Mid- September
Medford, Oregon, then Klamath Falls, Oregon and then Goose Lake Oregon- a shallow lake that birds love. One night stops as we continue to try to move away from the smoke…then the winds shift and we’re back in it!
Across some of the Nevada high desert- really desolate and barely inhabited. No gas stations for 100 miles of highway! We’ve landed in a free, primitive campground in Nevada- Sheldon Wildlife Refuge. Views of mesas, sagebrush and rolling land with nothing on it. Apparently, they mine opals around here- go figure.

One night in Winnemucca for supplies, fuel and laundry. And some conversations with the locals- today it was windy and in the low 60s, after a summer with 70+days over 100! Interstate 80 East, because there is NO other road east- the high desert continues with slight changes- we can see gold mining complexes in the distance. Nevada mines most of this country’s gold!

Found a tiny little canyon off the highway to spend the night on the Humboldt River in Carlin Canyon- amazing! Got off the highway before the winds started gusting to 50mph, then it rained hard and the temps dropped to 34. Woke up to snow in the mountains, decided to stay another day to avoid icey roads in the higher elevations. We’re 4900 ft. and the snow is at 7000 ft.
As we continued east the mountains were truly snow covered all around us! Lamoille Canyon Park was recommended to us as a very green area compared to the High Desert, so we took the side trip up into the snow (we reminisced about our snowy weekend last October in Upper Jo Mary, Maine!) and decided we just had to spend the night in a sweet little forest service campground!

Crazy for sure! Rhylee loved it! We’re at 7500 ft here and the canyon walls tower over us- nearby Ruby Dome is 11,247Ft.