Around 1986 to 1988, Life Magazine is said to have ran a very negative article about Nevada State Highway 50 titled “The Loneliest Road.” An AAA spokesperson had described Nevada State Highway 50 route through Nevada in these words: “It’s totally empty. There are no points of interest. We don’t recommend it. We warn all motorists not to drive there unless they’re confident of their survival skills.” NOT TRUE!!
THE FIRST TOWN ALONG THIS HIGHWAY IS BAKER. THERE YOU CAN PICK UP A PASSPORT. IF YOU GET IT STAMPED AT FIVE TOWNS BETWEEN BAKER AND THE END OF THE LONELIEST ROAD WHICH IS CARSON CITY, THEN YOU MAIL IT IN AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A FREE TEE-SHIRT AND HAT. OK, THE CHALLENGE IS ON.
THIS HIGHWAY RIBBONS THROUGH SOME OF THE MOST HISTORIC AREAS IN THE WEST AND LOOSELY PARALLELS THE PONY EXPRESS ROUTE. WE STARTED AT GREAT BASIN NATIONAL MONUMENT WHICH IS NEAR BAKER, NEVADA. HERE WE CAMPED ALONG THREE MERGING BROOKS, DROVE UP THE MOUNTAIN WHERE BRISTLECONE PINES ARE GROWING SOME 13,000 FEET UP, HEARD A RANGER TALK ABOUT MOUNTAIN LIONS AND LOOKED OVER OUR SHOULDERS AFTER THAT. WE WENT TO AN ASTRONOMY LECTURE, AND TOURED THE LEHMAN CAVES
AT GREAT BASIN WE DROVE JUST BELOW WHERE THE BRISTLECONE PINES GROW, AT THE BASE OF MT. WHEELER
OUR CAMPSITE (below) IS ONE OF OUR ALL-TIME FAVORITES. THREE BABBLING BROOKS CONFLUENCED JUST A FEW FEET FROM OUR FIRE PIT.
SO, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE ALL THAT ICY WATER AROUND? MEET THE CHALLENGE OF COURSE.
TOURING THE LEHMAN CAVES IS ANOTHER ADVENTURE IN THIS PARK.
LEHMAN CAVES IS A SINGLE CAVERN PENETRATING A QUARTER MILE INTO THE LIMESTONE AND MARBLE THAT FLANK THE BASE OF THE SNAKE RANGE. IT IS ONE OF THE REGIONS MOST PROFUSELY DECORATED CAVES.
NEARBY IS THE WARD MINING DISTRICT WITH LOTS TO EXPLORE.
AND ALAN DISCOVERS GOLD (the fool)
BELOW IS THE TOWNSITE.
FOLLOWING A SIGN TO A “CAFE,” THIS IS WHAT WE FOUND. AFTER GOING INSIDE WHERE THE OWNER WAS ON A COUCH WATCHING TV, WE DECIDED NOT TO EAT THERE.
BUT THERE WAS A REWARD. OUT BACK OF THE “RANCH” WE SPIED A PRONGHORN ON THE FIELD.
AND THEN TWO PRONGHORNS IN AN X-RATED ACTION.
NEARBY WE VISITED THE CHARCOAL OVENS STATE HISTORIC PARK WHICH IS BEST KNOWN FOR ITS 8 BEEHIVE SHAPED OVENS. THEY CONTINUE TO REPRESENT A UNIQUE CHAPTER IN NEVADA’S MINING HISTORY
WHEN YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE THAT WITHIN THE HARSH LANDSCAPE THERE ARE SEVERAL TYPES OF FRAGRANT SAGE AND COLORFUL FLOWERS SUCH AS THE PRICKLY POPPIES ABOVE.
TIME TO LEAVE GREAT BASIN AND BRAVE THE LONELIEST ROAD IN AMERICA WHICH, FOR US, BEGINS IN BAKER
WE GOT A LITTLE WORRIED WHEN WE SPIED THE CARS BELOW JUST OFF THE ROAD. MAYBE THIS WASN’T SUCH A GOOD IDEA. 
ON TO ELY, NEVADA VIA THE LONELIEST ROAD
Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and the Central Overland Route. Ely’s mining boom came later than the other towns along US 50 with the discovery of copper in 1906. Though the railroads connecting the First Transcontinental Railroad to the mines in Austin and Eureka have long been removed, the railroad to Ely is preserved as a heritage railway by the Nevada Northern Railway and known as the Ghost Train of Old Ely.
OF COURSE WE HAD TO TAKE A RIDE ON THIS HISTORIC TRAIN.
CLICK ON TRAIN VIDEO BELOW. IT TAKES A FEW SECONDS TO START.
IT WAS A SPECIAL NIGHT COMMEMORATING THIS RAILROAD’S ATTEMPTS AT REFURBISHNG THE ANTIQUE TRAIN PARTS THAT HAD BEEN STORED. THEY HAVE HAD SEVERAL PIECES RESTORED ON THE TV SHOW “AMERICAN RESTORATION.”
BELOW IS THE INSIDE OF THE STATION. 
AND THE EXTERIOR 
WE GOT OUR TICKET….READY TO RIDE! 
ALL ABOARD 
THE BEST VIEW IS ON THE OUTSIDE CAR, BUT WHEN THE SOOT STARTS FALLING IT CAN COVER YOU IN BLACK GRIT. 
WE MADE A STOP TO SEE SOME OF THE RESTORED EQUIPMENT. 
BACK IN THE TRAIN WE CONTINUED UP-CANYON. 
AS THE SUN STARTED TO SET, EVERYTHING TURNED PINK. 
HEADED BACK TO THE STATION WE GOT A GOOD VIEW OF DOWNTOWN ELY AND THE NEVADA HOTEL AND CASINO. 
RIDING THE TRAIN WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR ALAN. UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING WE RUSHED TO THE STATION, TOOK MORE PICTURES THEN HEADED UP THE HIGHWAY STOPPING AT STRATEGIC SPOTS TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE TRAIN AS IT PASSED. WE WERE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE DOING THIS!
HAD TO STOP FOR A PICTURE OF THE LAST REMAINING BROTHEL IN TOWN:
UP THE HILL FROM THE TRAIN ROUTE IS GARNET HILL – WE DECIDED TO GO GET RICH!
CONTINUING ON THE LONELIEST HIGHWAY WE TOOK A SIDE TRIP TO CAVE LAKE. ACTIVITIES AT THIS PARK IINCLUDE TROUT FISHING, BIRD WATCHING AND HUNTING.
DRIVING HIGHWAY 50 TAKES YOU THROUGH MANY MILES OF WIDE VISTAS WHERE YOU CAN SEE MILES OF TUNDRA ON BOTH SIDES. HIDDEN AWAY ARE MINES AND OLD TOWNSITES AND CAMPS. BUT THERE ARE TOWNS, AND EUREKA IS ONE OF THE SPECIAL ONES. WE STOPPED AT THE EUREKA MUSEUM TO GET ALAN’S PASSPORT STAMPED, AND WALKED AROUND TO SEE THE RENOVATED BUILDINGS SUCH AS THE 1879 COURTHOUSE BELOW.
AND THE 1880 OPERA HOUSE 
AND THE MUSEUM 
The town of Eureka was first settled in 1864 by a group of silver prospectors from nearby Austin, who discovered rock containing a silver-lead ore on nearby Prospect Peak. Mining, especially for lead, supported the town and is still the town’s mainstay today.
AUSTIN
THIS TOWN FORMED WHEN SILVER WAS DISCOVERED IN 1862. TODAY MANY HISTORICAL BUILDINGS REMAIN. BELOW IS THE CHURCH
AUSTIN IS ONE OF THOSE RARE PLACES THAT IMPRESSES, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. WE WERE LUCKY TO KNOW SOMEONE IN TOWN WHO PASSED ON SOME OF THE TOWN’S SECRETS. CINDY, SISTER OF OUR GOOD FRIEND RANDY KING, GREETED US AT HER HOTEL.
THERE IS A VERY IMPRESSIVE TURQUOISE SHOP IN TOWN.
THE RUIN SHOWN BELOW IS WHAT IS LEFT OF THE BUTTERFIELD STAGE STATION AND LATER ALSO A PONY EXPRESS DEPOT.
THE POST BELOW MARKS WHERE THE FOLLOWING ENTITIES WERE ONCE SITUATED: THE OVERLAND STAGE STATION, PONY EXPRESS STOP, THE BUTTERFIELD AND WELLS FARGO EXPRESS ROUTE AND LATER THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH TRANSCONTINENTAL LINE, EACH MARKS AN UPGRADE IN TRAVEL AND COMMUNICATIONS AT THE TIME. 
SAND MOUNTAIN FORMED BY QUARTZ PARTICLES GROUND BY GLACIERS FROM HARD SIERRA GRANITE AND WASHED DOWN THE WALKER RIVER. THE PARTICLES WERE CARRIED BY THE WIND TO THIS LARGE BASIN BELOW THE STILLWATER RANGE.
THE NEXT “TOWNS” WE HIT WERE FALLON AND DAYTON. NEITHER HAD STAMPS FOR ALAN’S PASSPORT SO WE WENT ON TO CARSON CITY WHERE HE GOT HIS LAST STAMP THEN RAN TO THE MAILBOX TO SEND IN FOR HIS TEE SHIRT!
AND SO ENDS OUR TREK ON AMERICA’S LONELIEST HIGHWAY WHICH WAS ANYTHING BUT LONELY. TRUE, THIS STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IS FRAMED BY MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS AND ENDLESS VISTAS, BUT IT IS ALSO THE KEEPER OF MINING HISTORY,SAGAS OF THE WILD WEST.AND PERHAPS WILD HORSES AND PRONGHORNS.
COMING HOME ON HWY 395 WE WERE ON FAMILIAR TERRITORY, CAMPING AT JUNE LAKE AND THEN BOULDER CREEK RV PARK IN LONE PINE. SOUTH OF LEE VINING AT THE JUNCTION OF THE TIOGA PASS HIGHWAY WE STOPPED AT OUR FAVORITE RESTAURNT IN THE EASTERN SIERRAS: THE MOBIL STATION WHICH SERVES EXCELLENT FOOD AND A GREAT VIEW OF MONO LAKE. 
CAMPING AT JUNE LAKE IS ALWAYS A PLEASURE:
AND SO OUR CAMPING BUDDY, MR. TIKI, SAYS GOODBYE. SEE YA NEXT TIME. 
THE LONELIEST ROAD WAS THE LAST LEG OF A THREE WEEK JOURNEY WHICH BEGAN IN KINGMAN ARIZONA WHERE WE ATTENDED THE INTERNATIONAL ROUTE 66 ASSOCIATION FESTIVAL. TO SEE THE FIRST PART OF THIS TRIP, GO TO THOSE BLOG ENTRIES.
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