Beaver Dam State Park

When we stopped at the ranger station in Cathedral Gorge, the park ranger recommended Beaver Dam State Park as well, especially for the bird watching (the elusive pinyon jay was mentioned). My guide book cautioned that the unpaved road was quite a trip, but we decided to give it a shot. After 25 bumpy miles, we descended the torturous route down into the first campground area of the park, where we paid our admission fee. I believe it was $10 for a non-Nevada vehicle (our rental Jeep had Idaho tags).

Here was another park that could have benefited from better signage. We were never quite sure where we were. We were looking for the Beaver Dam Wash Trail, but what we found didn't seem very trail like and didn't have any signs we could see; there seemed to be areas that were in the river or washed away (the offical state online map refers to multiple water crossings; see photo below).

Thinking back on this entire road trip through Nevada, I can only think of 3 roads that I really disliked. In order of my hatred, they were:

3. The road up Wheeler Peak in the Great Basin National Park
2. The road out of the airport in Las Vegas
1. The road in and out of Beaver Dam State Park.

This road was tops on my hate list for a variety of reasons. It was horribly rough--for all of its 25-mile length. Dirt and gravel for most of the distance. And you couldn't go fast, because of the endless twists and turns, and railroad crossings, and sudden hills and valleys and farm intersections. It was narrow. And there were these hills (like this one below) where you couldn't see what was coming, and the road was only wide enough for one car. With no guard rails. If I won the lottery, I'd love to donate a few million to Nevada to pave this road.

But there is one reason why I love this road. As we neared the straight parts approaching the main highway back to Caliente, what else should run across the road but--guess what?--a road runner. I didn't see the elusive pinyon jay, but the road runner more than made up for it (plus the additional quail we saw).

When we returned to Caliente, we decided to have dinner at the Knotty Pine Restaurant--our second night in a row there. The restaurant was a short walk from the hotel, and the food was good at reasonable prices. We were particularly engaged by our hostess, Athena. She was great (hope I left enough in tips). When we left later that night, she came running after us to return my reading glasses, which I had left on the dining room table.

Over the last few days, we had an ongoing conversation about where to end our trip. Our original plans had included a last weekend in the Gold Butte National Monument, which, according to the BLM, offered 300,000 acres of "remote and rugged desert landscape in southeastern Nevada," near the town of Mesquite on the Arizona border. However, remote and rugged in 110+ heat in the middle of the Mojave Desert seemed less appealing than when we started, and given that the only place to stay was either Mesquite (an hour outside of the park) or camping lessened the enthusiasm. So intead, we decided to visit Hoover Dam. Tom had been there before, when he was a kid on a trip with his family; my only connection with Hoover Dam (or is it Boulder Dam?) was with Alfred Hitchcock (Saboteur).