DRIVE (Day 10 - part 1)

Interstate 80 carried us into and over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The Sierra Nevada (Spanish meaning snowy range) runs 400 miles north-south and some 70 miles across east-west. Notable features include Lake Tahoe (the largest alpine lake in North America, Mount Whitney (at 14,505 feet, the highest point in the contiguous US), Yosemite Valley, three national parks, twenty wilderness areas and two national monuments.

The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,653 miles long. It runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, and traverses California, Oregon and Washington. It skirts the top of the Sierras here.

During the 1840s, many pioneers left their homes in the east to resettle in the Oregon Territory or California, which were only accessible by a very long sea voyage or a dangerous overland journey across the frontier. Most wagon trains followed the Oregon Trail, which started in Missouri and went over the Continental Divide. Traveling about 15 miles a day, the journey typically took four to six months.

The Donner Party or Donner–Reed Party (after 60-year-old George Donner and 45-year-old James Reed) left Missouri on the Oregon trail in the spring of 1846. Instead of taking the usual route, they opted for a new one called the Hastings Cutoff, which, unbeknownst to them, was filled with extremely rugged terrain with steep inclines and difficult canyons, thick brush, expansive salt flats, hostile Native Americans, lack of grass and water, and added 150 miles to their travels. Progress was extremely slow, only about 1.5 miles per day. This resulted in numerous difficulties and delays, loss of nearly 100 oxen and cattle plus many horses and wagons, and ultimately caused them to be trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near here. With food supplies running extremely low, some of the group set out on foot for help (although most died), and the first help didn't arrive until almost four months later, in the middle of February. Of the 87 stranded members (about 1/3 of them being children under 6 years old), only 48 survived. Those that did had done so by eating the bodies of the deceased (including their own family members).

Nevada ... and Reno

We left the 80 and took the smaller 50 through Nevada. US Route 50 has been given the name of The Loneliest Road in America. While definitely sparsely populated, it was certainly beautiful, with endless rows of flat plains, rolling hills and snowy mountain ranges.

We actually did see plenty of wild mustangs here!

A mustang is a technically not a wild horse but rather a feral one. They are descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish.

The town of Fallon

Weights hung from the power lines, perhaps to steady them in high winds.

Salt Wells or Eight Mile Flat is a geothermal area.

Training ranges for the military

Remote, tiny towns with only a dozen or so homes

A tree filled with shoes!

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