Hines and Malheur NWF

We have been on the road for 3 days, time for a break especially since the roads have been mostly in poor condition. The drive was interesting. We see a lot of very old, collapsing barns as we drive. It is so sad.

The driving was challenging today. The roads don't have any shoulder and I must of met a dozen farm items on the road. They take their lane and part of mine, we had to creep past each time. It didn't seem to make a difference whether it was a back road or a main road.

I found the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, nice big lake so we should see a lot of wildlife. Checked to make sure the Visitor Center was open and off we went. I can say we had a nice drive. Saw minimal wildlife, few birds and the lake, nice and blue on the map, was dried up and the Visitor Center was closed. Oh well, you win some, lose some.

 

Hines and Malheur click here

 

 We are seeing trees! Thought we were done with desert. Not!

Lovely Iris

 We stopped near Reno for a break and to get some shopping done. Surprisingly we managed to find everything on our list and had a day trip to Pyramid Lake, this is a natural lake. The color is so blue.

Pyramid Lake click here

 

2021 05 22 Lamoille Canyon-First and Second Try

Elko, NV

We have moved all of 50 miles. There is a canyon we would like to see near Elko.

On Saturday the weather was changing every 10 minutes, sunshine, cloudy, rain, sleet. We finally decided to go to the Lamoille Canyon. I am so happy we decided to go. Even though the weather wasn’t the greatest and we had to turn around due to sleet and snow. The drive was awesome.

If the weather is better tomorrow we will do the drive again. The canyon is only about 30 minutes from town so it is fairly close.

 

We elected to do the drive again the next day. This time we made it up the road an additional 1000'. We gave up when the road was down to 2 snow ruts and 4" of snow. If you are ever in this area this is well worth the stop.

 

We knew we had snow as we approched

Beautiful,  but cold

Time to turn around

 

Lamoille Canyon First Try  click here

Lamoille Canyon Second Try click here

 

Bonneville Salt Flats

Wells, NV

The campground is lovely, lush, green, lots of trees. Very unusual out here. When we arrived there was a wedding going on down by the creek. The flower girls were darling. White dresses and cowboy boots!!!! As the wedding progressed the clouds rolled in, thunder started and the rain came down. I assume they did get married as everyone scattered.

Wells is not a large time, Burger King, McDonald's, 1 pretty good local restaurant and an Iron Skillet at the truck stop. We remembered Iron Skillet with fondness and stopped there. Not the same restaurant we remember. The next day we tried the local restaurant. Only open for breakfast and lunch. We elected breakfast and is was good.

Our mail came in so we went to the Post Office to pick it up. It is safer to select a small town for mail, the larger towns seem to misplace the mail. Small towns don’t get that much General Delivery so it is easier to find in the office.

Our campground host likes to bake. For 2 of the 4 days she came around with breakfast muffins. Nice treat.

While here we took a drive to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Plenty of camping space with great views. We went to the Flats but didn’t go out on them. Your car gets full of salt mud, we don’t want that. The Flats are flat as far as you can see, no bushes or anything green.

Our last day in Wells we had snow. Didn’t stick to the road. The trees were beautiful.   

Bonneville Salt Flats click

 

 

 

 

Drive to Wells, NV

Today was a driving day. The plan was to drive to the Salt Flats, stay overnight and then on to the small town of Wells, NV to pick up mail. As usual, plans change. We ended up driving to Wells and will drive back to the Salt Flats. Wells is about 50 miles from the Salt Flats that are in Utah.

This was a beautiful drive. We had the snow capped Humbolt Range to our left and this just added interest to the drive. No towns, just road. Sign said next gas was 78 miles. 

 

Additional pictures: The Drive to Wells
 

 

Great Basin National Park

 Today we drove to Great Basin National Park. The drive toward the end was beautiful, snow capped mountains, just so surprising to see. This park is in the middle of nowhere, almost on the Utah border.

We went to visit Great Basin and drove up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. The road was an 8% grade for 12 miles, no flat spots. Wheeler Peak Scenic drive is closed due to snow but we made it to 9500 feet with no problems. The view just went on and on. 

We then drove down our 8% grade. We checked out the other roads, not many, in the park and were home by lunch. Tomorrow is housekeeping day. 

Great Basin National Park click

 

The View from our campground

A typical road, no cars

 

Cathedral Gorge State Park

 Today we visited Cathedral Gorge State Park. Though a small park, there were very unique rock formations. Kind of like a Slot Canyon.

Cathedral Gorge State Park click

One Side of the Valley

And the other, two worlds