Last Thursday, drove from San Mateo to Ft Churchill Nevada,
a one time US cavalry outpost along the Carson River east of Carson City.. It
was a rushed trip, sandwiched in between a conference in Carson City the
previous weekend, and a working trip to Colorado following...
Even if rushed, it was relaxing... a road trip over the
Sierras... camping along the river with camp fire and friends, a bit of off
road exploring, then home to pack for the next trip. We call our small group "The Action
Team" and have a facebook page... I
am the semi-official "old guy" among the 20 and 30 year olds...
The drive over was spectacular... I left at dawn, with a
wonderful sunrise as I drove over the bay...
I was against traffic, so travel was generally easy at least for me...
traffic inbound was thick, heavy, and
slow.
In the Valley the road side was littered with tomatoes... a
seasonal sign that it was not yet winter...
I stopped in Valley Springs to visit a foundry, and order some cast
parts for a railroad car I am restoring...
The foundry is a bit of a dinosaur... dark, dirty and gritty...
Beyond I picked up Hwy 49 north, then Hwy 88 and headed over
Carson Pass... The trees were starting
to turn colors, but the transition was confused, with one tree in vivid yellow,
the next half green and yellow, and nearby a stand of ghost trees, with their
leaves already gone... the confusion of
color was universal... in the aspen up at the top of the pass, among the cotton
woods on the east side, and even among the maples and fruit trees in
town... Only the poison oak seemed to be
in sync, all having turned vivid red.
Over the pass, then down into the Carson Valley, Hwy 395
north... then onto Hwy 50 East... in Dayton I picked up gas and ice, then
headed off on the old Ft Churchill road... dirt... badly wash boarded... but
now away from civilization.
I reach camp... find friends and start to set up the tent
and such... Much of camping involves sitting by the fire... with occasional
trips to the ice chest for drinks or snacks...
Strangely we have decent 3G and I set up a wifi hot spot... it kind of
defeats the concept of outback and away, at least until the batteries in the
phone die...
We are camped by the river... near Buckland Station... A onetime
Pony Express stop, but also a gathering and camping spot for the overland wagon
trains, heading west... a place to rest before tackling the Sierra passes.
Being fall, or at least later in the year, it is cool, even
cold at night... Cold enough to make the fire especially welcome... cold enough
to make you think about getting up before the sun.. The cayotes are yowling and calling all
around us...there must be 3 or 4 packs...
The next morning we eventually rise... building up the fire
again, making coffee and cooking breakfast; biscuits in a cast iron dutch oven,
bacon in the heavy cast iron fry
pan... Then head south in the Jeep... in
search of the lost refrigerator car east of Walker Lake...
The car (really only half a car) was built in 1883 or so for
the Carson & Colorado Railroad as a box car, rebuilt as the railroad's only refrigerator car in the mid 1890's, It was set aside, and became a shed about
1905 or so. Eventually, it was cut in
half, with half hauled into the nearby hills to become a cabin at at the
Catblue mine... (there are rumors about the second half, suggesting that it may
be somewhere further south, up a side canyon above Mina) A friend had visited this half a car in the
early 1990's... he said the route included 5 miles of the worst dry dirt road
he ever encountered...
Our quest takes us through the Piute reservation at Shurtz,
then east beyond the pavement, on Two Springs Road... to Dead Horse Springs...
then south on a numbered road (still dirt, marked as "minimally
maintained") until we found a
obscure unmarked road off to the right...
This road was not even "minimally maintained"... We climbed up
a canyon, then over a saddle... the road bad enough to make me get out and walk
it before trying to drive in at least one spot... The road hadn't seen a blade in years... with
sage brush growing tall between the wheel tracks. Beyond it crossed several alluvial fans, each
badly cut by dry streams... with the road turning uphill until a crossing point
could be found. Four or five ridges
later (with alluvial fans between) we see the mine and car... the road to the mine is not clear... I ask if
the most obvious route is the road or a stream bed... the answer from passenger
seat being "I think the stream bed is the road" (in fact it was
not... there was a track nearby, but the stream bed was probably the better
choice, and eventually lead us to the road... )
Our search was not exactly wandering aimlessly in the
desert... Andrew had located the car on Google maps before we left, and had
studied the local roads, (including a route around the dreaded 5 miles of bad
dry road) and had down loaded maps... His maps were detailed enough to show the
uphill jogs in search of stream bed crossings... We had 3G occasionally... It
is increasingly hard to get away from it...
Once at the mine Andrew and I swarmed the carbody while
Justin and Liza explored the mine and the other buildings... We took
measurements and photographs... took paint samples... Ate lunch then started measuring and photographing and
sampling... We dug a shallow trench to
get limited access to the bottom of the car... found more than one rat's nest
underneath (leading to jokes and discussions about Hantavirus... which
apparently is a variety of hemorrhagic virus... leading to Ebola jokes...)
About 4:00 we called it a day... for we wanted to be out of
the mountains and onto paved roads before nightfall... We reached the pavement (and the railroad) at
Thorne... the one time railroad station site for Hawthorn... we considered
driving the dirt road along the tracks, which
a passing 4x4 (the first person encounter since we left Shurtz) said was
passable, but not good... but instead
drove into Hawthorn (though the bomb bunkers) and took Hwy 95 north... stopping
in Yerrington for supplies.
It was dark when we reached camp... The cayotes were
calling... the stars amazing...
The next morning we headed north and wast... first stopping at Buckland Station... the old
stagecoach stop, now historic house... Then on to Dayton where we visited the
local museum... tried to identify the route of the now abandoned railroads
through town then headed further west in search of the railroad between Dayton
and Mound House... the first bit we
found quickly became a private driveway... with no trespassing signs and a
gate... We returned to the highway,
turning north towards Virginia City, trying to find where the railroad crossed
the road... It wasn't obvious, so once beyond the fudge shop (this is a
traditional tourist route... and what traditional tourist area is complete
without fudge shops, tee shirt shops, salt water taffie shops (even far from
the board walk and the sea, but the tourists need their taffie)) where we took unmarked eastbound dirt road along a pole line... Once away from the highway we could see the
right of way to the south... and soon found a road leading to it... The line included some heavy earth work...
cuts and fills... we followed it a bit in both directions... eventually
reaching private property to the east, and a washed out fill on the west. Once we found the right of way, we could then
find where it crossed the highway...
heading for the white door of a large warehouse built across what would
once have been tracks...
Then back east to Dayton... pausing for fuel and ice... then
onto the old road the railroad grade occasionally visible across the river... (rumors
suggest there are a couple of box car
bodies to be found... but it's on private land... there is a plan to explore
that next year.. with permission from the owners of course) We saw two herds of
deer, grazing in the alfalfa fields... including a couple of bucks and a few
fawns. Past Hodges Transportation, home
of the National Automotive Testing Facility... the folks who trail rate John Deer
4x4's, jeeps and such, including Army tanks... the Jeep carries a "Trail
Rated" badge... There are tanks and
armored personnel carriers about... And cows...
We pause at Ft Churchill to explore the cemetery, fill the
water jugs at Buckland Station, then return to camp... We play "cards against humanity"
until well past dark... then cook dinner and sit by the fire...
The next morning I was first up... building a fire and making
coffee... since this was our last day I was not concerned about rationing fire
wood... then I started to break camp... rolling the tent, the tarps, the
sleeping bag and such, loading the jeep for the drive home.
I leave about 10:00... It is slow through Silver Springs and
Dayton... there is a herd of wild horses near the road... Into Carson... I was
here a week ago... then up heading towards Carson Pass... the road is slow,
crowded with people looking for fall colors... driving slowly, parked by the
side of the road, hiking in large groups across the meadows... There is color, likely peak color... but the
trees are confused and the peak will not be as spectacular this year... likely
the drought is the cause...
Up over the pass, traffic thins... my pace picks up... down
through Jackson, down through Clements and Lockford, now in the Valley again...
to Lodi (Oh Lord, Stuck in Lodi, again...) then onto the freeway and
home... where I take a quick shower...
unpack and start to pack for the next trip... tomorrow's trip (literally)
Now I am back in the desert again, this time in Phoenix...
less than 24 hours after I left... a different desert... a different trip... in
two hours I will be in Albuquerque... then into the mountains, the Rocky Mts...
but for now I am Phoenix...
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