Hwy 50

Espresso

Espresso

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
282
Location
SF Bay Area
I have to be in Salt Lake City at the end of April. I can fly, but I'm thinking of taking a few days to drive from the Bay Area. Is there anything worth seeing between here and there? Highway 50 might be interesting, but can I dwadle for 2 or 3 days? Is there anything worth exploring, or is it all open space desert?

Thanks!
 
...Is there anything worth exploring, or is it all open space desert?

Is this an "or" question? They're mutually exclusive?
blink.gif


Well, it's a matter of taste -- it depends on what you like.
If you want/like deep forests and raging rivers, then no -- not worth exploring. But though forests and water are not major features, mountains are. Nevada is, arguably, the most uniformly mountainous state. There are few places in Nevada where you can be more than 20 miles from a significant mountain range. On US 50 between Fallon, Nevada and Delta, UT you cross several 6000 - 7000 foot passes....one north-south-trending range after the other.

Anyway, a few of us like it and have reported on our adventures along "The Loneliest Road in America":

Year-End/New-Year Far-Eastern Nevada Trip of MarkBC

Winter Wandering in the West

Nevada's Great Basin

2012 Early-January to Central Nevada

Post Rally Central Nevada Tour

The Great Great Basin Over the Fourth


On the other hand...NO -- nothing to see here -- STAY AWAY!
biggrin.gif
 
Is this an "or" question? They're mutually exclusive?
blink.gif


Well, it's a matter of taste -- what you like. If you want/like deep forests and raging rivers, then no -- not worth exploring.

But a few of us like it and have reported on our adventures along "The Loneliest Road in America":

Year-End/New-Year Far-Eastern Nevada Trip of MarkBC

Winter Wandering in the West

Nevada's Great Basin

2012 Early-January to Central Nevada

Post Rally Central Nevada Tour

The Great Great Basin Over the Fourth


On the other hand...NO -- nothing to see here -- STAY AWAY!
biggrin.gif



You tell 'em Mark! Nothing there!

Smoke
 
You tell 'em Mark! Nothing there!

Smoke


The road goes up. The road goes down. Ranges and basins, ghost towns, high alpine terrain, broad valleys, big skies, evidence of people long before us, big game, little game, vastness, sand, sage, bristlecones, sane people, crazy people, a few in between, and a lifetime of opportunities for dawdling. The wise person would stay away, not go out there. You may never want to come back.

Choose wisely.
 
Is there anything worth seeing between here and there? Highway 50 might be interesting, but can I dwadle for 2 or 3 days? Is there anything worth exploring, or is it all open space desert?

Thanks!


Nothing there and nothing interesting if there were anything there. It's all space and open desert and certainly not worth exploring, no matter what MarkBC, SmokeCreek, Ski3pin, Camel Racer or Takeiteasy may claim. I know. I've been looking for something interesting in the Great Basin since the 1970s.

But it's all a matter of taste.
 
Wow, tough crowd. Bunch of sarcastic, smart-a$es.

Not sarcasm -- protective obscuration.
wink.gif
 
Sarcasm is good. It makes for some of the best threads on WTW. :)


I like wide open spaces, but 3 days of moonscape might be a little much. Because my camper trips tend to be north-south, all I know about the Nevada dessert is what I see looking out the window of the airplane. Based on MarkBC's post, I can see there is much more than sand and scrub. I was thinking about exploring on the way there and hoofing it back on Hwy 80. Now I see I need to plan to explore there and back.


What about camping? Should I plan to stay in a campground, or do you typically find a remote spot off the road and pop the top for the evening?
 
I like wide open spaces, but 3 days of moonscape might be a little much. Because my camper trips tend to be north-south, all I know about the Nevada dessert is what I see looking out the window of the airplane....
...What about camping? Should I plan to stay in a campground, or do you typically find a remote spot off the road and pop the top for the evening?

Camping: There are a few USFS campgrounds here and there along US50...but there're hundreds of miles of BLM roads along which "dispersed" camping is great.

A key point about "desert": It means "dry"; it doesn't mean "flat" or "sand" or "low-elevation". A lot of people, when they think of "desert" they think of movies of the Sahara; very few deserts are like that, mostly barren sand dunes...and maybe even the Sahara isn't like that in general.
Actually...I wish I could drive on the moon...take in a few days of moonscape!
tongue.gif
 
Nothing there and nothing interesting if there were anything there. It's all space and open desert and certainly not worth exploring, no matter what MarkBC, SmokeCreek, Ski3pin, Camel Racer or Takeiteasy may claim. I know. I've been looking for something interesting in the Great Basin since the 1970s.

But it's all a matter of taste.

:LOL:
He does have a point there. A long time ago, we had the English parents of the wife of our PIO come here for a visit; they took them out to the Smoke Creek/Black Rock Desert and they became real uncomfortable- almost to the point of being afraid because they didn't didn't have views and places with no people,like that back in merry old England. I remember one summer hiring four volunteers from back east and the mid west-3 city kids and one farm boy from Ohio-same problem. The farm boy fitted right in but the others were fairly uncomfortable and never really felt at home here in the great open spaces-also the farm boy was the only one who could drive a stick shift! I seem to remember a certain Sec. of Interior named Watt who had the same idea about these open spaces and lot's of nothingness, so he tried to sell all that ugly Public Land off. I guess it all depends on your prospective, me I don't like cities except for SF-then only for a Giants Game or some great food---then out as fast as I can to my open country! Yep, Mark taught us a new word in this thread-I wonder if he found it out there in one of those Great Basin canyons.

Smoke
 
:LOL:
He does have a point there. A long time ago, we had the English parents of the wife of our PIO come here for a visit; they took them out to the Smoke Creek/Black Rock Desert and they became real uncomfortable- almost to the point of being afraid because they didn't didn't have views and places with no people,like that back in merry old England. I remember one summer hiring four volunteers from back east and the mid west-3 city kids and one farm boy from Ohio-same problem. The farm boy fitted right in but the others were fairly uncomfortable and never really felt at home here in the great open spaces-also the farm boy was the only one who could drive a stick shift! I seem to remember a certain Sec. of Interior named Watt who had the same idea about these open spaces and lot's of nothingness, so he tried to sell all that ugly Public Land off. I guess it all depends on your prospective, me I don't like cities except for SF-then only for a Giants Game or some great food---then out as fast as I can to my open country! Yep, Mark taught us a new word in this thread-I wonder if he found it out there in one of those Great Basin canyons.

Smoke

Here's another word: "agoraphobia": fear of open spaces (one definition of it, anyway). Could be applied to the folks you're talking about.
wink.gif
 
Here's another word: "agoraphobia": fear of open spaces (one definition of it, anyway). Could be applied to the folks you're talking about.
wink.gif



So does that mean we are "antiagoraphobic" people? or is that a word??:LOL:

Smoke
 
I'd say so Smoke. I have different fears. Like being out in open spaces miles from anything and realizing I forgot to bring bacon. I doubt theres a word for that though
cool.gif
 
I will drive through Nevada, if for no other reason than to discover and face my phobia's. I know I'm not agoraphobic, but I am Thaasophobic. However, y'all have convinced me that if I get bored, it means I'm not looking hard enough at my surroundings.
 
I will drive through Nevada, if for no other reason than to discover and face my phobia's. I know I'm not agoraphobic, but I am Thaasophobic. However, y'all have convinced me that if I get bored, it means I'm not looking hard enough at my surroundings.

Cool new word! New to me, anyway. "Fear of idleness and boredom". Thanks!
smile.gif


Enjoy your thaaso-averting travels!
 
Thaaso-averitng travels! . Thraasophobic? . I don't think anyone ever called exploring in Nevada that before. My word, they didn't tell me I'd get a English education when I bought my FWC! Hey Stan maybe you should mention it in your sales pitch!!!!

Smoke:LOL:
 
I think you gave me another trip. Going northeast this summer, coming home I think we will go to ocean city, drive home 50,[1 hour south of us] then do the rest next year. Great place for ideas
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads - WTW

PR
Could Someone Give me Advice for a First Time Camper Exploring the Western U.S?
Casa Escarlata Robles Too
Casa Escarlata Robles Too
SE
East of the Washington Cascades
searching for nowhere
SE
SA
Iron Mountain
Casa Escarlata Robles Too
Casa Escarlata Robles Too
SA
Driving Class C in Yellowstone from Canyon Village to Tower-Roosevelt OR Chief Joseph Highway from Cody to Tower Junction
sandylcole
SA
Occidental
British Columbia, August 2024
Vic Harder
Vic Harder

New posts - WTW

Back
Top Bottom