Subject:
Great Basin to Home
Thursday
Nov 9� Enterprise UT - Cave Lake SP NV -
Ely NV
I
headed out of Enterprise on the wrong road.�
After about 10 miles I figured this out.� I checked the map and saw that about 20 more miles of gravel road
would get me back to the road I want.� I
decided to go with it, loving my truck more than ever!
Soon
I'm in Nevada.� Near the border there
are two towns.� The first, Panaca, is on
the plain and is a straight-laced little farmers community, with this quaint
Gunsmoke look and a 100 foot tall green butte in the middle of town.� Twelve miles away, up in the mountains is
the old mining town of Pioche, which used to be a real wild west kind of place
they say, and has an entirely different feel to this day.� It had an extremely pleasant little
restaurant where I had breakfast, and a sassy little radio station that kept me
company most of the morning ("We have a transmitter and we ain't afraid to
use it!").�
The
forecast is for serious snow, and soon I can see where the clouds meet the
ground up ahead (I got a decent photo of this).� Sure enough, about twenty minutes later the flurries started, and
soon after that I was driving trough a pretty stiff little snowstorm.� I fell in love with the whole snow thing,
and took a while lot of pictures.
...
I have
had the most wonderful day.� The
snowstorm made me stop in Ely at about 2:30 in the afternoon.� I'm getting smarter about this stuff, so I
again got a place downtown, where I could walk to whatever I might need.� I got settled, took my little camera and
wandered around the neighborhood and took snow pictures.� Ely is a pretty godforsaken-looking place
under normal circumstances, but fresh fluffy snow worked its magic and it was
enchanted on this day.� In the late
afternoon (about 4 this time of year at the eastern edge of the time zone!) I
walked to the Ely Public Library to read mail, and finish up my super snow day.
I sure
am glad I don't have to be back at work next Monday.� :))))
Friday
Nov 10� Ely NV - Tonopah - Hawthorne -
Mono Lake - Lee Vining CA
A lot
of driving today, but just looking at my pictures from the day confirms that I
saw a lot of spectacular visuals today.�
The snow, the clouds, the light.�
Except for the stretch between Tonopah and Hawthorne when I joined US
95, the drive was very pleasant and fun.�
There were way too many stressed Californians on 95.��
Driving
toward Mono Lake as sunset was cool.� I
have become a Mono Lake groupie over the last few years, so the plan here was
pretty clear -- I got a room my usual motel, the shabby but scenic Gateway
Motel, walked across the street to eat at the ever-reliable Nicely's Cafe, and
thought I was just going to return to my room and chill.� But it was snowing pretty heavily so I took
a little walk.� From previous trips I
know you can walk about 3/4 mile out of town to the Mono Lake Visitors Center,
so I set out to do that.� It was again
delightful to be out there in the falling snowflakes.� By the time I got there the moon, which was one day past full,
was up and brightening the landscape despite the snow clouds.� So I decided to just go for it and take this
nice little hike down to the Lee Vining Creek and back to town by moonlight.� I did, and it was easy to see the trail, and
the moon came out on the way back, and all was great!
Saturday
Nov 11� Lee Vining CA - Bridgeport -
Minden NV - Valley Springs CA
It was
clear, cold, and gorgeous this morning.�
I was considering driving down past Mammoth to the Hot Creek there for a
final soak before I head over the mountains, but decided it was a bit too brisk
for that.� I did drive down to Mono Lake
and ogle the tufa towers, and also drove the June Lake loop, then pointed
myself north on US 395 to, sigh, head home.
A few
miles north of Bridgeport there is another hot creek, you can see it steaming
from the road, right behind a fence with a bunch of really serious looking No
Trespassing signs.� what a waste.� A few miles north of that is the Walker
River canyon, which I think is a really neat place.� There are three Forest Service campgrounds along there that I
have marked in my mental book to go back to when it's warmer.
Up to
suburban hell of Minden - Garberville, then over Carson Pass on 88.� I was 12 miles away from another soaking
opportunity at Hot Springs State Park, but was so dazed I didn't realize it
till 50 miles later.
SR 88
always looks good on the map, but is a real grind to drive as it turns out.
On all
my other vacations, at this time I would have to go ahead and power my way home
to go to work the next day, but this is not just any vacation.� This is the vacation where my job died while
I was gone.
Also, I
was feeling kind of wimpy about not camping in the cold weather so I looked for
a place to camp. �The first place I
checked out -- xx State Park in Pine Grove CA was a really neat place, but it
was still at about 300 feet, and the nice old guy who was the Camp Host there
said it got to about 24 degrees the previous night and he recommended that I
drive another 25 miles to the campgrounds at Lake Camanche or Lake Pardee,
which are lower and quite a bit warmer.
I did
that, and found that Lake Pardee was closed and Lake Camanche was hard to find
in the dark.� Eventually I ended up at
New Lake Hodge campground which was just a beautiful physical setting.� It was Saturday night, so there was a crew
of noisy but wholesome boy scouts in one direction, and a crew of noisy and
unwholesome rednecks cranking up really bad music from their pickup in the
other direction.�
It was
also full moon, and just an all around lovely experience.
Sunday
Nov 12� Valley Springs CA - Rio Vista -
Larkspur - Mill Valley
Next
morning, up early - COLD - probably got to low 30's last night.� A really nice little breakfast place in
Valley Springs, drove home through the delta , got lost a little bit on� the levees, made it home by about 2.�
Went
directly to Larkspur to see my sweet daughter Martha who missed me (and the
truck :), then home to pick up the threads of my so called life.
Hope
y'all enjoyed the ride!
the end