My birthday is May 8 and when, some weeks ago, Elaine asked what I wanted to do for that special occasion, I was stuck for an answer.
I had no desire to go to the Pacific Northwest, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, etc. Nor was I interested in fishing at places like Walker Lake, Twin Lakes, Convict Lake or Wildhorse Reservoir.
And, it's too early for any backpack or packhorse trips into the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada.
So, I thought and thought, and then, the answer came to me!
I remembered Elaine had once told me that she had never been past Fallon on U.S. 50.
So, I came up with a solution that would be a good fit for both of us: A drive on U.S. 50 to Fallon to Austin to Eureka to Ely.
Then, we could spend several days exploring the Ely area.
While there, we could visit Great Basin National Park, take a tour of Lehman Caves, and fish at locations like Cave Lake for brown trout, Cumins Lake for Northern Pike and little-known Silver Creek Reservoir for rainbow trout.
That birthday plan worked almost to perfection.
On Friday, we left early in the morning and drove to Ely (318 miles). Along the way, we had the chance to see Austin, Eureka, lots of empty highway (U.S. 50 is known as the Loneliest Highway in the United States) and lots of typical Nevada scenery.
We arrived early afternoon, checked into the Bristlecone Motel, had a late lunch, and then drove the short distance to Cumins Lake.
Cumins Lake:
This 410 surface acre lake contains brown and rainbow trout, largemouth bass and Northern Pike. The State Record Pike was caught here back in 1978 and it weighed 27 pounds.
We fished from shore for about three hours, spincasting with lures.
In that time, Elaine outfished me. She caught five Pike (up to 21 1/2 inches). I caught four (up to 20 1/4 inches). The pike were hitting bright colored TOR-P-DO lures.
The Park:
Early Saturday, we drove 66 miles and spent most of the morning at 77,000 acre Great Basin National Park, near the Utah border.
Great Basin was created in 1986 and is the second newest (Death Valley is the newest), and one of the nation's least visited parks (In 2004, it only had 79,944 visitors).
It contains such features as a visitor's center and gift shop-cafe, a number of high elevation campgrounds, Nevada's second highest peak (Wheeler Peak at 13,063 feet), Wheeler Peak Glacier, Bristlecone pine trees (the oldest living things on earth, with some of the trees in the park being as much as 4,000 years old), and Lehman Caves.
Lehman Caves:
At this time of the year, a 90 minute tour of Lehman Caves is offered at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. That tour travels 0.6 miles through passages, tunnels and rooms and includes 10 stairways. A caves tour is a MUST if you're in this area.
Mt. Wheeler:
After the tour, we drove 12 winding and steeply climbing miles to the end of the road. We parked at an elevation of 10,000+ and took photos of snowbanks higher than Elaine and of the nearby, spectacular, snow-covered Mt. Wheeler.
Silver Creek Reservoir:
From there, we carefully drove back down the mountain to the valley floor to fish at that small (15 surface acres), little-known reservoir, which is a short distance from the tiny town of Baker.
The reservoir contains brook, brown and rainbow trout.
We fished from shore for about three hours, spincasting with lures.
Sigh, once again, Elaine out fished me. She caught and released nine small rainbows to my seven.
From there, we drove to Cave Lake, just a few miles out of Ely.
Cave Lake:
It is 32 surface acres and contains brook, brown and rainbow trout. The State Record brown was caught here in 1984, and it weighed 27-pounds, 5 ounces!
We fished from shore for about three hours, spincasting with lures.
Yep! You guessed it: I got outfished, again! She caught five rainbows, I only caught one.
Sunday:
We drove home. That trip was highlighted by not seeing another vehicle for the first 48 miles! We did see lots of wildlife including elk, antelope, deer, wild horses, etc.
Finally:
If you're looking for a special, out-of-the-way place to spend your birthday, plan to visit the Ely area and Great Basin National Park.
It can be an interesting experience, but if you fish where we did, plan to get outfished by your wife.
-- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you about the cost of gasoline in the Town of Austin.
If he grins and says, "On Friday, unleaded gas was $3.43 a gallon and on Sunday, it had gone up to $3.57 a gallon," he could have been traveling on U.S 50, last weekend.
-- Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal.