Pike's Basin

“I just been up at the canyon, spying like you said. I think I seen a couple of them rustlers. I think it was the Bollard Twins and a couple of Mexicans.”

–Eli.

Pike's Basin is a location featured in Red Dead Redemption. It is a major geological formation in the Hennigan's Stead region of the New Austin territory. Pike's Basin is routinely crawling with the Bollard Twins Gang.

Background

Red Dead Redemption

Singleplayer

Pike's Basin is part of the Leigh Johnson mission "Justice in Pike's Basin", where players have to save ranchers from the Bollard Twins Gang with the Marshal and his deputies.

After this mission has been completed, Pike's Basin becomes available as a gang hideout, where the player assists Errol Hewitt, a rancher, to get his family's cattle back from the Bollard Twins. Once completing Pike's Basin as a gang hideout, players can be rewarded money and a Sawed-off Shotgun.

The third segment of the Stranger side-mission "Funny Man" takes place in this location.

Multiplayer

This is also a multiplayer gang hideout where there are three weapon crates scattered around. Each of the crates is guarded by Bollard Twins men that you must kill. After they are dead, the player must plant the explosives and then protect against a wave of reinforcements that come to attack. After all three crates are blown and all men are dead, the mission is finished and the reward can be up to 2000 XP.

Notes

After each crate is blown, kill all reinforcements because all enemies must be killed to complete the gang hideout.
Out of all of the multiplayer Gang Hideouts, Pike's Basin gives players the most XP points.
After Update 1.03, repeating this gang hideout is one of the fastest ways to level up in Multiplayer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SD59dk0Q1g
If someone enters the basin while another person is already there, it's prone to glitching and making an enemy spawn inside a rock face. Best case scenario is the enemy can be killed with a stick of dynamite placed so the blast radius gets them. Worst case scenario is you have to leave the basin and re-enter to start over.

Tips and Tricks

The waves of reinforcements at the weapon crates cluster very close together as they come at you down the basin; using Dead Eye with a high-capacity weapon (a Henry or Evans repeater is best), pan across them for several seconds and paint each one in turn. After the rapid burst of fire, quickly target and eliminate any survivors. In this way you can very rapidly eliminate an entire group of enemies and gain a high kill combo with little effort, and often get disarms and hat shots included. An alternative method, with a little practice is to throw a stick of dynamite into the middle of the group--handy if you have dynamite, but don't have enough Dead Eye in your meter.
The reinforcements usually have some good weapons, such as the Schofield and Double-Action revolvers, and Henry and Evans Repeaters, making this hideout a good one to acquire decent weapons in the lower levels of multiplayer. The high points reward means you level up quickly too, and it's conveniently near McFarlane's Ranch, a common location to start a session in.

Outlaws to the End

It is a featured location in the Outlaws to the End Co-op mission "The Herd".

Undead Nightmare

During Undead Nightmare, the basin is abandoned. The camp belonging to the Bollard Twins Gang is empty, and no survivors can be found.

Social Club Challenge

The first of many Challenges created exclusively for Social Club members. Get ready to have Dead Eye skills, lasso expertise, and riding abilities put to the test. This Challenge is in effect only after completing “Justice in Pike’s Basin” mission and have cleared the Gang Hideout here at least once.

Objectives

Pikechallenge — Drag a gang member through the basin

Kill 3 people in one Dead Eye burst
Drag a gang member through the basin
Kill all enemies while on horseback

Reward

"Guns Blazing" Cheat
- Player's guns have a chance of setting enemies on fire every time a bullet is fired.

Trivia

From 1870 to 1901, there was a Basin named "Pike's Basin", and looked very similar to the one in Red Dead Redemption. Pike's Basin was owned by outlaws but was destroyed in 1901 for housing space.
The name is possibly a reference to Pike Bishop, the no-nonsense outlaw gang leader in the 1969 Western classic film The Wild Bunch.
Many players will play this hideout in Free Roam with friends over and over again to easily boost XP as it awards the highest amount on completion (1000 - 2000+ XP depending on the player's participation during the firefight),
Pike's Basin may be based on the location of Bad Bessie in Red Dead Revolver due to their similar appearances.
There is a glitch where one of the enemies will spawn in the ground and will be unable to be shot at, but can shoot the player, the best method to kill him is by throwing dynamite at the red dot on your radar.
Rustled cows and sometimes bulls will spawn at Pike's Basin.
Pike's Basin could be based on the Hole-in-the-Wall pass which was also used as a hideout for several outlaw gangs.
Pike's Basin is the only single-player gang hideout not to have a role (either as a settlement, a safe zone or, in the case of PS3-exclusive Solomon's Folly, a start point for a mission) in the Undead Nightmare, and instead appears completely abandoned, apart from the hordes of the Undead, who spawn at the furthest western entrance.
The name might be a reference to Zebulon Pike, an American soldier and explorer who mapped the southern part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Pike's Basin and Tumbleweed are the largest gang hideouts in the game.