The Road to Caliente

Driving south from Ely, we knew what to expect: vast amounts of emptiness! As we began to leave behind the Snake Range and the Wheeler Peak territory, we continued to enjoy the open spaces, with barely another car in sight. There were random farms spaced far apart, and (thankfully) an occasional rest stop (2nd and 3rd photos below). The rest stops were always interesting, because they tended to be small, with sign boards explaining where you were, and usually with some form of wild life (especially birds--I saw my first ash-throated flycatchers at the rest stop near Luna Crater).

When we arrived in Pioche, we remembered the kind lady in Ely who had volunteered directions on how to get from Ely to the road to Caliente--she mentioned she was from Pioche and had come to Ely to shop. It's over 100 miles from Ely to Pioche, so I was a little taken aback at the idea of driving that distance just to go shopping. We decided to do a little exploring around Pioche, and immediately got lost. Pioche is a small town, with a population of 1,111 (2022), so I thought it would be difficult to get lost. But I forgot it was an old mining town, and roads went every which way. That meant we saw more of Pioche than we wanted, but it was an impressive little town with a lot of new construction and improvements going on.

Another 11 miles south and we were passing through Panaca (popuation 1,039). Panaca was founded by the Mormons in 1860, and is the only dry town in Nevada and one of only two towns prohibiting gambling. It's an agricultural area, with a lot of very green irrigated fields that seem awkward in the dry Nevada heat.

Drive 14 more miles southward and you'll enter Caliente.

Of course, when you enter a small town with amenities, what's the first thing you do in Nevada (as insurance)? Fill up the gas tank! I was quite amused that Sinclair is still a big gasoline supplier in Nevada, and in Caliente, the Sinclair station shows its pride with a great green dinosaur from the Sinclair logo.

Thankfully, there was a lot more to Caliente than the cheesy dinosaur. I was really looking forward to this stop because of the wide range of state parks that surround the area. I believe we hit 4 in 2 days, while still managing to enjoy our stay in this small town (population 1,009). Unfortunately, the big attraction I wanted to see, the Caliente train station, famed for its beautiful Mission Revival style and repurposed in the 1990s as the Caliente City Hall, was closed to visitors and wrapped under heavy netting and tarp, as it underwent a massive restoration. The historic part of the old downtown area was just across the tracks from the hotel we were staying at, and was an easy walk to reach the grocery store, bars, and restaurants.

I'm sorry to report that the old movie cinema shown in the below photo is just a facade. The theater itself was burned out and had no structure left. But the other buildings were fully operational, including the Side Track Restaurant where we had dinner our first night (along with a huge group of forest fire fighters from Idaho in town for training). After a somewhat slow dinner, we meandered back under the full moon to our hotel, the Shady Motel. We had a pleasant stay there, with very helpful staff and easy walking distance to places for dinner.

On Thursday morning, we started our state park treks around Caliente.