Pah’rump is a Paiute expression meaning water rock. Refreshing and stable, this growing desert town is located an hour outside of Las Vegas and provides most amenities that traveling nomads need. With access to desert, mountains, springs and the wild west, there’s always a new day trip to explore. Goodsprings, NV Nevada has over 700 … Continue reading Home Base – Pahrump, NV
Category: Nature
Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 8 – Mina and vicinity
Columbus Salt Marsh The southern regions of Nevada mining produced a variety of ores and minerals besides gold and silver. Copper, borax, salt, iron ore, were profitable enough to bring miners and their families into the hills or flats to build settlements around the mines. Not as grand or wealthy as the boomtowns like Virginia … Continue reading Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 8 – Mina and vicinity
Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 6 – Reno, Verdi and Emigrant Pass
Wildfires were burning along the Nevada and California border when it was time for us to leave Dayton, NV and head west into the Sierra Mountains. We were consulting the “Watch Duty” app on our phones almost hourly to monitor the huge Park Fire that was about 50 miles north of our next destination and … Continue reading Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 6 – Reno, Verdi and Emigrant Pass
Ghost Towns and Old Mines – Part 4 Dayton, Carson City, and Molossia
Gold!!! We arrived at the place where gold was first discovered in Nevada. The state capital is located nearby in Carson City (named after Kit Carson). Fort Churchill guarded the area from bandits, desperadoes, tribal unrest and offered protection for the thousands of emigrant trains heading west to the gold fields. From mid-1800’s to early … Continue reading Ghost Towns and Old Mines – Part 4 Dayton, Carson City, and Molossia
Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 3: Luning to Washoe Lake
Bodie, CA Our next destination took us into the counties of Mineral, Esmeralda, and Washoe where mining camps, stage coach stations, railroads, and the California Trail brought together thousands of people looking to “strike it rich.” Thousands of tons of gold and silver ore were moved out of this area during the rushes of the … Continue reading Old Mines and Ghost Towns – Part 3: Luning to Washoe Lake
Wyoming to Nevada
Heading south out of the Wind River Mountains, we followed the South Pass and Mormon Trails through Wyoming, past Salt Lake City, Utah and into Nevada. Pioneer history, ghost towns, and more beautiful hikes in the Basin and Range territory met us along the way. Lyman, Wyoming Lyman became our base camp for the next … Continue reading Wyoming to Nevada
Wind River Mountains
The Wind River Range in the Rocky Mountains is located in west-central Wyoming. The Continental Divide runs along the crest at elevations reaching 12,000 to 13,000 feet. Our base camp in Boulder, WY has an elevation of about 9500 ft. Four huge wilderness areas with a combined total of over 1 million acres, surround the … Continue reading Wind River Mountains
Dinosaur Diamond: Wyoming!
Welcome to Wyoming--- land of rivers, reservoirs, ranches, trout fishing, dinosaurs, and mountain men. It has been a delightful discovery to experience the uniqueness of each state almost immediately upon crossing its border. Wyoming provided some of the best cloud watching to fuel the almost-daily thunderstorms, which in turn brought us some of the most … Continue reading Dinosaur Diamond: Wyoming!
Dinosaur Diamond: Dinosaur National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument has been on our list of places to visit for years. Spanning the border between Utah and Colorado, this remote park preserves one of the greatest fossil discovery sites in the country and is rich in natural history, dark skies, and a diverse desert ecosystem. The Green River which runs through the … Continue reading Dinosaur Diamond: Dinosaur National Monument
Dinosaur Diamond: more Utah!
Heading back into Utah, we catch up with the Green River and follow it north. It will be several more weeks before we hike to the headwaters of this important and historical thoroughfare of the Fremont peoples, Spanish explorers and adventurers. For now, it plays hide and seek with our route along this eastern section … Continue reading Dinosaur Diamond: more Utah!










