Advertisement
Bill, Kate and I waited till May 2024 to do this leg. While many people think of Utah and Nevada as desolate hot and dusty desert country, in fact this stretch includes some of the highest mountain peaks of the Lincoln Highway, and snow can persist into May. There were logistical challenges for this segment. The stretch of Lincoln Highway from Salt Lake City to Ely, Nevada included 270 miles between gas station and services and lots of rough roads. We were advised by other travelers and Kayla, our helpful host at a ranch we stayed in Callao, Utah to bring lots of water, extra gas, a spare tire and food.
April 29
th: Bill was super excited that we were able to get a brand new Jeep Wrangler at National Rental Car at the Reno airport. We opted to drive to Salt Lake City from Reno – about an 8 hour drive – on Interstate 80 with the rental vehicle. The return back to Reno along the Lincoln Highway would take us 5 days. And, boy did we break that Jeep in logging over 2,000 miles through all kinds of terrain. This route largely took us along the old Pony
Our Jeep!
Eagerly scaling the first offroad incline Express trail.
If you’ve been following our blog, you know our plan to enjoy the state sandwich from every one of the 13 states on the Lincoln Highway. We were a bit concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find a patty melt (Nevada’s state sandwich) along Highway 50 (dubbed America’s loneliest highway) so we stopped at Sid’s in Winnemucca to enjoy our patty melt en route to Utah. My brother and sister-in-law welcomed us again to their house in Salt Lake City. As always they had a huge spread for dinner and breakfast and we enjoyed catching up.
April 30
th : Our plan was to drive to the gates of Dugway Proving Ground, an off limits military installation via the Lincoln Highway then back to a final night in Salt Lake City via paved roads. That would put us on course for May 1
st to drive directly to Dugway, then make our way south and west to the almost deserted town of Callao. Bill couldn’t wait to go offroading so we took a bit of shortcut to pick up the old Lincoln Highway west of Salt Lake City. We drove by Deadman’s Cave (human remains and artifacts
Pastrami burger at Coppercreek
Not sure why you need to add pastrami to a big hunk of ground beef were found in this cave, some dating back possibly 10,000 years) and the Kennecott Copper Smelting Smokestack, the tallest free standing structure west of the Mississippi. Who knew?
But the real excitement for all of us was our first offroad experience. We had a steep incline littered with rocks and ruts, and when we made it to the top we saw 2 Utah state police officers just below us on the road. The friendly fellows were just practicing their shooting and were surprised to see us and waved us on. We were able to join the old Lincoln Highway parallel to a paved 2-lane highway in Skull Valley. Kate and I looked lovingly at the smooth road to our west as we bumped along. After chatting up the security officers at Dugway we doubled back along the 2
nd generation Lincoln Highway to West Valley in the Salt Lake City suburbs. This route took us over Fisher Pass at 6500 feet with glorious views of snowcapped mountain ranges all around. There was a monument there dedicated to the founder of the Lincoln Highway, Carl Fisher. We enjoyed a night at Embassy Suites and our dinner of the pastrami burger (Utah's
Boyd Station
Lonely Pony Express Station in Utah state sandwich) at the Coppercreek Pub & Grub.
May 1: We headed back to the Utah desert via Tooele on the 2
nd generation highway, filling our Jeep with gas and food. Our host at the ranch in Callao filled us in on the cooking utensils she had available for us – basically a hot plate and microwave, so our plan was to enjoy chili (opening a couple cans and adding spices) with a charcuterie plate appetizer on arrival on what was sure to be a full day.
The original Lincoln Highway route runs right through the Dugway Proving Ground and is inaccessible unless you have pretty high security clearance. The detour parallels the Pony Express Trail. Surprisingly the road wasn’t rough – a decent gravel secondary road, and we stopped by several Pony Express station sites, including Boyd Station which had its station house still standing. And, heartbreakingly, there were ruins of a house that the station master had built for his pregnant wife who died in childbirth. That was an all too common occurrence in the 1800’s. We saw only 3 cars on the road till we got to the Fish Springs Wildlife Refuge and even there
Cabin in Callao
We and the Jeep got a good night's rest it was very quiet.
Once we got to Callao, it was easy to find the ranch. The town is mostly a cluster of farms with a Pony Express Station marker. Thanks to Kayla we had a comfortable night and didn’t have to camp! We’d recommend this spot for anyone who is driving the route or wants a complete getaway. It would be perfect for night sky viewing.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/989356828646400560 We, however, collapsed after dinner. Ok, there was a bottle of wine consumed as well.
May 2
nd: This was the toughest day – scaling the pass between Utah and Nevada. Out of Callao, we headed over the Overland summit and 4-wheeled up to the Overland Canyon Pony Express Station site. The Pony Express was only in business for 18 months in 1860-61, at which time the coast-to-coast telegraph lines were completed. But people and big packages still needed to make the trek which they did via the Overland Stage Company following the Pony Express route (another victim of technology with the advent of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860’s). Due to a financial and political disaster between the Lincoln Highway executives and the state of Utah, the original alignment never gained popularity or much road maintenance. I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say that the road between Callao and Ely was rough. And we got just a little lost on the Goshute Reservation, finally finding our way to the ghost ranch of Tippett, Nevada. Living up to its name of “ghost” there wasn’t much to see. Nor was there in the ghost town of Ibapah, although the few residents who live there might object. Bill quite enjoyed his many offroad experiments along this route. Kate and I were relieved to find a rest room when we arrived at Schellbourne along US Highway 93 (civilization!) We'll fill you in on our arrival in Ely, Nevada in our next post!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.175s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0304s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb