Yosemite Part II

Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space. Ansel Adams


















"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." — from Our National Parks (1901)







"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent as glass to the beauty about us, as if truly an inseparable part of it, thrilling with the air and trees, streams and rocks, in the waves of the sun,—a part of all nature, neither old nor young, sick nor well, but immortal." — John Muir from My First Summer in the Sierra (1911)










"Let the mighty mountains handle your business woes for a time, they are stronger still. Drown your cares and concerns in a river, lake or stream and let their cleansing waters wash away the knot in your heart. Find your "center," gain your perspective and get in touch with the better parts of yourself, outside in the wild, the only real place it's possible." - Joe Galliani, Founding Partner, The Parks Company





"As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can." — from The Journals of John Muir

Yosemite Part I

“I have seen persons of emotional temperament stand with tearful eyes, spellbound and dumb with awe, as they got their first view of the Valley from Inspiration Point, overwhelmed in the sudden presence of the unspeakable, stupendous grandeur.”
– Galen Clark, guardian of the Yosemite Grant






Everybody needs beauty... places to play and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike,” John Muir (c. 1902).









"In God's wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware." — John Muir from John of the Mountains (1938)








"Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality." — John Muir from John of the Mountains (1938)





"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." — John Muir from John of the Mountains (1938)

June Lake Part II

The town of June Lake.


























The view towards the east from the ski resort. Gull Lake is in the fore ground, June Lake is mid-frame and Mono Lake is in the distance.

You should be able to click on the images and see them close to full screen as I only reduced them 50%.







Another view looking towards Ansel Adams Wilderness. If you enlarge it you should be able to see Horsetail Falls on the right about 2/3rds of the way down the frame.
















This is Silver Lake. According to the gentleman I spoke with the fish were not biting today.

Next couple of post will be of Yosemite!!!

7/12/10 June Lake

The drive up to June Lake from 395 on June Lake Road.


The June Lake Loop is situated against the west rim of the Great Basin and Range Province, abutting the steep eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada. Rush Creek originates from an alpine watershed just north of the headwaters of the San Joaquin River, and south of the Tuolumne River, then flows northeast, becoming the major tributary to the great inland sea, Mono Lake.
June Lake's looped valley, often described as a horseshoe-shaped canyon, was formed by glacial action. The Rush Creek glacier split in two when it encountered the resistant rock of what is now known as Reversed Peak. The main glacier flowed toward the north creating the Rush Creek Canyon. Another glacial branch turned south and east but its flow was impeded and eventually stopped as the granitic bedrock on this southern branch created an uphill path toward the volcanic area of the Mono Craters. When the glacier receded it left behind terminal moraine material in the area now known as Oh! Ridge.
The basin which had been carved out just west of the ridge is filled with spring water, creating June Lake and nearby Gull Lake. The overflow from these spring-fed lakes flows back toward the mountain range and thus is named Reversed Creek. Reversed Creek reaches a confluence with Rush Creek and flows through Silver Lake and Grant Lake, completing the "loop" to the Mono Basin.


Gull Lake


















View of the June Lake Ski Resort on the left overlooking Gull Lake.












From atop June Mountain looking towards the Ansel Adams Wilderness Forest and Yosemite.
















Doug taking in the view from June Mountain.

7/11/10 Carson CIty NV

This private home was used as the setting for John Wayne's last movie, The Shootist , co-starring Lauren Bacall. The home was built in the latter prt of the 1800's.









The Govenor's Mansion. Sarah Pallin never had it this good.










This is the side yard of another old lovely home. The gazebo is victorian and period to the home. Because the sun can be quite intense I was amused with the current owner's creative use of colorful umbrellas to enhance their outdoor living space.







Another example of the charming architecture.











The strip at night. This must have been what Vegas looked like in the old days. It was really very charming.

Your history lesson begins below.






The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, Nevada's territorial and state capital, has a rich and colorful frontier past. Carson City was founded as a community in 1858, seven years after the first settlement of Eagle Station trading post in 1851. Eagle Valley had been settled by ranchers. Carson City is named for the famous frontiersman and scout Christopher "Kit" Carson. During his 1843-1844 expedition, John C. Fremont had named Carson City's nearby river for Kit Carson, Fremont's scout. Pioneer Abraham Curry arrived in Eagle Valley in 1858 and soon thereafter surveyed and plotted a town site. A cadre of well-connected attorneys whose names still decorate street signs here (Proctor, Musser) bought the richest part of the valley for $500 and a herd of horses. The farsighted and optimistic Curry set aside 10 acres expressly for the construction of a capitol -- this was before the formation of Nevada Territory in 1861. Carson City was soon designated both the territorial capital and county seat of the new Ormsby County. President Abraham Lincoln, recognizing the importance of Nevada's silver and gold to the Union's Civil War effort, signed the proclamation that ushered Nevada into statehood on October 31, 1864. Carson City was selected as the state capital at the constitutional convention and has retained that honor to the present day.

Following the discovery of gold and silver on the nearby Comstock Lode in 1859, Carson City became a thriving commercial center. To their astonishment and delight of its citizens, the discovery of the Comstock Lode brought their Carson City to life as a freight and transportation center. Abe Curry, then built the crude Warm Springs Hotel a mile to the east, and when Carson City was selected as the territorial capital in 1861, leased it to the Legislature as a meeting hall. The legislature established Carson City as the seat of Ormsby County (named for one of the dead "heroes" at the Battle of Pyramid Lake). The legislators also leased the Warm Springs Hotel to serve as the Territorial Prison, and named their genial host and landlord, as its first warden. The property was eventually purchased by the state and is still a part of the state prison system.

Carson City was confirmed as Nevada's permanent capital with statehood in 1864, and development thereafter was no longer completely dependent on the health of the Comstock mines. Until they began to decline in the 1880s, these mines provided Carson City with most of its economic importance as a freight and staging center, and as a marshalling point for much of the timber harvest in the Lake Tahoe basin. The United States Mint in Carson City was completed in 1869; it is today the site of the Nevada State Museum.

Long shallow flumes, capable of carrying enormous pine logs in a shallow spill of fast water, swooped down the steep eastern slope of the Sierra from Spooner Summit to Carson City. Scorched and smoldering where they had rubbed against the flume's sides in their dashing descent, the logs were fed into sawmills where they became timbers for the underground mines, and planed boards for the surface cities. The finished lumber was then loaded onto flatcars and rolled off to Silver City, Gold Hill and Virginia City via the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

The V&T was completed between Carson City and Virginia City in 1869, with the railroad's shops and main offices in Carson City. The V&T rails were extended north to connect with the transcontinental railroad at Reno in 1872. By 1874, when the Comstock mines were reaching their peak production, 36 trains a day passed through Carson City. The huge sandstone V&T engine house and roundtable dominated the northeast corner of the city for well over a century. Neglected and falling into ruin since the track was torn up in 1950, they have now been torn down and the stones sent to create facades for wineries in the Napa Valley.

Like many another Nevada town in its youth Carson City was made The historic St. Charles Hotel is part of Carson City's revitalized historic district and is a major attraction of the modern city lively, and occasionally dangerous, by the presence of dozens of rootless, restless men. Shootings, stabbings and street brawls were commonplace around Nevada, but Carson City was unique in contending with outbreaks from the State Prison.

After the turn of the century Carson City participated vicariously in the Tonopah and Goldfield booms far to the south. Much of the freight and passenger traffic bound for those two celebrated cities was routed to Reno and then through Carson City to Mound House on the V&T railroad. From there the narrow gauge Carson & Colorado carried it to Sodaville where freight wagons and stage coaches were waiting for the last leg of the journey.

This traffic through Carson City came to a sudden halt when the Southern Pacific built a branch line connecting with the C & C from the east that bypassed the V&T altogether. The capital then resumed the quiet lifestyle that evolved after the decline of the Comstock, and which still continues (with variations) today. At the turn of the century the railroad extended its line south into the Carson Valley, but the Minden-Gardnerville traffic never came close to replacing the Tonopah-Goldfield traffic, and the railroad, and Carson City, slipped back into quiescence. In 1930 the population had dwindled to 1,800, about a quarter of what it had been at the peak of the mining boom 50 years earlier.

The magnificent 1890 Federal Building is a Carson City landmark. It has been renamed the Paul Laxalt building in honor of Nevada's former Governor and United States Senator.In 1933 the highway was paved through town, but for a long time afterward the kids could roller skate on it without worrying too much about traffic. In those innocent days Carson City advertised itself as America's smallest state capital.

In 1960 Carson City regained its 1880 population level, and in 1969 Ormsby County was merged into Carson City to consolidate government services. There are now nine state capitals with smaller populations than Carson City, and in fact, with its area of 146 square miles, Carson City could now advertise itself as one of the largest state capitals in America

SOURCE: Caron City NV website

7/10/10 Cason City & Lake Tahoe

Doug put in a good 6 hours of work today. We got on the road about 2P after a quick bite to eat. We headed south out of Carson City on 395 to a small town called Genoa, the first community established in NV in 1851.

Douglas County and Carson Valley history is very young, an important chapter in the romantic "Old West". Explorers and trappers made their way through this area but it wasn't until June of 1851 when John Reese and his party built a trading post that the area began to attract settlers and became a permanent settlement. Reese and his men took up land claims extending from the Walley's Hot Springs marsh area south of Genoa into Jack's Valley on the north. Since most of the men in Reese's party were Mormon, the location became known as Mormon Station. After building a trading post, Reese built a house and sent for his family in New York. Later, Reese added a blacksmith shop and a large corral for livestock.


The Overland Emigrant Trail passed down what is now Genoa's Main Street. Reese's operation did very well and when the Mormons were called back to Salt Lake City in 1857, Reese decided to stay to protect his business and extensive land claims. A great deal of buying, trading and selling of land went on during these early years. Reese did return to Salt Lake City in 1859 after business reversals.

Orson Hyde, an elder in the Mormon Church, was sent to "Mormon Station", Utah Territory, to set up a government, survey the town into lots, and define the state line between California and Utah Territory. He renamed Mormon Station "Genoa" in 1855. As the story goes, Hyde admired Christopher Columbus and so named the town site" Genoa" after Columbus's birth place, Genoa, Italy. Orson Hyde was the first probate Judge. Court matters were settled by Judge Hyde in the loft of Reese's trading post. Entrance to the loft was gained by climbing a ladder on the outside of the building then climbing through a large window into the loft. This loft was also used as a type of hotel for those pioneers traveling by foot and wishing to stay the night.


Genoa became a commercial center during Territorial days and settled down to a quiet existence as the county seat and a trading center for Douglas County.

As the population of Douglas County and Genoa grew, people of many nationalities settled in the area. Industrious Danish and German people recognized the Valley as a wonderful crop growing area. They drained the swamp/marsh areas where ranches/farms began to produce hay, grains, and pastures for livestock. Barns were built with small blacksmith shops nearby to make the needed farm equipment, plows, seeders, mowers, etc. Orchards and vegetable gardens were planted. This all took time but year after year improvements were made. Other nationalities were the Italians, English, Welsh and Irish. All these early pioneers contributed to the beautiful Valley as it is seen today.


The most significant event in the history of Genoa was probably the June 28th, 1910 fire. Two blocks of the business district and several homes burned that day. The fire was started by an inmate in the County Alms house (poor house) located in what was originally built as a hotel at the corner of Main and Nixon St. The poor man decided to burn a pan of sulfur under his bed to get rid of bed bugs. There was still some flame in the pan that set his straw mattress on fire and so most of the town. The courthouse was a brick shell after the fire. The County Commissioners authorized repairs but a few years later, in 1916, the County Seat was moved eight miles south-east to Minden, Nevada. Unfortunately for Genoa, many of the businesses that burned in the 1910 fire also set up shop in the growing communities of Gardnerville and Minden.

Today, Genoa is a thriving historic community

We noted that Lake Tahoe was only 11 miles away so we headed west over Daggett Pass at an elevation of 7334' (Genoa is at 4788') and had great vistas of the Carson Valley to the east. The pass is named for Charles Daggett (who saved Orson Hyde from frost bite thereby becoming NVs first recognized physician) and was part of the pony express route to the west coast. It's role became even more important during the gold and silver rushes.

While Lake Tahoe itself is a beautiful alpine lake with 72 miles of shore line Doug and I would have preferred to have skipped Tahoe Village and South Lake Tahoe as it is the peak of tourist season and there was a ton of traffic. We were in search of Echo Lake upon the recommendation of my sister but were travelling without a map and had failed to refresh our memories of its location before disembarking so we missed it by nary a few miles!

South of Lake Tahoe we went through Echo Pass (although we didn't know it at the time) and proceeded through Luther Pass (7735') into Hope Valley where we became ensnared in a bicycle race. There were over 2000 riders tackling the mountains and valleys. It was a sight to behold but challenging to drive through. Up until this time we had been very successful at navigating by the seat of our pants but in a last ditch effort to find Echo Lake we stopped at a camp ground in Hope Valley and bought a map. It was then that we realized the error of our ways and decided to forgo Echo Lake because we would have had to once again navigate through the bevy of cyclists.

Se we proceeded first east and then north to explore the towns of Minden and Gardnerville located in Carson Valley. Both towns were quaint yet fairly substantial...there was a Starbucks in each! On our return to Carson City we explored Johnson Lane which is really nothing more than a bedroom community but it had tremendous views of the Carson Range to the west and Pine Nut Mountains to the east.

We had dinner at The Basil, an excellent Thai restaurant in Carson City before retiring for the night. Tomorrow we head south to June Lake.

7/9/10 Mt. Shasta to Carson City NV

On Friday, June 9th Lee returned from OR so we got a chance to visit before hitting the road about 1:15. We left Mt. Shasta via Rte. 89 and stopped in McCloud, CA for lunch. It is a charming old logging and railroad town that has transitioned itself into a B&B haven for toursists and actually sits closer to the Mt. Shasta ski park than the town of Mt. Shasta. If you are ever in McCloud I can recommend without hesitation the cafe in the old hotel. Everything was fresh and wonderful. Even the iced tea was fresh brewed and very tasty.



We continued on 89 through the Lassen Volcanic National Park and National Forest. At Lake Almanor we headed east of Rt. 36 to Susanville. In Susanville we picked up 395 and headed south through Long Valley. Let me tell you the 42 miles through the valley were WINDY. There was a tremendous dust storm that we could first see to the east and then the north of our route. Our rental car bobbled in the wind. We were thankful when we finally reached Hallelujah Junction...I wonder how it got its name??? We successfully navigated our way through Reno and arrived in Carson City without incident.



Friday evening we wandered into town and it is quite charming. We hope to do the walking tour before we leave on Sunday so I will save the town details until then.



FYI: Since leaving Seattle we have been following the Volcanic Byway. If you are interested in learning more about the great volcanos of the Pacific NW I would encourage you to visit the website. I know I can bore many of you to tears with the history, etc. so I will spare you this once.