<< Day 2: Nevada Beach to the Hickison Petroglyphs | Day 4: Great Basin National Park to Salt Lake City >>

 

Hickison Petroglyphs to Great Basin National Park

 

I woke to the sound of rain drumming on the RV roof. The rain drops had decreased to a fine drizzle after breakfast.

Here is our campsite:

We had a great view of the distant valley:

Nestled among the trees were a bunch of tents from a university group that was exploring the area:

There was a juniper tree next to the RV, and the children spent a few moments collecting some seeds.

We made our way to the trailhead to view the petroglyphs (carvings made into the rocks).

The path was almost a mile long and passed by several rock croppings that had various carvings. Most of the path was lined with rocks.

The first group of petroglyphs we came to were the most extensive in the area. There were a lot of horseshoe-shaped carvings with a short line in the center, as well as several sets of parallel lines chipped into the stones.

The pamphlet guide stated that no one knows who did the carvings or when they were made.

Sebastian was full of joy this morning:

We continued up the path to the viewpoint overlooking Big Smoky Valley, named for its naturally occurring hydrocarbon haze.

Of course, the children wanted to climb to the very highest point (and so did we!):

And Genevieve had to climb to the highest rock on the highest point:

The trail to the rocky peak consisted of muddy clay that clung to our shoes in thick layers. Sebastian laughingly asked if anyone else felt like their shoes weighed a ton!

The view from the top:

We continued on our hike. The trail ahead:

We found another rock mound and had fun finding the petroglyph shapes.

Here is a close-up of one of the horseshoe carvings (to the left is an inverted “V” carving made by someone recently).

The desert has an abundance of life, contrary to what some people believe. The rain had invigorated the plants in the area.

Here is a beautiful clump of tall grass.

The children liked the feathery feel of the delicate grass seeds at the top:

Sebastian brushed the grass fronds against his cheek:

The final petroglyph site contained two animal forms—the only zoomorphic carvings found in the area. In the photo below, the lines slanting down are the animal legs. We had to use our imagination to spot the animals initially. Genevieve found them first and decided that it was a “mommy and her baby”.

The rain thickened during our hike, and we were a bit damp by the time we returned to the RV.

When we started our generator this morning, it emitted thick, continuous, white billows of smoke—this cannot be a good sign. Ben checked the oil and coolant, and everything seemed “fine.” We shall see.

The clouds were resting on the mountain tops:

Back on Highway 50, the our path stretched out ahead as far as we could see. The road was wonderfully smooth—the RV didn’t rattle a bit while it climbed one mountain range after another and then crossed the wide valleys in between.

There was a calm beauty in the green sagebrush fields that stretched out on either side of the road, with mountain ranges in the distance.

A small bird zigged when it should have zagged and hit our windshield with a loud THUMP—what a scare! The windshield had no damage, but I don’t think that I can say the same for the poor bird.

I had never seen the desert looking so lush and green—one of the benefits of the continual showers.

The dark clouds followed us all day on our journey east—we seem to have brought them with us from California.

This small ranch looked well maintained:

The rocky hills that we traversed had a slanted pattern:

We passed this small community of homes, but there was no corresponding dot on our map to give it a name:

As we approached the town of Eureka, we could see the huge, flat-topped mounds that evidenced a nearby mine:

The small town of Eureka promotes itself as “The friendliest town on the loneliest road in America.”

We didn’t stop, but I snapped some photos as we slowly rolled through.

The local café:

Eureka’s “opera house” is on the right, next to the hotel:

Home sweet home:

Here are some of the few houses we spotted beyond the town of Eureka:

We passed some bands of thick rock that ran diagonally from the ground up to the top of the hill.

Near the town of Ely, the landscape reflected more mining activities:

We entered the small town of Ely at lunch time.

Having the RV allows us to eat healthy, as we can prepare nutritious lunches from items in our refrigerator. We parked in front of an old government building.

A statue of a large Native American woman with her baby in a papoose stood majestically out front. The sculptor, Joe Pachak, had given the artwork a title in his Native American language, which translated to read “Living well because of Mother”.

Not too far after leaving Austin, we passed a highway sign that I had never seen before. It read, “Report Highway Shooting”, with a phone number.  And it was riddled with bullet holes.

Blue sky finally appeared . . . behind us. Up ahead, the sky was quite ominous looking—we couldn’t even see the mountains behind the dense rain.

To the side, we could see storm clouds with streaks of dark grey rainfall underneath them.

In the distance was Wheeler Peak, over 13,000 feet high:

When we first looked at the squiggly road in the distance, Ben and I both thought that we were in for an “interesting” climb with the RV—but we were game! Then we realized that our road actually curved to the left on the valley floor. 

Right before the Utah border, we turned south. There were peaks of blue sky above.

In the tiny town of Baker, someone was converting a train car into a home, and there were some creative metal sculptures in the front yard.

We stayed tonight at the Great Basin National Park. Near the entrance, we were greeted by these beautiful deer:

The campsites were nestled in groves of trees, with a rushing creek behind them. We finally found a spot large enough to accommodate us:

Genevieve and Sebastian immediately ventured off to the creek to make some observations and drawings:

Sebastian practiced his handstands:

The children enjoyed hiking along the creek and making “discoveries”. They returned to the RV all excited about showing me what they had found. We had to hike a little way.

Here was their great discovery--they thought that this portion of the creek looked like a “staircase”.

The rain sprinkled on and off, and the air was damp.

We tried the generator again tonight—more thick white clouds of smoke. We may be seeking the services of an expert mechanic soon.

We all played the board game “Clue” tonight, which was a lot of fun. Genevieve and Sebastian set up the game for us:

Right before bed, I read the children a book about Rosa Parks.

Before our trip, I had purchased an array of books related to places that we would be visiting. We intend to visit the Rosa Parks museum in Montgomery, Alabama. The children have really enjoyed hearing the stories, and Ben and I have learned quite a bit too.

<< Day 2: Nevada Beach to the Hickison Petroglyphs | Day 4: Great Basin National Park to Salt Lake City >>

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