Eastbound after Mono Lake
Our week in the Mono Lake area has come to an end. A good week it was, with a good helping of hiking, sight seeing, and even socializing. Our week was spent with the most amazing view of Mono Lake on one side, the Eastern Sierras on another, and a line of young volcanoes to another. No matter which way we looked, the view was breathtaking – my kind of camping. Our spot (see Campendium.com) happened too be the only spot in the area large enough to handle anything larger than a truck or van setup… not that we knew that right away or anything. By day-2 we had company and figured that would be the norm for the rest of the week, and it was.
We took the week to hike at Convict Lake and visit the old ghost town of Bodie as you may have seen on the blog. We also took an early-morning hike with the dogs up Panum Crater which I had visited way back in 2011. We had planned on a morning kayak trip in the South Tufa area of the lake, but a cold snap of weather set in during our final days at Mono Lake keeping our jackets on and our feet dry.
On Saturday morning, we hitched up (it’s still weird saying that) and finally, finally, finally (!!!) drove out of California and into Nevada [insert fist-pump and cheering]. During Kerri’s research of the path I chose for us to take – avoiding Las Vegas like the plague – she found that we would pass the uber spooky (to anyone, not just the anti-clown crowd) Clown Motel which coincided with a lunch break, so off she went to snap a few photos while I played it safe at stayed behind.
The route, chosen specifically because I have never driven a portion of it, brought us through some amazingly beautiful country. Right past Area 51 – which seemed to be the safer bet then having to go near Vegas – and into the vast desert of Southern Nevada. It reminded me of how Highway 50 was back in the early 90’s when I first drove it; lonely.
We had planned to stop just outside of the cute little town of Caliente, NV for the night but we missed the turnoff and did not find a place large enough to turn around. We just kept on motoring the full 500 miles in a single day, arriving in Hurricane, Utah just after sunset where a Walmart came to our rescue for a few items and a place to stay for the night.
Right next to the Clown Motel is an old cemetery. They stopped using it in the early 1900’s. When I walked through most of the markers listed cause of death consumption. Today it is known as tuberculosis. There was also a lot of dust inhaled by people working the mines. Since the area is arid, dry washers were the most common means of separation, (very dusty).
Yea we saw that as we were passing through but did not go take a look. Interesting background, thanks.