The New Forgotten Winchester Rifle Exhibit

 In November 2014, Cultural Resources Program Manager Eva Jensen was doing a survey in Great Basin National Park. She happened to spot an old rifle leaning against a tree. The rifle was a Winchester Model 1873 Lever Action Rifle  The story went around the world, as I reported in this blog post. Who had left it? Why had it been left behind?

No one knew the answers. Trying to find out more, the park sent the rifle to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. They learned it had been made in 1882. They x-rayed it and found a bullet in it. They also stabilized it so that it would last longer.

Then it was put on display prominently in the Lehman Caves Visitor Center (LCVC).

This winter, the LCVC will have new cave and astronomy exhibits installed, so it was time to find a new home for the rifle. The Great Basin National Park Foundation and The Fund for People in Parks helped fund a new exhibit space in the Great Basin Visitor Center. The day came when it was time to move the rifle to its new exhibit space.

Cultural resources staff carefully took it out of its display case and put it into a travel case.

Exhibit specialists had spent days getting the new spot ready. Here's Eva, ready to put the rifle in its new display case.


This display case is really cool, with a photo of the juniper tree in the background, and then the rifle slightly forward of that. Lighting in the case makes it stand out better than the photo shows.

 The exhibit also includes information about the rifle and its place in the American West.

My favorite part, though, is the model Winchester. You can actually work the lever and understand better how the gun works. This made me look even closer at the Forgotten Winchester. 

It's a great new display! The Great Basin Visitor Center is in Baker, Nevada, just north of the main part of town. It's open 8 to 4:30 every day in summer. Check out this cool exhibit and step back in time!

Dramatic Fall Lighting

I was coming back from a Parent and Teachers Association meeting when I realized that the distant lighting was amazing and would be fun to photograph. After checking in with my husband and saying good night to the kids, I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed out to the Baker Archeological Site. I  took multiple 30-second long photos. It seemed like the lightning always came between the photos! I persisted, and finally got some okay shots. It seemed like the lightning had slowed down from what I had seen earlier.  But then a different area of the storm became more active. I moved over, set up again, and started having more success. But the thunder was getting louder. I decided I didn't have much more time. I pressed the shutter release for another 30-second exposure and got some great lightning right away. And then some more just at the end, nearly in the same spot. The thunder boomed, and I ran to the car. Rain drops started pelting me before I got to the end of the road. But the resulting photo was great, a Lightning Woman, striding across the valley.

The storm brought some snow to the higher peaks.

 It's migration time, and we are seeing loads of birds down on the ranch. They fatten up on the leftover corn before they head further south.

 One morning while eating breakfast I peeked out the window and saw an amazing sunrise. I had the kids come out with me to witness the vibrant colors.

I was doing a happy little dance as I took photos. We live in such a beautiful world! There's nothing like a terrific sunrise or sunset to renew us.

Here's hoping you find some beauty in your day!

Johnson Lake-Snake Divide Ridge Trail Run

I guess I was getting kind of antsy to get out in the backcountry, but I had a limited amount of time. So I decided to do a trail run up to Johnson Lake, down the ridge to Snake Divide Ridge, and then back to the trailhead. Okay, more of it was not a trail than was, but that was okay. And the forecast was for clouds but probably not rain.

I packed some clothes, food, and drinks, and set off. It was beautiful driving up the Snake Creek Road. And as I started down the trail, the sun lit up the aspen leaves.

To be honest, I was walking more than running on the uphill. But I'd try every once in awhile to get some running in.

I didn't take my good camera, just my phone. It can shoot in RAW, which can be a lot of fun with more options for camera settings and more abilities to post process (I didn't do any for these except a little cropping). Even though my main goal was trail running, I couldn't resist taking some photos. I was also listening to an audiobook, A Man Called Ove, which I highly recommend to adults.

There is a new sign up by the Johnson Mill, so I had to stop and take a look at it. The sign explains how the tungsten ore was brought down and put through the mill.

Last year Historicorps restored the old stable (foreground). It looks like it will survive a lot longer.

I found another new sign up by the cabins near Johnson Lake.

This big building was the cookhouse.

Just a bit further I reached Johnson Lake, with clouds covering the mountains around it. The vegetation has turned color, indicating it won't be long until winter reaches this area.

I started up into those clouds, pausing by the old wheelbarrow.

When I got up to the ridge, the trail (more of a route than a trail) heads over to Baker Lake. I wanted to go the opposite direction, so I was on my own. I had hiked this ridge in 2005, so I knew kind of what to expect. But it had also been a lot of years! And now I was in the clouds. Plus my phone battery had plopped down to 5% because of the cold, so I turned it off, ending my route recording and audiobook.

The clouds were thick and I couldn't even see Spring Valley. But as I advanced to the Middle Fork of Snake Creek (Johnson Lake is in the North Fork), the clouds lifted briefly and I could see to the east.

 The clouds kept on floating by, and at one point I was tempted to follow a ridge to the east, but guessed I really should keep going south. That was good, because it took me to the Snake Divide Ridge and the amazing grove of bristlecones. I now knew I was going to be going mostly downhill. And I had to be somewhere in Baker at 2:30, and it was now 12:00. The countdown was on. Would I make it in time? Even though I was running, I paused to take photos. I couldn't resist the Quarter Tree (featured on the Great Basin National Park Quarter).

And at one point the clouds lifted enough I could see the ridge I had just been on with the great colors. That is a really fun part of the ridge.

The "trail" follows an old road for awhile. Then I was going cross country (I had hiked this part a couple years ago so knew more or less where I should be going.) Fortunately I eventually came across this scratched trail. The Snake Divide Trail was never finished (even though there's a big sign about it at the trailhead, and there's no notice on it that the trail isn't finished). This part was about six to eight inches wide.

The clouds kept flying by, and I enjoyed seeing the variety of trees and rocks. Bristlecones abound, but as the elevation gets lower, the trees get higher. Here's the view into the rugged Big Wash watershed.

From a cliff I could look out across the Snake watershed and see the splash of aspen that I had been in a few hours earlier.

The trail improved as I headed downhill.

And finally I reached the Shoshone Trail, which goes further south to Big Wash. I took the other direction and headed to the Snake Creek trailhead.

I found some more pockets of beautiful color. But the clock was ticking, so I had to keep running.

And finally I was in sight of the trailhead! It took about 5.5 hours to do the trail run/hike. A more reasonable amount of time, so that you can savor the sights and eat more snacks, would be about 8-9 hours or even a backpacking trip. If you lose the trail, it will take a little time to re-find it. Definitely know your route here, because there are a couple old mining roads that could take you down into North Fork Big Wash, and then you'll have lots of bushwhacking to do.

The total mileage was somewhere about 11-12 miles based on Google Maps (I guessed some switchbacks, not knowing exactly where they were, especially on the unfinished trail). Map My Run showed it exactly 4.0 miles from the trailhead to Johnson Lake.

Looking at the elevation profile makes me feel better about only going 2 mph. That route had about 3600 feet elevation change! And according to the Google calculator, I probably had over 4770 feet of elevation gain/loss due to additional ups and downs.


If you want to get into some of the rugged backcountry of Great Basin National Park, this is a fun loop, but it is high elevation, long, steep, and most of it has no cell service, so go prepared. There's also no water from Johnson Lake back to the trailhead along the Snake Divide trail.

2018 Ely Air Races

The Inaugural Ely Air Races were held in June 2018. I didn't want to miss an historic event, so we went. I had never been to air races before, so I didn't know what to expect. And since I wasn't sure that we would like them, I wasn't too keen on paying the $50 family fee and $15 parking fee (which they ended up not charging), so I signed us up as volunteers. The organizers said they needed lots of volunteers, so we were happy to help out.

 We signed up to help pick up trash on Saturday morning from 8 am to 10 am. I figured an early morning shift would be cooler, plus then we'd have the rest of the day to observe. 

When we got there, the tethered hot air balloons were still up in the air. They had started at 5 am the last three mornings. Folks could pay a fee and go up in the hot air balloons.


This is something I still haven't tried and would like to someday.

Hot air balloons do best early in the morning with a big temperature difference and slight winds, so a little after 8 am, it was time to deflate them.

It was interesting watching the process of getting all the air out of a big balloon.

Here are the stickers on the bottom of the basket.

Then the balloon is strapped in place and put away.

Soon after we watched this old Russian (or Chinese) trainer aircraft arrive. (I didn't remember the details, but Desert Boy remembered more than me.)

The National Anthem was sung.

And it was time to look at planes! Desert Boy went for a closer look.

So did Desert Girl.

Then the planes for the first race were towed to the starting line.

And they were off!

I don't know how they decided who was taking off first.

It was fun seeing the different colors of planes.

The planes flew around a circuit, so it was sort of like a race track in the air.

It was a little noisy, but not overwhelming.

It was really fun when a plane chased another one.

 How fast can you go? These races were touted as the highest elevation air races in the world.

The crowd kept increasing on the Saturday morning. There really wasn't much litter to pick up, so we could watch quite a bit of the races. It was about half an hour in between races.

Time to fly again!

The yellow plane is ahead...

...but not for long!

Now the white one is trying to pass! (Sorry, my plane knowledge isn't too extensive, so the colors were my best way of telling them apart.)

 At one point the AirMed plane took a patient to Salt Lake City. That's a fairly frequent occurrence, as Ely has a simple hospital and more complicated cases go to the big city.

A number of booths were set up. I was interested to see that Southern Utah University has a bit aviation program, with both fixed wing (plane) and helicopter programs.

Desert Boy enjoyed asking some questions at this booth.

Overall, we enjoyed our time, and we hope to attend next year. Kudos to everyone who helped put it on, it's not easy to get a new event going. Here's more info on the Ely Air Races, and an article from Air Race 1.