August 8-11: A few more mountain passes, a long stretch in the salt flats, and Fallon, NV would appear to mark the end of those long stretches of road without any services. The distance between Austin in Fallon is 110 miles, but luckily in between this distance there are two areas to restock water and supplies if need be: Cold Springs Station and Middlegate Station. We happily took the time to stop at both, and also met some great people in the process! We reached Cold Springs and Middlegate on the 9th of August, but ended up camping off the side of US fifty 32 miles out if Austin on the 8th. On the 8th, we crossed over 2 mountain passes: Mount Airy and New Pass Summit. Compared to the ridges in the eastern part of the state, the mountains in the western half of Nevada appear to be more worn as the basin to range topography seems to becoming more gradual. I have also been noticing far more wildlife in this stretch from Austin to Fallon. As we were hiking down New Pass Summit, a pair of lizards were sunning themselves on the wooden post of a guardrail. Most of the reptilian wildlife has been extremely skittish, but these guys did not have a care in the world regarding my presence, and they happily let me get a close up photograph of them. This comfort with human presence was similar with a solitary pronghorn at the base of New Pass Summit and what I believe to be a lone coyote spotted in the salt flats on August 11th. These encounters made me love this state even more and the fact that a mountain lion was not on the list of spottings was pretty great too ;). By the early afternoon of the 9th we made our way an additional 32 miles to Middlegate Station, but stopped 13 miles prior to it at a separate Pony Express station, known as Cold Springs, for lunch. There, we were greeted by a kind bartender who brought us each heaping burgers for lunch and let us refill our water. I was so happy this place was here since the presence of this facility as well as Middlegate were the determining factors in hauling only 2 gallons of water at a time versus 8. As we were about to head out the door from Cold Springs, we saw a few familiar faces! Brennan and Emily, who we met on our way to Austin, NV saw our gear outside the station and stopped by on their way home from Great Basin to give us some amazing news! Brennan can relate to the mission of my walk and his wife, Emily, has family outside Carson City in the town of Stagecoach, NV. They stopped to offer us a place to have dinner and spend the night when we come through. Thank you both! I cant wait to see you guys again soon! Back on the road from Cold Springs, we made it about 2 miles from Middlegate when we made one last stop of the day at a famous landmark that I have been waiting to see for months! For those of you who have heard of the famous Nevada Shoe Tree, I am sad to say the original has been chopped down by a moron(s), but its newly established twin sits beside the original and is just as cool! Rumor has it that the shoe tree was started by an arguing pair of newlyweds when the wife threw her husbands shoes in the tree during the conflict. Since then, people have been adding to the original pair of shoes and though the original tree is no longer standing, its sister is now covered with hundreds of forgotten soles. In Loa, UT, my third pair of tennis shoes were licked after their walk from the little town of Stafford, KS; however, before throwing them away, I decided to hold onto them for another 500 miles to give to the tree, and on the second throw, a branch grabbed hold of the laces and there now, my old shoes remain. When we arrived at Middlegate Station, we were able to get a room for the night at only 35 bucks split between the 2 of us! In the restaurant bar section of the station, we met a number of great folks as we spent hours speaking with a number of them and glancing at the history surrounding the buildings interior. The ceiling is covered in one dollar bills signed by the hundreds of travelers passing through and the cozy dim lighting of the station gave it the perfect feel to emphasize its rich old western heritage. Among some of the folks we met were a geologist named Tim, a film crew doing a documentary on Middlegate (check out The Last Roadhouse on Kickstarter), and the owners Fredda and her husband Russ (FYI: Fredda makes the countrys BEST French Toast hands down. Im sorry Eureka, NV Owl Club, but you have some competition here!). It was one of the most unique places I have been on this trip and everyone MUST stop here when passing through central Nevada. Heck, even if you are going south to Vegas or North to Elko, take the long way, you wont regret it! Also, if you are feeling up to it, one can take the challenge of eating their famous Monster Burger, Jake attempted to eat the 3 pounds of food and did pretty great finishing over half of it; however, after a full day of walking, the bread and fries still managed to make him throw in the flag. On the 10th we went through the final two mountain passes on our route through Nevada: Drumm Summit and Sand Springs Summit. Sand Springs marked pass number 13 in the state and though a fraction of the size compared to what we went through back east, they still managed to whoop our butts. Part of this was because of the heat. We have been very fortunate with the weather through most of the state, but out here in the western half of the state, we have dropped nearly 3,000 feet and are sitting at around 4,000 feet for the first time since Eastern Colorado I believe. With the drop in elevation comes the increase in temperature making these smaller climbs still just as tough. following the final 2 summits, we camped in an area known as the Salt Flats where I can best describe the ground as feeling like pie crust to walk on. These flats sit a few miles west of a series of dunes that compile what is known as Sand Mountain and for over 5 miles the flats are littered with stones arranged in the letters of peoples names etc. As we approached Fallon on the 11th, we started seeing a number of fighter Jets flying around the Fallon Naval Air Station (Ever see TOPGUN? Here is its claim to fame!). Even before we made our way into town, a few of these jets passed overhead. At one instance (still out in the middle of nowhere on the summit of New Pass) I am pretty sure a bomb had been tested...I know these planes are capable of breaking the sound barrier, but right after I made my video on New Pass Summit a massive explosion nearly threw me from where I was sitting. About 5 minutes later, a bomber came flying overhead. The fact that the sound reached me before the plane made me think something was dropped...then again, I think the less information I know about what was heard may be for the best! It is crazy to be in a bigger town again. It feels really bizarre, but we will be staying in Fallon an extra day and headed towards Carson City on the 13th. California is less than 6 days away!!! Also, i will be posting something in more detail about the recent event concerning Robin Williams in the following post! Stay tuned!
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:29:15 +0000
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