Thistle Adventure: Nevada

Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts

Friday, June 19, 2015

4-Typed Pages

"What was the best thing about your trip?" is the first question our friends ask. A good question, but hard to answer. The red dots on this map show where we've been in Thistle this past several months. Lot's of enticing spots, so picking favorites is challenging. Yet, 4-typed pages is my answer, time-after-time. Four-typed pages?

In Flagstaff, Arizona, we visited our friends, Phil and Liza. While we were there, Phil sat down at his computer and generated 4-typed pages of his suggested Utah itinerary. Phil's suggestions were for back roads beyond the average tourist's knowledge. Knock-your-socks-off views, and more...

Hikes to petroglyphs and cliff dwelling on remote trails.

Back roads of dust and mystery and great dry camping.

The 4-typed pages became sacred, and once, when we misplaced them, we became frantic with searching. Covered in Phil's suggestions was Scenic Byway 12, a Journey Through Time, from Panqitch to Torrey, Utah. It took us two weeks to drive, from end-to-end. 122 miles. We didn't see it all.

We also were on the Trail of the Ancients where we visited Natural Bridges, Monument Valley, drove up Moki Dugway, and boondocked at Gooseneck and Muley Point.

Natural Bridges

Monument Valley

Muley Point

Moki Dugway

Gooseneck

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"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction"

- Rachel Caron

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Saturday, May 16, 2015

The road unfolds...

It's becoming a blur. Where were we two nights ago? Last night? Where will we be tonight? Today we shunpiked from Bruneau Dunes State Park, Idaho to here, Malheur County, Oregon. We avoided congestion, staying well away from I-86, as well as the cities. We edged along the Birds of Prey National Conservation area and then followed the Snake River Scenic Byway, through wine country and farm land. The roads had names like Apple Valley, Chicken Dinner and Deer Flat, running flat and straight through the valley, with sharp right turns to accommodate farm fields.

Tonight we ended up in an open field full of huge blue pipes. The land belongs to the folks who manage the irrigation canals. A man driving by on his ATV, a farmer and BLM employee, gave us this opinion, "If I were tired, and wanted to spend the night without traveling further, I'd camp here." We did!

Boondocking in Arizona, Utah and Nevada was a snap. We used the rule of 10 miles from town; 1 mile off pavement; and out of view. Much of the land was national forest land. Open grazing, otherwise unoccupied and public with little dirt roads going no where, and everywhere. Just remember to close the gate! There is even the 14-day law, meaning one can camp on public lands so long as you move on after 14 days.

In our current location all the land is private property. No pull offs. No campgrounds, public or private. No informal camp sites with fire rings. No rest areas. All the little side roads go straight to a farm house or out onto a cultivated field. Boondocking is a new game and far more challenging. We've been mulling options we've not before considered -- school yards, library, supermarket or church parking lots, tucking ourselves away behind storage buildings.

The challenge is fun. Our imaginations fly...

Ahead, Oregon's Blue Mountains...

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“You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination.”

- Roman Payne

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Friday, May 15, 2015

Oh no, Nevada!

Growing up in Auburn, California, Nevada was not far away. Nevada had little appeal. It was the place to get married under age, to gamble, or to endure miles of endless desert boredom.

My poor parents heard nothing but, "Are we there yet?" when we drove across Nevada.

We left Great Basin National Park, wanting to see the Ward Charcoal Ovens, but otherwise thinking there was not too much else that interested us in Nevada. We set out on Highway 50, aptly named the Loneliest Road.

Built in the mid 1870's, each stone oven is 27 feet in diameter by 30 feet high. Loaded, they hold 35 cords of wood. They burn for 12 days to produce 50 bushels of charcoal for every cord of wood. It took 5 to 6 acres of timber to fill each oven.

After visiting the ovens, we head for Ely to resupply. Then, retracing our steps a bit, we follow the signs to Cave Lake State Park. Kicking my boring-sagebrush bias in the butt, we discover, up in the hills, two campgrounds in beautiful surroundings, complete with a lake and enticing trails. We stayed the night.

The next day, after a hike and lunch we move on. We have more desert to cross and we want to get the long haul behind us. We're now certain we've seen the best of Nevada, and want to cross into Idaho, as quickly as possible.

We spot tents on our map, close to Elko, so we head there. Elko's sprawl of billboards, trailers, metal buildings, casinos, broken down cars, traffic and irreverently placed homes leaves us dispirited.

Our lament! What has happened to America's charming towns? Discouraged, we are about ready to park in a casino parking lot, and be done with the day. Luckily, at just the right moment, we spot the sign for Scenic Byway 227, and press on to Ruby Mountains Wilderness in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

We find another gem! Lamoille Canyon. Surrounded by splendor, all three of us, Benton, Ed and I, are frisky with delight, and in wonder that we are only 20 miles from Elko. Here's our camp.

Further up the road...

Leaving Lamoille Canyon, it's back to Elko to connect with Scenic Highway 225 North. But first, coffee at Cowboy Joe (*****)! While there we meet a fun-delightful-interesting-adventurous couple traveling in the most mean ass, back-country-outfitted Lexus I've even seen.

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"Sage-brush is a very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child the mule."

- Mark Twain

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