Road Trip on Hwy 93

 Short Camping Escape from Las Vegas

So our first new adventure for 2015 was a three day Road Trip. We wanted to test out new gear and explore some of the small towns in  South Eastern Nevada. We have been saying we will go for the last 5 years so we finally got our act together and set off.

New Off-Road Gear:

* I recommend buying from AutoAnything or Amazon first. Their prices are always cheaper and AutoAnything has excellent customer service. But check out all the gear that Rhino Rack has to offer and do your research. We discovered the directions from Rhino Rack are seriously lacking as well as the design for the attachment of the sun shade awning. My husband had serious concerns about the safety of their engineering and finally settled on reinforcing the bars and keeping the setup. It's a solid system now thanks to his improvements and we didn't have any problems with it on our road trip. I can't say the same for the little heater buddy though, total disappointment...

1. Rhino Rack Vortex Bars
2. Rhino Rack Tagalong Tent - Getting it set up for the first time is tricky, directions are lacking. But after you figure it out one person could do it no problem. Also, the tent seems to be well thought out with enough room for two adults and two large dogs, and some gear.
3. Rhino Rack Sun Shade Awning - now we can have shade wherever we go. Great investment, easy to use!
4. Mr. Little heater Buddy- This was a complete waste of time and money. Which was surprising because we have the Heater Buddy and love it!
5. Trasharoo - By far the best camping gear item we have ever purchased. Works like it's supposed to and best of all you don't have to put stinky trash in your vehicle ever again! 

Nevada Historical Marker

With only three days off we decided to explore the Great Basin Highway and some of the small towns along the way.

Trip Highlights:

Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge

Wild Nevada Mustangs

Digging for Trilobites

Caliente Railroad Depot

Miller's Point - Cathedral Gorge State Park

Million Dollar Courthouse- Pioche

Spring Valley State Park

Lots of military air traffic to watch

Alamo, NV
Our first day was a late start from Vegas and we were all to happy to leave the rush hour traffic in our rear view mirror as we made our way up the I-15 to Hwy 93. Our first stop to let the puppies stretch their paws was the Nevada Early State Boundary Historical Marker. Nice big pull off, quiet, and extensive trails all around it. We also found just behind the marker an excellent hidden camp spot. It's large enough to get a couple of vehicles and not a soul would know you where there as they drove by on the highway. 


Cabins for rent at Windmill Ridge

With the sun already below the mountains and not even to Alamo yet, we decided to stay the first night at the Windmill Ridge and forego trying to set up our new tent in the dark. We later discovered that was a wise decision.

 If you haven't been to Alamo, NV you really should check it out. In fact, this would make a wonderful weekend getaway from Vegas all on its' own and deserves a post just about this area. There is so much to see and do around Alamo. The Pahranagat Valley is truly a hidden gem in the middle of a desert. The first time we came upon swans sitting like perfect statues in an oasis that didn't seem real. In that one afternoon we spotted a Bald Eagle, numerous kinds of ducks, a falcon, and swans. Not to mention just up the road is Rachel, NV and the super secret Area 51. You can usually see the Air Force out flying the never-ending blue skies or if you're lucky maybe a UFO.
If you ever find yourself on this stretch of road and need a room for the night, the Windmill Ridge is a comfortable and cozy place. They rent out cabins for reasonable prices and most importantly they are dog friendly. They also have a nice restaurant and bakery so it's a great place to stop just for a bite to eat before heading out into the desert.

Wild Nevada Mustangs

Caliente, NV


Caliente Railroad Depot

One of the reasons we fell in love with the west were the wide open expanses of nothing... You feel so free and alive when your on a road that seems to never end and you may only see a handful of cars go by.  On our way up Hwy 93 to Caliente we witnessed a true piece of the wild west. A group of wild Nevada Mustangs were just off the road! You hardly ever see them but when you do it's a true gift, such beautiful animals.  Just as you enter Caliente, NV there is a BLM field office, definitely take a moment and run in there. They are very helpful and they have every handout you could want about the area. We gathered up a handful of materials  to check out on future road trips and also learned about a place

Freight Train

nearby you can dig up trilobites! 

Delicious food at the Branding Iron

Miller's Point

In Caliente you have to stop and see the railroad depot.  We were lucky enough to see the freight train go blasting by the old depot while we ate lunch at the Branding Iron, which I highly recommend if you need a bite to eat. They cook your food made to order , western décor with a neat old tin tile ceiling, and they even had homemade biscuits. Not to mention it's right by the train tracks so you get a great show when it goes by and according to the locals that's as many as 15 times a day. It shakes the town it's so loud when it goes through! There is more to explore in Caliente like Kershaw-Ryan State Park but we didn't have time. Our main objective was to reach our campsite up near Pioche before nightfall.  We did make one more stop along the way. Just off the highway is a pull off for Miller's Point, definitely stop to take in the breathtaking views of Cathedral Gorge State Park. If you don't have time to go inside the park this is a great alternative. We also learned you can park at Miller's Point and there are numerous trails that take you down into the park. All we had time for was a few pictures and a chance to take in the beauty of the unique geologic formations.


Cathedral Gorge

Pioche, NV

All set up for the first time

Reservoir at Spring Valley

Made it to our final destination in Spring Valley State Park by  the late afternoon. The original weather forecast was off by over 10 degrees. We thought it was going to be in the high 60's but the temperature that day never even reached 55 degrees. So we knew we were in for a cold night. The Horseshoe Thief campground was beautiful and well maintained.  Each campsite had a charcoal grill, covered picnic table and shade from the juniper trees. It was a total ghost town up there though so we figured we must be the only ones dumb enough to be camping in this weather.  With just a few hours to set up camp and get dinner going we rushed to figure out how the tent was suppose to work. The provided instructions were definitely lacking but we managed to figure it out and get settled in for the freezing night ahead of us. It ended up being pretty miserable. The dogs were so cold both of them were on top of me and shivering most of the night. The indoor safe heater we got shut off every 30 min and took for ever to turn back on so we finally gave up on it at about 3am in the morning. We  never really fell asleep just sort of dozed off here and there. When we woke up finally a curious thing happened, it actually was raining on us inside our tent! The poor dogs were soaking wet where the blankets had fallen off of them. Every time we moved another shower of droplets would hit us.  No, it didn't snow outside or even rain; everything outside the tent was bone dry. Apparently we had our own micro climate inside the tent. Needless to say, we were packed up and ready to leave within an hour of emerging from our soaked tent. Definitely, an excellent place to visit in the warmer months when you can take advantage of the swimming and fishing activities.

Always have my Midori handy

Sandstone formations in Spring Valley State Park

Heading home we stopped in Pioche and toured the downtown. Lots of great mining history to explore and cool old buildings. They even have a nice little museum you can walk through. We wanted to get back down towards Caliente to go dig for trilobites for a couple of hours before heading home to Vegas so we didn't stay too long in Pioche.

Digging for trilobites was a lot of fun. It's on BLM land between mile marker 81-82 right off Hwy 93. You don't need a permit or anything special to go dig up a few specimens. Bring water, hat, and some digging tools with you. The hike out to the shale deposits is super short and you will see lots of areas where people have tried their luck before. We were ill prepared since we hadn't planned on doing this side trip but as luck would have it someone left a little shovel in the shale deposits, so we borrowed it while we were there and left it for the next person. We skipped around to a few different spots where others had been digging and really weren't finding anything until about 20min before we had to call it quits and head home. We went up to the top of a hill and started poking around another deposit and started seeing the little fossils all of a sudden. We found a few trilobite heads and partials, nothing complete but it was still fun anyway.  It's always cool to unearth something that hasn't seen daylight for millions of years. This would also make a great day trip from Vegas and something we will come do again one day. 

There is an endless list of places to explore and things to do out here... So much to see, so little time.

Feel free to comment and share your tips about these areas or if you know of a cool place to check out in the area leave a comment.