Bonneville, Great Basin & Beyond

9 August


First a correction and an apology! Claire, our wild life expert has pointed out that the family of badgers mentioned in the last blog looked very much like raccoons. She is of course correct!!! As this only “Tech Check” day of speed week we decided not to go out to the “Salt”. We walked the length of the West

Wendover (Nevada) strip. There are 5 huge casino/hotels all side by side and a concert hall. Our luck, Willy Nelson is playing just after we leave. (could be good or bad luck depending on your musical taste). We ventured into a couple of the casinos which had huge gaming floors. We were keen to check out the restaurants for dinner tonight. Back at “Ernie” we made the most of a nice pool. In the cool of the evening we walked back to the Rainbow Casino

and had a great rib eye steak meal ($9.50). There was a band playing blues at the cabaret area. The lead singer had a voice a bit like Joe Cocker.

10 August

RACE DAY. We were on the road to Bonneville Salt Flats by 8:15am and soon joined the back of a queue of vehicles. Admission was $15 and we

were given a small map which made very little sense to us. We had tried to find information about the event earlier and came to the conclusion that it is very much a competitor driven event.

There are about 550 competitors who have 7 days to achieve their goal times. We drove for about 8 miles across the salt and eventually parked in a likely area. There are no designated parking areas. We discovered we were about 3 miles up the long course beside the pits

and tech check lanes. There were 4 courses. The long course is about 8 miles long with time checks after mile 1,2,3,4 and 5. All the fastest cars and bikes run on this course. As racing had not started yet we hopped on our bikes and rode thru the pits for a quick look. There are a huge range of vehicles ranging from dragster-like rails (with thin wheels), roadsters, classic cars, 50cc motorbikes, 2500cc

motorbikes with full streamlining. We found a place to sit and watch course 1. The cars are a long way in the distance. There is a radio station broadcasting the car ID’s and times thru each check. The third car thru was the real deal and achieved a thrilling 434 mph. For the rest of the day no one else came close to this time. It was a bit like the Tour De France. The event is all about the atmosphere. After lunch back at “Ernie” we rode thru the pits again for a more in depth look. It is very much a huge club event and we could go anywhere. Lots of fans have cars just to cruise around the pits and spectator areas. We talked to a guy with a Bert Munro type bike. He new Bert and even said Bert “hit” on his aunty. A small crowd reminisced on Bert’s achievements. Back to course 1 for some more passes. The times were getting slower as a cross wind had picked up. The noise of the huge engines going flat out is impressive. Competitors can line up for a run at any time that suits them.

Near 5:00pm few wanted to run so we came home, driving slowly across the salt so that it would not stick under “Ernie”. Everyone else just raced across the salt and the salt sticks around the wheels and mud guards. It sets like concrete! Back at our camp for a swim and a pizza - tired but happy.

11 August

We left Wendover and headed south down Hwy 93 to Ely. The first 30 miles was thru some desolate country but the valleys and mountains became beautiful as we neared Ely.

We had decided to take a 70 mile detour east on the I50 to the Great Basin National Park. The drive in was thru a vast valley and we were wondering if we had made the right decision. At the visitors centre we found out about the camping, the road up to Wheeler Peak and booked a tour thru the Lehman Caves for tomorrow. We drove up the road towards Wheeler Peak and chose a camp site. We are at 7500ft so it is nice and cool. I spent about an hour cleaning underneath Ernie to ensure there was no salt remaining.

12 August

Back down the road to the visitor’s centre for our 10:30am tour of the Lehman Caves. The tour was 1 hour and although we have been thru many limestone caves, this one was pretty special. It was very small and intimate with tight passages between the rooms. Back into the daylight and up the road to Wheeler Peak. There was a camp at the top but we had decided to go back to last night’s camp. The road was a gradual climb to 10500ft

where we parked and had lunch. We followed a trail for about 5 miles up towards Wheeler Peak (13,100ft) where there were some spectacular Bristlecone Pine trees. These are old gnarly trees which are 1000s of years old. They are the oldest living things in the world!! Some were over 3000 years old and still alive. These old trees with the back ground of the Wheeler Peaks were very special. Our return took us passed a couple of alpine lakes.

Back down the long descent to our camp site. In the evening we watched a meteor shower (shooting stars) which the rangers had told us would happen. The Great Basin NP was well worth the 140 odd mile detour.

13 August

We retraced our route to Ely and after fuelling up we set off on the I 50 which is the original route west. It is called the Loneliest Road in the USA. Between Ely and Lake Tahoe (350 odd miles) there are only 2 minor towns. We stopped for lunch in Eureka, an old mining town. We are camped at the Hickison Rec Area. The road has been great with beautiful mountains between huge flat valleys. We have covered about half the distance to the Lake Tahoe area.

14 August

Back on the I 50. If you can imagine a line of dinner plates, it’s a bit like the road. You climb up over the rim, descend into the centre and then slowly climb the rim and into the next dinner plate. These plates would be 30 miles in diameter. We found it really beautiful in a deserted kind of way. The country eventually changed into a farming area and we went thru a couple of small towns before turning off towards Carson City. We have camped at a deserted state park below a dam by a river. We are the only ones here and it’s a nice peaceful place.

15 August

We stopped at Carson City to shop before heading up to Lake Tahoe at 6250ft.

The lake is beautiful, set off by huge pine trees along the shore line. After a petrol stop (should have fuelled up at Carson City where it was 60c/gallon cheaper) we tried to find the state park we had chosen to stay in. We are now in California as the Nevada /California border goes down the middle of Lake Tahoe. As we could not find the state park (wrong GPS coordinates) we ended up in a small forest camp very near the lake shore and found a nice site. It was a short walk thru a park to the beach beside a boat launching ramp. The swimming was “refreshing.”

16 August

There is a great cycleway along the lake shore which we used to get to Tahoe City about 2 miles away.

At the visitors centre we found a helpful lady who gave us great information for Nicola’s family skiing trip at Christmas. She was also surprised that we had found a good cheap campsite. Back to “Ernie” and have decided to stay here 3 nights to explore this area and we have managed to book another camp for 2 nights further down the lake. We returned to our “local” beach for swimming and a read. There were many boats coming and going. In the evening we walked down to a beaver dam which has been flooding the camp road. We spied a baby beaver but did not see the adult. There is also a local female bear and her cub but we have not seen them.

17 August

We set off for a long ride down the lake on the cycle way. The holiday homes in this area are fantastic, some log and a lot of stone work.

The really flash ones are behind tall fences with ornate gates. The God Father movie was shot here. (Look in your beds for horses heads!) At a nice beach we stopped for a swim. The water seems a bit chillier! The cycleway ran out about 10 miles from our camp and we found an outdoor bar and grill for lunch. On our return trip we stopped again for another swim. Lake Tahoe is very crowded as this is the last week before most schools go back. Back at “Ernie” we realised that it was hazy and a thick smoke was everywhere. We walked down to the launching ramp and beach to check it out. We could not see the

other side of the lake for the smoke. We watched the loading of boats onto trailers which was made easy by a great ramp and wharf system. We were told the smoke was from a forest fire about 60 miles away. Another large forest fire is burning in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho where were camped just over 2 weeks ago. We seem to be dodging the forest fires. Hope that keeps up!

18 August

We left our nice little camp and headed down the lake for about 15 miles where we are in a camp at Meeks Bay with power and water but no laundry much to Val’s disgust! There is still some smoke around from the fires but not as bad as yesterday. After lunch we went down to the beach which, unlike further north is sandy. We had a great swim in a crowded beach but it is Sunday. There is a big marina here with an entrance straight off the beach.