Having
fun in Nevada usually means gambling and some other nasty stuff. I was trying to
find others ways to entertain myself. I like taking my SUV off the beaten paths
and I was going to get through the American historical sites in eastern Nevada.
My
first stop was in Virginia City. The most famous inhabitant of this city was
Mark Twain; he actually held his first real job here – he was an editor
of the local newspaper. The town remains pretty much alive and is now a famous tourist
destination.
Silver Queen hotel; I stayed there for a
week in 2001
A nice building on the hill side
I
had a lunch in the town, and then I went, through the Six Mile Canyon Road,
toward highway 50. The road crosses the highway and continues as gravel Fort
Churchill Road. This road leads to the Fort Churchill state historic park. The
roads winds along the Carson River. This road roughly takes the same route as
the historical Pony Express mail service of 19th century. Fort
Churchill was serving as the defense center for the local part of the Pony
Express.
Carson
River
While on this trip, I was using primarily Canon Digital Rebel XT with 28-105mm II USM lenses. The black&white pictures were taken by the ancient Soviet-era fully-manual 35mm film camera Zorky-6 with Jupiter-8 50mm lens (this is a rough copy of Leika-2).
Eventually,
I arrived to the Fort Churchill. The fort defended local communities against
Indians, ensured Nevada and California loyalty to Union during the Civil War,
and helped to keep the order in the rough mining towns. Currently, this is
state-operated historic park, with a decent campground.
BW: walkway to the park office
My
next destination was the east shore of the Walker Lake. The lake is struggling
because the people are taking too much water from the nearby streams and the
lake is gradually getting saltier and smaller. But still this is a large magnificent
desert lake. The east shore is desert, and the west shore goes along the
mountain range. In recent years, lots of efforts were made to save the lake and
hopefully it will be around for the next generations.
The sandy
gravel road goes side-by-side with the railroad tracks. The railroad is serving
the military base at the southern end of the lake.
The
railroad tracks
View toward west: snow mountains
View toward east: dry mountains
Buck: I was trying the chase
him, but he can run faster
The magnificent ruins of the
great Nolan city
Heavy equipment (non-military
type)
I
had a good night sleep in the Hawthorne’s El Capitan hotel. Good service
and clean rooms for the modest price.
Next
day I decided to visit another Mark Twain’s place – the Aurora
ghost town. He had lived in Aurora before he left for Virginia City. He had no luck in Aurora,
and when he got a job offer in Virginia City, he left the town.
The gravel
road to Aurora starts at the southern end of the Hawthorne. It quickly climbs to
the mountains. This time of year, the snow was expected. Not much of snow was
present, although. The snow drive was temporary postponed.
The
road
When
I came to the Aurora, I found that there is not much to see around, just some
ruins, but the cemetery was pretty much well preserved.
Aurora
site
After
Aurora, I continued my route toward California; I was heading to the Bodie
ghost town. I had more snow along this road. The snow was intact; I was the first
driver after the last snowfall.
Then
I came to the Nevada-to-California border. Nobody was present on the border
line, no control, no customs, no truck weighting, and no checkpoint. There were
some ruins, probably once there was a station. The whole border crossing was just
a mudhole. That was a rare opportunity along this route for the 4Low and for the
locker.
The checkpoint ruins and the canyon walls
My tracks across the state line
The
Bodie ghost town state park was snowy and relatively empty. Not many visitors
were present this time of the year.
After
Bodie, I went through the mountains to the Bridgeport, California. That was the
most colorful and interesting part of the whole trip. The road was covered with
snow, and the mountains were just great, and there were some nice rocks along
the road. I enjoyed this scenic drive.
In
the night, I came to Bridgeport. This is a county seat, a pretty nice and calm
town. The court house is simply gorgeous.
Walker River Lodge (I stayed there in 2001)
End.