Short drive North

We decided to do a long weekend North of Vegas, an area we haven’t explored since we first moved here. Our destination was Alamo Nevada, with old central Nevada towns dating back to the late 1800’s. We were surprised to actually see some wildlife that we hadn’t seen since my brother, Jerry, lived in Cheyenne Wyoming. Antelope were everywhere!

There are towns we have visited before that are within an hour East and West of Alamo. We didn’t remember how much of a mining town Pioche was. It very much reminded us of Virginia City. There are mining relics everywhere, and the buildings in town very much have that 1800’s feel. The arial tramway that hauled the ore down from the mines to the smelters still snakes its way through town.

Before leaving the county seat and heading to Caliente, we stopped at the Lincoln County Courthouse. The county seat moved as the new hot mineral loads were discovered. Crystal Springs was the first in 1866, followed by Hiko in 1867 and finally Pioche in 1871, all of which towns we visited in our journey. The current courthouse was built in 1938.

The original Lincoln County Courthouse in Pioche was built in 1871. It was early on dubbed with the nickname “Million Dollar Courthouse”, even though it didn’t cost that to build. People thought the actual $75,000 cost was outrageous given its small size, so they gave it that nickname to show their disgust.

Panaca was founded in 1864 by the Mormons – it is only 80 miles due West of Cedar City – at the time, some of the group apparently went South to St. George and the rest headed this way. The characteristic streets, wide enough for a horse drawn carriage to make a U-turn, make Panaca’s origin clear. Back in the mining days, the need for fuel for the smelters was so intense that outside Panaca in 1867, charcoal kilns were built to convert the nearby Pinion Pines into smelter fuel.

Not far out of Panaca was Cathedral Gorge State Park. We wormed our way to the base of the cliffs, and found that in between these spires were water worn paths. We ventured into several, able to poke our heads 30 or 40 feet inside. It was awesome and magical.

Finally, we made our way to Rachel Nevada. Located on the Extraterrestrial Highway, named in part because it is allegedly the most desolate stretch of highway in the US. But it is also named that as it runs alongside the infamous Area 51. We were able to find the South entrance to Area 51 out in the middle of the desert. While there were no cameras or guards, it was very clear that public access was not welcome.

We came to Rachel 20 years ago, and checked out the Little A`Le`Inn. We saw it this time, but chose not to venture inside this time. We did manage to find something we missed 20 years ago. Just outside Rachel stands a black mailbox with no buildings in sight. Apparently, believers leave mail in the black mailbox hoping that visiting UFO pilots and crew will pick up the mail. We didn’t see any responding mail inside the box however.

On our way back to Alamo the night before we departed, we stumbled on the Oak Springs Trilobite Area, managed by the BLM. 500 million years ago this area was a lake bed, and shale deposits abounded. Trilobites, a group of extinct arthropods, flourished in these wet, boggy areas, and their bodies got trapped in the hardening shale. Because nobody else was there, we took our time searching for the best fossil to bring home – allowed based on the signage.

Talk to you soon.

Finally home

Well, the fires continue to wreak havoc. While we weren’t going to head home for 3 more days, we were thrown out of Twin Lakes Campground. Apparently, all National Forest managed lands were being closed at 5 PM today because of all the fires in California. So, some scrambled calls got us a place to park tonight, in Ridgecrest. The Woman did her homework on Google and learned that there was another National Natural Landmark not terribly far from there.

Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark contains over 500 tufa spires, some rising well over 100 feet above the bed of the Searles Dry Lake Basin. The pinnacles themselves are composed primarily of calcium carbonate, also known as Tufa. The Trona Pinnacles were designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1968 to preserve one of North America’s most outstanding examples of tufa tower formation.

Next stop is Vegas – back to the oppressive heat!

Talk to you soon.

Dang fires!

We got totally lucky with this call. Had we gone to South Lake Tahoe, we would have been caught up the middle of the mandatory evacuation mess that occurred due to the Caldor fire. Who knows how long it would have taken for us to get out in all the crazy traffic? I would rather be chilling in my lawn chair, looking at Mammoth Mountain and the Inyo National Forest, which is not burning.

We got to celebrate our anniversary in Mammoth California. We headed up to Mammoth Ski Resort and road the gondola to the top. The views from the top were breathtaking, a nice way to spend our anniversary. For our anniversary dinner, we considered heading to the Mammoth Brewery, but we decided to just have a nice quiet dinner in the coach.

On the way back from our gondola adventure we stumbled across the Mammoth Earthquake Fault. Geologists believe this feature was not caused by a single earthquake, but was rather a system of fractures formed by a series of strong earthquakes in the Inyo Craters and Inyo Domes centuries ago. It was a short hike, but an impressive reward.

The Woman had discovered that the PCT ran right though Mammoth, however, the only access points were within Devils Postpile National Monument. We had been here long ago with the kids, but since we had been there before, the implanted a shuttle system that we weren’t interested in using. Being turned away at the entrance station, we were pretty bummed out.

However, a local suggested that the entrance station wasn’t manned until 7 AM. So, we headed out early and managed to find the two areas within the Monument where the PCT was accessible. The Woman had some unexpected energy, and we managed to take on over 6 miles of the Trail we had never done before. All in all, it was a great revisit of the Monument.

Talk to you soon.

Fun stop

We learned that our Harvest Host membership included the Shasta Brewing Company in the town with the best name ever – and totally appropriate for California – Weed! We spent the night at the brewery, and made sure to take advantage of their product in the onsite alehouse. As you can see, I couldn’t resist the logo shirt.

Nearby was a National Natural Landmark that we had never been to before, so we couldn’t resist a visit. Although they were open for tours, we didn’t feel comfortable venturing inside. Besides, they didn’t allow dogs, and Kona had joined us on today’s adventures, so we just checked out the area.

The Woman found where the Pacific Crest Trail passed nearby and, of course, we had to head there. We found a couple of things we had not discovered before. The signage indicated that the PCT here was crossing over private land, and that because of this, you were required to stay on the trail. In addition, we found a PCT Hiker Log – two of them actually. The Woman knew of these, and we spent a few minutes checking out who had signed the log most recently.

Talk to you soon.

Continuing home

Heading on from Redding, we headed toward Chico. We moseyed around Paradise that had been fire devastated a couple of years ago. Even though there was very little evidence of burned buildings or trees, there were still a lot of mail boxes on streets where there was no home to receive the mail.

We were supposed to head next to South Lake Tahoe. But, because the Caldor fire was heading toward South Lake Tahoe, and many highways in the area we would have to drive were closed, we decided to head to Carson City instead. Despite the detour, we headed to Soda Springs and another crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail. Because of the air quality do to the fires, we decided not to het out of our vehicle and hike in the smoke.

Despite our passion, we had never visited the Whispering Giant in our current home state. On the way to Carson City, we managed to find Wa-Pai-Shone in Idlewild Park in Reno. While we had been in Reno many times, we had never managed to see this Whispering Giant sculpted by Peter Wolf Toth.

We also had fun in that Idlewild Park hosts Food Truck Friday. Each Friday during the summer, a vast number of food trucks show up to entertain the locals. We didn’t sample any, but did enjoy the spectacle.

Talk to you soon.

Continuing our way to Vegas

Although we had been there before, how could you miss a chance to visit Crater Lake National Park. We learned that the PCT actually ran through the park. On the first day we dedicated our time to circling the lake on the rim road. Just about every pull out was awesome! We literally circled the lake and saw it from every direction. We even chose to return the next morning to see what the lake looked like in the morning. Sadly, the lake cruises were not running – you could only go in the lodge with a mask if you were staying there – the Covid impact was huge.

We did find both the spots where the PCT crossed roads in the park. The Woman interpreted what she read as that the PCT ran around the lake. However, it turns out that the PCT goes nowhere the lake. What she read was that most hikers on the PCT choose to hike around the lake, even though that is not the actual PCT. One through hiker that we bumped into at the junction of the PCT and the Rim Trail that goes around the lake. He said that few, if any, through hikers actually follow the PCT through Crater Lake NP – they just routinely divert to the Rim Trail, and meet back at the PCT later.

After Crater Lake we headed to Chiloquin Oregon. In Chiloquin is Train Mountain. In 1987, Quentin Breen decided to build 7 ½ inch gauge track so enthusiasts could display miniature rail engines and cars that were still big enough to ride. After he passed, the enterprise became a non-profit organization with members keeping and expanding the original mission. Today, the site has over 36 miles of track which allows the old white guys to literally play with their trains by driving them daily! We went on a ride and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next we headed to Redding, not for any particular reason but it was in the right direction and about the right distance. As we approached Redding, we caught sight of Lake Shasta. A decade or two ago we visited Lake Shasta, formed by the Sacramento River and the Shasta Dam. At the time we visited, it was impressive, in a lot of ways like Lake Mead. However, today it looks far more dismal than Lake Mead, if that is even possible.

Talk to you soon.

Making our way back to Vegas

As we left the Seattle area, we hugged the Columbia River Gorge just to take in the views. We had already visited Multnomah Falls years ago, so we settled for a drive by view. In Hood River, we checked out the Hood River Hotel, built as a wooden hotel in 1912 – later a brick addition expanded the original many times. We visited the historic depot of the Hood River Railway and saw some of the original wooden cars. Lastly, we visited the Columbia Gorge Hotel, built as a luxury retreat in 1921. We got a bonus when we discovered that Wah Gwin Gwin Falls (also known as Lullaby Falls) is on the hotel’s property – one we had not previously seen. Wah Gwin Gwin means rushing waters in native tongue.

We headed to Cascade Locks. Built in 1878, the locks bypassed the rapids on the Columbia River at this point, allowing better riverboat travel. Built in the 1930’s, the Bonneville Dam raised the level of the river sufficiently that the locks were no longer needed. However, the lock foundations are still where they stood when opened.

One of the reasons we headed here is that the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River here. We hiked the trail both North and South for several miles, and paid the toll to drive across the Bridge of the Gods, opened in 1925 to allow Oregonians to visit Washington without having to travel to the Pacific. A campground for PCT through hikers was established near the Cascade Locks. We checked there each day to see how many through hikers there were, and there were a lot. Sadly, we missed by a day or so Pacific Crest Trail Days in Cascade Locks. As we hiked other sections of the PCT in the next few days, we heard Trail Angels mention that PCT Day in Cascade Locks had depleted the number of through hikers they would see.

We then headed to Sisters Oregon, a personal favorite location. The PCT travels North/South just about 15 miles West of Sisters. So, we caught the Volcanic Loop Scenic Highway and managed to find two places where the PCT crossed highways. Not to mention, but we hiked both North and South from each of these crossings. We did tend to avoid the sections of the PCT that went directly across lava flows – yuck!

Talk to you soon.