In the middle of October I made a solo trip out to Nevada. The primary destination for the trip was the Ruby Mountains in Eastern Nevada but since I had to cross Nevada to get there, there was plenty of opportunity to see other places along the way. It had originally been planned as a camping trip with Mary Ann but since it was so late in the year and since the Rubies are quite high up (11,000 ft) it was a little bit too cold for camping. It was also a little bit too cold for Mary Ann and she decided not to accompany me.
I set off on a Thursday morning and drove to Reno where I stopped for a late breakfast at Peg’s Glorified Ham and Eggs in downtown Reno. Alas this experience was not as good as I remembered from a prior visit there. I put it down to post-Covid staff shortages.
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| Thunderbird Motel, Elko |
After the obligatory visit to the Patagonia Outlet Store (no purchases), I continued east on Highway 80 towards Winemucca and Elko. It is 420 miles from Sacramento to Elko and it was late afternoon when I arrived in Elko. I got a room at the Thunderbird Motel where I had stayed on a previous trip and liked. I particularly like their sign.
After checking in I set out to explore the town. I was surprised to see so many murals around town. I really enjoy these so I took in as many as I could before it got too dark (and too cold) to continue. For my evening meal I passed on the well known Basque restaurant, the Star, and instead went to an Italian restaurant that had been recommended, Luciano’s. Not a bad meal but not the best either.
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| The Commercial Casino, Elko |
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White King
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On my walk through town after dinner I wanted to visit the Commercial Casino. It is a large old casino in the center of the old part of town, just across the street from my hotel. On the outside are sculptures of a giant polar bear - White King. White King himself is stuffed and mounted inside the casino. He is 11ft tall and is the largest stuffed polar bear in the world. However, even though the lights were lit on the outside, the casino itself was closed. I could peer through the glass door to see White King looming over the empty interior but that is as far as it goes. It looks kind of sad with all the slot machines and tables removed and just the case containing White King in the middle of an empty room.
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| Elko Murals |
The next morning I was up early to continue my exploration (after a fine latte from Cowboy Joe’s coffee shop). I walked around all the murals that I had seen the previous night and found plenty more. There had certainly been an effort to improve the town with the murals and also with the installation of decorated cowboy boot sculptures around town (like the pigs of Cincinnatti or the cows of Chicago).
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| One of Elko's many Cowboy Boots |
The Museum of North Eastern Nevada was open so I went in. It is an interesting mix of historical museum, art gallery and stuffed animal zoo. The historical section tells the story of Elko County and its American Indian, Basque, Chinese and Cowboy cultures. The art section was not quite to my taste - a not so great abstract exhibit. The stuffed animal collection was too bizarre - It was once the collection of some Hollywood hunter. There was an elephant, a giraffe, lions, polar bears, every imaginable antelope. That was not my cup of tea either.
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| The North Eastern Nevada Museum's Animal Collection |
The lady on the desk at the museum told me about her youth in Elko and how she worked at the Commercial Casino and how she also in her youth used to get to climb up the White King statues outside the Casino and remove arrows that the kids had shot into it - she would then fill in the holes with plaster. Apparently the casino building was condemned as unsafe as the underground kitchens were subsiding.
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| Lamoille Church |
Leaving Elko I headed south to Lamoille. There was quite a lot of development to the south of Elko in a community called Spring Creek and then further along is Lamoille. It sits at the foot of the Ruby Mountains and it is the end of the paved road . There was a nice wooden church but that was about it.
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| Lamoille Canyon |
Heading up Lamoille Canyon the road climbs into the Ruby Mountains proper. It is a beautiful canyon and it is sometimes referred to as “Nevada’s Yosemite Valley” - it doesn’t come close to Yosemite’s splendor but it is beautiful. There was snow on the mountains and a little on the road too in the shady spots. At the end of the valley there is a trailhead for hiking further into the Rubies. Not on that day however as there was too much snow.
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| The Upper Lamoille Canyon |
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| Lamoille Canyon |
I retreated down the canyon and back into Spring Creek and then turned south on route 228 towards Jiggs and Harrison Pass. After the community of Jiggs (which is basically a bar and perhaps one house) the road turns to dirt and winds up into the hills and Harrison Pass.
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| The Southern Ruby Mountains near Harrison Pass |
At the top of Harrison Pass I took a dirt road excursion to the north up through the mountains. At this end of the Ruby range it is not as high as the Lamoille end so there was no snow. It was a nice dirt road too - just the right amount of technical stuff, nothing too extreme for a solo trip.
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One stubborn snake
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After a few miles of trail I came across a snake lying across the road - at 2pm in mid October, it should have been hibernating but it was just lying there. It didn’t want to move and I didn’t want to risk killing it so I stopped and tried to coax it off the trail. It really didn’t want to move so I threw soil at it, then pebbles, then small rocks - it was stubborn but finally it coiled up and hissed and eventually I moved it to the side. As I rolled slowly past it, it struck at my tire. I don't think it was a rattlesnake however.
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Ruby Lake Area
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I did maybe 5 or 6 miles out on the road before turning around and going back to Harrison Pass. It was then a drive down the pass to the eastern side of the Rubies and to Ruby Lake. This is not so much a lake, at least not at this time of year, but it is a nice basin with reeds and swamp and a little bit of water here and there. There is a fish hatchery so there must be some water flowing somewhere.
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Bressman's Cabin
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I stopped to look at an old cabin, the Bressman Cabin, built in the 1880’s and occupied by the Bressman family. Mr Bressman’s grave was in the backyard. What a hard life they must have had back then - so remote, such a rustic and primitive cabin.
Moving on I drove south on Long Valley Road for a long way until I reached Highway 50. There wasn't much on this section except long expanses of basin and range topography. A few wild horses here and there, a few large scale gold mining operations, but not much else. On Highway 50 I turned east and headed the 30 miles into Ely.
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Steam Train - Ely Canyon
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Coming into Ely down the canyon I passed the steam train that runs tourists up from Ely to the small town of Ruth. A beautiful sight at the end of the day’s driving.
In Ely I checked out the length and breadth of the town before settling on the White Pine Motel for the night. It was an old small hotel near the center of the old town. It looked a lot more charming than the rooms proved to be.
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| Ely Murals |
Next morning I ventured out to explore Ely. I found it to be another interesting town, perhaps not as charming as Elko but they have tried to preserve some of its history and, again, they have created many murals to make it quite attractive in the older part of the town.
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| Ely Murals |
I stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center and picked up some brochures (they had a walking tour guide to the murals). The lady there told me about some charcoal kilns not far from town and a nearby old mining town of Ward which I decided to visit.
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| The Ward Charcoal Kilns |
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| Charcoal Kiln Masonry |
Just south of Ely and at the base of the hills are a group of some 5 charcoal kilns - the Ward Charcoal Kilns. I have seen many similar kilns before but these were some of the best. The stone masonry in something that is basically a big oven was truly magnificent.
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| Mining Exploration Trash |
A little further north from the kilns is the site of the old 19th century mining town of Ward. Once a thriving town supporting some 1,500 miners there was precious little to see other than signs of where they had excavated. There were two or three more modern buildings up the hill from the Ward townsite. These were from the operations that were carried out there from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. The buildings were in poor condition and were full of core samples - literally thousands up thousands of them. They were once in trays marked with their source but now with the roof and windows gone many of them were overturned and lying in a big heap on the floor. The whole mess had just been left after the operation shut down.
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| Steam Engine - Ely |
Back in town again I visited the railyards. They have at least a couple of steam trains there and some other diesel locomotives. It is a working steam line for tourists taking them up the canyon to Ruth and back. People were waiting to catch the next excursion and while I was there the steam engine came into the station. Always a wonderful thing to experience.
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| Ruth with the Copper Mine behind |
I next headed out the west to visit the town of Ruth with the hope of being able to visit the current day copper mine. Alas,while once upon a time you could look into the huge opencast workings, you are now prevented from visiting the mine. It is still an active mine however and they are moving a very large amount of earth around out there.
Just north of Ruth is Garnet Hill, an area where garnets are relatively easy to find. It is now promoted as amateur garnet hunters park. There were a few people out there with hammers and shovels looking for the elusive minerals. Many had been successful in finding some nice examples.
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| The never ending road |
It was now getting late and I had a lot of miles to cover so I headed back to town and out to the south and west on the road to Tonopah. There is not much between Ely and Tonopah, just 150 miles of road and the beautiful basin and range topography of Nevada. It is a most beautiful landscape with the road stretching straight out before you until it disappears in the distance.
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| Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah |
Tonopah was going to be my destination for the evening but it is not much of a town these days. I walked around, visited the Mizpah Hotel (once the tallest building in Nevada), photographed some murals (not as good as Ely or Elko) and then left town and headed further north for the night’s stay.In Hawthorne I stopped for a meal. There’s not a great choice in many of these places and Hawthorne is no exception. I dined at the largest casino in town. It was rather pathetic to see just a smattering of people playing slot machines in the casino, many of them smoking. That is what Saturday night looks like if you live in one of these places.
I drove further north to Fallon where I stayed for the night.
The next morning I drove the 1 hour north into Reno and had a fine breakfast at the Renaissance Hotel. From there it was over the border into California and home.
