59 F/ 15 C

It's all Nevada
for today – from desert to
mountains with sunshine

~carliewired

I woke too early this morning. After what the hotel called 'breakfast' at 6:30, I tried to have a cat nap to compensate. It meant I set off just before 10. I assume I missed the morning rush in the Las Vegas outskirts where I was staying (Henderson, Nevada) but the city seems busy all the time.

My GPS guided me alongside the Nellis Airforce Base outside Las Vegas. I was surprised by the line of cars parked on the roadside facing the runways. Photographers of all sorts were poised with their big lenses to catch the flights of fighter jets that were practicing today. I wished I could pull over just to photograph the photographers.

I then had to travel about 5 miles on Interstate 15 that is undergoing a lot of reconstruction. Drivers were not obeying the slower speed signs posted so it made my short journey a bit of a nail biter.

I was much relieved to make that turn onto 93 North heading up into the Great Basin. It is a rather quiet highway and I was able to pull over to take my first two photos – the first looking east across the Mojave Desert at the expanse of yuccas and to the west to see a Joshua tree, both very important plants in the desert environment.

I made my only get-out-of-the-car stop the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge beside the 93. It has become a favourite of mine. The visitors' centre feature the birds and animals of this very unique oasis. Two lakes chained by waterways and fed by springs brings abundance to the Mojave Desert. I can never get enough of it.

I continued north on the 93 with a brief pause at Alamo to photograph the two dinosaurs all decked out for Easter. In the past, D and I would catch the large dinosaur, a symbol for one of the oil companies, accessorized for the season. It always gave us a good laugh and today was no exception.

Before I reached the north end of the 93 I was out of the desert and into the mountains. At first I could look west to see snow on the far off mountains, then I was seeing snow on the near mountains. I'd been climbing in elevation with the air temperature slowly dropping. When I drove over the Murry Summit ( elevation 7,400 ft) on highway 6 just before Ely, there was snow near the roadside in the shady places.

I claimed my reservation in Ely before 4 PM. I will be on my way again after breakfast tomorrow. I've been advised that snow could present itself tomorrow. Ely, Nevada sits at the
6,437 foot elevation so it should not really come as a shock in late March.