We got high
Sunday, 9 April 2023
Stunning orange-gold and pink sky to wake up to.
Some overcast as we rolled down the road.
Switched drivers in front of the only parking meter in Owyhee County. You better have the right change if you park there; it only takes pennies and nickles.
Still high overcast; still mountains in the distance.
Striking erosion patterns; overcast is mostly gone.
Must be an Easter Sunday requirement in this area: run the irrigation system.
Open high terrain. The snow is closer. The sky is clear.
Driving through a canyon; the sunlight has reduced the snow more in some places than others.
Snowy high flat. Dry road.
This flat: not so high and not so snowy. Clear, clear sky.
Big lead and silver mining on the slope by the town of Eureka. The boom really didn’t last long, yet the community survives.
A higher pass, so more snow on our level.
Again: lower and less snow at the road’s elevation.
My brain tried to make these horizontals into terraces (shades of the Mixteca Alta), but they are geological layers.
A bit higher again.
We watched this peak to the right for quite a while. Then as we kept motoring along and could see more of the ridge to the left, we noticed the spoor of (open pit?) mining in regular piles. MaNachur melds awkwardly with human terraforming.
Here’s Ely! This is US50. We started the day on US20 and US30. That seems quite an accomplishment for one day.
I think we crossed four and perhaps five passes over 7000 feet and maybe five more between 6000 and 7000 feet. Yup, we got high today.