earnings from the mine.

Technical Rating

Conor Kelly

Sep 06, 2025

Open

We continued on this trail from our finishing Adobe Valley and Cow Camp road. Trail is easy and mostly just dirt road until it reaches the canyon. Inside the canyon the road is intermittently washed out by the river so you’ll spend your time dropping into the wash, threading boulders and wash edges and getting back up onto trail. Nothing crazy there and only a few minor technical areas. I give it a 5 because some of the edges of the wash are loose enough that you can drop into if not careful. We followed this until reaching Back Wat to Marietta, which will have its own report.