Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Markleyville and Sweetwater





The last few camping trips have had some great contrasts of temperature and settings. Two trips to Markleville were too hot and the next snow and cold. Such is spring in this area. The Sweetwater range was perfect with comfortable days and beautiful sunsets. We got out our rock hammers for the Sweetwater trip to visit two of our favorite places, the Cowboy Mine and the Elbow of the Walker river. We may have to return to the Sweetwater if the weather stays cool to hike into the mountains.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Rocking Around Lovelock











Who would think you could spend a week in the area around Lovelock Nevada. We did and we had a great time. We were following our books advice and boy did we find some cool spots. We brought home many pounds of rock and after washing off the dust found some real gems. We met some great people out in the desert. A salty guy named Andy Wise from Rock Springs WY. He was looking for gold. A Geologist named Grady from Missouri, who helped us identify our finds. "Darn that wasn't gold after all" I was sure it was. We did find beautiful opal and agate and a trip to Fossil Hill turned up great finds. We met the owner of the hill. He was from Sacramento and had no problem with us taking some of his fossils. The flowers were still in bloom and Sparky had fun rolling in the dust. One picture shows that we left some rocks for the next trip. I took my new invention the umbrella walking stick. It came in very handy in the heat and Mike loved taking pictures of it. Mikes best treasure was a fossilized bone and mine was a green agate. Both are included in the rock shot.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Back to Churchill










We had to go back! It was such a beautiful spot and it will be too hot soon. The flowers were still out and the lizards were plentiful but to fast to photograph. There is a picture of Mike taking quadrant's with his new GPS on a rock that was too big to carry out. We will take Cullen and Melissa there and they can bring these beauties out for us. They have had training in carrying heavy loads.
We included a picture of our camp spot for Steve and Sharon in Colorado so they could see how we like to hook up, with nature that is, not another camper in site. We know soon we will have to head to the mountains but for now we are enjoying the desert and it's beauty. Sparky enjoyed the rare bone found from a steer long left behind.
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Monday, April 21, 2008

A Quiet Spot in Nevada





Just south of Fort Churchill next to the Desert Hills we found this quiet Valley. The top picture shows a white spot. That is our RV. As we climbed the hills we could see the motor home below and not a tree in sight. There was plenty to look at though. We found more rocks to bring home and had great views of the snow covered Sierras from the top of the hills. Sparky kept a lookout for critters.


Another fine weekend in Nevada!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Rockin In Nevada




Sparky helped us this weekend with our rockin. We went to a secret spot where we found lots of good stuff. As you can See we found Turquoise, Selenite, Petrified wood, (we stayed under our 25lb a day limit), and Malachite. We found other goodies but we still are not sure what they are.
We have turned in our bird books for rock books. The problem with rock collecting is we don't know where to put all our finds.The work bench in the garage is covered with rocks. Posted by Picasa

Monday, April 7, 2008

Wild Nevada pictures




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Wild Nevada III

This trip began on March 28th when we left Carson City for the Monte Cristo Range on Highway 95 between Hawthorne and Tonopah. It didn't look like much from the road but as we began to approach it we could tell this was going to be some adventure. The site is known as badlands because of the color of the soil and formations. We could have stayed there for a week but we had a plan and wanted to stick to it. The next site we visited was Redrocks State Park, east of Las Vegas. The formations were fantastic and the desert was in bloom. We headed over the hill and all of a sudden there it was. Las Vegas. It was huge and we were on the interstate at rush hour. Oh My Gosh! The Traffic! The freeway was eminence, and landscaped with palm trees and art work. It sure didn't look like northern Nevada. The pillars for the overpasses were covered with art work. It is true "The money left in Vegas stays in Vegas"
We could not take the city so we blasted right through and headed for The Valley of Fire State Park. Quite a change from the big city. We camped in the desert among the flowers. The next day we hiked through the red rocks. The colors were intense. I could have stayed right there for the rest of the trip but, we had a plan. The next day we checked out the town of Overton then headed for a camp spot on the Virgin River.
Again we were in the beautiful desert among the flowers and the colored rock. Mike had by this time collected about 100lbs. of rock for display at home but the big find came that evening as he walked through the river bed. A beautiful spear head. He was so excited that the next day was spent looking at the ground for the next big find. His luck did not continue so we headed for Highway 375 to spot Extraterrestrials. We couldn't find any but did camp in the Yuccas. They were in bloom and just as we found a spot we saw a Bighorn Sheep. The next day we continued our journey back to the Monte Cristo Range for another evening hike. Saturday it was time to head home but we had one more place to find. The badlands of hwy 264. It was a great place to rock hunt and explore canyons of colored dirt and rock. We drove home the long way over Montgomery pass to Mono Lake and 395 and discovered a place to be explored on our next trip, The foothills of Boundary Peak and the Inyo National forest.
Ah to be camping AGAIN!