4-11-2019 Thursday
After a couple of days in Carson City, we are ready to head
east on U.S. Hwy 50, across Nevada. (400+ miles). This stretch is new to us and
looks fairly desolate, in fact, it’s labeled the (loneliest road), however,
it’s marked as scenic. We’ll seek out the things that make it special.
As usual this desolate route has presented some unexpected
and fascinating history, ruins, wildlife, architecture, geography, geology, and
attractions. For RV rig travelers, there are lots of ups and downs and they get
steeper going eastbound. Lots of Cedar, Pine, Artemisia, and Cottonwoods, and
way too many mountain peaks to name!
US 50, across Nevada, has an (even dozen) mountain passes
with high, interspersed valleys:
Truckee River Valley
Cold Springs Summit at Cold Springs (6273’) crosses Clan
Alpine Mountains
New Summit Pass at (6340’) crosses Desatoya Mountain Range
Antelope Valley
Mt. Airy Summit at (6686’) crosses Shoshone Mountains
Reese River Valley
Austin Summit (7484) crosses Toiyabe Range
Smoky Valley
Bob Scotts Summit (El 7195’)
Hickison Summit at (6594’) crosses the Toquima Range
Monitor Valley
Antelope Valley
Pinto Summit (7350’) crosses Diamond Mountains
Long Valley
Pancake Summit at (6521’) crosses the Pancake Range
Newark Valley
Little Antelope Summit at (7438’) crosses White Pine Range
Robinson Summit at (7588’) crosses the Butte Mountains
Butte Valley
Connors Pass at (7722’) crosses the Schell Creek Range
Spring Valley
Sacramento Pass (7136’) crosses Snake Range
Snake Valley
US 50 across Nevada is called the “loneliest road in
America” or “Way Down on the High Lonely”. It is high-altitude and desolate but
we found it very interesting. On Highway 50, we started our journey across the
state, we discovered that the terrain of Nevada is quite varied, quite colorful
and altogether breathtaking.
Fallon is an agricultural community and home to the Navy’s
Top Gun flight school, also our lunch stop.
At Sand Mountain, 20-miles east of Fallon, we saw the
mountainous sand dunes that are a popular ATV area and also a sacred sight for
the Native Americans (the moving sand makes a “singing” sound.) This is also
the site of the Cold Springs station, an old Pony Express station.
We encountered snow on several of the high passes and the
higher mountains are well-covered with snow. This area was long occupied by
bands of the Western Shoshone people and ancient (7000 years) petroglyphs are
found along the route. The Yomba Shoshone Tribe of the Yomba Reservation is
still here. Next, came the Pony Express trail, and some stations, which we saw
along the highway. The 1900-mile Pony Express Trail, between St Joseph, MO. and
Sacramento, CA., traversed along this route between Salt Lake City and Carson
City. Mining brought lots of European-American prospectors and over the years produced
gold, silver, copper, lead, turquoise, and later uranium. We saw a herd of
Pronghorn around New Pass Summit.
We saw a castle at Austin. Perched above the town and just
to the south of the highway is Stokes Castle, a long abandoned monument to a
prominent eastern family with local mining interests.
Tonight, we stopped at the Austin Baptist Church and RV
Park (a first for us) (6605’), in cold, wet snow. The small church is operating
a rudimentary campground, adequate for overnight. We had full-hookups, so we
stayed toasty and Terry made a nice dinner, followed by a quiet, restful, cold,
snowy night.
Friday, April 12, 2019
After breakfast, we had to remove snow and ice from the rig
before we could get underway. Continuing east on US 50, we drove in wet, snowy
conditions, until we reached Eureka. Mining made Eureka and the little town
looks like an old western movie set. We drove around, bought fuel and departed,
hoping for warmer weather. We found dry, sunny weather at Newark Valley, but
the north wind was cold. We stopped for an indoor picnic lunch at Newark Valley
and admired the scenery. Newark Valley is totally surrounded by mountains, so
the lake is an evaporative basin, covered with white salts.
With the next two passes the highest, we encountered more
snow, but the scenery was magnificent. Snow-covered mountains all around, and
Artemisia-covered (blue sage) valleys below. We saw a herd of Pronghorn and
various birds. We saw Basque farms in the irrigated valleys. Basques have been
living in Northern Nevada for over a century and form a population of several
thousand. Basque immigrants first came in the mid-1800s during the Gold Rush.
For a century and a half the Basques have been closely tied to sheep herding in
Nevada and neighboring states. The Basque herdsmen use covered-wagon looking
rigs for their shelter when out on the range. In the Spring, they move the
sheep herds to the high country for grazing and they stay with the sheep all
summer. We was quite a few of these camps in the high country.
We made it to Ely, did some sightseeing, shopping and found
a campsite at KOA (6437’). At 8pm, it’s
cold and snowing! Unlike other Highway
50 towns, copper ― rather than gold and silver fueled Ely’s growth and they
have Ruth Copper Pit, one of the world’s largest open copper pit mines. We
learned two interesting facts in Ely today. First, the copper ore is removed
and shipped to Japan for smelting. Second, the massive piles of
"overburden" that have been removed from old copper mines are being processed
by companies, recovering gold, using new technology. So now, they’re making new
mine tailings from old mine tailings, literally creating mine-tailing mountains!
Tomorrow, we head to Baker for a two-day visit to the Great
Basin National Park, situated in the Snake Range. Baker, (5315’) in White Pine
County, is located just east of the park’s main entrance. Their web says:
"It's quiet, peaceful, and beautiful and the people are friendly." The
town is named after an early settler, George W. Baker. White
Pine County boasts dark skies, clean air and millions of acres of unspoiled
public land. It is the home of Great Basin National Park, one of America's most
remote and least visited national parks.
The park’s web says:
“From the 13,000-foot summit of Wheeler Peak, to the
sage-covered foothills, Great Basin National Park is a place to sample the
stunning diversity of the larger Great Basin region. Come and partake of the
solitude of the wilderness, walk among ancient bristlecone pines, bask in the
darkest of night skies, and explore mysterious subterranean passages.”
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Morning brought a clear, sunny day, with azure skies and
snow-covered mountains all around. After a cold, snowy night, we’re looking
forward to a warm day.
Our drive over to Baker and Great Basin National Park was
very scenic, with snowy mountains in range after range. At Baker, we took a
nice RV site in Whispering Elms RV Park, at the old Ranger Station. The Baker
family is still ranching in the valley.
After lunch, we went over to the Park Visitor Center and
researched the park and surrounding area. From here we could get a panorama of
the great Snake Valley and the Snake Mountain Range. It’s a vast valley with
views for miles and miles, on this clear day. We made a plan to visit the park
and see the things that we came to see. Unfortunately, portions of the upper
driving tours are still closed, due to snow.
The Visitor Center presented a very informative video
program, and an extensive historic and photo kiosk. The park’s caverns, trails,
scenic drives, Bristlecone Pines, and remote location, make the park a must-see
experience. We walked the nature trail
and took some remarkable pictures. From the trail, we could see Notch Peak, in
Utah, 44-miles east. We drove up to the snowline and the Wheeler Peak trail
(7500’) but the snow was too deep to walk. It was worth the effort just to
experience the quiet, and mountain air. Fall would be the best time to visit.
Yes,
it is the most remote place we have found in the continental U.S. We talked to
the locals and one interesting fact was that “they take turns going for
groceries and supplies”, which is not very often.
Along US 50, during the daylight hours, on weekdays, we
encountered very little traffic, and US 50 is in excellent condition, with lots
of pull-offs and curiosities. As we traveled this famous route, we could almost
hear the gallop of the horses along the Pony Express trail, see the wagon
trains on the overland stagecoach trail, and see evidence of the quest for
riches while passing through some of the best-preserved mining towns of the
1800’s.
Having entered the “Great Basin” from all cardinal
directions, on previous visits, this route has presented us with a much
enlightened understanding. The hydrographic Great Basin is defined as a
contiguous area within the Intermountain West in which surface water does not
reach the sea. Instead of one “Great Basin”, this region contains about 200
internally drained basins. It’s not just one but many basins. The rivers and
streams of each, collect in shallow salt marshes, and evaporate in the dry
desert air. Along the flows of water (mainly from snow melt), man and beast,
flora and fauna, make their necessary use of the precious water. Broad basins
hang between craggy mountain ranges from California’s Sierra Nevada to Utah’s
Wasatch Range.
Monday, April 15, 2019
After our visit at Baker, NV
and Great Basin National Park, we headed east on US 50 and entered western
Utah. Border, NV to Delta, UT is a desolate stretch but very scenic.
While passing through Utah’s
section of the Great Basin the highway crosses two mountain ranges, the
Confusion Range via king’s canyon and House Range via Skull Rock Pass, before
arriving at the shore of Sevier Lake, an intermittent and endorheic lake, where
the water evaporates leaving salts and minerals.
The scenery dramatically changes
as US-50 approaches Delta, where irrigation facilitates green fields of
alfalfa, dairy, beef, and mining. At Delta, we shopped and took a campsite at
the Antelope Valley RV Park. Delta is an agricultural center and their main
attractions are:
Topaz War Relocation Center- a
WWII Japanese internment camp
Great Basin Museum- history of
the area
Gunnison Massacre Site- John
Williams Gunnison was leading a federal railroad surveying team near the Sevier
Lake when killed by the Ute natives.
Digging for Trilobite fossils
in the ancient seabed.
A cold, rainy front came in
overnight, so we elected to stay another night.
It’s a farm town and a good
stopover!
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Following two nights in Delta,
we have a foggy, sunny morning to travel east to Green River. In the early fog,
we saw our first-ever “fogbow”. The sun made a perfect arch in the fog, with
colors like a rainbow. Terry looked on the internet and got the technical info
on it, so not new but new to us.
We left the Great Basin and
headed to Scipio, in the Round Valley. Scipio had some curious pioneer homes,
and numerous old barns. We continued southeast along the Valley Mountains,
where we encountered a Golden Eagle. It flew up from the berm and almost flew
into my windshield. We were slow enough for the huge raptor to give me a
sideways look, as we passed.
We crossed the Pahvant Mountains,
to Salina, where we joined I-70 eastbound. We took lunch at Salina. In the
1860’s, the Mormons settled the area and found abundant salt deposits, so they
named it “Salina”. It was also good farm land but the Native Americans ran them
out. The Mormons organized a militia, came back and reclaimed the area
(Blackhawk War), creating irrigation, and farming and made the town.
An interesting fact of Salina
was on Wiki: “During World War II, Salina contained a POW camp, housing 250
German prisoners of both the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. On the night of July
8, 1945, Private Clarence Bertucci climbed one of the guard towers and took aim
at the tents where the prisoners were sleeping. He fired 250 rounds from a
light machine gun and managed to hit some thirty tents in his fifteen-second
rampage. By the time a corporal managed to disarm Bertucci, six prisoners were
dead and an additional twenty-two were wounded (three would later die of their
wounds).”
This incident was called the
Salina Massacre. Bertucci, who was from New Orleans, was declared insane and
spent the remainder of his life in an institution.
San Rafael Swell: (between Richland
and Green River)
The harsh elements beat
against this dome and eroded it into a wild, broken array of multi-colored
sandstone. Wind and water carved this jumble of rock into incredible formations
as buttes, canyons, pinnacles and mesas emerged, making the Swell one of the
most ruggedly beautiful pockets of terrain in the world. That was how this area
came to be known as San Rafael Swell. In some sections, it is a sweeping
country with towering mesas, buttes, and pinnacles rising from flat desert
floors. In other areas, it boasts rolling pasturelands populated with antelope
and wild horses. And just around the bend it can become an incredibly wild,
broken land with streams cutting through slot canyons that open up to panoramic
vistas. We saw Pronghorn and burros and made some magnificent pictures but it
has to be experienced personally.
Green River: We spent two days
in Green River where we visited the John Wesley Powell Museum, and drove around
the river. This is an ancient river crossing, and where the Old Spanish Trail
crossed. Powell floated the Green and Colorado Rivers and the John Westley Powell
Museum has an excellent presentation on the subject. Now their main activity is
framing melons and river guiding. The “‘Book Cliffs” tower 1000-feet over the
river valley, and stretch 200-miles from east to west. Driving on I-70 to Grand
Junction, Colorado, they’re in constant view to the north. It was stunning to
see the lofty, snow-covered Colorado Rockies, a hundred miles away.
4-19-19 Friday
We got to Grand Junction and
took a campsite at the RV Ranch, in Clifton, the only spot we could fine, due
to the Easter weekend. It’s nice but we would like to be closer to Grand
Junction. Tomorrow, we’ll look for a new spot, as we plan to stay a week in
Grand Junction.
We had dinner with Monty and
Deb and enjoyed a nice visit. We plan to go to Monty’s Catholic Church for
Easter Sunday, where the priest will probably say, “where the hell have you
people been all year?”
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