Exploration of the Nightingale Mountains

wayoflife

wayoflife

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You know you've got a keeper when you ask your wife what she wants to do for her birthday and her response is to get in our Jeep and head out into the desert! On this particular year, Cindy wanted to head out to the Nightingale Mountains to explore some of the amazing rock formations, petroglyphs, colorful canyons, mine ruins and... other weird stuff you can sometimes find out in the middle of nowhere. That being said, here are some of the photos we took from our recent trip, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did taking them :cool:

Rubicat all packed up and ready to head out on another epic trek.
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When you live in Northern Nevada, it doesn't take much to get off pavement and have nothing in front of you but the horizon beyond.
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Of course, there's also nothing around you any which way you look too.
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It didn't take long before we got side tracked by something we saw in the distance and had to make an unscheduled stop to check it out. After a short hike up the mountain, this is what we saw.
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About 13,000 to 26,000 years ago, the area we were in was submerged under an enormous body of water that was actually slightly bigger than Lake Ontario and it was known as Lake Lahontan. For thousands of years, fresh water springs percolated up from the depths of the lake supplying calcium and when it combined with carbonate dissolved in the lake water, it formed structures known as tufas. While there are a myriad of tufa types that you can find around the world, the ones you can find in this area are truly amazing as they tend to look organic and living like coral.
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I have heard where tufas like this are sometimes referred to as "chrysanthemum" as the reef like deposits form clusters of "pillows" or "pendant" like shapes.
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Standing on top of the tower looking to the south.
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Looking to the north.
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Ahhh - You see that? Me either.
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Underneath the tufa tower, in the cool shade of its overhang and tucked away in a corner, we found that we weren't the first visitors to this amazing structure hand crafted by nature.
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After spending more time at the tufa tower than we had originally planned, it was time to head on out and out deeper into the middle of nowhere.
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A perfect example of why we build up our Jeeps - while this should have been an easy trail that you could run in 2-wheel drive, recent storms cut it up to the point where big tires and a little flex was helpful to have.
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In 1917, tungsten was discovered in the Nightingale Mountains and it was mined extensively throughout the area until the end of the second World War. Today, old mill sites such as this one near the MGL Mine are that remain of the once industrious Nightingale Mining District.
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On the move again and heading north.
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Yet another reason why we build up our Jeeps! Thanks to all the rains we've been getting this year, there were tons of deep ruts that might have stopped us in our tracks if we didn't have a Jeep that could traverse them with ease.
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Finally at our main destination of the day - School Bus Canyon. Anyone want to take a guess how it got its name?
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Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to how these busses got out here, who brought them out or why and the limited research that I've been able to do has yielded nothing of consequence. What I can tell you is that it must have been a hell of a ride to get them here and they make a great destination.
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#MOPAR?
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Check it out, only 48,000 miles on the odometer - it's practically new!
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Stand alone shot of just the busses.
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On the move again and working our way east across the Nightingale Mountains.
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Bit of a tight squeeze in places. Of course, Rubicat with her full width axles and 40x15.50's didn't help anything.
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So, over the years, we've seen all kinds of things blocking the trail including livestock, washouts, rock falls, fallen trees and the like but honestly, I don't think we've ever see a trail blocked with 4-5 feet of tumble weeds before!
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Leary of driving over them and having them catch fire on our hot exhaust, I decided to just put on some gloves and start tossing them aside.
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The first of many parting of the tumble weeds.
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Imagine that, yet another reason why we're glad that we run big tires and have a bit of flex!
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It really would have sucked to come this far only to have to turn around because of a small wash out.
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Pulling into a section of trail where you have to climb up large decomposing granite faces.
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Climbing our way up onto higher ground.
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Enjoying the amazing views from up here.
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Wasn't expecting to come across anymore rocks but we were happy to see them.
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Just great - melting snow. Well, we "were" able to stay relatively clean for most of the day - so much for that.
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In spite of all my efforts to stay out of the mud, 25 miles of driving on slick nasty dirt roads will have a way of leaving their mark on you.
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Can't even see our decals anymore.
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After spending the entire day out on the trail racking up about 70 miles all on dirt and well, a bit of snow and mud too, we were finally on our way back home. What a hell of way to celebrate a birthday!
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I hope you enjoyed our exploration trip of the Nightingale Mountains :cool:
 
A lesson in history and rock formations, as well as a trip write up! It feels like it's my birthday! :yup: Amazing, thank you for sharing and happy belated birthday Cindy. :)
 
:eek: A better husband would have a done a Happy Birthday thread. ;):cheesy:

Happy belated birthday Cindy. :birthday: :celebrate: Looks like you had an amazing day. Thanks for sharing your adventure with the rest of us.
 
Truly amazing. Thank you. Living on the east coast I don't know much about trips like this, or the fact that this kind of stuff is even out there. Love reading and seeing your adventures.
 
Sweet pics. Everyone need to get together this summer do a trail camp trip. Jeep is looking killer
 
Happy Birthday! Thanks for sharing. We hope to make a trip out west this year...the story and pics fuel that fire.
 
Birthday run

Way cool. You guys need to move to Lightroom. As nice as your shots are with good light, framing etc, LR shadows slider could open up the darks/shadows. A good example is the underneath of Dozer. As nice as you keep it you could open up the black hole as if you had a light box underneath. Here's an example of shadows. The falcon that blasted a dove out of the sky and landed in the back yard was a black hole straight from the camera. Exposure slider would have blown out the snow. S_DSC0333.jpghadows turned a throw away into something pretty cool.

Anyhow, keep it coming.
 
Thanks for sharing, looks like an awesome day to spend with your other half. Happy Bday Cindy[emoji512]
 
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