Introduction

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http://vacations-pm.blogspot.com
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Please see Instructions and Tips.
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We suggest you view at least the Blog and Highlights.
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Blog (below)

• Contains our "Journal" of the vacation and some photos (which are a subset of highlight photos).

Highlight Slide Shows (about 15 minutes):

• A subset of the Site photos, so if viewing all of those, skip Highlights. 

              Highlights

Site Slide Shows: (less than 5 minutes each):

        Train station, Caliente
        Rainbow Canyon
        Drive to Baker
        Great Basin National Park - Hikes
        Great Basin National Park - Lehman Caves
        Ely
        Cave Lake
        Success Loop drive
        Hickison Petroglyph Recreation area
        Austin
        Sand Mountain
        Dayton
        Capitol Building, Carson

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Notes

We did not have enough time, but plan on doing the trip again with more time along the way.   The main purpose of this trip was to see Great Basin National Park, whose main season is May through September (so we were late), but is open all year round (at least the cave is). 

The main roads were paved, but most other roads (including roads to historical sites, ghost towns, etc.) were gravel/packed dirt.

Mon, Oct 29: Highway 93 and 50, NV

We drove from Las Vegas along highway 93.  We stopped in Caliente for lunch, and then visited the train station. 




We drove through Rainbow Canyon near Caliente.  Rainbow, presumably from the red rocks and fall colors.  

We drove on via highway 93 to Highway 50 and east to The Border Inn on the Nevada and Utah border (office and restaurant are in Nevada, the rooms are in Utah).  Room was clean and the food was what you would expect for a place in the middle of nowhere (120 miles round trip to the grocery store).  Good thing we did not stay in Baker, since the two restaurants we saw there were closed for the season. 

Tues, Oct 30: Great Basin National Park, NV

We drove into Great Basin National Park, though Baker.  The road to Wheeler summit was closed due to snow.  We drove to the end of the passable section and hiked a short way along the Osceola Ditch, which was a 18 mile long ditch dug to bring water to Osceola, a mining town at the foot of the mountain.  And it was a ditch, at least for the part we saw. 

Then we drove a 3 mile dirt road and took a short hike in the park,

before we returned to tour Lehman cave. 

After the cave visit we drove a short dirt road to the Baker Archeological Site, where they uncovered remains of a historical village of the Fremont Indians, occupied from approximately 1220 to 1295 AD, although they covered the site back over to prevent further damage. 

 

 

Wed, Oct 31: Ely, NV and surroundings

We drove to Ely.  We walked around town, and also viewed the 20 or so murals that represent items of historical interest to the area.
 

We also visited the White Pine County Public Museum, which was interesting and very good for such a small town. 

After lunch we drove to Cave Lake, and took a short hike. 

The cave.

Then we continued on the Success Loop, 16 miles of packed gravel/dirt road.  It would be more beautiful with fall colors (we were too late).

 

Thu, Nov 1: Highway 50 towards Reno, NV

We started for home, heading west on highway 50. We stopped to see some petroglyphs.

Views from the site:

Petroglyphs:

We had lunch in Austin,

and viewed the “castle” – a house built like a castle keep, but only used for two months. 

It had a commanding view of the valley. 

We stopped at Sand Mountain, just east of Fallon.  It is a favorite place for off road riding.  Also, nearby are the ruins of the Sand Springs Pony Express station.  We spent the night in Fallon.   

And saw a nice sunset: