Archive | June, 2023

Home Means Nevada – Sister Trip 14 – 2023

24 Jun

The Sister Trip was to go to Washington, D.C. and we were SO excited about it.  BUT, the night before departure, we received a text that advised us our early morning flight was canceled and we couldn’t get on a flight until two days later.  Major disappointment was in the air.  We recalculated and opted to take a trip that has been on my bucket list for several years.  This new trip turned out to be one of the best ever.  SO much fun!

Our first night was in Tonopah, more in the south-central portion of the state. We stayed at the Mizpah, an historic hotel dating from Tonopah’s early 1900’s boom times. It is haunted but all I felt was the bed shaking in the middle of the night. I do know people who have seen and/or felt presences.
East-West highways are few in Nevada and that is why we went south in order to go east. As most of you know, we had a long, cold winter and rainy spring. That weather brought us gorgeous desert flowers, lots of greenery and…road construction. It’s practically a season here in Nevada.
A view from one of our construction stops. If you look closely on the bottom right corner, you will see some yellow flowers.
A dead juniper with flowers growing among its roots
Even NDOT got into the ET spirit using far out font for this sign. Nary an ET did we see, but we did see the old shack and a lizard sitting on top of an old tire.
Cathedral Gorge is like visiting an alien planet. The dramatic landscape of eroded soft bentonite clay creates all sorts of small slot canyons in which one can play and explore.
Looking up in one of the slots
Looking down on a Nevada rest stop for weary travelers. While there are some very nice stops, we did see more than one like this one. 🙂
During the first few years of Pioche, NV, boom days, it is said that 72 men “were buried with their boots on” before anyone died of natural causes.
This is a long view of Boot Hill Cemetery in Pioche, NV.    Supported by towers, the cable and buckets are part of a transport system taking ore to a smelter.  It went over Boot Hill.
We have always wanted to see a bristle cone pine tree and almost had a chance after we visited the Lehman Caves. But the road was still snowed in and we did not have any snow gear in which to climb a trail that we couldn’t see. So, we settled for a fake shot in the Lehman Caves Visitor Center.
The Lehman Caves were extraordinary! A fabulous tour with bats and all! (We saw only a couple of bats near the entrance as that is where they roost)
Every turn, we saw new formations and interpretations.
Looking east from the entrance of the Lehman Caves
Mr. Wheeler, Nevada’s second highest peak at 13,063′
The Ward Charcoal Ovens, used to burn wood into charcoal for use in nearby smelters.
After only 3 years of operation, the boom waned and there was no more need for charcoal. Later, the ovens provided shelter for prospectors, stockmen and outlaws. They are now part of a state park.
Our next major stop was Ely and the Nevada Northern Railroad, a 56-acre complex that has become a living museum (and also a Nevada State Museum and a national historic landmark).
We really enjoyed visiting the museum, seeing steam and diesel engines plus many pieces of original equipment. All of these artifacts, large and small, are maintained by volunteers.
A rotary snow blower.
Our first stop along Nevada’s “Loneliest Highway.” This was our only stop on it for a couple of days because we toured other areas. Then we went home on that “lonely” highway, which isn’t quite a s lonely as they would have you believe.
The next day was a real treat.  We visited the Ruby Lake Wildlife Refuge that lies along the eastern foot of the Ruby Mountain Range.  Getting there was a blast.  We were on a dirt road that wound its way through idyllic ranch land with lots of visual candy.
Lots of cattle on the road, wandering in and out of pastures. Apparently they like the grass alongside the road.
Who you lookin’ at?
Wetlands filled with fish, ducks, other critters, flowers, tules and other reeds.
This is the best illustration I have seen of our Native Americans using tules to build their canoes/boats to use in the wetlands. Tules were also used to make baskets, decoys, sleeping mats and more. Our local people did this also in wetlands about 60 miles east of us.
This pronghorn stood and posed for us for quite a while. This was taken from inside the truck because we were besieged with mosquitoes.
It was like being attacked by “The Birds!” There were hundreds of them all over the windows. Oddly enough, there were none on the other side of the wetlands where people were fishing. Obviously, they knew something we didn’t.
Yellow-headed blackbird also taken through the window.
These signs are all over the place on dirt and regular roads where it is open range.
This little guy didn’t want to move and Mama was beginning to snort and move toward us. We edged away as quickly as we could
On a shortcut across the Ruby Mountains heading toward Elko. A very pretty drive.
Lamoille Canyon – formed by a glacier and then water
The 12 mile long Lamoille Canyon Road cut short by an avalanche…not just one, several.
Standing on the first avalanche while looking at the second.  Since we didn’t have proper shoes and were slipping a lot, we turned around and thought of the old saying “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
Continuing the Highway 50 saga
As it was Sunday and almost everything was closed, we did not spend much time in Austin.
These creatures ( aka – katydids or Mormon crickets) greeted us in Elko and also in Austin. They literally cover the road and make it look as if it has become an ugly red river of some sort. We saw signs in Elko that said to be careful of slick roads because so many has been run over. I don’t think they bite but they are scary looking, eat all they can and crawl over everything. I saw a few that were maybe two inches long. Ick! This one is a female.
Petroglyphs at Hickison Recreation Area on Highway 50.

We continued on Highway 50 through Fallon, Fernley, Dayton and then home. The Churchill County Museum in Fallon is very well done and worth the visit. I learned quite a bit there. Dayton’s museum is in an old schoolhouse and also very interesting with many donations from local residents and other donors.

Since Nevada is well known for its wild horses, you may be wondering why there are not cool photos of them. We must have seen at least 50 of them during our almost 1500 mile adventure. They were always quite a distance away and they are very skittery if one tries to get closer. These two were sort of close to the highway but continued to shy away from us. This is the best shot we got and, as you can tell, it is the end!