Stealing a Day or Two to Explore Some of the Most Remote Parts of Nevada

[wayoflife]

As I'm sure it was for most of you, 2020 was a tough year for Cindy and I, especially when it came to getting out and doing some exploring. But, there were a few occasions when we could steal a day or two and the following pics are from one such trip. In fact, these were actually taken back in August, around the time of our wedding anniversary.

This first shot is of us heading up a canyon that we'd been eyeing for a while now.

The steep climb eventually took us to a spur that ended at a small mining camp with a couple of cabins still standing.

Well, sort of standing.

Not sure what happened, maybe just mother nature but I had seen photos of this cabin from maybe a year ago and it look in much better condition.

Just a little further up the trail, we found the main mine and mill.

From what I could find, this small operation was primarily worked in the 1920s and 1930s and during that time, about $42,000 in gold was extracted from the mine.

Here's a look inside the main structure.

As you can see, this is some kind of tumbler.

Walking down and out toward the front of the structure.

Outside and look up a large conveyor belt.

Standing at the top of the conveyor belt and looking back.

Out behind the building, there was a stair case that took you to the top of the now collapsed mine.

Here you can still just make out the BLASTING warning sign.

Taking a peek into the mine shaft or what's left of it.

 

[wayoflife]

Exploring the surrounding area and looking back at the main building.

After spending the better part of the morning exploring this mining camp, we headed back down the mountain and with the hopes of seeing more cool stuff.

Back down in the valley and stopping to take in the view while Ripley watched over our Jeep.

The sky ahead was looking wild.

Pressing onward.

Our next destination for the day was at a mine that we've been to a few times but had yet to explore as much as we had been wanting. After parking our Gladiator and going for a short hike, we arrived at the main diggings and it is here you can find a massive hopper perched on a rocky outcrop.

Back in 1915, gold and silver were discovered in this mountain range but in later years, the primary ore being pulled out of the ground was tungsten and until about 1956.

It's always cool to find writings like this on the old timbers making up this structure. They represent each piece and where they needed to be located during assembly.

Up on top and looking back down the canyon.

So, the main reason why we wanted to come back to this mine was to hike even further up canyon and to explore structures that I had seen from Google Earth. It was a hell of a straight up the mountain hike and on a hot day but this hopper was one of them.

Even further up the mountain side, we found the upper camp. At this location, there was still a head frame standing next to the building that once housed the winch for it.

Working our way across and back down the mountain, we came across this old stamp mill or at least, the base of one. It was strange to see it without any markings as most of the ones we've seen always state who made it and where it came from. Either way, I can't imagine how in the hell they got this massive chunk of cast iron up to this point.

Thank god for long summer days! After our hike through the mountain looking for cool mine stuff, we made our way back down in the valley and stopped over at an old abandoned ranch.

Driving across the desolate landscape, we headed out to the only tree we could see. Typically, in an area like this, that usually means water is nearby.

And, as you can see, there was in fact an old broken well head and with a ridiculous amount of water flowing from it.

With the sun going down, it was time to make our way to our home for the night.

CHEERS from one of our favorite home away from home - The Mizpah!

 

[wayoflife]

Bright and early in the morning, we headed out for another day of exploring and this time, it would be in one of the most remote parts of Nevada. This is one of the few places in the lower 48 that I actually think about gas.

Our first stop along the way was at a destination that we weren't even looking for. But, after seeing evidence of old trash, we decided to hike around and give things a closer look.

While nothing remains standing today, there were clear signs of some kind of structure at this location as well as core samples strewn all across the ground.

 

[wayoflife]

Deeper into the hills, we spotted an old abandoned ranch that we just had to stop at if only to taste some of the apples still growing on a tree that was planted over 100 years ago.

This is all that remains of the old cabin that once stood here.

Moving on, we finally got to the ghost town that we had set out to see.

Unfortunately, with the exception of the old post office, not much is left standing here but in 1866, silver was discovered at this location and for about a year, the town thrived. After realizing that the dozen or so claims weren't profitable, miners moved on to the next boomtown and this place was all but abandoned by 1880 and completely abandoned by 1945.

Exploring some of the old cabins or at least, what remains of them.

Ripley and I taking a short hike to visit the residents of this town.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much left of their final resting places.

Ripley taking a long cool draw from what made life in this remote town possible.

Working our way to the west and over the mountains took some effort being that the trails in the area hadn't been traveled in a very long time and were difficult to follow.

Thank goodness for us doing this in daylight! I'm not 100% sure we could have found our way at night even with GPS. But, we finally made it to the top!

 

[wayoflife]

Coming down the mountain, we made a stop at another mining camp that was established in the early 1950s to extract copper.

Of course, we had to check out the mine.

Although the door looked formidable, it wasn't actually locked and so we got to take a peek inside.

On the move again, we found ourselves in an amazing valley with nothing around as far as the eye can see - LOVE places like this!

After a long drive across the valley, we found ourselves at an old mill site that was built in 1867 to process ore from the ghost town we had visited in the mountains, earlier in the day.

It always amazes me just how much water you can find just pouring out of the ground, out in the middle of Nevada.

I suppose it shouldn't be any surprise to see an old stone corral here.

It's a shame that so much of the building that once covered this stamp mill has since collapsed but then, it was built over 150 years ago.

 

[wayoflife]

With at least 50 miles left to cover before reaching the closest town, it was time to get rolling again. But, I have to say that it was hard to leave such a desolate and beautiful place.

Up and over one of the last big mountain ranges we needed to cross, we found ourselves at yet another small ghost town that was established in 1904.

Towns like this were sprang up like weeds as a result of the growth in Tonopah and Goldfield but died just as quickly. By 1908, this one was all but dead.

While new mergers and ventures in the surrounding area kept miners digging for a bit longer, mining pretty much ceased by 1927.

As a parting shot from our 2 day expedition across some of the most remote regions of Nevada, I present you the wild spirit that still lives on in this amazing place.

I hope you enjoyed following us on our adventures.

 

[OverlanderJK]

Super cool pictures and towns! The first building with the warping roof is wild looking.

 

[wayoflife]

Super cool pictures and towns! The first building with the warping roof is wild looking.

Thanks! So hope we can spend more time out in the area this year. There's just so much more to explore.

 

[Kuboske]

Thanks for posting this. A nice visual vacation, for a few minutes.

 

[HighwayTrout]

Awesome pictures!! Insane amount of water pouring out of that well. Would be neat to see what creatures drop in when no one is around.

 

[wayoflife]

Thanks for posting this. A nice visual vacation, for a few minutes.

Glad you could enjoy the trip

 

[wayoflife]

Awesome pictures!! Insane amount of water pouring out of that well. Would be neat to see what creatures drop in when no one is around.

It really was a ton of water coming out of it and without a pump of any kind. Back in 1862, this water was diverted into evaporating ponds to harvest salt. It's seems like a crazy thing to think of salt as a commodity but up until that time, salt transported from San Francisco to the Comstock Lode in Virginia City cost $150 a ton. In today's money, that'd be about $3,800 a ton. Salt mined here was transported using imported camels at half that cost.

 

[jesse3638]

Thanks for sharing. Hoping to one day get out there and explore what's left before it's gone. The west is so awesome to explore.

 

[J&k_Overland]

Amazing lil trip.

 

[wayoflife]

Thanks for sharing. Hoping to one day get out there and explore what's left before it's gone. The west is so awesome to explore.

With any luck, you can join us on one of these trips. And yes, it's going extremely fast now. So much of what we saw on this trip has changed a LOT in just the last couple of years.

 

[wayoflife]

Amazing lil trip.

Glad you enjoyed it

 

[kevman65]

I do envy you having surroundings like that to explore.

So when you take initial trips into areas, do you have maps, topo's, or just GPS and tell it to backtrack route?

Really beautiful, historical, interesting playground you have.

 

[wayoflife]

I do envy you having surroundings like that to explore.

So when you take initial trips into areas, do you have maps, topo's, or just GPS and tell it to backtrack route?

Really beautiful, historical, interesting playground you have.

Most of the trips we do into new areas are based on places that I read about in books. Yes, I know, I'm old school in that I'm a page turner and then I refer to old paper maps that I have as it's fast and easy to find what I'm looking for. I do use a GPS but mainly to mark off way points and to create a rudimentary route. Mainly a start and end point and with an understanding of how much gas I'll need to traverse it. I hate sticking to a specific plan as there are always things you can only see once you're on the ground and I like being able to change course as things catch my eye.

 

[TrailHunter]

What a great area! Crazy how much water you found and those old buildings are so damn cool... I love examining how they were built back in the day. Glad you were able to get out for a bit. I've been neck deep in kids baseball lately with zero free time... this post has me looking forward to getting back out on the trail....thanks for sharing.

 

[wayoflife]

What a great area! Crazy how much water you found and those old buildings are so damn cool... I love examining how they were built back in the day. Glad you were able to get out for a bit. I've been neck deep in kids baseball lately with zero free time... this post has me looking forward to getting back out on the trail....thanks for sharing.

Oh yeah, we LOVE looking at how things were built back in the day. Love being able to see massive old growth timbers used for industrial construction, square head nails and hand hewn beams and how old tins were used to patch knot holes. It's all great stuff to us.

Hope you're able to find some free time in your life to get out on the trail.