WAYALIFE EPIC TREX : California or Bust Part 2 - The Final Stretch

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wayoflife

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A year ago, 9 Jeeps and 15 members of WAYALIFE made our way back to Independence, Missouri, to embark on an epic trek back to California, in our modern day prairie schooners and by following the original Emigrant Trail and closely as possible. As was the case for so many of the emigrants 150 years ago, our journey west ended in a bust after one of the Jeeps in our caravan suffered a terrible accident crossing the Nevada desert.

On June 13, 2015, a handful of the original party and a few new members headed back out to the Nevada desert, to pick up where we left off and with the purpose of finishing what we started. Over the course of 4 days, we headed east to the town of Ely and along the way, made a stop over at Grimes Point, the Stokes Castle, Toquima Cave and Diana's Punch Bowl. From there, we headed north, visited the ghost town of Metropolis and then got back on the California Emigrant Trail and headed west. After a stop over at the California Trail Interpretive center before setting up camp at the Rye Patch Reservoir. The following day, we officially picked up where we left off the year before and crossed what most emigrants considered the most difficult length of the Carson Route - "the 40 mile desert" and then pulled into Virginia City to spend the night in the oldest and longest running hotel in the state of Nevada - The Gold Hill. To complete our trip, we crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains along a historic route connecting Virginia City, NV to Marysville, CA known as the Henness Pass Trail and along the way, stayed the night in the old mining town of Downeyville.

This thread highlights all the fun we had with our good friends and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Shot of the California or Bust Part 2 Party showing up at Camp WAYALIFE the night before we headed out.
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To good times ahead!
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CHEERS!!
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And the festivities continued well into the night - CHEERS AGAIN!!
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Day 1 : Trek to Ely
Meeting up with the crew the following morning.
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Making our first stop on our way to the eastern edge of Nevada - Grimes Point.
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Jason trying to decipher the petroglyphs on a boulder that we came across on our short hike in the area.
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People had been in this area and creating petroglyphs here as far back as 8,000 years ago.
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Back on the road again and heading east along the U.S. Highway 50, also known as the Lincoln Highway or "The Loneliest Highway".
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Our next stop was over at the Stokes Castle in Austin which was built back in 1897 and used briefly as a summer home by J.G and Anson Stokes.
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Making a stop in town for some lunch and to enjoy a blackberry shake!
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On the road again and continuing our trek east.
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Pulling off of pavement and getting ready to rocket down what Cindy and I like to call a "Nevada Superhighway"! They're all dirt, super wide, often smoother than pavement and you can really jam on them for what seems like forever.
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Our next stop of the day was over at Toquima Cave.
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Getting up to the cave requires you to scramble up a few rocks.
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Taking a peek inside.
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It sucks that something as cool as this has to be fenced off like this but without it, the yahoos would for sure destroy it.
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Between 3,000 and 1,500 years ago, Toquima Cave was used by Native Americans as a temporary shelter and in it, they left over 300 independent pictographs.
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From the cave looking south and down at our Jeeps below.
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Back on another Nevada Superhighway.
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Our next stop was over to a natural hot springs known as Diana's Punch Bowl.
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50' in diameter wide and with a 30' sheer drop to the 180°F water below, Diana's Punch Bowl is also known as the Devil's Cauldron.
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Hiking down to where the waters flow below the Punch Bowl.
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With a little help from Doug to keep him from falling in, Moochie decides to test out the water.
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View looking to the east.
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View looking south across the Monitor Valley.
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Time to move on out!
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Chow time at our home town for the night - Ely!
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Moochie getting friendly with one of the locals.
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And the party continues into the night!
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Day 2 : Metropolis to the Rye Patch
The following morning, we headed north toward our first destination of the day - Metropolis.
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There isn't much here now but back in 1910, Harry L. Pierce of Leominster, Massachusetts set out to develop Metropolis into a huge farming district out in the Nevada desert and built an amusement hall, post office, a beautiful school, and modern multi-story hotel complete with electricity, central heating and hot and cold running water in every room.
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Shot looking up Main St.
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All our Jeeps parked in front of the old school house arch.
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Taking some time to explore what remains of the old school house.
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Taking a walk down Main St. to check out some of the other ruins.
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What's left of the old hotel.
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Paying our respects to some of the old residents.
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What a lovely day!
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After our fun exploring the old town of Metropolis, we headed into the town of Wells, Nevada to get back on the California Emigrant Trail.
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Back on track, we made a stop over at the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko, NV.
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"I have seen the elephant!"
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Doug and Tony get a lesson on how old school odometers worked.
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Tina tries her hand at packing a wagon with essential and non-essential supplies.
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Moochie and Doug give a hand cart a go the way some of the Mormon emigrants would have traveled.
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California or Bust!
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Back on the road and continuing our journey west.
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At our campground in the Rye Patch - the point where we left off a year before.
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Time to look for a spot to setup.
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Time to serve them up!
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CHEERS!!
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Day 3 : The 40 Mile Desert
Good morning from camp.
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After a quick breakfast, we packed up camp and were back on the trail again... the ACTUAL California Emigrant Trail.
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Making a stop to stand within wagon swales that extended a hundred yards on either side of our Jeeps.
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Paying our respects to an early pioneer.
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Making a stop in Lovelock - also known as Big Meadow and the final stop where emigrants could collect water and feed their livestock one last time before crossing the 40 Mile Desert.
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Getting ready to cross the 40 Mile Desert.
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The unforgiving road ahead.
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As old as the California Emigrant Trail is, people have inhabited this area for thousands of years. For fun, we decided to make a quick detour to check out a famous shelter that people once used and stored a cache of goods known as the Lovelock Cave.
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After a short hike, we found ourselves in the cool cave where duck decoys, sandals and fish hooks were once stored.
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View from the mouth of the cave looking north.
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Back on the trail and working our way across the desert.
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On top of Humbolt Bar, the parting of ways for those who wished to travel along the Carson Route or the Truckee Route.
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Although we didn't cross the Humbolt Slough, this was the point where emigrants would have crossed the muddy waters to continue their journey across the 40 Mile Desert.
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Trail marker chronicling the hardships of the early emigrants.
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Pressing on toward the south.
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Old trail marker sign.
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Driving along the upper ridge of Soda Lake.
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Pulling into Ragtown - the end of the 40 Mile Desert.
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As the story goes, all the emigrants would wash their cloths in the Carson River and hang them on the trees and bushes here. As other emigrants arrived, the area looked as if it were a town of rags.
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After a long hard day on the trail, we arrived in Virginia City where we stayed at the Gold Hill Hotel, the oldest and longest operating hotel in the State of Nevada.
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The Gold Hill Mine is literally in the back of the parking lot.
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To almost being in California - CHEERS!!
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Day 4 : Henness Pass Trail
The final leg of our 4 day trip across the California Emigrant Trail was to follow a historic route connecting Virginia City, Nevada and Marysville, California and it was known as the Henness Pass Trail. Developed in 1849, this trail quickly became the main supply route across the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the heavy traffic on it only started to decline on it after the completion of the Transcontinental Railway in 1869. Today, it stands as a scenic and fun trail that can still be crossed by Jeep.
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Being that we would be passing so close to it, we decided to take a quick side trip up to the old Sardine Peak fire lookout tower soon after starting our journey west.
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Built in the early 1900's, the Sardine Peak is just one of many fire look out towers that was erected in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Abandoned and in a state of disrepair, the tower was recently restored and can now be rented out.
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View looking south at the nearly empty Stampede Reservoir.
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A quick peek inside shows just how nicely this tower has been restored.
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On the move again.
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Our next stop was over at the site of an old stage stop on the western edge of Kyburz Flat known as More's Station.
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Taking a walk along a boardwalk established to take you out to the various points of interest here.
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Site of the old More's Hotel.
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It really was a beautiful time of year to be hear with the weather being so nice and the wildflowers being in full bloom.
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Just a bit up to the north, we stopped over at an old Basque sheep camp.
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Tessa asking "where are all the sheep?"
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This old oven had collapsed but was restored and is still used to bake in to this day.
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Further to the west, we made a relaxing lunch stop over at the Jackson Meadow Reservoir.
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Getting ready to continue our trek to the west.
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Pulling up on to the ridge line, we were afforded amazing views of the Sierra Buttes.
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Pulling into the historic town of Downieville.
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Ahhh, home for the night in the Golden State!
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Time to celebrate.
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To California - CHEERS!!
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And our celebration continued well into the night.
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Day 5 : Time to head Home
Before making our way back to Carson City, we decided to continue pushing west for a bit longer first and finish up the final stretch of the Henness Pass Trail.
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Making a quick stop over at the old Mountain House site - yet another stage stop along the Henness Pass Trail and reminder of just how busy this route once used to be.
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Near the end of the trail, we made a stop over at the old Oregon Creek Covered Bridge.
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It's a shame this beautiful 155 year old bridge survived time and being washed down stream in a major flood but is now finding its demise at the hands of vandals.
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A final Yee Ha to making it to California!
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If you hadn't seen them before, you can find even more pics from our trip here:
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...-or-Bust-2015-The-Final-Stretch-Photo-Journal

I hope you all enjoyed following our adventures and travels along the final stretch of the California Emigrant Trail. A BIG THANKS needs to go out to Stephanie for looking into and arranging our accommodations as well as making reservations to all the places we stopped and dined at. There's no way this trip could have happened without your help! To everyone else who joined us on this amazing trip, thank you for helping to make it so much fun. I so hope we can do more trips just like this with you in the future. :cool:
 
These trips part 1 and part 2 were the best by far of any trips over the years. The history, scenery and people really made it.
 
Awesome photos! I had a great time on this adventure. So much new territory visited, with a lot of land still to see! Thanks again for all that you & Cindy do to lead us across this big & beautiful country! 😀
 
What an amazing adventure! To be able to make this Epic Trek from Missouri to California along the emigrant trail was truly an amazing experience of a lifetime. Many thanks to Eddie and Cindy for making this awesome event possible. :thumb:

We had a BLAST!! Can't wait for the next chapter in this WAYALIFE.
 
This was such a great trip and wouldn't have nearly as much fun without all the great people and friends to share it with. Thanks Eddie and Cindy for putting it all together.

The pictures are awesome and yet still only capture a portion of the adventure we had.
 
Great pictures as always. Getting ready to do my first wheeling trip in September, going to Ouray for the Jeep Jamboree; I know expensive program, but it was a gift. Then plan to go to Moab, I see you all were carrying extra fuel, how often do you find yourself using the extra fuel? I don't have a aftermarket tire carrier how would you suggest carrying extra fuel?
 
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