June 24 - 27, 2020:
It’s the start of a new adventure heading into Nevada, not exactly sure where I’ll end up. The plan is to travel to Parowan, UT, find road 400 North and take it to Parowan Gap where a notable gallery of Indian Petroglyphs exist in the walls of the Gap. These petroglyphs have been nationally recognized for the their quantity and the quality. Parowan Gap houses approximately 90 petroglyph panels containing 1,500 figures, these roadside ones are just a small percentage of the total. Researchers believe these petroglyphs were done by the Fremont people. The is one rather famous petroglyph visible know as the “Zipper”. They have good interpretive panels here to provide explanations or theories as to what the they mean.
https://www.climb-utah.com/Zion/parowangap.htm
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| The Petroglyph is called the "zipper" and is quite famous |
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| Looks like a snake |
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| Assorted figures and designs |
Enroute to the petroglyphs, I saw a pullout for a dinosaur track exhibit. There was a rough trail into the rocks with a couple of signs to identify rocks with dinosaur foot tracks. I looked hard at these rocks, maybe the light was poor, but I really could not clearly distinguish anything. I’m sure there really are many tracks in this huge rock pile, especially if you roam around for a few hours in the more remote areas.
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| Can you find them ? |
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| The rock are interesting anyhow |
I then continue onto route 130 which my GPS is identifying as the Minersville Road, I like that, sounds more interesting I actually exit for the small town of Minersville, Utah where I stop at a very nice market for a snack. Minnersville was one of the first mines in Nevada started by the Mormons.
I then head to Milford, not so clean, in fact kind of trashy looking, but I see a few interesting old buildings and good old signs along Main Street. Milford is a Union Pacific railroad town and I might have been on the wrong side of the tracks ? Anyhow, I loved the decadent look of the Derailed Bar on Main Street near the old Train Depot. Main Street is looking fairly distressed these days as is the nice (at one time) park a block away with historical panels on the Spanish Dominguez-Escalante Expedition who came through this area in 1776. That was an incredible expedition that almost rivals what Lewis and Clark did years later, before the United States even existed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minersville,_Utah
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| They just don't make signs to equal this any more |
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| Another decaying Hotel |
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| The Derailed Bar |
I then take Rt 21 almost in a straight line and also with almost no traffic and no services for about 80 miles. I can now confirm that route 21 is really the loneliest road, not the more touted route 50. This is the start of the Basin and Range country, where you climb one steep hill to a summit and then coast down and across a huge valley then climb back up to the next summit, over a over again.
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| The view ahead |
At about the half way point I planned to stop at the Old Frisco Mining Ghost Town, but was unsure if it would be open. There was a sign and a historical marker out front, a dirt road leading towards the mine site and no signs saying “Keep Out” so ahead I go. At the end of the road is the Frisco graveyard, larger than expected and with many nice headstones, although sadly the majority seemed to be infant children. In order to see the mine site you must then walk a half mile or so then wander around, carefully watching for snakes and tripping hazards. There are tons of rusty cans, pipes and assorted metal pieces lying about, There are many collapsed wooden and stone buildings, but most of, actually all of the good stuff is gone.
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| The entrance was inviting |
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| One of the few nicely fenced in graves |
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| One of the nicer stones |
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| It looks like it could fall at any time |
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| Nicely built of stone, but also ready to drop |
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| There were many such ruins |
Next was a quick tour through the Great Basin National Park with its amazing views at 10,000 ft overlooking the basin. I probably would have paid for a campsite there but didn’t find anything open. As result I headed down the road towards Ely, Nevada, pulling off onto a forest access road and parking the van for the night. Next to the campsite was an area of very interesting rocks and lots of old rusty tin cans and further back a portion of a late 1920’s car body sitting out in the range land ?
Twinkles and I had camped inside Great Basin National Park back in October, 2014 and I wrote a detailed blog post (see link) on it at that time. I am now realizing that I am following almost the exact route, that we had traveled back then, but in the reverse direction.
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| The shaded greenery at Great Basin was a pleasant change |
On leaving the campsite in the morning, I find a very nice BLM campground about a half mile away, but just as well as I had enjoyed the serenity of the dispersed site. A map at the BLM site showed an adjacent road, that travels through the old Osceola mining district and then reconnects with Route 50. It was a dirt road, more dust in my lungs, but not awfully rough. There was a lot of mining going on in these hills and it appears that some of it continues, but no actual town ruins are seen along the road. I did come to an interesting cemetery with some graves from the early 1800’s. The cemeteries last longer than the towns, as it should be.
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| The car with bullet holes of course, like everything in the west |
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| I also stopped to look at this roadside mural, I agree |
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| Another fenced in burial in the graveyard |
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| It appears that someone is maintaining this |
The day has deteriorated, it’s now cloudy and it looks like rain in the distance, but little of it is hitting the ground. I arrive in Ely, Nevada just after noon with all the RV’s stopped for fuel at the Pilot truck stop. I’ve been to Ely before, I take a ride downtown, things are looking familiar and not much has changed. I go to the Hotel Nevada Casino, wearing a face mask, not many others are and pick a machine away from them, as much as possible. I have a $20 limit (big spender) and when I get down to $2, I hit a big win of about $ 28, the slot machine is making a big fuss about this win, lots of bells and whistles. I cash out and look for a BLM campsite reported to be a few miles outside of town. I arrive at an unmarked road, which appears to be the spot, but its deserted looking. It actually looks like an old mining ghost town with several collapsed buildings, kind of spooky looking, I don’t want to be here. Its back to the security of downtown Ely in the Casino truck parking lot for the night.
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| The Hotel Nevada has a colorful history |
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| This old bank is now a art gallery with really quality art work for sale |
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| Nice mural on the Food Town market |
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| Another western mural on the Liberty Club |
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| More nice murals on the AT&T building |
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| I would say the best mural in town by a noted artist |
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| I love the Club Rio sign but nothing special inside |
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| Ely originally was an ethnic melting pot, not sure this remains accurate today |
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| A nice mural for the Bosque sheep headers |
Laundry time again at a super clean laundry in Ely with very clean modern machines, (I like it), but there is controversy today. The governor just put out a edict that everyone must wear face masks in businesses and this owner is enforcing it. There a couple of cranky irritated customers who depart in a huff. Overall the locals here take this epidemic lightly, so far.
I take a ride about 15 miles away to the Ward Charcoal Ovens. There are five impressive ovens used at the Ward mine site that operated here for a few years. Nevada is covered with these old mining sites, you need to be careful where you walk out here, you could fall into a hole.
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| The Sage was nicely green and beautiful in this area |
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| The ovens are attractive these days, not as much so when in operation |
It’s time now time to head west on that other (imposter road) Route 50 that claims to be the loneliest Highway to Eureka, Nevada.
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