MoDayTrips: Day R-3, Wednesday, July 16, 2025

I don’t like driving in the dark, but that’s what I did, leaving at 0500. Why? I awakened early and could not return to sleep because of the noise made by the many trucks pulling out of a truck stop across the way, and these fancy Marriotts don’t provide breakfast. The road leads through the Truckee River canyon, the route of the Pony Express and the California Trail. I gassed up at Fernley, where the price were lowest in the area (thanks, Gasbuddy.com), then on to Fallon for a real breakfast.

I’m now on US-50, known here as the “loneliest road in America,” a claim I plan to test. Immediately after leaving casino-filled Fallon, I see an “open range” sign – here, it sports a fighting bull instead of the usual cow. A side road leads to the Rattlesnake Raceway Trap Club. It’s flat, with irrigated spots growing alfalfa and maybe a little corn. There’s a green playa; it must have had some rain sometime, but it’s bone-dry now. Nearby are sand dunes, now the Sand Mountain rec area.

Sand Springs Pass, at 4644’, leads to the Dixie Valley. Since most of these basins have no outlet, the lowest point is often a playa, to which water runs, pools, and evaporates. An irony: the US Navy has facilities in this arid land. Another summit, this one about 4600’. In the next valley, a little settlement called Middlesgate obviously gets some water. In one area, the eroded rock forms badlands.

The New Pass Butterfield stage station lies just below New Pass summit (6942’). I notice that mile markers are by county, not from the state line. Mt. Airy summit is at 6679’. Next is the Reese River valley, with a farmer organization – no farms visible, but it is greener than most. Austin has an Old West atmosphere; a C-Store there sells “I survived the loneliest road” pins. A couple of high summits ensue.

Just east of Hickinson Summit (6566’), there’s a turn-off to the Hickinson petroglyphs. Its a bit of a hike at altitude, but I manage to shoot a couple of examples.

The old mining town of Eureka (6481’) has historic buildings and a road to Windfall Canyon. I climb out to Pinto Summit (7376’), Pancake Summit (6516’) and Little Antelope Summit (7428’). Down in the basin I see my first dust devil of the trip. Finally, I go through Robinson Pass (7607’) and drop down into the valley past multi-colored vertical stripes from the old Robinson mines – this was Kennecott copper country. White Pine has the county museums and historical buildings, Ely has the Nevada Northern Railway Museum – it runs scenic trains but all the steam engines are awaiting parts.