Lamoille Canyon & Ruby Valley

On the way to beautiful Lamoille Canyon we stopped at the Little Church at the Crossroads which, to us, looked like the quintessential American church complete with spire and white picket fence.

Shaped by ancient glaciers the scenery in Lamoille Canyon is lovely and as we followed the road higher into the canyon, in places waterfalls and streams full of snowmelt were rushing down the mountainside.

Tyre tracks continued through the snow, but as we had no idea how deep the snow was going to be further on we decided to turn around.

Leaving Lamoille Canyon we followed another road that took us through Harrison Pass and over the mountains at a much lower level.   The paved road turned to graded dirt as we climbed and from the top of the pass we had beautiful views over the Ruby Valley.

One of the dirt roads at the top of Harrison Pass heading deeper into the snow covered Ruby Mountains.

Our first view of the beautiful Ruby Valley from the top of Harrison Pass.

At the bottom of the pass we followed the dirt road towards the Ruby Valley National Wildlife Refuge.   We drove along a dyke out into the lake, that was just wide enough for the truck, but as we got further along we began to wonder if there would be somewhere wide enough for us to turn around at the end.   Not long after that we came to a slightly wider section, so we turned around while we could.   I’m sure we probably would’ve been fine, but really didn’t want to have to try and reverse back along the dyke.

Ruby Marsh is a beautiful place with expansive views across open water and marshland to the mountains beyond.  

The Bressman Cabin was built in 1880 by Jacob Bressman from Pennsylvania, his gravesite is located near the cabin.  

The road also follows part of one of the supposed ‘short cuts’ on the California Trail (this one actually added a couple of hundred miles to the journey) and much further along is the site of the Pony Express Station that now stands outside the museum in Elko and the remains of a Fort.   Unfortunately, it was a good 40 miles one way to reach them, sadly too far for us that particular day.

After visiting the refuge we retraced our steps and then followed the dirt road all the way through the valley and back to I80.   Believe me that is one long dirt road.

We drove past roads and trails heading into the mountains, past ranches and cowboys and at one point we hit rush hour as a couple of cows and their cows ambled across the road in front of us.

A little further along a cattle dog was snoozing in the sunshine in the middle of the road and as we stopped it just lifted its head and looked at us as if to say ‘you want me to move?’ before ambling off to the side of the road.

 This jeep/ATV trail takes you to Overland Lake high up in the snow covered Ruby Mountains,   we didn’t drive up there as it looked to be a much rougher road than we’re comfortable driving.

Have fun, we are!

Elko, Nevada

After leaving Winnemucca we continued further East to Elko, another lovely town.   One of the first places we visited was the North Eastern Nevada Museum.    Once again it was a really good museum with lots of information about the town of Elko as well as the California and Oregon Trail.

The Pony Express Station outside the North Eastern Nevada Museum was moved from its original location in Ruby Valley.  

Bing Crosby enjoyed Elko so much that he bought several ranches in the area and was Honorary Mayor from 1948 until his death in 1977.

All around Elko there were huge cowboy boots decorated with different designs.

The California Trail Interpretive Museum is a fascinating place, in the grounds there is a replica encampment.

Inside the museum was a small wagon, in it you could put the things you’d need for the journey.   I thought I’d done quite well, wrong!   I’d missed out a couple of essential things one of which was something to make bullets, so we’d’ve had no way to get food and protect ourselves.   I don’t think I’d’ve made a very good pioneer.   It’s a really interesting museum and definitely somewhere I’d revisit if we ever return to that area.

How the inside of my wagon should’ve looked.

Outside there was a replica of what a trail camp would look like.

Have fun, we are!

Winemucca, Nevada

Further east in Nevada, our next stop was Winnemucca named after Chief Winnemucca.   It’s a lovely town sitting beside the Humboldt River, although it was quite chilly and windy while we were there, the RV Park we stayed in was very nice.

We drove a narrow paved road to the top of Winnemucca Mountain, from there we had a great views of the town and mountains beyond.  

We drove out to Paradise Valley and almost added another State to our list as it turned out that we were only 50 miles from the Oregon State Line.   Much to our surprise we discovered that in 1828 a representative associated with the Hudson Bay Company came through Paradise Valley as I’d always associated the Hudson Bay Company with Canada.  

Settlers arrived in the valley in 1863 and came into conflict with the local Indians, so a fort was established about 4 miles away.   As well an RV Park there, a few obviously lived in houses and lots of interesting old buildings.   These days it’s mostly a ranching and farming area.

Some of the old buildings in Paradise Valley.

The Humboldt Museum in Winnemucca is a very interesting place and we were lucky enough to be shown around by one of the curators.   One of the things we learned was that one of Charlie Chaplin’s leading ladies, Edna Purviance, was born in 1896 in Paradise Valley and the museum has one of her dresses on show.   Another was that the potatoes used to make Pringles, well at least Pringles in the US, are grown in Winnemucca.  

This dress once belonged to Edna Purviance.

I also liked this rather large touring car it reminded me of the song from Oklahoma about a surrey with a fringe on top.

Have fun, we are!

Fallon, Nevada

Our next stop was Fallon where we stayed at the Fallon RV Park, which, even though it was on a busy road was pretty quiet.

From Fallon we drove along Highway 50 ‘The Loneliest Road’ to the Grimes Point Archaeological site, unfortunately for us we chose to visit on a grey, windy day.   We followed the trail around the petroglyphs; luckily it was only a short trail as the wind was really cold.

From there we followed a dirt road out to the Hidden Cave section of the park.   The cave is only open on certain days, needless to say not the day we visited.   Still we followed the trail around and discovered that we were walking on the shores of ancient Lake Lahonten which once covered nearly all of present day Nevada.   Looking across the huge flat expanse in front of us, it was hard to imagine that prehistoric man would’ve had sandy beaches and waves lapping at his feet.

After finishing the trail we rejoined Highway 50 and headed east to explore the remains of Sand Springs Pony Express Station and visit Sand Mountain a huge sand dune created from the sands of ancient Lake Lahonten.

The Stillwater Northern Paiute tribe believe the huge dune is Panitogogwa, a giant rattlesnake travelling north east with the wind at its back and can be heard ‘singing’ as it moves towards its hole.   Part of the dune is used by ATV enthusiasts and we saw lots of them racing up and down the steep sides.

The Sand Springs Pony Express Station was buried under the sand until it was exposed after a storm in 1976.   The walls of the station were made of what looked like lava rock and surrounded by sand, apparently the water was warm, disgusting and tasted of sulphur.   It was an interesting place to visit, but must’ve been a dreadful place to live.

In the other direction is Fort Churchill which was established in 1860 to help combat Indian raids on the Overland Trail to California.   The Fort is near the Carson River, Buckland Station Pony Express Station and an Overland Trail stop.  Surrounded by mountains Fort Churchill adobe ruins have been stabilised but aren’t safe to enter.

Fort Churchill.

Buckland Station is a Nevada State Park and has been partly renovated.

One of the things that amused us were the ‘courting candles’, apparently they were used by fathers to limit the amount of time daughters spent with their suitors, so the more the father approved of the suitor the more time you were able to spend together. 

Have fun, we are!

Tonopah & Goldfield, Nevada

Our next stop was Tonopah, Nevada, to get there we needed to cross 7,000 ft Montgomery Pass in the White Mountains, but as a winter storm came through dropping snow and ice one night we stayed another couple of until it melted away.

Tonopah was once a gold mining town, and has a great mining museum.   We spent an afternoon looking around in fact there is so much to see there we had to return the next morning.   The remains of Silver Top Mine at Tonopah Mining Museum were really interesting.

In Shoshone Tonopah means Bush Water, ‘tono’ is bush for the greasewood bush and ‘pah’ means water and one evening we had the most gorgeous sunset from the RV park.

The historic Mizpah Hotel, which is also a casino and on the National Historic Register and one evening we enjoyed dinner there.

While we were in Tonopah we stopped to visit the Clown Motel which has also been on a ‘Most Haunted’ type programme.   While the owner was very pleasant, I’m not a lover of clowns and the reception area is full of all different sizes of clowns and decidedly creepy, a bit too much like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film for me!

Not far away is Goldfield, a semi-ghost town, we parked by the old High School, a huge building which is in the process of restoration by the historical society.   The Visitor Centre was closed but we got a Goldfield Guide Book from the General Store and set out to explore.

Goldfield High School. 

Goldfield Courthouse

 At one time the mines in Goldfield produced millions of Dollars of gold and the town had a large population.   Now only small mines are operational, but one of Goldfield’s claims to fame is ghosts.   The privately owned Goldfield Hotel and the old High School have both featured on a programme similar to ‘Most Haunted’.    We peered through the windows and through one we could see the old reception desk and padded circular seats, through another a grand piano.

One of the tales we were told about the hotel was that an old cowboy who wasn’t very well came to Goldfield, when he visited the hotel he said that he heard the ghosts calling him to come and join them.   A few weeks later, his body dressed in his best cowboy gear was found on the steps of the hotel, he’d gone to join the ghosts.    As to how true this is, your guess is as good as mine.   I took photographs through the hotel window and was told that sometimes ‘odd’ things appeared in photographs; well the only odd things on mine were dusty marks!

The spooky Goldfield Hotel, it doesn’t look that bad in the daylight, but you won’t get me anywhere near it at night!

All the stone buildings in Goldfield appeared to be very well kept and the stone was remarkably clean, we asked if they’d been restored, were told that no both buildings and people were regularly sandblasted by the strong winds that blow through.

Have fun, we are!

Around Bishop, California

Leaving Paso Robles and after another overnight stay in Bakersfield we re-crossed Tehachapi Pass and headed back across the Mohave Desert to Bishop.   As we followed Highway 395 the Sierra Nevada Mountains were absolutely covered in snow.   This was the view from our RV park in Bishop.

and we certainly don’t get this view when we fill up with fuel at the supermarket at home!

Our plan was to stay in Bishop for a week and, if it was open, drive Tioga Pass Road into Yosemite National Park and maybe Sonora Pass.   But as there had been incredibly heavy snowfalls earlier in the year the roads were still closed. 

This was as far as we could go along Tioga Pass Road, further up the pass the snowdrifts were over 20 ft. deep.

Last autumn we explored all the lakes at Mammoth, this year because of the snow we could only reach Twin Lakes or the ski area as everywhere else the road came to an abrupt halt at a wall of deep snow.

I inadvertently caused the ranger at Mammoth Visitor Centre huge amusement by asking if the road to Minaret Overlook was open.   The overlook above Devils Post Pile National Monument looks across to Yosemite; I thought it would be a lovely view in the snow.   I had mistakenly thought that the road is right by the ski area, but it’s actually 8 miles further on, no wonder he gave me a look that said ‘are you mad woman?’

Back in Bishop we drove up to a couple of other lakes, although the road to South Lake was still closed with snow, the road to Lake Sabrina was open.   It was a gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies and fabulous views of the surrounding snow covered mountains.   Although the lake itself was frozen solid, it was starting to thaw and every so often there was a thud as snow fell and the occasional loud report as the ice in the lake cracked.   Someone told us the bears were out, although we didn’t see any.

 

Despite all the snow in the mountains, the weather in Bishop was gorgeous with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s and low 90’s, just perfect.

Have fun, we are!

Catching up with 2017

For some reason in 2017 I lost my blogging mojo, so now its catch up time.

My last blog entry finished in Langtry, Texas; as we left it turned cold and rainy, so we continued on until we ended our day at the small town of Marfa.   Marfa has a couple of claims to fame, one is that Liz Taylor and James Dean filmed the movie ‘Giant’ there in the 1950’s.   It was James Dean’s last film and for part of the time the stars stayed in the Hotel Paisano.   Sadly, over the years the hotel went to rack and ruin, but now it’s been beautifully restored and is on the National Historic Register. 

Even though the sun had come out when we arrived it was still very cold and this roaring log fire was very welcome.

As well as the Liz Taylor, James Dean connection, Marfa is also famous for unexplained lights in the desert.   There are various suggestions as to what the lights could be, including car headlights and some type of marsh gas, but as there were reports of strange lights in the desert way before cars were invented, who knows.  

We were told that the best time to look for the lights was dawn or dusk; as we didn’t fancy getting up before dawn, we decided to look for them as dusk fell.  We waited and dusk turned into an incredibly dark, moonless night, bitterly cold and very eerie.  Did we see the lights?   Well, we saw something far out in the desert that we couldn’t account for, but whether or not they were the actual Marfa lights, who knows?

It was still chilly the next morning we left Marfa

and after a quick coffee stop in Van Horn, we left Texas in our rear view mirror as we entered New Mexico.   After an overnight stop in Deming, we arrived in Tucson where we picked up the truck and fifth wheel and headed off to our first stop California.

We stayed in Needles for a couple of nights where we took a trip to Buckskin Mountain State Park on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.   It’s really nice place with a small RV park, picnic tables by the river and a swimming area, although the river was very cold.

Continuing on through the Mohave Desert, which after all the winter rain was actually green, we crossed Tehachapi Pass and stayed overnight in Bakersfield, California.   The next day we drove to Paso Robles, which is a lovely town with the advantage of being only a short drive to the Pacific Ocean.

We stayed for a week and during that time we had lovely sunshine and clear blue skies, but the whole time there was a strong chilly wind.   Luckily as the beaches we like are sheltered by headlands it didn’t stop us enjoying our trips to the ocean, although I have to say the water was so cold it turned my toes blue!

As usual we went to see the Elephant Seals and while the sunshine was lovely here there was absolutely no escape from the chilly wind.

Our drive along the Pacific Coast Highway ended at Ragged Point as further along the road had been damaged by landslides during the previous winter.   Because it was so quiet Ragged Point was lovely, we sat in the sunshine drank coffee and ate the most scrumptious, and enormous, pieces of homemade carrot cake.

   

Have fun, we are!