Next Stop – Ely (pronounced “e – lee”)

The gray gravel site at the Ely KOA was no where near as pretty as our last site, but it was level, big enough, clean and had a great view of the mountain range in front of us. We relaxed after a short drive and spent Father’s Day talking to family. It turns out there is lots to do around Ely. Monday we went out first thing to see this town and run errands. We took our very dirty dusty car to a car wash only to drive on a five-mile-long dirt road a few hours later. Oh well, it’s only dirt!

This very long straight dirt road took us to an historic site – the Ward Charcoal Ovens. Definitely something we’ve never seen before. These ovens produced charcoal from 1876 to 1879 for the silver mining industry. Later they were used as shelters in bad weather and a hideout for an occasional stagecoach bandit. The six beehive-shaped ovens are 30 feet high, 27 feet in diameter at the base. Each oven took ten days to burn 35 cords of wood which equaled 1750 bushels of charcoal. Of course, this meant depleting the area of trees, but they are growing back now.

The best part of our visit was our hike on the Willow Creek Trail. This perfect half mile hike brought us heavenly smells – pinion pine, juniper, sage and brittlebush. As we passed a marshy area, the scent of the wild primroses made us smile. Then we saw a small babbling brook – sparkling clear water rushing over rocks. The sound refreshed us after hundreds of miles of viewing desert scrub. To me, this was an iconic moving stream of water – THE “babbling brook” we’ve all heard about. (Bev, this would have been your spot to put your feet in.)

On the side of the road, we saw four pronghorn – just standing still! That’s unusual – we have seen them before but always moving quickly. They were just chillin’ and looking right at us.

We drove a little bit further to see Cave Lake but were disappointed. All we could see was the dredging operation – no water at all!

Tuesday, June 18^th was our long-anticipated Lehman Caves Tour. We are glad we reserved our spots early since all tours were sold out when we got there.

Before our tour we went to the Great Basin National Park Visitor Center and also the Lehman Caves Center. We saw a movie about the Great Basin and bought some things. We like to support the Western National Parks Association stores because some of our purchase money does go back to the parks.

The tour was amazing! The cave is beautiful – highly decorated with thousands of speleothems filling the twisty tight passages we walked through. We did miss the variety of colors we get to see at Kartchner Caverns. I think this tour really gives you an idea of wild caving – with formations on every side of you.

The Grand Palace Tour was ninety minutes. We walked through some areas quickly but were able to stop in the more open areas. In those larger spaces, we were happy to have plenty of time to explore. We carried our own flashlights and phones which we used to take lots of photos. We saw magnificent plate shields, fat highly decorated columns and turnip formations. The turnips were bigger and more perfectly formed than we are used to seeing. There was one area with standing clear water that looked like a fairy tale scene. Our guide was great, and the ninety minutes sped by. It was a thrill to see this cave; to squeeze and bend through the ancient rock shapes. We highly recommend this one.

A day of rest and relaxation and then back on the road. We drove the “loneliest road in the world” – a very long stretch (about 200 miles) of a straight two-lane highway through endless miles of sage. You get mesmerized by the vast flat scrubby land and then you see that you have to cross the mountains. We (Doug, of course) climbed over ten ridges. The highest was Robinson Summit, 7588 feet above sea level.

We stopped at Cold Springs Station, a different kind of RV park. There were a few sites sprinkled between little white cabins and a motel. The office was actually a full size restaurant and bar. But we shall forever remember Cold Springs as “the land of a million crickets.”

It turns out they are called “Mormon Crickets”, actually katydids – fat, black and a multitude of them. The story about their name is that when the Mormons were trying to settle around the Great Salt Lake they were besieged with these crickets – literally a plague of them while they were trying to sow their crops. Soon, the gulls came and demolished those giant bugs, and all was well. This is why the gull is that Utah State bird.

Meanwhile, we had to set up in the midst of these creatures. They seemed to move away from us, which was helpful the next morning when I had to walk across the park to throw out the trash. But there were thousands – all moving in the same direction – and it was like parting the sea as I walked through them. I may have imagined it, but I heard one loud chirp while I was in the bathroom that night and I am convinced that we have a stowaway.

Next, we have a week-long stay in Carson City.