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.

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

Looking for a Nuclear Blast Site

Gote Flat, Churchill County, Nevada
February 19, 2001

My Internet browsing brought me to a webpage with a nugget of nearby trivia. Only a hour or so away was a site where they U.S. Government conducted an underground nuclear explosion test. Only a dozen or so sites in the United States can lay claim to a nuclear explosion, and this nearby site was easily accessible by State highway.

Off I went to Churchill County to the northern part of the Sand Springs Range. In less than 10 miles on paved roads from US 50, I was on top of the range at a place called Gote Flat. It was here in 1963 that the Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission detonated a 12-kiloton nuclear device around 1,200 feet below the surface. Forty years later there is not much to show that event ever occurred. Concrete pads, shards of metal and cable, caps on monitoring wells, and scrapped ground. But there's not too many places where you can stand at ground zero and say I'm standing on top of a nuclear blast, but Gote Flat is one.

Web Links

Here's a Nevada blast site you can visit - Las Vegas Sun 10/29/13

US Department of Energy Fact Sheet on the Shoal Site

The northern part of the Sand Springs Range

The Outdoors of Vegas

Clark County, Nevada
February 11-12, 2010

I am not one to burrow myself inside a casino during the daytime, and I can only endure so much traffic and solicitors along the Strip. With the February weather in Vegas sunny and in the 70's, I set off into the outdoors of Las Vegas. Yes, there are outdoors to enjoy in the Vegas area that are not made by the hand of man.

I chose three contrasting spots for my Vegas outdoor adventures. One well-known with a Federal designation to recognize its significance. One shown as a small red square on my road atlas with no clues of its worth. One at the end of a long road next to a long waterway.

The Devils Punchbowl

Dianas Punchbowl
aka Devils Punchbowl
Nye County, Nevada

Los Angeles County, California   May 29, 2000
Nye County, Nevada   May 24, 2009
Montgomery County, Indiana   July 3, 2011

The Devil has quite a number of punchbowls in the United States. Over 20 places in more than a dozen states have been called the Devil's Punchbowl or Punch Bowl. The Devils Punchbowl is also found in other English-speaking countries including Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, England, and Wales. Since the devil is known in other languages, his punchbowls are also found elsewhere in the world. In Ecuador at the Rio Verde it is called La Ponchera del Diablo.

We are not talking about a large bowl from which a beverage such as punch is served. Rather, these punchbowls are unique geologic or topographic features which to an explorer's eye may look like a bowl-like depression. These features include basins, springs, lakes, and waterfalls. The devil's ownership to the punchbowls has been usurped by man, but the devil's presence at one time or another engulfed these places. The anxiety of a placenamer who came upon one of these punchbowls may have spawned a fright that only the devil can bring. A legend telling of the devil haunting, causing mischief, or bargaining for a soul at the punchbowl may have evoked anxiety and fright in the placenamer. Or it may have just been a shiver down the back of the placenamer as the punchbowl brought visions of the devil's dwelling.