Day 10…Ely to Baker
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Our last day in Nevada! Baker is on the Utah border near Great Basin NP. Nevada roads have been fantastic…the pavement quality is better than I have ever seen. Now if they could get rid of the rumble strips…but that was never a problem, with the light traffic. We rode in the lane all the time, and drivers gave us a wide berth.
Forgive us, but we ate breakfast at McDonalds this morning. We wanted to get going early, as temperatures are starting to rise. We stocked up on food at the local grocery store, I picked up more sunblock and…this is embarrassing…dipher rash ointment! My butt is killing me, and the saddle sores are back.
Just outside of Ely I stopped at Comins Resoivoir, where the raucous sounds of birds filled the air. I had to call my Ranger buddy Scatty Patty to help me ID some of them. Saw Yellow headed blackbirds, Cinnimon Teal ducks and lots more I did not see but could hear.
At mile 27 we came upon Majors Junction, which isn’t mentioned on any of our maps. It was a nice surprise, and I had lunch while Jerry and Dick had a beer.
As the road bent north for another summit approach, I noticed a dirt road going straight up the mountain. At the base was a historical marker indicating a ghost town and mine on the mountain. It looked doable, and after conferring with Jerry’s GPS (once again, why did I take mine out of my bag!?) and taking Dick’s Adventure Cycling map, I set off on a very loaded mountain bike ride.
Up top I found a graveyard that had headstones dating from the 1880’s until about 1926. One I noticed was Stanley H. Moyer, who lived a short life from October 10 until November 18, 1926. Maybe his short life was a blessing, as life looked very rough on the mountain.
Many of the graves had the Marriott family name. After leaving the graveyard, I went by some residences with active residents. One house belonged to Bill Marriott; the family name lives on after all these years.
I crested the summit at about 8,000 feet (estimated) and started the long desent down. On the map this dirt road looked like a shortcut from the paved route, but it ended up being just about the same mileage.
Dick and Jerry pulled in about 30 minutes after me. We did wash, showered and had an excellent meal at one of the local restaurants. The owner even invited to spend the night behind the business, no charge. However, we were already set up at a local campground.
Todays ride was 60 miles. We have ridden over 800 so far, and will go over 900 tomorrow as we have a long ride through the desert.
-Rick