Exploring the Mining Town of Pioche & Colorful Cathedral Gorge

Panaca, Nevada

Cathedral Gorge State Park

The last half of Steve's vacation we'll spend with 2014 RV Friends, Lee & Trace.  We haven't seen them for 3 years so we are looking forward to some fun times!  The road from Goldfield takes us back along Hwy. 375, better known as the The Extraterrestrial Highway.

We've been along here before.  Pretty drive but still no Alien sightings.

About 15 miles out of Warm Springs, Hot Creek follows along the road.  With all the monsoon rains the basin fills up making a little lake.  Strange to see this little "lake" out in the middle of the desert.  This is the first time we've seen it fill up.

The scenery is rugged and pretty.  Filled with Joshua Trees.

Just past the Alien Research Center (an old souvenir shop) is the junction of 318/375/93.  We stopped at the Rest Area in the middle of all this by Frenchy Lake and had a little picnic lunch under these huge Cottonwood trees.

This part of 93, The Great Basin Highway, was new to us. We always love a new route!

It wasn't long before we were pulling into Cathedral Gorge State Park.

Lee and Trace had been here a couple of days before us and made sure we had a nice spot.

50a/water/garbage/dump, $30 ($20 if you're a NV resident). Site #10.

There was this happy little sunflower growing next to our site.

It wasn't long before Jack came over to say Hello, dragging Trace.

Our tradition of cooking for the newcomers continued and Lee made a fantastic, hearty chili with fixin's.  Super yummy and always a nice treat to not have to cook when arriving late in the day.  We had a great time catching up and sharing stories.  Trace had to work most of the week so we split our time up exploring on our own and doing some things together.

   

The Visitor Center was not staffed while we were there but we looked around then headed up to the small mining town of Pioche.

The Arcane Mine

Once again Geocaching brought us to some nice historical spots like this old stamp mill.  Pioche was first settled in 1864 but was quickly abandoned due to several Indian raids.  It was resettled in 1868 after the raids were stopped and silver mining began.

There are many sights to enjoy in this town of 1000 that sits on the side of the mountain at just over 6000 feet.  There are many cute homes clustered together on a section clinging onto a narrow road with a tremendous view of the town and valley below.

I loved the signs in these folk's yard.  There was a tiny, teacup poodle barking while on duty!

At least he admits it!

We quickly ended up, as usual, at the cemetery where we saw ore buckets running overhead.  One of the most amazing sights is the Pioche Aerial Tramway that runs from the mines up at Treasure Hill down to the Godbe Mill.  The weight and gravity of the full buckets going down was enough to carry the empty ones back up.  This ingenious method kept the ore dangled above the town rather than through it which would disrupt the rest of the towns businesses.

There are many graves here, but his section of Boot Hill is where the first 72 criminals were buried before anyone died of natural causes.

One of the oldest dates we found.  Born in Cornwall, England in 1806.

See that brick smokestack on the left?  That is the Godbe Mill.  We tried to visit it later in the day.

We drove through town and walked through some of the establishments including the town museum.

Our welcoming committee.

The gentleman in charge was very friendly and pointed out a few items.  This place was packed full of history, documents, pictures and other things.

My favorite was the old juke box.

We popped into the Overland Hotel and Saloon looking for a spot to maybe eat later in the week.

My video didn't come out but this creepy guy greets you with outstretched mechanical arms and offers free hugs.  We passed!  Halloween decorations were all through town.

The bar was cool as always in these old places but there really isn't any food to be found except pizza here and a sandwich shop across the street.  The barkeep said we should try out the Alamo Club & Liquor Outlet at the other end of town as they just started serving food again.

There was an old 1928 Harley in one of the empty store windows.

The first Episcopal Church built in 1872.

"That looks interesting.  Let's drive down there."

The Mountain View Hotel, built in 1895 which once hosted Herbert Hoover as well as many US senators and governors. I'd loved to have been able to walk around inside.  It is leaning and very unstable though.  Also closed up.

Right next door is the "Million Dollar Courthouse".  A contractor was hired to build it for $26,400. Problem was the town didn't have all the money so they purchased some bonds valued at $25,000.  It only took a year to finish building but the property was so mismanaged that the new price tag was $88K.  They had to finance that with a huge rate.  By time it was paid off in 1937, it cost 1 Million!  It's now the Historical Museum.  Like many other places we've been, most of these gems are still closed since Covid.  Understaffing?  Money problems?  I don't know but I'd wish they'd open back up.

Back to that brick smokestack.

The Godbe Mill was built in 1891.  It burned down a couple of times and was rebuilt.  It shut down for good in 1980.  It took us a couple of tries down sandy back roads but we finally were able to get to the gate.  Due to the No Trespassing signs, we did not go further and just took pictures.

I don't know what it's used for now.  We had a great day exploring Pioche.

When Trace was finished with work, we took one of the shorter hikes, Eagle Trail, up along the ridge.

This gave us a really good view of the spires and pinkish-peach colored cliffs.

Lee and Trace.

Crazy kids getting so close to the edge!

You can see some of Lee's pictures on their blog, Camper Chronicles.

Stone water tower built by the CCC.  More on this later.

We're just getting started here at Cathedral Gorge.  A big thanks to Steve & Dianne for bringing this amazing park (with slot canyons!) to my attention!  I can't believe I've overlooked it!

On our way driving here, we got some great news from our son, Shane.  He and Lindsay are engaged!

Congratulations you two!  You have a great future coming!