Winnemucca, Nevada

[Brian Ellis]

Anyone know of anything photographically interesting - landscape, architecture, whatever - in or within an hour or so in any direction of Winnemucca, Nevada?

[Heroique]

Are you arriving from the NW (Hwy 140), and heading back that way?

Once there, all directions from Winnemucca take you into “basin and range” land.

Don’t stay long – the geologists say our continent is splitting open there, and will be an Ocean before you know it. The rifted, basin-range topography is the splitting apart of the land.

[Brian Ellis]

Are you arriving from the NW (Hwy 140), and heading back that way?

Once there, all directions from Winnemucca take you into “basin and range” land.

Don’t stay long – the geologists say our continent is splitting open there, and will be an Ocean before you know it. The rifted, basin-range topography is the splitting apart of the land.

I'm arriving from the NW but on US 95 (though I could get onto Hwy 140 if there was a reason to).

Thanks for the warning about the continent splitting and turning into an ocean. I'll bring my bathing suit. : - )

[austin granger]

If you take Jungo Road west, you can get to the Jungo Playa (dry lake bed). There are quite a few old wrecked cars and other such artifacts strewn about there, and if you turn north toward the end (this is all easy dirt road by the way), toward Trout Creek Ranch, you will be getting into the Jackson Mountains wilderness, a very dramatic area. King Lear Peak is especially breathtaking. The attached photo is not of this exact area (it's on the other side of the mountains), but gives a pretty good idea of the flavor of what you'd find on the Jungo Playa.

I wish I was going-I love it out there! Good luck.

[Keith S. Walklet]

Brian,

The section of highway 95 north of Winnemucca is a gorgeous drive. I am guessing you'll be coming via Abert Lake and the Abert Rim in Oregon, catching 95 at Burns Junction?

Coming south on 95, the peaks get closer and more dramatic along the highway near Orovado, and it seems, the weather always gets more interesting there.

Paradise Valley, a tiny town off 290 east of 95, has a bunch of interesting buildings.
There are dunes north of Winnemucca, some accessible off Sand Pass Road, others, clearly visibile on Google Earth on the east side of 95 that I have yet to visit.

The Shooting The West conference has a field workshop to visit the dunes, and then west of Winnemucca on 80 is Thunder Mountain, the destination of the last day's rendevous.

You might also consider a loop trip when heading home, going west on 80 to Fernley/Wadsworth and making a detour north to Pyramid Lake.

[Drew Wiley]

The Santa Rosa mtns and wilderness area are due north. A decent dirt road goes back up in there and across. Noted for wildflowers in the late spring and early summer, aspens in fall, plus some quaint little towns.

[Jim Graves]

Brian ... try out this feature on Google Maps ... you will be able to look at many photos taken at prime photo spots along your proposed route and around Winnemucca ... even in the desert, the dry lake beds, and the mountains.

When you go to Google Maps, put in Winnemucca ... opt for the satellite view ... when Winnemucca appears on the satellite map view, zoom out [using either the - sign on the far left or the scroll wheel on your mouse] ... zoom out enough to have Winnemucca in the right-hand side of the view and the 2 large dry lake beds due west of Winnemucca on the left-hand side of the view [you can move the view by left-clicking and holding and dragging.]

Now, move your cursor far to the top-left, atop the little orange man just above the + sign, left click and hold and drag the man over the dry lake beds and hold him there ... after a little time (depending on how fast your connection is) there will appear a bunch of blue dots ... each dot signifies a photo taken at that spot ... drag the orange man over to one of the dots so that the green dot that moves below the orange man is directly covering the blue dot ... a small photo will appear above the little man ... now release the hold on your left click and the photo taken at that spot will appear in place of the satellite map. To go back and try more, just click on the "x" at the top-right of the photo frame and the satellite map will reappear and you can look at a photo taken at one of the other blue dots in the vicinity.

You'll also note ... when you drag the orange man out ... that most of the roads turn blue also ... if you put the green dot under the orange man over a spot on the blue-marked road and release your right click, the actual road view will appear on the screen. Your can rotate the view 360 degrees and look at the entire area.

You can also "drive" either way on the road by clicking on the ^ or inverted ^ that appear on the road (or near the road.) This is a great way for finding out what an intersection ... or side road ... or your motel ... looks like.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Hello Jim,

I remember going through there on my way back from Cali on HW I-80

I jumped off on a side road was like a frontage road turned northwest and I shot a black cloud forming over a mountain ..
I can remember water rushing all around my feet under the grass.. I thought there might be a flash flood where I was but I didn't notice myself being near a wash but I was at the base of a huge hill.
Anyway,, I went through town and seen some cool old buildings I think I ate at a nice resturant ..
Drove north of town some it was nice and hilly but no where to turn off ..

If I can find my black cloud over mountain I will post it..
wish I'd known about the dry lake!

[Vaughn]

Years ago I was driving out around there...thru Gerlach -- probably on Jungo Road, heading towards Winnimucca. Middle of winter, pretty dang cold. I spotted some steam rising off aways from the road and there was a dirt road to a hot springs. Nice to wake up with a hot soak. Would have been nicer if I wasn't woke up through the night by the ore trains rattling 30 feet away.

Took a couple 4x5 B&W of the rising sun shining through the steam -- negatives and a print are buried around here somewhere.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for all the replies. Austin and Vaughan - I've read a lot of warnings about Jungo Road and needing off-road tires because of the risk of flat tires, vehicles damaged because of rocks, holes, gravel, etc. Are those warnings exaggerated? Keith - I'm going to the conference but only staying two days, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm doing a Wednesday night field trip to some of the dunes but I won't be there for Thunder Mountain. If you're attending the conference hopefully we can meet. I'm going over to the Alabama Hills on Friday.