Beautiful Lahontan Reservoir in October - NV

Silver Springs, NV
Lahontan State Rec Area


(This blog is from October of 2019)

We had a couple of weeks after leaving Carson City before we meet back up with John and Tina at the Italian Festival in Reno.  We are always wanting to spend more time in areas of Nevada we haven't been so we chose to stay at the Lahontan Reservoir in Silver Springs.

We weren't expecting much but were so surprised at how wonderful it was!  I'm sure being here in early October had a lot to do with it as there was almost no one here. We were also happy to see many trees, some in fall color, all around the lake and campground.  It was like a little oasis.

Our site #10 at Silver Lake Beach Campground.  No electric.  Central water and dump. Many of the sites are very long and easy to manuever in a large rig. $5!  What a deal!

There is a lot of sand and it must be very windy at times as the sand was blown and built up around the roads.

 We had a great site on the lake surrounded by trees and sandy beach.  Plenty of sun for our solar too. 

The entire time we were here it was very calm, sunny and fairly warm.  We enjoyed it so much that we extended our stay a couple more days.

We just spent our time relaxing, watching the clouds and listening to all the birds.  What a nice surprise this place was.  I'm sure we were just lucky with our timing.

 We didn't kayak but I tried fishing and that was a bust.

 Steve enjoying a cocktail using his chairside stump table.

The blue dot is the location of our campsite.

 We learned that we would be crossing paths with Gary and Leesa so we made a date to have dinner.

We went back to Red's Old 395 Grill.  Turned out it was Leesa's birthday so we picked up a large cupcake to celebrate.  How nice of them to share her birthday night with us.

 Our mornings and evenings were spent walking along the beach.  It's so peaceful here.

Mornings were a little chilly but sunny and calm so I'd have my coffee out of my favorite mug outside on the patio.

 This is the "toaster" that my family used when we camped when I was a kid!

Today's breakfast was a bagel with Jalapeno Cream Cheese on an Everything Bagel with fresh tomato for Steve and some Greek Yogurt with fresh berries and uncooked steel cut oatmeal for me.

During the week we stayed at camp but on Saturday we wanted to check out some things I found in the area which included the Historic California Trail and Fort Churchill State Historic Park.

Growing up in California and later raising our family in the small mining town of Placerville, we learned a lot about the wagon trains bringing people in, the Gold Rush and the Pony Express Mail.

Then we entered Fort Churchill and had a walk around the area.  It was free to get in and there was a small, but nice campground that we could've fit in, but had some low trees.  We both decided we liked it better were we were on the lake anyway.

 

 We walked around and read the plaques describing the fort, its use and what the buildings were.

Pretty desolate place for a fort.  They didn't do much in their free time except to fish the Carson River nearby and visit Buckland Station for a drink.

 

Over at the (closed for the season) Visitor Center, we walked around the large shady grounds and read more about the fort.

 

 

The Pony Express ran through our small town of Placerville and is memorialized each year during Wagon Days when they shut down the town and have a reenactment of the Pony Express. There is a group of volunteers that run old time wagons, horses, people walking, etc from Missouri to Sacramento where the route ends.  Large celebrations are had in each town along the way where the mail used to be delivered. 

Just down the road a bit is Buckland's Station.  Not much left but the old homestead they've turned into a museum and some barns and old equipment and a nice park.

 Colorful quilting squares on the barn.

 The old hotel.

 It was a full day and we had a beautiful sunset and 1/2 moon to finish things off.

There are few roads and many are dirt once you leave the main road.  I guess everyone that lives anywhere near this spot has their mailbox here. 

The dam on Lahontan Reservoir is located on the Carson River.  It is between Carson City and Fallon.

One dirt road we drove down must've had a nice home(s) at one point.  Two chimneys are all that's left.

 There were fences around them to keep grazing cattle out.

 We finished out trip with a visit to an ice cream parlor.

Hurley loved all the swimming and exploring he did here.  We'd definitely come back again in October at this campground.