The Last Summer on the Road, Part 4

Back in Challis, we headed south out of the valley, through Twin Falls, and into Northern Nevada for a visit to Ely, a town we’ve visited twice before in hopes of visiting the Great Basin National Park and Wheeler Peak.  Our previous visits were frustrating; in spite of the weather forecasts, the entire mountain was hidden by the clouds – but this time the mountain seemed clear.  

Located on the eastern end of the “loneliest Highway in
America”, Ely is the county seat of White Pine County…..because it’s the only city in White Pine County.  It’s another of the mining towns that lost much of the population after the copper price crashed, although mining has seen a revival in recent years.  We were surprised to learn that since the smelter had been demolished years ago, the ore that is mined here is shipped by train to Seattle and then by ship to Japan for processing.  That just doesn’t seem cost effective.

We’ve always wanted to visit Wheeler Peak, which at just over 13,000 feet towers above the surrounding desert.  Entering Great Basin National Park park, we passed through sagebrush-covered rolling hills, climbing through scrub pine and finally into spruce, then white fir and Douglas fir.  The paved road winds through the forest before ending at a viewpoint at 10,000 feet.  From there, the view of Wheeler Peak is stunning, resembling the Half Dome of Yosemite National Park.  Unlike other high mountains, Wheeler Peak summit can be reached by hiking without climbing equipment via a 4-mile trail to the top.  We decided to limit our hiking from the car to a nicely shaded picnic table where we enjoyed the view and the cool breeze.

Leaving Ely we traveled south, and then turned east into Utah.  We turned south without at the unbearably hot but achingly beautiful rock formations of Moab which we’ve visited before.  Continuing south, we turned east again for a couple of nights at a casino RV park near Cortez, CO.  Mesa Verde National Park is nearby, a large park with amazing cliff dwellings that we visited in 2007.  Some images from that visit: 

 

From Cortez the road south took us into New Mexico and
through Shiprock , then south to the town of Gallup.  Gallup is a dusty, economically depressed town with a median family income is less than $40K/year. 

There is interesting history here since it sits on what was Route 66, and driving down the main road through town you can still pick out the old 50s-style motels.  The Native American influence is evident throughout the town, as almost half the population is of the Navajo tribe.  We spent a week resting up and visiting the local sites and we can honestly recommend a one-night stay on the way to somewhere else.

 Leaving Gallup and traveling east on I-40, we passed the Acoma Pueblo, known as “Sky City”.  Located on top of a 367’ mesa, it is one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the U.S., dating back to 1150 A.D.  We’ve tried to visit the interpretive center for more information, but COVID decimated the Native American population and both the center and tours were still closed.

 

We’ve been on the lookout for a place to settle down, and so we checked into the RV park on Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque for a month.  We’ve visited here before, but not for an extended stay, and this time we had an opportunity to learn about the town, the neighborhoods, and the medical centers.  What we found was discouraging.  Albuquerque has a high rate of violent crime, currently ranking 14^th in the nation, and a significant property crime problem.  Over and over, we saw homes in all neighborhoods with bars on windows and doors.  We also had the need to visit a few of the medical facilities, and weren’t impressed; the attitude of many of the staff was impersonal and gave the impression that they weren’t happy with their work.  So we crossed Albuquerque off our list, and headed south along the interstate. 

 

Our next stop was Socorro, a small town along New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley.  There isn’t much to see in Socorro, but a drive west 50 miles takes you to the Plains of San Augustin and the Very Large Array (VLA).  This is a special place for us – a place where 28 radio telescopes, each one 82 feet in diameter, create a surreal view.  Each time we visit, the antennae are in a different configuration, stretching in lines off into the distance. 
You may recognize one of the antennae from an opening scene from the movie “Contact” with Jodie Foster.  What they do and how they are repositioned is interesting and details can be found here: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

 

Next, we traveled south down the interstate before turning east for our next and one of our favorite stops, Alamogordo, NM.