Sightseeing In and Around Elko

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Another warm, sunny day and we are off to see what else there is to see.  Our first stop is 8 miles west on I-80 from Elko to the California Trail Interpretive Center where we learn the history and stories of the pioneers who ventured 2000 miles to California to seek their fortune, land, adventure and who knows what else.  The Center has beautiful life size dioramas, murals and exhibits as well as phones where you can listen to the stories of some of the pioneers.  They tell the stories of the Bidwell-Bartleson party and the events that led to the Donner Party disaster.  Outside is a wagon encampment and Shoshone village.  All beautifully laid out and well worth the time.

A Loaded Wagon

Evening entertainment along the way

Getting the evening meal

Bartering with the Indians along the way 

Mural depicting the wagon train crossing the salt flats

What happened to the oxen while crossing the salt flats

One interesting fact we learned was that the wagon trains did use an odometer to find their way and measure distance.  I think I prefer our current ones and our GPS.  

Ron is looking at the wagon encampment comparing our RV to the travel in the mid 1800’s across this same area.  I think I prefer our way of travel to those wooden wagons.  

I can’t imagine making that trek across the country and living under the conditions they did.  So many died along the way but many hearty souls made it all the way and lived to tell the tale.  Ron and I have been in Nebraska and Wyoming and seen parts of the Oregon, California Trails there but always driving east and not west. 

Our next stop was at the Northeastern Nevada Museum where we only spent a short amount of time.  It is a lovely museum with nicely laid out exhibits.  Lots of artifacts from the area and an earlier time in the history of Elko as well as a wildlife exhibit.

A 1930's living room

The remainder of the day we spent going to Lamoille Canyon (located in the Ruby Mountains) which is 18 miles south of Elko. 

Turning off the main highway you wind your way up through the glacier formed Canyon on the scenic two lane 35 mile per hour byway that slowly climbs ever higher toward the snow capped mountain tops with lots of snow still to be seen clinging to the mountain sides while the melting snow creates a few waterfalls from high up flowing down to the ever faster flowing river below. 

While it is nearly June, many of the trees still do not have leaves or are just starting to bud out.  The temperature in the valley below was 82 degrees this afternoon but 68 degrees at the turnaround area near the top.  Not as cold as we had expected with all the snow there.

As we neared the top, the snow was right up to the road and at the turn around area (8,800 feet), a snow plow had exposed the road, but the snow was higher than the car and the road was windy making it a bit scary driving on what was now a cleared one lane road where you could not see around the curves.  Fortunately, we did not encounter anyone driving toward us along that section.

View at the end of the road

We returned to the main road and drove on to the little town of Lamoille, if you could call it a town.  There were only a couple of small restaurants, a three room hotel, post office and a picturesque little Presbyterian church which we are told is a favorite subject for photographers, us included. 

A nice day with some interesting sites.  Since we had coupons for dinner in the restaurant where we are staying, we opted to take advantage of that.  After dinner Ron decided to splurge with $2 to once again play the slots.  He won $47.10 which paid for our dinner and some gas for the car.  Such a deal.