Friday,
18th May to Monday, 21st May, 2018; to the Schell Creek Mountains.
C1671
“Desert Rain”
Oil Study on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel
3½” x 9¼”
Pigments
used in the painting:
Imprimatura:
Rublev Ercolano Red;
Drawing:
W&N Cobalt & Ultramarine Deep Blues;
Pigments:
W&N Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Orange;
Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge
Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, & Lead White #2.
Just
down the hill from Great Basin National Park, a couple of miles north of Baker,
is the Baker Archaeological Site. It is
worth a twenty minute visit to stroll to the site of the former dig, reading
the guide, provided in the steel box at the beginning of the trail, and to think
about and visualize those who have gone before.
At the dig site there are low adobe walls marking the layout of the
building that were excavated here, and on the way features in the landscape and
plants have been brought to your attention that have a bearing on the Fremont
Culture whose community this was. The
Fremont Culture was contemporaneous with the Anisazi peoples (otherwise known
as the Ancestral Puebloans), of Hovenweep, Mesa Verde & Chaco Canyon, but
occupied the territories north and west from them. They have been considered as the country
hicks of era, but the excavations done here were instrumental in changing that
perspective. It appears that they were
more sophisticated than previously thought, and that they were victims of the less
long-lasting materials they had at their disposal (adobe, wood, etc.), compared
to the stone buildings of the Ancestral Puebloans.
From here I moved on to Ely, Nevada, on US Hwy
50, billed as the loneliest road in America (the Extra-terrestrial Highway further
south is lonelier, as far as I am concerned).
For the past couple of days I had been studying the map and mulling over
where I might look for campsite to continue charging my AGM deep-cycle battery,
for a day or two, after I filled up my petrol tank, and got some dry ice to
delay the melting of the remaining normal ice I had left in my cooler. I had spotted a road marked the Success
Scenic Loop, northeast of Ely, and on the west side of the Schell Creek Mountains,
but the high pass on the route was marked “closed in Winter.” After checking with the Ranger Station in
Ely, I drove north on Hwy 63, for 18 miles, turning right onto County Road 486
for 8 miles, or so, and then left 5 miles to Berry Creek where there were a few
campsites, and free, as far as I could see.
Sunlit
mountains in the middle distance are the Duck Creek Mountains, with the Schell Creek Mountains beyond. |
Snow ... still on the Schell Creek Mountains … Berry Creek Canyon right of center where I will set up camp |
I
settled in at the first site just after crossing the Ford at the creek, and that
provided enough open space to keep the Solar array clear for much of the day,
considering the canyon here is only about a hundred yards wide at this
point. This seems to be a transition
zone between the Junipers and Pinyons, and the Firs, Pines and Aspens of the
higher altitudes; there is also a grove of those Mountain-Mahoganies on the
opposite slope from my camp. I hadn't
intended to camp this high, but found myself at 8100'; I had thought I would be
camping at about 6000’ – 6500’, and thus
at warmer temperature, but it's a nice camp, so we'll see how the battery
charging goes. A crescent New Moon and
Venus, graced the evening sky that evening.
In the morning … a butterfly. |
Frost
on the vegetation in the morning! Several
mid-ninety degree days last week at Zion, and now frosty mornings, but I am
3800' higher, so I shouldn't be surprised.
The vault toilet, across the way, is a mixed blessing. Upon opening the door there were scored of
black flies dropping off the door jamb and walls and milling about on the
floor, too cold to fly. After
ascertaining there was no toilet paper (the camp is not yet officially open), I
went back to the truck to get my own. Since
there is really no real place to dig a convenient hole in this narrow valley,
the vault toilet was the place, so I girder my loins to wreak slaughter on the dozy
flies. I crushed dozens underfoot,
leaving those few left on the walls to deal with the next day, and then went and scraped the soles of my
boots across the grave, in the shallows of the nearby stream, to clean them of
the un-illustrious dead.
The
ford as seen from my camp … the blue skies belie the cloud and showers to come. |
The
battery charging went better than expected, considering that it clouded over by
mid-day. I have discovered that the
Solar array works even through an overcast, although slowly. And then it rained for a couple of
hours. I recalled that when researching
the Solar array, it was safe to leave it out if it rained, since the controller
is on the underside of the panels which are set at an angle, when set up, and
thus protected from the falling rain. This
was the first time I had ever tested this, and it turned out to be true. I did unplug it from the battery, however,
just in case. After the rainfall, I
plugged it back in, and everything was fine … good to know, but even so I won't
make a habit of it. This evening as I
write, the cloud is clearing away, and the stars are appearing.
Water Violets. |
A
second day was spent at Berry Creek, recharging the AGM battery further, throughout
another series of cloud and showers, and an Oil Sketch completed. No stars that night.
A walk among the Aspens. |
The
last of the flies were slain at the vault toilet, on the Monday, although there
were a few that managed to warm up enough to fly off during the time I was at
this camp. Packed and ready to leave, I
strolled up the creek towards another campsite, about three hundred yards from
my own. Another camper had come in on the
Saturday, and I thought to ask him a question or two, if he knew the area. He was just driving down as I started up his
road. His name was Pete, from
California, and this was his first time in the area. We chatted for awhile, and parted ways, as we
both were heading out that morning. I
had wanted to know about the road south, but he had come in from the north,
just as I had.
Aspen grove. |
Nevertheless,
south I went on the gravel road, with the Schell Creek Mountains to the east
and the Duck Creek Mountains to the west, climbing to 9000' before the descent
towards Cave Lake State Park, where I refilled my water bottles. It was a beautiful drive, especially through
groves of Aspens before the summit of the pass.
After watering up, I completed the scenic loop back to Ely, with desert
rains sweeping across the Steptoe Valley to the south.
Dropping down the pass … |
… to the valley floor. |
Desert Rain. |
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