My friend Mark and I left Great Basin National Park for a while to celebrate the Fourth of July in the nearest city. We drove about 60 miles north to Ely, Nevada, population 4,000.
But on the way there, we drove up in the hills above Cave Lake State Park where we saw the biggest fields of flowers I have ever seen. Most of the flowers are Soft Arnica.
The View Down Canyon
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The View Up Canyon
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We drove on to Ely for a barbecue at the train depot followed by a ride in a historic train and culminating in a fireworks display. This was the first time in more than half a century that I had ridden on a train.
Engine 93, a steam engine built more than a century ago, led us out a few miles from the town.
Engine 93 is Ready to Go
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Waiting for the Train
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“N.C.C.Co.” on Engine 93 stands for the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company. In January 1909 the American Locomotive Company built the engine at its Pittsburgh works for that mining company. Today the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation, a non-profit organization, operates Engine 93 as a part of the former Nevada Northern Railway, which earlier had been a subsidiary of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company.
Mark and I sat in the open car at the end of the train except for the caboose. Our hair got covered with cinders, but the open car offered by far the best photography.
1 response so far ↓
1 Frank Carroll // Aug 2, 2010 at 12:24 pm
David-
A bit more about me. I am a diabetic (type 2) also, 63 years young, but not really working to keep myself fit. No sugars (umm, a glass or red or white wine), very few white veggies, but I am still overweight by a lot, because I do not exercise enough. I really discovered that this past weekend at Great Basin NP.
I also love to take train photos. I left a collection of over 7000 photos I took of trains in the Colorado area including UP3985 and UP8444 excursions. I also donated a number of photos from the DRGW/Durango & Silverton rr’s to the Colorado RR Museum. I was not as much of a professional then, more of an aggressive amateur.
I made up my mind this past weekend to loose 80 pounds, get my diet to the point of not needing drugs for my diabetes, and doing more hiking for my photography. So several goals here, but all attainable.
I suggest the photo workshop of the Lehman caves because I think they are quite unique. The workshop could consist of 2 hrs in the cave ( I would like to try some HDRI on the ‘tites & ‘mites) and this could be done with the assistance of the rangers. The lodge at HCR can accommodate six individual rooms, I believe, and provide us a great place to critique our work.
I am looking at this as being a wash for all, in other words, a dutch-treat workshop. Robin had said she was very interested in doing workshops (photography, or?) and we could also add a bit about how to handle our diabetes, sharing ideas, and maybe Dr. Ron could find us a diabetic nutritionist to give a few tips and tricks, if you think that might work.
Always looking outside the box for fun, learning more about mother nature and her wonders, a little photography, and from your postings on your blog, maybe a bit of fly fishing (I do have a 1 wght rod).
Well, enough of my babbling on, please feel free to email me anytime.
Sincerely,
Frank Carroll
702-501-4475
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