For the second time in as many trips, I'd been abandoned.
This time, a trip to the Arizona Strip and North Rim of the Grand Canyon was on the books until life got in the way for a few buddies, and as they bowed out, so did @mrs.turbodb. This left me in a bit of a pickle, as I'd left the Tacoma in California at the end of my previous outing, and still needed to ferry it down to Las Vegas for the winter.
So, it was back to the computer and a bit of time sorting through the many-lifetime's-worth of things I have to see, in order to find a few that would work well together on a five-day adventure.
It was an adventure that would take me high into the Sierra, to the highest peak in Nevada, on a search to find my first still-functional ore cart, and finally down through the Pahranagat where I'd discover much more than the rock art I was looking for!
The Long Way to Morgan Pass | Sierra-Nevada #1 - For the second time in as many trips, I'd been abandoned. This time, a trip to the Arizona Strip and North Rim of the Grand Canyon was on the books until life got in the way for a few buddies, and as they bowed out, so did @mrs.turbodb. This left me in a bit of a pickle, as I'd left the Tacoma in California at the end of my previous outing, and still needed to ferry it down to Las Vegas for the winter. So, it was back to the computer and a bit of time sorting through the many-lifetime's-worth…
Skies, Moons, and Shields of the Volcanic Tablelands | Sierra-Nevada #2 - Morning along Pine Creek. A quarter mile from the Pine Creek Tungsten Mine, I remained fantastically horizontal for 12 hours while my body recovered from the ordeal of the previous day. As I climbed out of the tent to start my new day, I decided that perhaps I'd overdone things a smidge, and that I should take this as a rest day. Twenty minutes later, I found myself a mile down the road - enjoying a big bowl of Wheat Chex - just outside the Pine Creek Pack Station, as the thump-thump-thump of a helicopter grew louder overhead. Initially unsure…
I Know Where it is Not | Sierra-Nevada #3 - I figured that the next leg of my adventure would be a rather predictable one. In fact, as light faded from the sky as I drove toward through the Marietta Wild Burro Reserve, I sort of wondered what I was going to do for most of the following day. A slight rearrangement of my schedule. My destination - deep in the Excelsior Mountains - was one where I would have told you that I was nearly certain that I was going to find my first fully-functional, rolling ore cart. I say would have, because I'm getting about an hour ahead…
Climbing into the Clouds | Sierra-Nevada #4 - I'd delayed my hike to the top of Boundary Peak - Nevada's highest point - for 24-hours, and that turned out to be a good thing. As I turned off US-6, clouds - that had deposited rain and snow over the course of the day - still obscured the peaks along the northern end of the White Mountains. I crossed my fingers that the weather guessers were right, and that they'd clear up for the first half of the following day; if not, I was in for a rather anticlimactic summit. Still not sure this is a good idea. The…
Project Faultless | Sierra-Nevada #5 - In all my wanderings of Nevada, one of the highlights has been all of the military machinery that I've encountered. There's nothing like the thrill of a supersonic jet rupturing my ear drums as it thunders by a few dozen feet off the ground; or climbing up on some rusting Cold War tank, while inwardly hoping the silent bomber circling above isn’t actively lining up a practice run on the very thing you’re standing on. Those experiences generate a kind of adrenaline you don’t get from a slot machine. Still - for no reason that I can put my finger…
Stories on Stone | Sierra-Nevada #6 - After a leisurely morning at the site of the Project Faultless nuclear test debacle, I had a little less than 24 hours before I needed to be back in Las Vegas for a quick alignment - I'd somehow knocked the driver front out on my first day - and my flight home. It was the perfect amount of time to allow for an afternoon of petroglyph hunting in the Pahranagat Valley region. Another underrated place in an underrated state. Now nearly a week into my trip, my first stop was in Alamo to gas up the Tacoma. I'd been able…