Perhaps it all looked differently 10,000 years ago or more... water in the lakes and rivers, abundant game, little competition, milder climate... |
...recounts the retirement travels of Mark and Vicki Sherouse since 2008...in Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand, Europe, South America, and Africa, as well as the US and Canada. Our website, with much practical information, is: https://sites.google.com/site/theroadgoeseveron/.Contact us at mark.sherouse@gmail.com or vsherouse@gmail.com.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Hickison Petroglyphs
Some miles down the road and over the pass from Austin are the Hickison Petroglyphs, a BLM interpretive site. Unfortunately, the pamphlets from the self-guided trail were all gone, so we just walked the trail and gathered what we could. The petroglyphs are thought to be some 10,000 years old, which is indeed impressive.
Austin, NV
We drove through Austin as the sun went down, continuing on up the hill, looking for an NFS campground. But we resolved to drive back the next morning to have a look at this living ghost town of note. 10,000 prospectors and other frontier-types were in this valley at one time.
Seen all over town, nearly all of whose businesses were closed |
Street scene, mostly original frontier, which is not actually all that old... |
Detail |
Saloon, left, library, right |
Up closer |
Episcopal church, built 1878, said to be one of the finer specimens of frontier church in NV |
Masons and Odd Fellows Hall |
Frontier spirit |
Going concern |
Unfinished frontier structure |
Favorite daughter/operatic star of the later 19th century, Emma Nevada; America's answer to Lola Montez/Lili von Shtupp? |
More frontier spirit; I guess he provided his own clean air and water, safe food, transportation and communication infrastructure, law and order, security from foreign aggression... |
More frontier spirit |
Trump's favorite insult is calling someone a loser; interesting how many of his supporters are obvious losers, misfits, and ne'er-do-wells |
I think we'll just drive right on through Austin next time, if there is a next time |
The Loneliest Road
US 50 bills itself as "The Loneliest Road," and, I would add, also the ugliest, and not just the scenery. After stimulating the local economy in Carson City, we drove 50 all across Nevada and through Utah all the way to Provo. I'll have a couple or three posts on sights along the way but wanted to add these from the road itself.
Not the official signage |
Salt flats |
Writ in sand... |
Sand Mountain...reminiscent of larger, more extensive dunes in France, the North Island, etc. |
Hundreds and hundreds of largely uninhabited miles, basin and range, basin and range, basin and range.... |
Savage-camping on a pass east of Austin, NV |
Sculpture on a spur from 50 to Great Basin National Park |
Fence sculpture |
Somewhere east of Baker, NV, now probably in Utah, a GoogleEarth street-view car passes us at a very high rate of speed... |
Evidently photographing this gorgeous terrain |
Let's see, last time I photographed one of these was in 2010, I think, on El Camino Real, in Palo Alto... |
Just west of Hinckley, Utah, one of the better shoe trees |
Nearby shoe stripling |
A few that didn't stick... |
Monday, September 14, 2015
Tahoe Camping
We camped two nights at the NFS' Nevada Beach campground, a pie-shaped strip of land, the wide side fronting on US50, the narrow side, perhaps half a mile, on Tahoe beach, a mile and a half from South Lake Tahoe (the town). Rather little of Lake Tahoe is easily accessible, I surmise. At either end of Nevada Beach, fearsome signs, fences, pilings, and other structures let you know this is private property. Anyhow, we mostly walked around, to town, in the forest, on the beach. It's pretty, yes, but smoke from new California fires was beginning to show--we'd seen some in Pinecrest--and we wanted to continue our northeasterly course.
Really blue sky at this altitude, over 6,000 feet |
Sign near highway 50 |
Still relatively clear water |
Panoramic view |
Two-seat power-boat parapente |
But then things get ugly |
Thus; I fully expected armed sentries, but the fence here was merely that of a trailer park |
Burning Man (why not Burning Person?) had just ended, so the streets and highways were filled with playa-covered vehicles of various sorts; here is one at the campground; note scratched comment... |
Eating well on Senior Thursday at the casino |
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Sierra Camping
The pass was close to 10,000 feet; of course, we've been higher in this vehicle, in Wyoming last winter |
One of the steeper grades |
To the east, more mountains |
At length we got to the Kit Carson campground in Toiyabe NF; the greatest of the mountain men, arguably |
Our encampment |
Another great Sierra view...with free wifi poached from a "resort" down the road |
After visiting a nice farmer's market in South Lake Tahoe, we made it to Stateline, NV, and eventually another encampment. at Nevada Beach campground, on Lake Tahoe |
Vicki participating in the local culture |
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