Day Two - Part Three: The Loneliest Road & Great Basin

The rest of Day Two was a lot of driving. We actually drove about 600 miles, from Fallon, NV to Provo, UT. But along the way there was a lot to see. The Loneliest Road is aptly named, but also very beautiful. There are mountains all along the desert and the road winds, climbs and falls throughout. Also, the speed limit gets up to 75 which is pretty fun....the car makes it to 90 pretty well. (On those single lane highways you need a bit of pep to pass quickly!) It also did really well climbing, heights of 6,000 to almost 10,000 feet on Day Two.
I would definitely recommend taking Route 50 for those who are traveling in that region. It was really interesting. Coming from New England, and even the Bay Area, it was such a different kind of landscape. I really enjoyed it. But there is definitely not a lot around. Very few towns, lots of farms and ranches.

We hit a lot of rain showers with some thunder and lightening, which also made for a great sight. I haven't seen a good lightening storm in a while, so it was a welcome change. The vista around you, driving Route 50, is so huge that you can see the showers falling in fields in the distance, while it may not be raining where you are at the moment. On a similar note, perspective really changes on long, straight passes, so that cars approaching don't appear to be moving and don't even look like cars at first! I think the heat and sun exacerbate that effect too.


One of the best parts of Day Two was Great Basin National Park. (Thank you Katie for the recommendation!) Apparently not too many people visit it (which may explain why the park rangers at the station were working really hard to convince us to camp over there). We didn't have too much time to spend there and didn't really want to stay the night - it was raining pretty hard, getting very cold, with hail expected, and we wanted to get further down the road, nearer to Salt Lake City. We took the scenic drive they offer, almost all the way up to Wheeler Peak (13,000 feet); we made it up to about 9,500 or so when it started raining. Along the way we stopped to hike down a short trail, Osceola trail, along where they tried to create a waterway for mining. It eventually failed, but all the hard work is evident, with cut rock along the way and beams of wood. After that we continued the climb toward one of the main vistas of Wheeler Peak, just as cold drops of rain began to fall. It was well worth it though. The view was spectacular. Still plenty of snow on the peak and those around it, and you could see most of the valley and smaller hills and mountains below. We then began the drive back down the mountain. (I never knew this drive would involve so much ear-popping, but with all the altitude changes, it certainly does!) We got back onto the Loneliest Road, driving through the rest of Nevada to Utah. Along the way I saw a couple of deer and a jackrabbit! It was a long drive to Provo, but we wanted to get as close to Salt Lake as possible to get to Yellowstone as quickly as possible.

More soon!