Dan Will Travel

Remember that old Grateful Dead song? Well, I actually did that, drove a train. (Not the second part of the lyric, just the driving part!)

In researching this trip, I found that, in Ely Nevada, you could pay to run a locomotive, so, as a train buff since childhood,  I booked that experience and did it. Ely had a giant copper mine since the early 1900’s and a railroad to work it and take the ore away. In 1983, the owners essentially walked away from everything, I think via bankruptcy. And deeded the entire railroad to the county which turned it into a historic park. What is different is that it remains a working railroad with about 30 miles of track, repair shops, everything as it was. After much advance studying and passing a rigorous test (LOL), I drove the 109, a diesel locomotive built in the same year as me. (And, like me, still mostly functioning!) Drove about 10 miles up the track out of town even crossing a 4 lane US 93 highway. And then back down. Not a “bucket list” experience because who would think to put it on a bucket list? But totally fun. Here is the link if you want to know more.

http://nnry.com

Number 109, built 1950.  Been in Ely its entire existence.

Test has been passed and ready to go aboard.

The controls. Pretty much 4 levers do all of it.  Just need to remember which does what and which way to push/pull depending on what I need to do.  Easy, well sort of I guess.

Does that old man look confident or terrified?  Or just totally oblivious to what he is going to need to do?

The view forward.  Sure hope there is nothing I need to see on the left, because I cannot see that way.

Going back down, we were in reverse and a better view.  It sure operated differently going uphill versus down hill.

OK, we are back. Not sure who is happiest to be back without incident, me, the instructor, or the poor old train itself.

The working shop. It is Sunday and a number of people are there working on that 105 year old steam engine in the rear right side.  At this stage they do not know if they will successfully get it working again or not.  Frankly it looked doubtful to my eye.

If you look at any map of Nevada, US 50 across north central Nevada will be marked as “the loneliest road in America.”   Well, after doing some really lonely roads in southeastern Oregon, I wanted to do a comparison. Sure enough, although lonely for sure, it is mostly a marketing tool. You can get a booklet and get stamps from businesses that are along the route. Now, granted, even if you got every stamp, there would not be many in your book. Typically you came across an oncoming vehicle every few miles. Not busy for sure, but do as I did, and veer off onto Nevada 722 that runs parallel to it for 65 miles. That one qualifies! 65 miles 2 oncoming cars, none going my way. Now, that is lonely!

As you can see below, the scenery is expansive, and actually quite beautiful. Being early in the season, it is greener than it will be later.

Well. it does look empty, huh?

Standing in the middle of US 50.

A picnic stop on Nevada 722.  Probably the first use this year/decade?

A cute take off on the famous Las Vegas slogan

What do you think? Maybe it happened here?  Must have been quiet a party!

Eureka, Nevada.  Many nice historic buildings, still in use.

Eureka Opera House.  Very much in use.  I saw posters for music events all over the area.  this is where you drive many miles for some live entertainment.

Early view of Mt Wheeler, Great Basin National Park. Note that I am in a forest in Nevada.

Mt Wheeler, over 13,000′  Next stop!

First stop is Prairie Creek National Park to visit my grove and do some extensive hiking in the park. Many of you have experienced this magical place with me and know that I go there every year. This year, I went earlier in hopes to see rhododendrons blooming. Well, I guess they are late this year, so no luck on that point. Even on the Rhododendron Trail!

I spent the weekend there with my friends Denise and Mike Gregorini who came up from the Sacramento area to see this park for the first time. We all stayed at the Requa Inn and it was super nice as always. Denise and I planned this trip while we were in Palm Springs last winter and it was very enjoyable and inspiring for all of us.

They are both avid hikers and we were able to do over 8 miles each of the two days that we were there.   Below are some shots from these hikes.

The “Big Tree” at Prairie Creek Park.

A cute way to attempt to get the tourists to venture out into the forest to see more than just the official “Big Tree.”

A classic shot of a giant tree in a bed of sword ferns.  Just majestically standing there for close to 2,000 years.

After arrival at my grove, I need to do some housekeeping first.  Cleaning the sign!

OK, the cleaning is done, now I can pose.  The trees sure seem larger since the dedication last summer!  (Probably just my imagination!)

Denise & Mike at the grove.

We all loved this sign. It is attempting to get the tourists to understand that the elk are very large and not very nice. The scale of one to the other is accurate.

Much of the beauty of the redwood forest is at your feet.  Often missed as we gawk and gasp at the size of the trees.  Redwood Sorrel in bloom.

A lovely spider web.

Trillium.

Loved the shadow of the bloom onto the leaves below.

Very colorful fungus getting life from a downed redwood tree trunk.