Virginia City Loop

The Dayton portion of the trail is mapped through private property that is heavily posted with keep out signage

Trail is open and beautiful as everything is still green. We enjoyed breakfast in VC and them made the loop. It does take some time but there are a lot of beautiful places for photo opportunities. Stay on the maked trail and respect all others on the trail. Plan to ride it again Easter with a large group. Happy riding!!

This suggested trail is 90% on private land. This land has been private since at least the early 1970's when it was subdivided. The prior trip report about private property, gates, and cameras holds.

Road this trail is open. You do have to ride the pavement down 6 mile Canyon, there's a section once you leave Dayton, where there's a lot of barrels that say private property, but they are just trying to make sure you stay on the trail if you read the signs correctly, it was a great ride. Expect about 4 hours as it is rocky.

We attempted to ride the route on motos as shown on OnX Offroad. Be advised, we found significant segments of this route that are on posted private lands with no trespassing signs, locked gates and electronic surveillance. This required extensive backtracking, route modification and alternate route finding. The land owners clearly do not want OHVs or motos using their private roads. Even in Nevada, this is what happens when public lands are sold (disposed of) into private hands.

Speaking as a dirt bike rider, we started from Virginia City and went counter-clockwise around the loop. The section from VC to Dayton and up to the Basalite mine was good for moto. Medium difficulty. A mixture of hills, a few short rocky sections, and several sections on the street/highway. We were on dual sports, so we were fine. The area did seem to be ok with SxSs on the side roads. Once we passed the Basalite mine, to road turned into a quagmire of loose, volcanic rock, like a riverbed. Of the road was actually easier to ride. Unless you like that, I would leave that to the SxSs and Jeeps. We turned around and went back to VC. We did not run the loop clockwise out of VC. We definitely enjoyed the ride.

completely dry trail. very Rocky and bouncy. for the first 20 mi we were only able to average about seven or 8 mph although had no issues with clearance. a few wild horses and lots of evidence from them left behind. the Virginia City loop is not one to do casually as it's not that scenic on the south side and is extraordinarily hard on your equipment. best for more aggressive drivers with machines that are built specifically to handle lots and lots of mountainous Rock trail

We ran this trail with two Broncos after running jumbo grade up to Virginia City. We ran the portion of this trail from Virginia City to the petroglyphs. The very beginning of the trail right outside of Virginia City was extremely muddy and sloppy and slick, but we were able to get through. The rest of the trail is pretty rocky and heads out to the petroglyphs, which are outstanding. Contrary to the trail listing, the portion that we ran of this trail was wide enough for full-size vehicles. Not sure about the rest of the trail, however. once you clear the muddy section right outside of Virginia City, the rest of the trail to the petroglyphs is quite rocky. We also saw many wild horses on this trail, probably 40 or 50 total. Thoroughly enjoyable day and highly recommended four-wheel-drive trail.