Friday, 25 September 2015

The temperature in Las Vegas is not much better than Death Valley, it has been 111 plus for two days. We drove to the Valley of Fire that has the red sandstone formations, ancient petroglyphs and petrified wood. There are petrified logs and stumps from 225 million years ago. The petroglyphs that are carved into the yellow, orange and red rocks that are stained with a black patina, it looks like they are chard from a fire,  depict bighorn sheep, rivers and various shapes. These carvings are over 3,000 years old and still visible.There was a set of seven colorful formations called Seven Sisters and a rock that resembles an elephant, Elephant Rock. 
Lake Mead is a beautiful navy blue color with water levels that are at an all time low. Boat launches end blocks before there is water and marinas have no water so they are closed. It is a sad site to see this majestic lake so low on water and activity.
On the drive home we found some Jeep trails in the red rocks and we also passed and explored Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This area has tracks for all types of racing. Across from the Speedway is Nelles Air force Base where we watched jets touch and go. 
 This was a major marina on Lake Mead but there is no water and weeds are growing instead of boats being docked here. The next picture is of the boat launch area that goes to ground instead of water. The white on the hills shows where the water level once was.

 This formation is called a Bee Hive and there are a number of them in the park.
 A couple of the sisters!
 Jeep trails in the red dirt!

Monday, 21 September 2015





 Death Valley at its finest, nothing on the ground.
 Scotty's Castle

 Different minerals cause the mountains to be different colors.

 Dried salt that looks like waves and only the Devil can play golf here.

 282 Feet Below Sea Level!
Legend has it that the investors and miners of Rhyolite missed the main vein of gold by a matter of two feet. In 1950 a mining company purchased the mine, discovered the vein, and took out 2 million ounces in 10 years!
Just inside Death Valley is Scotty’s Castle, a castle built on lies. A con man named Scotty talked a Chicago billionaire, Johnson, into believing he had a lucrative gold mine. Johnson came to the desert with Scotty and decided to build a house. He found an underground river, purchased the property and built a mansion that had self-supporting technology and luxurious furnishings, it was way ahead of its time with even a solar water heater. Before the mansion was completed the US Forest Services informed Johnson that he had purchased land that was owned by the US, after 7 years he did get them to sell him the land for $1.00 an acre. By this time Johnson knew there was no mine but valued Scotty’s friendship and allowed him to live in the mansion as if it were his own. The mansion was never completed and is now a part of Death Valley.
It was 114 degrees today when we visited Furnace Creek Golf Course and then Devils Golf Course. Furnace Creek was a nice green course but we did not see anyone playing in this heat. Devils Golf Course was really a huge salt deposit that had dried up and was dangerous to walk on. 
Driving through Death Valley we thought we saw a huge lake. The lake turned out to be dried up whitish/blue borax.The sun beating down on the borax caused heat waves and it looked just like a lake until we were about 5 feet from the edge, a true mirage. The Eagle Borax works was in this area and produced Twenty Mule Team Borax. After the area became a National Park the plant was forced to close but borax is still all over.
Artists Palette is a drive through mountains that display various colors because of the minerals at each level. This is a beautiful area but it is HOT, 116!
Badwater is the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level! At one time it was a huge salt water lake but at an evaporation rate of over 1 oz per minute it dried up and left a huge salt flat that resembles a salt river. There is still a small amount of water and when people dig 6 inches down on the salt river there is water.

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Most of the land in Nevada is owned by the state because it is either mountain or desert and not really a place for humans. When the gold miners left they did not take their burros with them and the government decreed the burros were a part of history and not to be bothered. Beatty is full of burros and today we counted a herd of 15 in one casino parking lot and what a mess they leave behind.  The burros wander freely and are sometimes a hazard when they get over the fences by the highway. They are like our deer! 
 Most of the burros are nice looking but they do leave a mess.
After exploring Rhyolite we decided to drive Daylight Pass Road into Titus Canyon and find Leadfield, another ghost town.  The problem was it was already 5:30 and the drive is at least 3 hours. Twenty minutes into the drive we realized it was a mistake, but the road was only as wide as the Jeep and there was no place to turn around and we were high in the mountains. We continued on a thin path that wound through the mountains and is impossible to explain. Some of the thin path was a river bed with baseball sized rocks that we would sink into if we stopped, surrounded by huge mountain walls, and it was so dark our lights did not seem bright enough. We did stop on top of a couple of the mountains,  turn the lights off  and gaze at the stars. In one valley it was as though the stars touched the ground on all sides of us. Death Valley is one of the few places that is completely dark in many areas. At the bottom of one canyon the walls were within reach from the Jeep window, so it was close, and the temperature was 99 degrees and it was 8:30. I almost had an attack of claustrophobia but Duf kept saying we would be fine and he would not turn on the air because he didn’t want the Jeep to overheat and we had the top off anyway!
After our exciting drive and on the way home we drove through Hells Gate, called this because it is one of the hottest places on earth! At 9:30 at night it was 102 and the wind blowing around us in the Jeep was stifling. Nine miles down the road and we were on top of another mountain and the temperature dropped to 71. This is quite a place.
 We drove all that way on a treacherous path and all that was left of the ghost town of Leadfield was this sign. The town died in 1927. It is so far off the path we were surprised it lasted a year!

 These rocks had writing on them that the Shoeshone Indians did to honor their ancestors. They live in the area in the winter but leave for the summer because of the heat.
 Look hard, in the middle of the top picture, and you will see the path we drove on through these mountains. We crossed them on a winding path and then drove through the valleys and back to the top of the next. It was dark so I was not able to take many pictures.
 We found another sign about a town that almost made it. Again way to far in the middle of mountains to be lived in by many.
Beatty, a town with quite a history,  is the eastern gateway to Death Valley National Park. At the eastern entrance sits the ghost town of Rhyolite, a collection of ruins and a brilliant outdoor art gallery, the Goodwill Open Air Museum, created by Belgian artists. 
 Rhyolite was developed because Gold was found in the mountains. Rich business men from around the world invested in this town and it was billed as “the Chicago of the West.” The buildings were ornate stone and all had electricity and running water, something that was not in this area at the time. Beatty was developed on highway 95  as the delivery area for Rhyolite. 
Rhyolite only lasted 5 years and then the gold was gone and everyone left for the new gold fields. The residents of Beatty saw this as an opportunity and moved many of the buildings to their town. They tore the roof off the school and put it on their school. Howard Hughes was involved in Rhyolite and had also purchased a casino in Las Vegas. He did not like his casino’s  parking lot sign so he moved it to Beatty, and it  still stands in Beatty over the entry to an empty field.
Beatty has prospered because of highway 95, the highway from Reno to Vegas. Motorists speed down the highway for over 100 miles either way without stopping for the towns that have one or two residents remaining and 25 MPH signs that are not enforced. When motorists get outside Beatty and see the 25 MPH sign they do not slow down and Beatty does enforce the speed limit. Beatty has a local policemen, 3 county police and 2 state police that live in town. There is also a court and a judge and a jail.  Highway 95 is big business for Beatty!
The local sheriff  is Western all the way. He wears a cowboy hat and boots, a vest with a large star badge, and a holster around his waist with a large pistol. He patrols the two casinos in this high desert town of 2500 residents. He told us that last week two guys came to town and got rowdy at one casino and were asked to leave. They decided to vandalize the casino and he was called in. He chased the vandals into the dessert, town is only three blocks wide and 2 miles long, and watched them hide behind one of the few tumble weeds. He and a friend faked looked for them till morning, then the sheriff and buddies sat at the casino and had breakfast. Soon it was 99 out and the vandals begged to be caught! While the sheriff and buddies waited they ruined the tires on the vandals car. When the guys surrendered they were given the choice of court and jail or leaving town and not returning. They chose leaving but had to purchase lunch at the casino and then had to purchase new tires. The sheriff was happy they added to the town economy! Cowboy justice!


 The famed Rhyolite Bottle House made with over 50,000 wine and beer bottles that were not cleaned out prior to using in the walls and had bug living in them. This town was progressive for 1905!
 Goodwill Open Air Museum outside of Rhyolite. The statues look like cement but felt like plaster.
 The last supper statues and Duffey.

 The fancy Rhyolite train station and the remainder of the train. Just before the town closed the building was turned into a casino but it only lasted 6 months.

Friday, 18 September 2015

                                                   





This morning we left Carson City, the capital of Nevada, for Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is North Americas largest alpine lake and is known for its water clarity and stunning mountain scenery.The route around the lake is a National Scenic Byway and is called “the most beautiful drive in America. This route around the lake is in Nevada and California. You recognize the difference because the moment you cross into Nevada there are casinos! 
The Mount Rose Highway crests at 10,776 feet and I am glad we were in the Jeep and the motorhome was back in Carson City! The routes are lined with tall, straight trunk, reddish barked Ponderosa Pines. 
We explored Heavenly and Squaw Valley ski resorts and were sad to find that the gondolas were not running today. It would have been quite a view at the top of the mountains.
Incline Village was getting ready for an Iron Man competition tomorrow, so we had to drive very slow in that area.  We walked on the beach and had lunch at Camp Richardson  Rum Runners on the lake. We stopped at Emerald Bay to look down at the only island on Lake Tahoe and all the beauty of the lake. The island has the remnants of a church that was built by the discoverer of Lake Tahoe, Captain Dick Barter. It was his wish to be buried under the church, but he was killed while in his boat during a storm on Lake Tahoe and his body was never found.

Thursday, 17 September 2015

 We ate lunch at the Palace Saloon and Duf had a huge sandwich!
Ulysses S. Grant has a plack at the Palace Saloon. He came to Virginia City in an effort to get the proceeds from the silver and gold mines to fund the Civil War.
 We then visited the Delta Saloon and I told Duf that this suicide table was a result of poker but if he ate sandwiches like this one often it might mean something different!

 There is history galore in this small mountain town.


Virginia City is outside of Reno high in the mountains. This is the city some of Bonanza was filmed in and Carson City is where the ranch was located. The road to Virginia City is straight up and winds through the mountain to over        
 6000 feet in elevation.


A lesson on Mark Twain. The Territorial Enterprise is a newspaper.