2004 08, Nevada

2004 08 13 Nightingale, Jessup

Well, for the first time since I have been using them the Benchmark maps of Nevada let me down.  I was trying to get to the Nightingale mining district, about 80 miles east of Reno and north of I80.  I drove out to the place I expected to find something, and I just didn't.  Nothing.  And the roads didn't make sense by the map book.  That was a first.   Generally the Benchmark series of maps are very accurate.

But it was a good drive and I shot a lot of film.  You see a lot of great stuff out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada:

These next two are on the drive into the Nightingale area from I80.  The exit is about halfway between Fernley and Lovelock, close to the middle of nowhere.  Nightingale is (was supposed to be) about 30 miles off I80 on good road.

I love this car.  It took some work to get it nose down and it's been nicely shot up.  Lots of new brass around so it has got a workout recently.

And this picnic table is a total mystery.  It's a long drive off I80 on a gravel road, out in the middle of a dry lake bed, not close to anything.  Yet it is nicely set up, fairly new, and has a nice neat stack of firewood and a well kept fire pit.

This is the "town" of Jessup, and the associated mines.  This looks like another one of those Nevada mining towns that was not shut down as a result of declining output or declining commodity prices, but rather was put out of business by an airstrike.  There are vehicle and building pieces and random junk everywhere in the sage.

I am not sure what the long trenches are.  They look a lot newer than any mining activity.  Perhaps they are part of some sort of scary toxic abatement project.

On the way out I drove up into the mountains to the northeast of Jessup hoping to see a  nice sunset through the showers.  Too many clouds so the sunset was mediocre.  But the desert showers were quite nice although this snap doesn't do them justice.  It is too light.  In the rain the smell of sage is very strong.