Day 61: Great Basin National Park, NV to Cedar City, UT

We wake up at 7am and have breakfast. A half hour later, we are out and hiking the Alpine Lakes trail, a 3 mile-loop to Stella and Teresa Lakes. Nevada is not the place where we expect to see the fall coloration, but at this elevation, the colors are very bright, especially the yellow from the birch and quaking aspen. We surprise some mule deer eating in the grassy meadows, and come across the gnarled and twisted Bristle Cone Pines, some of them being several thousand years old. Wheeler Peak is in the background, bathing in the sun.

Back to the car, we start the steep drive down. We stop at viewpoints to let the car rest, but when we arrive at Lehman Cave Visitor Center, the wheels are smoking hot. As we still have more than 1,500 feet to descend, Yellow waters the wheels, and they steam heavily. We depart from the Visitor Center an hour later.

Back in the valley, we stop at Baker, NV, to get some gas. The next town 6 miles further, Garrison, is in Utah, which means that we enter Mountain Time Zone. The next 76 miles driving south-east on UT-21 are the loneliest and most desolate so far, more than “the Loneliest Road”. We cross vast valleys and large mountain ranges, driving up and down between 4,500 and 6,500 feet. A straight line in the valley and a steep, strenuous road over the pass.

 

We stop for lunch at a picnic place. Looking around, we realize that we find ourselves at Old Frisco Mining Town, another one of those booming mining towns ending up as a ghost town. We were wondering about it, as we observed signs of heavy mining at the base of the San Francisco Mountains.

Born in 1875 after discovering some silver, the Frisco mining town sprang up in a matter of weeks and became the west’s toughest mining camp. Murders were a daily occurrence, and history claims that an average of 12 men per night were killed. This could only explain why the Frisco Cemetery was the biggest in the state at the time.

Frisco grew to an estimated population of over 6,000 people. There were 21 saloons, hotels, gambling halls and a red light district that would have rivaled many towns in the west. Today the charcoal kilns and many of the old buildings still stand. Some of the old mining equipment can still be seen rusting away on the desert floor.

 

Going down the mountain parallel to what used to be a railroad, we get back to civilization in Milford, UT. The real civilization with the green grass lawns in the front yard. The valley is quite developed until Minersville, UT. But the drive to our destination, Cedar City, goes through a desolate landscape again.

Arrived to destination, we settle down at Country Aire RV Park and get some showers, well deserved since the last time in Reno, NV. The rest of the day is busy with studying, cooking, cleaning and taking care of our future after the honeymoon. Yes, the honeymoon will stop one day.