Friday September 27, Wilson Canyon HW208, Nevada

Early morning on the Sierra Nevadas

The snow was still around from the previous day.

Really learnt about the cold this morning, woke to -5 degrees and a very crisp clear morning, turned on the generator and the heating but it seemed to take quite awhile to warm up. Noticed some water in the bottom of the shower had frozen overnight….and have to say I was quite happy to do the breakfast dishes with my hands in hot water!

But the day was a stunner and driving down to HW 395 with the snow capped Sierra Nevada’s ahead, it was just breathtaking, somehow reminded me a bit of Central Otago, NZ.

Stopped in town and got Verizon Wifi on my little Hotspot and finally loaded 4 days of blogs. After having so much wifi at the start of the trip realised that it is not always going to be so easy, especially when we are not staying in “proper” campgrounds!

Fuelled up with the most expensive gas on the trip, $4.79/gallon and also topped up with propane then called into a campground and paid to dump our wastes, so left town all emptied and full of fuel. Mono Lake looked magnificent this morning as it was very calm, just had to stop and take a few more photos!

We headed north climbing to over 8000 feet on a great highway, then dropped down again before taking the turnoff to Bodie. We had read a lot about this town, an old mining town that was established in the 1870’s with a population of over 10,000, but by the 1930’s it became a ghost town when the ore ran out. It was just abandoned but in the 1960’s the California State turned it into a State Park and it is now maintained in a state of “arrested decay”. The last 3 miles of the 13 mile road into it are unsealed and are probably some of the worst we have been on, but we just crawled over it and survived.

It was well worth the trip, this really is a town that has just been left. You realise the hardships they had mining in these areas, with over 20 feet of snow in the winters and winds over 100mph, but thankfully today there was little wind. We spent ages wondering around the old streets and peering in the windows, and at over 9000 feet we certainly weren’t rushing!!

After the highlights of the past few days, we are now planning to meander across Nevada to Utah…well that is the plan at this stage! Such a contrast after the Sierra Nevada mountains to be driving on long straight roads, lots of sage grass and real cowboy country, the scenery is huge.

It was getting onto 5 o’clock when we came across a rest area beside a stream with high mountains all around us and several other campers already set up, just what we were looking for. It is just an overnight stop but there is no charge, and don’t think it will be as cold as last night.

The old tins were still lying around. They flattened the tins to make roof shingles.

Last light on Nevada hills