Since I arrived in Denver, I've been focusing on finding housing and getting my bearings. Today, I took a break from that process and visited a historic site. The Four Mile house is Denver's oldest building. Built during Colorado's first gold rush in 1859, it served as an inn and tavern at the last stagecoach stop before downtown Denver. Now it sits at the center of a small park surrounded by development.
I took a tour of the house and grounds. Subsequent owners made additions and alterations so I saw a variety of architecture and decor in one small building; from rustic rough hewn logs to refine Victorian parlor.
I completed the drive to Denver today. It was a beautiful day to be out on the road. After putzing along at 50-100 miles a day, it actually felt freeing to set the cruise control and breeze down the freeway. I had the sun at my back through the dramatic mesas & buttes of Eastern Utah & Western Colorado. The last 200 miles of the drive--through the heart of the Rockies--was sadly in the dark, but if all goes according to plan, I'll be well positioned to return "up the mountain" during daylight hours.
So one month & 7,800 miles after leaving Niles and about four months & who knows how many miles after departing Philadelphia, I finally made it to Denver. A handful of highlights will show just what a great run it has been: 42 states; the final space shuttle launch; visits with all my brothers & sisters, every niece & nephew, all six of my aunts, all but one uncle, and five cousins; my first camping experience; three bike rides around Niles; ten days traveling through the West with my mom; reaching both the Atlantic & Pacific ocean; pulling honeysuckle at the creek property; a Silverhawks baseball game with my dad; and my first look in to the Grand Canyon.
But now, it's time to get on with more serious work, namely finding work. Tomorrow, I'll start to look for some flexible short term housing. Once my computer is set-up, I can begin the job hunt in earnest.
I think I've already driven as many miles today as I have the previous four days this week and I've still got 300 miles until I get to Denver. Here are some pictures from the last few miles.
I drove part of the "Energy Loop" Scenic Byway on my way east today. The part I drove goes past a coal mine. For about two miles, a conveyor runs parallel to the highway. It takes coal from the mine to the railroad. Besides this feature, there was lots of scenery & fall colors to enjoy along the way.
By truncating my Wheeler Peak hike, I saved time to see a grove of Bristlecone Pines. After retracing my steps down the mountain, I turned on to a new trail that led pass a couple of alpine lakes toward an short interpretive trail.
Bristlecone Pines are the oldest living things on the planet. Some that I saw today were over 3,000 years old and they do show there age. They grow in twisted & contorted patterns that are marvelous to look at. I enjoyed it so much I hiked the loop trail in both directions to get more than one perspective. For the most part it was quiet, but occasionally a wind would howl through the trees to remind me that I had a two-mile hike back to the car.
Wheeler Peak is the tallest mountain in Great Basin National Park, and the second tallest in Nevada. I hoped to finish on a bang by hiking to the top. I did fairly well under the circumstances, but stopped a mile short and 1,000 feet under the summit. There was a a lot of snow and a blustery wind to make the going unpleasant. I'm glad I attempted it, got as far as I did and decided to turnaround where I did.
Today, I visited Nevada's only national park, Great Basin. A relatively new park--it will celebrate its 25th birthday in 10 days--one of the main attractions is a cave filled with elaborate formations. They actually have 40+ caves in the park, but only one, Lehman, has so many formations.
Before the park service took over during the 1930s, it was a privately run show cave. Now, it is only accessible on a ranger-led tour. The tour lasted about 90 minutes. The ranger in charge did a very good job. He encouraged interaction and got it. I've only been to a couple caves in my life. This one was by far the most ornate.
Fifteen miles from Ely are six graceful charcoal ovens built & used during the short heyday of an the Ward, Nevada silver boom. Most charcoal was prepared in open pits, but the smelters in Ward invested substantial capital to construct these more efficient ovens. Today, they sit quietly far removed from the nearest hint of civilization in a small grove of pinyon & juniper, an ironic harmony considering the enormous quantity of wood consumed by the ovens when they were active.
I've been to way more states this year alone than this blokes taken this TV that I saw in downtown Ely. Yet, if he man
Based on the recommendation of the railway museum clerk, I had lunch at Economy Drug in downtown Elgar. It has an old fashioned soda fountain counter inside. I had a great turkey & swiss sandwich with a chocolate & caramel malt.
For a measely $4, I got a fanastic two-hour tour at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. Descended from a line built in 1909 to connect Ely and its copper mine to the Central Pacific, the tourist railroad inherited a great collection of engines, rolling stock, tracks, & railyards just three years after the mine ceased operations.
The tour allowed access to the repair shop & engine house. Inside were close to a dozen locomotives: some steam, some diesel; some operable, others not. At first it was just the guide, Bob, & me surrounded by the silent giants in the dark, gritty building. I've seen plenty of train engines before, but this was different. The environment removed some typical barriers, physical & psychological, and provided a more authentic experience.
The exclamation point isn't officially part of the town's name, but it sure seems appropriate. Eureka is one of Nevada's early mining towns. It burned down twice. After, the second conflagration, the citizens turned to brick to rebuild. Of the towns that I've driven through on the Lonliest Highway, it is by far the most charming. I had a nice breakfast at the Owl Cafe and went in a few of the historic buildings: the courthouse, the city hall, and the town museum, which was in the old newspaper office.
Last night, I found my favorite kind of campground, a free one, in which to spend the night. I had planned to drive to Eureka to find a motel until I saw the sign for a campground. I even arrived with some daylight left in which to set up the tent. It was a really lovely spot, surrounded by sage & pinyon pines. High on a hill looking down in to the valley I could see in the distance the headlights from cars appraoching on the highway. They were so far away, they didn't seem to be moving at all.
With camp set up, I hiked the short trail around some more petroglyphs. It was too dark to see the prehistoric artwork, but the full moon cast enough light to hike through the shrub forest without a flashlight.
It got really cold last night. It was 32 degree when I woke up at 6:30. I wasn't uncomfortable, but was for the first time aware of the cold. This morning, I retraced my steps around the petroglyph loop. The ones from two days ago were more impressive.
A big part of the appeal of this route is driving along such a gorgeous, desolate highway. There were plenty of highlights today. Here are pictures of a few.
Though it was a good distance of US-50, I opted to visit Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. As the 3+ hours that I spent there will attest it was worth the stop. The park features two distinct parts; a pavillion built over fossil remains of an ancient marine mammal and the remains of a couple mining ghost towns.
The fossil house was locked up, but was designed in away to allow visitors like me to peer through windows to see the fossils of the of the giant marine mammal in situ.
In any event, I was really came to see the mine history. There were actually two. All that remains of Union is one adobe house, but the park had about a score signs to mark the locations of other houses, stores & community buildings. The town of Berlin is much more intact. The mine shaft, the mill & a handful of other structures still stand. They are also marked with signs to identify them & relay a little history.
Even though it was getting on in the day, I walked a tad further to the Diana Mine entrance. I was a splendid spot to end my visit. The mine was neat, but it also offered a wonderful view over the broad valley to the west. A couple fighter jets from the nearby base roared overhead as I stood by, soaking up the scene.
Sand Mountain isn't really a mountain at all. As the name might suggest to you it is a really tall sand dune. Visible for miles along US-50, I turned off the highway to get a closer look. I arrived on the right day. The Bureau of Land Management operates the site as a recreation area. Most days, the only way to gain access is to buy a $40 weekly pass. From the many tire tracks it is obvious the place is popular with off road vehicles. For whatever reason Tuesday & Wednesday are free days.
Like a moth to a flame, when I see a sand dune, I'm compelled to climb it. And climb, I did...all 400 feet. The view up top was grand, but of course coming down was the real prize. I peeked at my GPS & saw I broke 8 MPH. In retrospect, I like to think that I could have broken 10 if I really wanted, but at the time all that was on my mind maintaining some degree of control as I hurtled down the slope.
Not far from the dune is a short trail to the remains of a Pony Express Station. It was just one of several sites/markers I would see on that topic throughout the day.
I had planned to make it further east today, but was caught at a deceptively-bland sounding wayside for the last hour or two of daylight. Grimes Point Archeological Area contains a field of boulders covered with petroglyphs ranging from 7,000 to 1,000 years old. A couple of trails leave from the parking area; one loops through the boulders, the other climbs a nearby hill for a commanding view of the area. Naturally, I had to hike both. Both before and after the Sun dropped behind the clouds, it was a great time to be out on the trail. The rich color, mostly yellows & golden, gave way to the calming purples & violets of the impending dusk.
In the 1980s Life magazine published a story proclaiming US-50 across Nevada as the Lonliest Road in America. Intended as a disparaging moniker, today, the state uses the name in a marketing campaign. If got me here. Today, I got two of the five stamps needed to earn a certificate stating that I survived the Lonliest Road.
One side note: Today, I finally ran out of windshield wiped fluid. I've known this day was coming, but, you know how these things are, you're never really prepared when it finally happens.
About 1:00 PM, I left Carson City along US-50. The first site to attract my attention was Fort Churchill a few miles off the main highway. Nevada never had the heavy military presence common to other Western states, but during the decade of the 1860s, this outpost was the army's main base in, at first, the territory, then the state. Not much is left. Just a few exposed, Adobe walls. I walked the main trail, then drove down to a picnic area to get a glimpse of the Carson River picnic before leaving the isolated park.
After Brunch, I explored Carson City on foot using the Kitt Carson Trail as my guide. Similar to the Freedom Trail in Boston, the trail collects the city's historical sites along a circuitous path. The sequence was hard to understand, but using the map I was able to find most of sites & listen to about a dozen short podcasts about them on my phone. The highlights were the State Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, Mark Twain's brother's house, & a historic hotel.
I'm having breakfast at Mom & Pops Diner after spending the first part of the morning at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. The Silver State's railroad history centers mostly on two lines, the Central Pacific and the Virginia & Truckee. The museum does a very good job telling the story of the former. Most of their stock comes from the latter. The prize piece is a McKee combination engine. Of 150 everbuilt, it is the only one still in existence.
I spent the afternoon on the western shore of Lake Tahoe. Entering the basin from the northwest, the first thing I did was fill up the gas tank with the cheapest fuel yet on the trip ($3.57/gallon) not far from the lake's outlet in to the Truckee River. I spent the most time along Emerald Bay in the southwest corner of the lake. I hiked down to Vikingsholm, an early lakeshore vacation home that is now a state park museum. Tours are done for the season, but it was impressive enough from the outside to justify the mile hike. As the name suggests, it is a Scandinavian design.
I continued on to nearby Eagle Falls & then down the Rubicon Trail, which hugs the shore of Emerald Bay, for about two more.miles. I walked back along the shoulder of the highway for some even better views of the bay.
