Thursday, May 4, 2006
Rye Patch State Rec Area, Lovelock, NV - May 3-4
This was our first time to camp in Nevada. The attractive, no-hookup campground is immediately below the earthen dam that forms the reservoir on the Humboldt River. The setting is extremely pleasant, camping by a river with snow-covered peaks visible in the distance. Because of recent rains, one loop of the cg was closed due to flooding, but there were still lots of empty spaces. The cost was $10/night.
Lovelock is a small community 25 miles SW of Rye Patch with the slogan "Lock Your Love in Lovelock". They sell locks in the shape of two overlapping hearts, adapted from an ancient Chinese tradition. In the 19th century, Lovelock was a resting & restocking stop for wagon trains headed for California. Just west of Lovelock lies the Forty-mile Desert, the most dreaded stretch of the emigrant trail. It was usually traveled at night; even so, starvation and dehydration stalked man and beast at every mile. A survey made in 1850 (only seven years after the first crossing) showed the following grim statistics: 1061 dead mules, almost 5000 dead horses, 3750 dead cattle, and 953 graves, and this was only the beginning of the Gold Rush -- the heaviest traffic was from 1849 to 1869. Forty-niners were faced with the unenviable choice of going south across the Forty-mile Desert, or north across the Black Rock Desert, a volcanic wasteland now most well known for the Burning Man Festival, a celebration of "radical self-expression" held the week prior to Labor Day. To learn more about the festival, visit www.burningman.com.Our only excursion (other than birding around the park) was to The Oasis, a pizza pub within 1 mile of the park. The pizza was very good and the owner was quite chatty as she hustled between our side and the bar, where a couple of locals were enjoying a game of pool with their beers.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 3:23 PM 
