Middle of Nowhere

While not as distinctly formed as Devils Postpile National Monument, this thousand-foot long ridge, located high above Storey County’s Long Valley Creek, is still an impressive sight.

Of the many vistas that Nevada has to offer, I never tire of the way the desert can present an entire freight train, in one ultra-wide glance, from the first engine to the final freight car.

North of Elko, on Rt. 225 about halfway to Tuscarora, this cattle ranch sits in the valley to the west of Nannies Peak.

In May of 2013 we drove 2.5 hours from Reno toward the Black Rock Desert and then began a 7-mile hike up about 1,000 feet to the top of this spectacularly scenic granite plateau.

At 3:08 a.m. on Dec. 16, 1954 an earthquake measuring 7.3 in magnitude was centered near Fairview Peak. In seconds, the mountains lifted up an average of 6 ft relative to the valleys below.

The swath of the Ruby Pipeline appears from over the hills and then heads west across the valley.

Just east of the quirky roadhouse known as Middlegate Station, a 70' tall shoe-bedecked cottonwood tree on the side of Highway 50 was the king of sole.

Known on late-night HBO's "reality" television series as the Cathouse, the Moonlight Bunny Ranch is located in the small community of Mound House.

Seen in the sagebrush: an old car, rusted past the point of recovery as an antique, adds a human accent to the landscape.

Opened in 1845, the Dog Valley portion of the Emigrant Trail led California-bound pioneers from Reno to Truckee. It remained the main wagon route until 1925.

As prospectors dispersed from Austin in 1867 they discovered rich placer sands in a place that one of the miners named Tuscarora to honor the Union gunboat on which he had served.

The abandoned mill buildings in Toulon date from 1892. The main building housed a ball mill used to process tungsten as well as precious metals.

Cleveland Ranch, established in 1899, is located in North Spring Valley in White Pine County.

No ichthyosaur has been swimming in Nevada for 200 million years. But 36 fossil specimens of the giant prehistoric reptiles were discovered here. The ichthyosaur is the Nevada state fossil.

Just off the highway in Imlay is the decaying hulk of a concrete monument filled with decades of dust and tumbleweeds. It is one man’s personal response to the excesses of the 1960s.

From 1841 to 1870 the California Emigrant Trail led through this canyon. Thousands of westward-bound dreamers viewed this path through the mountains.

Spencer Hot Springs’ pools are conveniently separated to provide privacy. The best may be the stone-lined pool on a rise with a commanding view of the mountains all around.

The north-eastern side of the Santa Rosa mountains shelter the ranching district of Paradise Valley on three sides.

Located 20 miles east of Fallon, just off U.S. Route 50, the dune is two miles long and rises to 600 feet.

In 1859 the overland stage built the first Middlegate Station to provide a rest stop for the passenger and freight lines crossing the area.

Fifteen miles south of Ely, the Willow Creek Trading Post and General Store has acres full of rusting machinery and antique cars. They also have a herd of buffalo.