A Night on Black Rock Desert

Near Gerlach, Nevada
July 7-8, 2001

My weekend on the Black Rock Desert was in stark contrast to a weekend of Burning Man. Instead of thousands of people and a burning effigy, there was only myself, Karen, a small group of fellow campers, and a couple that we met at the hot springs on the east edge of the desert. Our caravan of a half-dozen vehicles drove a little way up the playa, turned left, and camped on the west side where the playa met the hills. With no one else around, it was safe to walk across the desert under the moonlight to the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. The next day we picked up camp and a few of us ventured to the Tregos Hot Springs for a dip in warm water.

Web Link

Friends of Black Rock High Rock

The Ruins of the Thompson Smelter

Near Wabuska, Nevada
March 28, 2009

On a leisurely drive around the Nevada countryside southeast of Carson City, I came upon the ruins of the Thompson Smelter, which I saw to the west as I drove north on US 95 ALT. The mill and smelter ruins are at the northern end of the Mason Valley, and the mill and smelter processed copper from the many mines in the Mason Valley and Smith Valley. The copper ore was delivered here by the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, which ran the length of the Mason Valley and into Smith Valley via Wilson Canyon. The heyday of this area was short-lived with the smelter and town built around 1910 and, except for the ruins, not lasting for more than a decade or two. The ruins consist mostly of foundations of the mill buildings, two smelters, and a number of a buildings from the nearby town that served the mill and smelter.

A Cross-Country Drive

Truckee, California to Seville, Ohio and Return
April 28 to May 12, 2001

Lehman Caves

The Start of the Cross-Country Drive
Truckee, California to Cedar City, Utah

Day #1. For my two week vacation, I decided to drive across the country to visit relatives in Kentucky and Ohio and see some attractions on the way. My first day did not offer much in the way of attractions. My only stop was at Great Basin National Park to tour Lehman Caves. Unfortunately, on my tour was a troop of boy scouts with two scout leaders. The scouts were rowdy and loud, and the scout leaders did not nothing to curb their rowdiness. For myself and the other non-scout participants of the tour, it was not an enjoyable visit.

Where you see a day with italics text, that text is from a postcard that I sent while on the road to chronicle my trip. Like a postcard, it is short and to the point.

Another Holiday Weekend Trip

Northeastern California and Southern Oregon
September 1-3, 2001

A holiday weekend trip to northern California and southern Oregon to visit Lava Beds National Monument and Crater Lake National Park. On the way back, Karen and I also made some quick stops to other sites of interest.

Lava Beds National Monument, California
Day #1

We started the morning in Reno, and our first stop was to the top of California to Modoc County. This was my second time at the Lava Beds, and this time I had a partner and did not have to solo into the caves. A drive through the park and stops at the following attractions:

• Big Painted Cave / Symbol Bridge
• Merrill Ice Cave
• Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout
• Balcony Cave / Boulevard Cave
• Gillems Camp and the Canby Cross
• Captain Jacks Stronghold
• Petroglyph Point

We arrived at our stop for the night in Klamath Falls, Oregon just as night descended upon us.

View from the Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout

The start of the trail to Balcony and Boulevard Caves

Inside Captain Jack's Stronghold

Petroglyphs etched onto Petroglyph Point

A Weekend on the East Side

Mono and Inyo Counties, California
August 11-12, 2001

This was a quick Saturday-Sunday trip with Karen to visit some highlights along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. Highlights not recorded by photograph: a nighttime dip in the unimproved BLM part of Keough's Hot Springs south of Bishop and another drive down Silver Canyon Road with a drop of 6,000 feet in nine miles (average grade 13%).







The west entrance to Bodie State Historic Park via State Highway 270, the last three miles on dirt road.

My First Visit to the Ancient Bristlecone Pines

Inyo National Forest, Mono and Inyo Counties, California
September 2-4, 2000

This was a Labor Day Weekend trip in my recently new Nissan Xterra. And I chose the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest as my destination since coming close to the oldest single living organism on the world would make the weekend a highlight. I also had dreams of hiking to the top of White Mountain, the third highest peak in California, since I read it was a fairly easy hike for a 14er.

After getting a late start, I ended up at the Grandview Campground as the sun was setting. I hurriedly prepared a sleeping spot in the back of the Xterra and fell asleep. I did not know much about the vehicle's security system, and after scurrying around the back trying to figure out how to get out from the back, the alarm went off for 15 seconds or so before I was able to turn it off (although I had no idea how I did that). Luckily most of the other people in the campground were already awake, and I got more laughs than I did grunts. I spent all day Sunday driving up White Mountain Road:

The Almost Forgotten Town of Boca

Near Truckee, California
May 7, 2008

Boca Historic Townsite Interpretive Trail - Tahoe National Forest website with general information on this recreation site.

Boca Townsite Trail - Tahoe National Forest fact-sheet on the interpretive trail.

The faint lines of the trail are visible in this aerial image

A Google street view of the trailhead parking lot in 2012

The start of the Boca Historic Townsite Interpretive Trail

The first interpretive sign - Boca's Railroad Roots

Headed up the trail

Interpretive signs just ahead

View of Interstate 80 and the first
transcontinental railroad from the trail

The second interpretive sign - A Town Mostly of Men

The third interpretive sign - Where the Jobs Were

In Memory of Franklin Marson
Born May 4, 1829. Died March 20, 1869.
Aged 39 y'rs 10 mos & 16d's
A native of Main.

The fourth interpretive sign - Boca Beer Wins in Paris, France!

View to southwest from Boca Cemetery

The fifth interpretive sign - The Children's Cemetery

Part of the Children's Cemetery

Wynford Francis
Son of Mr. & Mrs. R.C. Weeks
Born March 15, 1906. Died April 2, 1908.
Aged 2 Years 17 Days.
Our Loved One

Jos. B. Weldon
Died 20, 1872
Aged 2 mos. & 2 ds.

The sixth interpretive sign - Boca's Demise

Remnants from the Townsite Era

Pictures on Rocks, cont.

Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Site, Santa Barbara County, California
February 19, 2010

My next check box on this trip was the Chumash Painted Cave north of Santa Barbara. It is on a narrow road in the Santa Ynez Mountains, and although it is a State Historic Park, there is no parking lot. You have to park your car alongside the road and hope your car and yourself do not slide down the road embankment. Also you will not find a park ranger, only a metal gate restricting access to the cave with the pictographs outside your reach but within view.

The pictographs are vibrant, and on this rainy and dreary day of my visit, I imagined a group of Chumash with a warm fire waiting out the storm and drawing on the sandstone wall a story of their dreams. I have dreams too, but with modern conveniences, I did not have to wait out the storm. I soon was back on the road with Lompoc less than an hour away.

From the Colorado to the Pacific

Blythe, California to Carlsbad, California
February 14, 2010

A part of the Algodones Dune Field

This is the last part of California I have yet to explore, and I would transect this southernmost part of California from east to west, from the Colorado River to the Pacific Ocean. I knew I would have a full day of driving and sightseeing, and I got on the road just as the sun was rising. And before the sun set that day ...

• I sat on top of a sand dune. State Route 78 goes over the middle of the Algodones dune field with a parking area at the top. The parking area is not for the driving tourist but rather the dune driving recreational enthusiasts. Lots of dirt motorbikes and ATV's on these dunes.
• I stood underneath what was once (maybe) the world's tallest flagpole in Calipatria.
• I drove south through the middle of the Imperial Valley. The Imperial Valley is as flat as the San Joaquin Valley but it is mostly below sea level.
• I had an early lunch in Calexico within eye-shot of the international border with Mexico. I headed westwards on State Route 98 and hugged the border for twenty miles or so. Once I left the agricultural fields and headed into the desert, reminders of my proximity to the border started to sprout. There were the Border Patrol vehicles, but more interesting were the unmanned mobile surveillance devices with remote control cameras. Like a scene out of Star Wars, these devices were looking out onto the desert towards the border. Several times I was probably scrutinized by the remote control operator who was somewhere many miles away in an air-conditioned office. 
• My curiosity was peaked by signs pointing towards the De Anza Overlook and warning that four-wheel drive vehicles with high clearance are recommended. It felt good to get off the highway and put the truck into Hi 4-WD. The overlook of the Yuha Basin showed a desolate wilderness which has not changed much in the 235 years since De Anza and his party crossed it on their way to the coast of California.
• I stopped at a few spots in the southern part of Anza-Borrego State Park including the Carrizo Badlands Overlook and Box Canyon near Blair Valley which still has the roadbed of the old trail and stagecoach road that went through this area.
• I visited San Pasqual Battlefield State Park. California does not have much military history compared to other parts of the country (well, at least when it comes to battles), but San Pasqual is one of the more important reminders of California's past. The visitor center overlooks the San Pasqual Valley and the 1846 battlefield which is privately-owned and planted with crops. With the exhibits in the visitor center, I was able to trace with my finger in the air along the route that General Kearny and his troops took coming down the mountains to find General Pico and his Californios camped in the valley.

With the sun setting below the Pacific Ocean, I finally made it to Carlsbad. After checking into the motel, I headed out to complete one last thing for the day - planting my feet in some ocean sand.

The Yuha Basin
View to the northeast from the overlook

Calipatria Flagpole
The base of the pole is 184 feet below sea level
The top of the pole is at sea level

A Day of Travels

Mississippi and Tennessee
March 17, 2010

I wanted to title this post as "A Typical Day of Duane's Travels." But nowadays there really isn't a typical day for me, and that's the thrill of traveling without an agenda. Today was a day that did have many of the elements I go through as I travel across the country, and I wanted to share a full day of travels with you.

My day started in Columbus, Mississippi, a town at the junction of highways where I ended up when it got dark and I got tired the evening before. I only had one goal at the beginning of the day: to find Elvis Presley at the start and the end of his life. At 7:00 a.m. I headed north and in an hour I was in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. I was early though and thought I would notch another national park site on my travel resume. The Tupelo National Battlefield is a small remnant of the battlefield of 1864. It encompasses only one acre and resembles a neighborhood park more than a national park. The only facilities are a couple of historic monuments typically seen in Civil War battlefields and two informational boards explaining the battle. It is definitely on the bottom of the list of national park sites to visit.

Sliding Rock and the Kid in Me

Pisgah National Forest, Transylvania County, North Carolina
April 30, 2010

I was driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway and encountered one of those pesky detours.  A portion of the parkway was closed because of some winter landslides, and I was diverted onto a North Carolina highway.  On my cross-country drive a detour is not a problem but rather an opportunity, and this opportunity took me to Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest. It is a natural 60-foot water slide that drops you into a cool pool of water.

Sliding Rock

As I gazed at this spectacular natural rock formation, the kid in me said "DO ... don't just look".

Cabrillo Namesakes

Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, California
February 15, 2010

Statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Being an attendee of Cabrillo High School in Lompoc, I naturally became curious as to who is Cabrillo and what kind of mascot is a Conquistador. Well, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a conquistador – soldier, explorer, adventurer for the Spanish realm in the New World. In 1542 he and his expedition were the first Europeans to see the sights of the coast of California and set foot on the future Golden State. His expedition planted the seed for California's settlement by the Spanish two centuries later.

My alma mater is one of a small number of namesakes for Cabrillo. I've always been interested in visiting other Cabrillo namesakes, and once again, an opportunity was now staring at me just down the road. Mr. Cabrillo has his own national monument at Point Loma, and I guess this is the definitive namesake for him. The monument commemorates the landing of Cabrillo at San Diego Bay, and offers films and exhibits on his voyage and expedition.  The monument also has a statue of Cabrillo overlooking the bay, although I suspect most visitors come to the monument not for Cabrillo but for the spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, San Diego Bay, and the surrounding lands.

Another Labor Day Weekend Trip Through Oregon

Reno, Nevada to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington
August 29 to 31, 2008

Another holiday weekend and more places to explore in the Pacific Northwest with my travel partner Karen. Our goal for the weekend was Mount St. Helens with opportunities for other sites along the way.

Day 1 - Reno, Nevada to Bend, Oregon

The plan was to break the drive to Mount St. Helens into two days, and the first day of driving with an early, early start from Reno would take us to Bend, Oregon. As a precursor to the volcanic sites of Mount St. Helens, we explored the volcanic sites of Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We spent the afternoon checking out the monument, which is spread out on the lava lands south of Bend. Although we missed lots of other activities to do in the monument, we:

Unbelizable! Crossing Belize to Climb a Ruin

Xunantunich, Cayo District, Belize
April 13, 2016

Xunantunich. Before we proceed on our crossing of Belize, I should provide some guidance on how to pronounce Xunantunich since I will be saying it a lot. Although it is a modern name, Xunantunich is a Mayan word meaning “maiden of the rock” or “stone woman”. Since not many people outside Mexico and Central America know how to pronounce Mayan words and letters, the locals provide an English phonetic spelling: “Shoo-nahn-too-nitch”. Say it a few times, and it starts to flow off your lips.

I came to Belize by way of a cruise ship. The previous day we docked in Cozumel, Mexico, but after a half-hour there, I was not a gracious guest and left all of the contents of my stomach on the beach. I high-tailed it back to the ship, and spent the next 12 hours relieving myself of all the other contents in my gastrointestinal system. We were scheduled to reach Belize the next morning, and I had already booked an offshore excursion to visit one of the Mayan ruins in the country. I had not yet had the opportunity to see some Mayan ruins, and this was on my bucket list of things to see and do. I had this opportunity to check off this item, and I doubted that I would ever have another opportunity.  

To the Volcano

Amboy, California
February 13, 2010

At the interstate, I had another direction decision to make. East on Interstate 40 would take me to Needles and then to Blythe where I wanted to end up for the night. Continuing south on Kelbaker Road would take me to Amboy, a wide spot on an old highway which was left to whither when the interstate passed far to the north of it. However, Amboy has a namesake which has stood its ground for many a year:  Amboy Crater.

South to the volcano was my decision. Amboy back in its heyday wasn't much, a meal, lodging and gas stop on Route 66. Now it is even less with only a hardly used gas station and cafe, the closed-but-not-yet-forgotten Roy's Motel, and a few homes. A few miles to the west lies Amboy Crater and Lava Field, an extinct but relatively young (6,000 years young) volcanic cinder cone. With daylight burning, the crater was too far from the parking lot for my liking so I nixed the hike to the crater. Instead I headed out onto the basalt lava field to jump from one rock to another. Something I always do when I see lava.

A Slice of the Mojave

Mojave National Preserve, California
February 13, 2010

South Entrance

Interstates have a tendency to straighten our focus on the freeway and put us into a stupor as to what may be awaiting us if we just get off. That happened to me a number of times when I drove Interstate 15 for Las Vegas or Interstate 40 to get to or from Arizona. I was stupefied into a rush to get somewhere else that I never took a detour into the wonders of the Mojave Desert between I-15 and I-40. Even Congress was not able to get me to detour when it declared this area as a National Preserve in 1994.

Here was my chance as I drove away from Las Vegas on I-15:  Exit 272 Cima Road. Although I was not ready to get intimate with the desert, I thought it at least

Kelso Depot

deserved a drive through as my introduction to this part of the Mojave Desert. My drive along Cima Road and Kelbaker Road provided a 59-mile scenic tour of the National Preserve between I-15 and I-40. The highlights included Cima Dome, the town of Kelso, and the Kelso Dunes. Places that I had previously read about, but now I was able to put sights to the words I read. A couple of hours after starting my detour, I was back on the interstate.

Kelso Dunes

Where's the Mountain?

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
August 31, 2010

I'm not having much luck seeing the great mountains of Washington.  Two years ago I traveled to southwest Washington to see Mount St. Helens and its exploded top. I got to see the bottom of the mountain, but the top of the mountain was engulfed by clouds.  The clouds opened up for only a couple of minutes as I was driving away, the Washington rainy weather spoiling my view and the trip.

So it was no surprise to me when the Washington rainy weather spoiled my trip to Mount Rainier National Park. Yep, I ran into the rain and clouds which obscured the mountain, even up close. Below is a photo of where Mount Rainier should be. I took the photo from the parking lot of the Paradise Visitor Center around midway up the mountain. There should be around 6,000 feet of mountain and 25 glaciers right in front of me, but all I saw was clouds. I will have to take the word of Washingtonians that there is a majestic mountain here at Mount Rainier National Park.

I did get to see lots and lots of trees in the park. I took a short hike to the Grove of the Patriarchs, a small ancient forest  of Western Red Cedars and Douglas Firs that are nearly a thousand years old.

Mount Rainier in the clouds

The Grove of the Patriarchs

Eight Days, Five States, and a Wedding

The Southwestern United States
December 26, 2001 - January 2, 2002

A trip with the Lyons ladies (Karen and her mom Joetta) to reach a wedding in Denver and to take in some sights along the way.

December 26th. We started our drive in Lompoc, California and ended up for the night in Kingman City, Arizona. Highlights of the day were following a bit of the historic Route 66 in Barstow and viewing London Bridge in the evening lights of Lake Havasu City.

Meteor Crater

December 27th. We had plenty of highlights this day—the Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest National Park, the Navajo Nation, the Four Corners, a far off view of Monument Valley and Ship Rock, and dinner at La Placita in downtown Albuquerque where they have a tree growing from the inside up through the roof. We spent the night somewhere east of Albuquerque on I-40.

Petrified Wood at Petrified Forest National Park

The Four Corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah

A distant view of Ship Rock