Mining Towns, Castles, Locust Invasion, Petroglyphs & Charcoal Ovens - Oh MY! - Nevada!

Austin, Nevada
Bob Scott NF Campground 

There have been a few times driving Hwy 50 that we have passed this National Forest campground at the summit in Austin and wanted to stay there.  Well this time we were able to.

Bob Scott National Forest Campground sits at 7185 feet elevation.  It's much cooler when the rest of Nevada is baking hot.  It's an easy pull-off right from the highway.  Maybe a 1/4 mile nicely paved road.  It's a small campground with maybe 12 campsites.  Several could fit our 40' 5er.  Many are not too level but not bad.  There are scattered water spigots but no dump or garbage.  Highway noise is minimal.  Great Verizon signal. $10/$5 with Sr. Pass, #3.

We were at the back of the loop where some cows graze on the other side of the fence.

There's a nice view of the mountains and lots of Juniper and Pinon Pine in the campground.  While your rig may not be shaded, there is plenty of shade in the sites.  We really loved this campground.

We spent a couple days exploring the town of Austin. First up was the castle.  You can see it driving up the dirt road right out of town.

Anson P. Stokes was a mine developer and railroad magnate and built the castle as a summer home for his sons.  It was completed in June 1897 but the family only used it for two months.  With one other exception the structure has remained unoccupied.  Each of the three floors had a fireplace, windows and balconies.

Here’s what it looked like back then.

There are still some mine remnants on the grounds.  The castle had a fantastic view. 

The Austin Cemetery is actually four cemeteries next to each other.  They must have been pretty prosperous as most of the markers were elaborate.  Many Italian and Irish families.

The Masonic Cemetery was across the road.

St. George Episcopal Church

We drove around and admired the history of the town then headed back to camp.

At the summit we came upon a scene we have seen before.  A very creepy one.  A Locust swarm.  YUCK!

They are sometimes called Jerusalem Crickets.  They are about 3 inches long and travel in swarms, mostly marching to their next meal.  This could be the nearest bush or the nearest dead body of their buddy.  They are cannibals too and will eat each other.

They have been more of a problem this year in some areas of the Western states.  We have seen them in Utah in greater numbers.  Really gross.  Thankfully they were only in that one area on that one day.

So gross!

  A nice evening.

   

Besides 6/28 being the end of our 8 years on the road and starting our 9th, it was Hurleys 14th birthday!  Wow, how time flies!  He never misses a snack!

Happy Birthday Hurley!!

Goodbye Bob Scott Campground.  Next stop Ely, Nevada to meet some friends.

We ran out of time to see some hot springs and another ghost town, but we did stop along the way to see the Hickison Petroglyphs.  They are about 24 miles east of Austin. There is a small campground and picnic area here as well.  Decent dirt road that has a large parking/turnaround area for a trailer.  Stay left and don't turn toward the campground sign.

There's a short, easy loop trail with a couple overlooks that will take you to the pictographs.  I have to say that we were not too impressed with them.  There weren't very many and they are hard to see.  While they do have game cameras up to watch for vandalism, they either caught them too late or they do not monitor them.  Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of graffiti on the rocks.  Too bad some people are so stupid.

The markings are very faint.

Hard to see until you zoom in.

Up these stone steps we found a dragon.

See his head and snout?  Pretty cool.

Nice views from the overlooks.

Ugg, another one.  Glad he was alone. He must've missed the marching orders.

Cameras don't help much if you don't enforce the criminal acts.

We continue on Hwy 50 heading east and pass several north to south running mountain ranges and wide valleys.

Several pit mines and colorful tailings along the way on Hwy 50, also known as the Pony Express Trail and the Lincoln Highway.

 

We have spent time in Eureka before visiting friends.  This is a small but cute town that is quite well off due to the mine outside of town.

One more ridge and Ely is on the other side.  If you didn't know, it's pronounced EE-lee.

So many large open pit copper mines out here.  There are over 10,000 mines around Ely!

Very colorful.

Ruth, Nevada

Ward Mountain NF CG

What a surprise this National Forest campground was.  It sits at 7300' elevation.  It has 3 loops with one in particular set up for larger rigs.  We stayed in this loop.  There is water, bathrooms, tables and fire pits.  Plenty of shade from Junipers and Pinon Pines.  The water wasn't working this trip as they are re-doing it.  So come with a full tank.  $12/$6 with Sr. Pass, #16.

We arrived in the late afternoon and set up.

There was a beautiful sunset going on but we were hungry and wanted to head back to Ely for a quick dinner.

The walls were full of nice mounts.  Only my hunter friends will appreciate this A-typical horn growth.

We split an order of wings and had some yummy signature cocktails.

Cute town lit up at night like a mini-Reno.  We didn't get to spend any time exploring the town itself, so next time we'll do that.  There's also a great Railroad Museum here.

The next day our friends John & Tina (and their niece Cherie) parked next to us for a few days.

We enjoyed watching the sunset and having a bit of fun.  There was an unusual funnel in this sunset.

Strange, but beautiful!

The next day us girls took a short hike.  It was a hot day, but there was some shade.  Not much variety but always nice to be back on a trail.

We did spot a bird house along the way.

Hurley enjoying his favorite part of the campfire.

These Ten Lined June Beatles were flying around the lights and campfire at night.  Another yucky bug invasion.  The males have feathery antennae.  I learned they hatch in June/July and they are about 1 1/2 inches long.  Lucky us to be here for that. 

We all headed over to check out the Charcoal Ovens.  They were really cool and in great shape.  They were built in the 1870s.  It took 35 cords of wood (6 acres worth of trees) to fill each oven.  They then burned the wood for 12 days to get the perfect amount of coal used in the smelters to process the ore.  This resulted in the hills being stripped of all trees for 35 miles in all directions.  Charcoal was soon replaced by other methods and the ovens were abandoned.  They became shelters for prospectors in bad weather and sometimes hideouts for bandits.

Looking up you can see all the soot on the ceilings and sides.

 

Very colorful lichen growing on them.  Pretty flowers nearby.

It was a very informative trip but now we have built up appetites.  John is cooking some bison steaks he bought back in Kansas.

  

Oh yum!  Great dinner and then that spectacular sunset was back!

More silliness.

Tina, Me & Cherie

WOW!

A nice campfire enjoyed with some great Port before we say goodbye to our friends as they continue west and we continue east.

Next up we explore Nevada's only National Park.