Advertisement
Published: March 13th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The Salt Flats
Across the state of Utah. “A Friend of the Devil is a Friend of Mine. If I get home before daylight I just might get some sleep tonight.”
I've always had a descent amount of respect and reverence for the desert. There is something about the desert that makes one grow quiet. It could be the gnarled, stunted life growing there. The thin, long eared jack rabbits that scamper in and out of the dry, rough tumble weeds and sage brush that grow through out the Great Basin Desert of Utah and Nevada have a kind of enchanting effect on me. Just some little bunnies running around trying to hide from the sun, and predators, but equally trying to find food and water in a place where any water that hits the surface of the area of the US, known as the Great Basin, never sees the ocean (Little tidbit of fact, this includes the Great Salt Lake).
Andy Bouwman and I left Bozeman, MT, after some ambiguity over day light savings time, roughly at 5am MST. Some reason this was a very confusing point to me (daylight savings time that is). Every single thing I had that kept time (except my Gameboy Dual
Strange Ice Sculpture in the Middle of the Desert
This was the only snow around for miles and it was squirting water all over the place! Screen) took care of day light savings time for me. I found this to be very deflating, similar to having someone blow out your candles for you at your own birthday party. Deflated or not, we had departed Bozeman and started the trek through the Gallatin Valley and into Salt Lake City hoping to be at Great Basin National Park in Nevada by 2:30pm. We were in luck, the sky was still, US 6 was straight, and there wasn't a car in sight, the road was ours. Averaging a speed of 85 miles an hour we made it to Baker Nevada in record time. Now I'm not sure if it was the fact that I had only five hours of sleep on the eve of our trip or that I have had a lot on my mind lately, but it took a while for the desert to really take hold of me. It took longer for my brain to slow down to the speed of the desert and for me to really let go. We didn't stay long at the Great Basin National Park due to the fact that the road up Mount Wheeler was closed and it would have
Luke and his Alien Friend
Outside of Great Basin National Park. See the family resemblance? been a long hike from 7,000 to 13,000 feet. But we did get to go on a tour of Lehman Caves which is a limestone cavern that has an abundance of cave formations very similar to Lewis and Clark caverns in Montana. Great Basin definitely seems to be one of the less visited National Parks and has the feel of a park that is transitioning from a National Monument to a National Park. Some reason it reminded me of Edward Abbey's “Desert Solitaire”- a story about Arches National Park when it to was in a transitional period from Monument to Park and how it upset Abbey very much and how he felt in trying to “preserve” it, you ruin the very thing you wish to preserve.
It wasn't until after we left the park that I really felt the desert mentality sinking in. What is the desert mentality you ask? Good question. I'm not sure if I'm good enough with words to describe it. It is a feeling of nostalgia, of an intrinsic slowness. It is an almost crazy feeling of solitude, a feeling of unfulfilled potential that with a sudden movement, a sneeze, twitch, or slightest movement of
How they bury people in Nevada.
Poor Todd Alton, dead but still kicking. the wind would fulfill itself and become something grand. There was something about the Snake Mountain range that really instilled this feeling, though a half hour west of the National Park it was one of the most breathtaking desert valley's and mountain ranges. There were many strange sights to be held along the way: an Alien Tourist waiting for his ride outside of Great Basin National Park (perhaps left behind from Area 51 which was only a 100 miles away as the crow flies), a half buried Todd Allton, resting head down in his grave (see picture), and a lone and out of place ice fountain/sculpture in the middle of the desert. The desert mentality had sunk in.
We dined this evening in Ely, Nevada at a little Mexican restaurant called La Fiesta. It's reasonably priced and has amazing food! I grabbed myself a Verde Deluxe Tostada and Andy went with the Pork Burrito. One recommendation I have is to definitely leave room for the Sopapias at the end for desert, they're made right there in the restaurant and served with a tasty cloud of whipped cream, spackled with cinnamon and drizzled over with strawberry sauce all for 2.75!
Can't beat that with a stick. After dinner Andy and I were feeling the long day, but decided to make our way to Beatty, Nevada right outside of death canyon before we thru in the towel. We rolled into town around 11:00 in the evening and the majority of the town seems to be trailers, we decided to take the cheap route and instead of crashing at a Motel 6, we've pulled into a rocky parking lot in the outskirts of town after I finish typing up this journal entry will get some much needed rest in the luxury of the Ford Focus.
I'll keep you posted from the desert.
Staying Sane in Death Valley,
Luke
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0217s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Robin
non-member comment
Yum
Did you save some tostada for me? Hehe. Sounds like the desert is great for you right now :) Take care you two!