Advertisement
Published: September 7th 2014
Are The Leaves Really Turning Already?
Prospector Hotel & Casino RV Park – Ely NVI got a relatively early start from the Duck Creek RV Park in Henderson NV on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. I wasn’t so concerned with a rush hour in the “City That Never Sleeps.” LOL This time I followed the GPS instructions onto I-15/US 93 and drove about 12 miles until US 93 split off for a course due north. I already had decided to stay on US 93 all the way to Ely NV regardless of what instructions Informational Irene (my GPS) gave me because the entire US 93 route is designated as scenic by Mr. Rand and Ms. McNally. Indeed, Irene did want me to take NV 318 but her protest was short-lived.
All of you fellow travelers know the type font size of a city/village/town relates the size of the municipality. Although I knew beforehand I would need to stop for fuel before reaching Ely, I had bypassed one gas station in a “small type font” town where two masked men were standing next to the price-per-gallon sign and opted to wait to refuel in Panaca or Pioche – both larger type font towns. Well, Panaca has no gas station advertised and the gas station in Pioche
is off the highway in the hillside community. The small, two-pump station had reasonably priced fuel but was a challenge to navigate with the Pilgrim in tow. I carry ten gallons of generator/emergency fuel and probably could have made it to Ely with that fuel as my supplement, but IF I COULDN’T HAVE….
US 93 intersects US 50 just east of Connors Pass so the Dodge Ram got its first good workout of the day shortly before my arrival in Ely. The trip, although basically uneventful, was considerably longer than I fancy. I arrived at the Prospector Hotel & Casino RV Park in late afternoon. After set-up, I went to the hotel restaurant for some chow and found the Wednesday special was a full rack of pork ribs. There was a time when I was skinny and a full rack was just right. Now that I’m fat, a full rack makes two meals. Go figure!!!
The weather forecast for my week in Ely was quite good, but Thursday was not one of those days, so I spent the day doing some shopping and playing Mr. Domestic. Friday found me heading back over Connors Pass to Great Basin National
Wheeler Peak Looms Over The Entire Park
Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive – Great Basin National Park - Baker NV Park in Baker NV. That’s about as close to Utah as one can get and remain in Nevada. The Great Basin is a 200,000 square mile area that drains internally – that is, all precipitation in the region evaporates, sinks underground or flows into lakes that become brackish. The term "Great Basin" is slightly misleading; the region is actually made up of many small basins and includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, and sections of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and California.
Great Basin National Park sits in the shadow of 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak and has two visitor centers. The first is on NV 487 at the edge of the park where general park information is available but tickets to the Lehman Caves tour are not. Those tickets must be purchased at the second visitor center located near the entrance to Lehman Caves. When I arrived at the Lehman Caves facility, one tour had just departed and the final tours of the day were scheduled for one and two hours hence. I was told the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive takes about 45 minutes. Well aware of my pokiness and my inclination to stop at every vista, I opted for the
Checking Out Some Sun Spots
Great Basin National Park - Baker NV second tour.
The paved, 12 mile Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive actually starts at the Park boundary and passes near the Lehman Caves Visitor Center before rising to an elevation of about 10,200 feet on the face of Wheeler Peak. The out and back road gains over 4,000 feet in elevation and traverses numerous ecological zones. The literature says it is not uncommon to see mule deer, marmots, coyotes and jackrabbits along the road. I saw none!!!
I returned to the Lehman Caves Visitor Center about 10 minutes before my tour time and struck up a conversation with a volunteer who had set up a telescope with a filter that allows observation of the sun, sunspots and solar flares. Because Great Basin National Park has some of the darkest of night skies, one of the favorite Park activities is a ranger-led astronomy program. My abode was too far distant to logically allow me to take part in that activity.
Soon, the park ranger who would conduct the cave tour arrived. The group was given an interesting history of the discovery, exploration and development of the cave and the tour began. It’s hard to put the beauty of the
Pretty Awesome Formations
Lehman Caves – Great Basin National Park - Baker NV cave formations into words; however, I can say that Lehman Caves offers the most proximal examination of the formations of any of the half dozen or so caves I have visited. Some might notice stalactites that have been broken off. This dates to the early years (before personal cameras) when Mr. Lehman allowed visitors to break off and take home a souvenir. I’ll include a sizable selection of pictures for your enjoyment. During the drive back to Ely, an intense storm shrouded much of the mountainscape, but I received little rain until I was enjoying a nice Mexican dinner back in Ely.
Saturday, August 23, 2014 – Singing ‹Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday self Larry, Happy Birthday to Me!› As I was checking out the details of the attractions on Thursday, I saw that the Nevada Northern Railroad has an option available to “Ride with the Engineer in the Locomotive Cab.” That sounded like a pretty cool self-administered birthday present so I went ahead and purchased the upgrade. I arrived quite early with my e-receipt in hand, but there were no glitches. Fortunately, I had worn the required long pants and close-toed shoes and
was loaned a long sleeve shirt and a pair of gloves. Those requirements were not noted on the web site. I shopped in the gift shop and wandered around the depot area. Soon, it was time to board.
In addition to me and the normal crew of engineer and fireman, there was a fireman apprentice on board. WHAT A HOOT!!! The crew was great. I asked a couple of relevant questions which were answered. More questions. More answers. Soon, they realized I genuinely was interested in the history of the steam era, of the operations of this particular railroad and of them personally. All of them are retired, and none had paid the rent via the railroad.
In due course, the engineer offered me his seat for 10-15 minutes (he continued to operate all the controls and watched closely over my shoulder). He told me the whistle code for a train approaching a vehicular crossing (long-long-short-long) and then nudged me when it was the appropriate time to sound the whistle for the crossings. Shortly after I had relinquished the engineer’s perch, we reached the end of the trip. A turnaround had been constructed, and the train was reversed
for the return trip. Shortly after we were underway, the fireman offered me his seat. Of course, I accepted. I rang the bell as we approached all the crossings. Pretty cool!
After we returned to the yard, I disembarked for a tour of the repair shop. That portion of the experience was interesting but was bogged down with more detail about each artifact than 99% of the tour group wanted to hear. The group became noticeably restless. Back at the depot area, I visited both museums – one is the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and the other is the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum. The latter is one of three Nevada State Railroad Museums (the others are in Carson City and Boulder City).
I returned to the Pilgrim, took a shower, watched the NASCAR race and headed for the Hotel Nevada and Gambling Hall for a nice dinner. The special was a bacon-wrapped filet that was delicious. What a great way to celebrate my birthday!
Sunday was another Mr. Domestic day, but Monday I headed out on another of my infamous scenic loops through the countryside. I headed southwest on US 6 to Tonopah NV and bought
fuel at the same gas station I had patronized on the loop I had made from Las Vegas. I backtracked about 6 miles on US 6 to its intersection with NV 376 where I turned north and proceeded through Big Smokey Valley. When I reached US 50, I turned east and returned to Ely on what has been labeled by the Rand McNally brain trust, “The Loneliest Road.” Again, the route was scenic in a western desert mindset but probably not so great by green-loving folks.
My last day in Ely found me heading east about 20 miles to Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park. Silver ore was discovered there in 1872 when freighters were looking for oxen that were grazing in the Willow Creek Basin area. The beehive shaped ovens, 30-feet high and 27-feet in diameter at the base with walls that are 20-inches thick, reduced pinyon pine and juniper into the charcoal needed to smelt silver. The parabolic, beehive shape reflected heat back into the center of the oven thus reducing heat loss. Each oven held approximately 35 cords of wood (one cord is 4-feet high by 4-feet wide by 8 feet long) and produced about 1,750
I Found The Charcoal Ovens Interesting
Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park - Ely NV bushels of charcoal. Processing a batch of charcoal took about 10 days. After their function as charcoal ovens had ended, the Ward Charcoal Ovens sheltered stockmen and prospectors during foul weather and had a reputation as a hideout for stagecoach bandits.
I had a nice stay in Ely NV. The downtown is quaint yet robust with many historic buildings and murals which depict local history and disclose community pride. It is not a destination city but is worthy of a one or two day hiatus when travelling through the area on US 6, 50 or 93.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0427s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
