Pahrump, Nevada – Week Two

We are parked at Charleston Peak RV Resort with a wonderful view of…you guessed it….Charleston Peak.  Unfortunately the clouds have rarely lifted enough for us to see it and when they do lift we can see that the peak is covered with snow.  It looks nice from a distance.

In spite of being in the desert at the tail end of the warm season, it has been chilly for most of our stay and we’ve been treated to some fairly colorful thunderstorms and hard-driving rain.  The weather has served to keep us indoors much of the time and is depriving me of an opportunity to enjoy water aerobics in the resort’s nice pool.

So, except for exploring a bit more of Pahrump, our only foray into the desert was a day trip to the living ghost town of Beatty with our friends, the Parrs.  Beatty, population roughly 1500,  bills itself as The Gateway to Death Valley and given its desert location is quite verdant, thanks to an underground river called the Amargosa.  Beatty was originally a supply center for mining operations in the area and there are still gold mining operations nearby, along with a volcanic cinder mine and a “medical-grade” mud mine.  I wish we’d check out that little factoid a little more closely.  How does mud get to be medical-grade? 

We checked out the Beatty Museum, a collection of photos and other artifacts from “the good old days”.  By reading an old newspaper story we learned that at one point in time, every building in Beatty would set off a Geiger counter.  You see, Beatty is just “over the hill” from Yucca Mountain…and Area 51.  And then there’s the suspenseful saga of the railroad wars between Clark, the copper king, and Smith, the borax king.  Read about the Kings' feud here.

Beatty is also home to Death Valley Nut & Candy Company, a large shop featuring just about any kind of candy you can think of, except the pink mints Betty Jo was hoping to find.  And a glance through a list of town businesses found The Shady Lady Ranch (brothel) right there between Bank of America (banking) and Stagecoach Hotel & Casino (casinos). 

It’s only a few miles from the ghost town of Rhyolite so off we went off to check that out.  On the way, we saw a trio of wild burros grazing not far from the road.  They abound in this area, their ancestors having been abandoned by the miners who brought them here.  We’d all been to Rhyolite in previous years and somehow managed to miss the Goldwell Open Air Museum, although how anyone could miss a large pink naked lady in the middle of nowhere is anybody’s guess.  In addition to its rather spooky location, this open air (and therefore free) museum boasts several spooky sculptures.  Apparently there is a museum attendant who shows up on weekends to explain the art work.  We were sorry to have missed him/her because most of the artwork needed a whole lot of explaining.   Overcast skies did nothing to improve the ghostliness of these statues.

We had  planned a day trip to Las Vegas but that didn’t quite pan out so we explored a bit more of Pahrump.  It is quite apparent that no “city planner” was involved here.  The valley is enormous and there are bits and pieces of civilization scattered everywhere.  If there is a “downtown” we haven’t found it yet but there are strip malls miles away from each other, not clustered along the state highway as you might expect.  Pahrump was obviously all set for a boom that never quite happened and many of the shops are standing empty along streets that have yet to be paved. 

Pahrump will be home for another few days and if the weather improves we may yet get in a visit to Badwater in Death Valley, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level. 

Pahrump, Nevada

Thanks to a leaking valve on the toilet and a lack of t.v. reception in parts of central Nevada, we decided to postpone our departure from Carson City by two days and just make one over-night stop on our way to Pahrump.

We were once again fortunate to find a competent and professional mobile RV tech who promptly repaired the toilet leak and made an adjustment that allowed us to once again use the electric mode on the water heater.  For a number of days we’d been relying on each other to remember to turn the propane-fired heater on.  Neither of us are any too reliable in that regard but at least we weren’t treated to any cold showers. 

Given the extra time in Carson City, we decided to go up and over the mountains for a peek at Lake Tahoe.  The day was bright and clear and we got an early enough start so that we were able to go south to South Lake Tahoe and then north to Incline Village.  There wasn’t much traffic and both towns were fairly empty; tourist towns during “off season” have a ghost-town-in-training aspect about them! 

Looking northward we could see a column of smoke arising from the opposite shoreline.  We never did find out what the story was, a forest fire or a controlled burn, but it was very definitely not far from Incline Village.  There were several areas along the way which had experienced fires fairly recently.  New growth hadn’t started to make headway and charred stumps were still in evidence.  We also noticed a number of dried out trees which we assume is the handiwork of the beetles which are devastating so many of our forests.

From this photo you can see the twisting and turning that U.S. 50 does to get down the mountain-side and into Carson City.  We  noticed that the run-away truck ramp appeared to head straight for the roof of Costco and the RV park right beyond.  I’m glad I didn’t know that as we were having “lunch at Costco” on Saturday!

We departed Carson City on Wednesday and stopped for the night in Hawthorne, a desert town which is home to Hawthorne Army Depot not far from the southern tip of Walker Lake.  The lake might as well be a mirage because your eyes won’t quite believe this enormous puddle of bright blue in the middle of brown nothingness.  The mirage is enhanced by a total lack of any signs of life along the shoreline…no cabins, no piers, no boats.  Two campers seemed to be making use of the lakeside cabanas and that was about the extent.  Memory is faulty but perhaps that’s where we saw the land-locked cabin cruiser decked out as a diner and signs announcing lobster crossings.

Between the tiny towns of Mina and Coaldale (which can only be described as living ghost towns) lies the Columbus Salt Marsh.  As you can see from this photo, the white line of the marsh mimics the snow on the nearby mountains.  One of those mountains may or may not be Boundary Peak, the highest point in Nevada at 13,140 feet.   This was my first attempt to take photos while hanging out the window as we bumped on down the highway at 65 mph.

The run from Hawthorne to Pahrump is really long and really dull with Tonopah being the only town of any size along the way so it was with a huge sigh of relief that we arrived at Charleston Peak in Pahrump.  Charleston Peak is also the name of one of Nevada’s three wineries and shares location with the RV park.   The other two wineries are in the vicinity of Reno.  We believe Charleston Peak has finally been able to bottle some wines from estate-grown grapes.  They got off to a bad start when wild burros ate the first planting of vines and grapes had to be brought in from California to continue production.

Temperatures have been in the 90’s and we’re looking forward to the cool front that’s supposed to move in this week.  We’ve met up once again with our RVing friends, the Parrs, and have several adventures planned while we’re here.  Stayed tuned.

Carson City, Nevada

We found it somewhat difficult to leave Winnemucca, not because we were enamored of the city but because one snafu after another conspired to keep us from making much headway. To begin with, it is never pleasant having to travel on a rainy day. We had planned to stop for fuel at the Flying J on the west side of Winnemucca but after squirming our way to the RV pump it was discovered that they were out of diesel, not just in the RV lane but in the truck lanes as well. There was nothing we could do about the situation so we headed further west, stopping at a Love’s in West Winnemucca. We didn’t even know that a West Winnemucca existed! It wasn’t the least bit amusing that the Flying J tanker was sitting in the Love’s parking lot.

The RV pump was a bit cramped for us with a sharp left turn to exit after filling up. We had our fingers crossed that the parking area directly in front of us would remain empty but that was not to be. It quickly filled with a variety of pick-ups, cars and motorcycles the occupants of which seemed to be wearing uniforms of one sort or another. Several police cars and a hearse soon materialized along the ramp to the highway, further impeding our departure. But we were able to tag along behind a broad-shouldered semi returning to the Interstate and got by the bottleneck with no trouble. We later learned that the procession that was forming was sponsored by the Missing in America Project and included several Veterans’ organizations. The unclaimed remains of seven veterans were being transported from Winnemucca to the National Cemetery in Fernley. There were a number bikers togged out in Harley-Davidson duds and we assume they were planning to make the 200 mile trip in the rain. Now that’s dedication.

The next slow-down occurred when we exited at a rest area only to discover that it was closed and the access road barred, leaving us with nowhere to make a U-turn. Backing up while towing a car is not an option but Howie was able to execute a very tight turn with minimal backing up, just a foot or so, enough to clear the post that was blocking our way. Whew! We made it and were soon back on the highway, heading west into what appeared like more bad weather.

Heavy rain in the desert doesn’t do what you expect it to do. The earth acts so surprised with the extra moisture that it doesn’t respond, rather it just lets the water sit there on the surface making impromptu lakes here and there.

On our first full day in Carson City we dropped in at the Visitors Center to get a feeling for what to see and do in the area. The Nevada State Museum is now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays as a cost-cutting measure so we just wandered around town a bit. It continued to rain and so being outdoors wasn’t much fun anyhow. On Wednesday we were able to visit the museum, part of which was formerly a U.S. Mint. One of the old presses is still functional and once a month they make coins. I believe they fire it up on the 4th Friday of the month.

According to the website, tours of the capitol have to be scheduled two weeks in advance. Hoping that we could attach ourselves to another tour as we did in Boise, I placed a call to the Museum office which schedules such tours. A delightful guide, Claudia, volunteered to lead us around and, as we expected, we learned far more than we’d ever have discovered on a self-guided tour. You’ll have to take the tour yourselves to find out the amusing little story behind this state seal, which is totally made up of small glass seed beads.

The first thing you see upon entering the front doors of the building is a statue of Sarah Winnamucca, a duplicate of the one originally commissioned for Statuary Hall in Washington, DC. Sarah, the daughter of Chief Winnamucca, was an early activist and is thought to be the first Native American to publish a book. She was a gifted speaker and wildly popular “back East” but less popular with her own people, the Northern Paiutes.

The exterior of the capitol is made from sandstone mined by prisoners at a quarry on prison property just east of town. The dome is not plated with silver as one might suspect but is made of aluminum-coated fiberglass. You can barely see it in the attached photo, thanks to an aluminum-colored sky on the day of our visit.

The Capitol Complex also features the State Archives, the Supreme Court Building and the Legislature Building along with some open spaces. This statue of Kit Carson dominates the park-like area between the capitol and the Legislature. Carson City was named for the Carson River which in turn was named in honor of Kit Carson by his boss, John Fremont. Across the street from the capitol, in front of another government building is a water fountain donated by a humane organization and designed to be used by horses. The smaller water “bowls” aroundd the base are intended for use by thirsty dogs. The purple ribbons, here and elsewhere around the Complex, are to publicize Domestic Abuse Awareness Month.

We finished up our tour of the area with a stroll around “downtown”. A handsome wrought-iron fence keeps folks from tumbling into the street but it was sad to see so many of the storefronts empty. Victorian architecture stands side-by-side with more modern looking casinos. The casinos didn’t look any too busy, either.

With the rains finally gone, we took a drive up into them thar hills to the “ghost” town of Virginia City. Most of the “ghosts” were toting shopping bags and waving charge cards, arriving by the tour bus load. We’ve visited many such old mining towns but Virginia City is by far the largest and most active. We purchased tickets on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad and enjoyed the two-mile ride to Gold Hill and back. Unfortunately the noisy engine prevented us from hearing the conductor’s comments about the mines we were passing. We were able to gather that the silver and gold mined here in Nevada built San Francisco and then re-built it after the fire. There are those who might think this a waste of precious metal.

A trolley ride around town was part of our “tour”. We were able to hear the driver this time and enjoyed his stories about the heyday of the town when it was home to 30,000 people. Now it’s home to about 700 hardy souls, including those who still work in the one remaining mine. There are several lovely examples of Victorian architecture, proof of the treasure extracted from the hills. And then there was this pair of homes, known as The Spite Houses. They are only inches apart. One was moved from another location by a very spiteful rival so that the occupant of the first house would never see daylight or enjoy a cool breeze. Now they lean together like a couple of old drunks trying to keep each other from falling down.

Winnemucca, Nevada

Whoever dubbed U.S. 50 “the loneliest road in America” has apparently not traveled U.S. 95 between Boise, Idaho and Winnemucca, Nevada.  There’s not much traffic, few towns and not much in the way of scenery unless you are into minimalist landscapes.  Just bare hills and/or mountains and sagebrush.

Along the way, in the southeast corner of Oregon, is a wide spot in the road called Rome which consists of one small all-purpose building – grocery, gas station, maybe even the post office.  One truck was parked in front but we didn’t see any people.  There was, however, a government-issued sign announcing CONGESTION.  Unfortunately there wasn’t a space wide enough for us to make a U-turn to go back to photograph it.   You’ll have to take  our word for it.

We are now wrapping up a week here in Winnemucca.  It just seems longer.  The car museum we had planned to visit has apparently  disappeared, leaving only the empty Flying A gas station which once housed it.  The city’s convention center has three mini-museums: several cases of minerals and gemstones mined here in Nevada, a display of various game animals (all dead) and The Buckaroo Hall of Fame.  And then there’s the Humboldt County Museum, housed in a modern two-story building.  It has a small collection of very old cars and memorabilia from the town’s early years.  The featured exhibit is a collection of mastodon bones discovered nearby.  Whether it was by design or due to budget constraints, the displays were dimly lit or not lit at all which made it difficult to appreciate them.  

Several people had suggested that we should sample Basque cuisine while we were in this neighborhood.  Always eager to try the local specialties, we headed to a restaurant recommended by the campground manager.  We ordered a “family style” meal which featured three different entrees, along with soup, salad and wine.  While we have not yet formed an opinion about Basque food, we can say that such a meal will cause you to gain exactly 3 1/2 pounds and that weight gain will remain with you at least three days.  Longer if you actually eat all that you carted home in the doggie bag.

For obvious reasons, this will be a really short entry.