At 1am, i heard Zeus, our next-tree neighbor, start to bark. It was not an angry bark, but a "get away from here" bark. It continued for a few minutes and then i heard some clanging coming from the metal food locker at his site 72. There was silence for a few seconds and then i heard some more clanging coming from the direction of the Defender, five feet away from my head. Time to investigate, i decided, so i grabbed my high intensity flashlight (although i lost high intensity earlier in the evening and decided to postpone replacing the batteries until tomorrow), opened the tent door and poked my head out. I than shined the light underneath the Defender so i could see the legs of the character trying to do no good to it. Sure enough, the low intensity light revealed two legs and feet by the rear left tire, rather large and hairy legs ar that. I then pulled out my Kamchatka-bear whistle and blew on it for a minute, after which i saw him the huge besr very casually walk away from the Defender as if thinking, "well, you can't blame a bear for trying." I decoded not to investigate then the damage because there was nothing i could do then anyway. Knowing that the bear was unlikely to try again, I tried to go back to sleep right away, and i eventually did, but only after a nightmare that he or she did return and tried to pull me from the tent as a grizzly did to the wilderness-experienced Alaskan photographer on Kamchatka in 1996 in the same area where a year later i had my own rather harrowing experience with a grizzly. But that's another story.
As it turns out, the bear, in attempting the reach my kitchen container on the roof rack, which should not have been there, found an opening on the top of the rear window and pulled it down ripping the stiches from the window as it attaches to the zipper, not a big deal to fix when i get back. My temporary fix of duct tape did not work very long, and i did not use the super glue i had because that only works best on gluing fingers together. At a hardware store in Lake Tahoe, I picked up some clamps that will work nicely until i get home.
Some may be asking how it feels to be five feet away from a 300-pound hungry bear. The only answer i can give is that it is the same feeling you would have at home if the bear was in your kitchen and you had nowhere to run. And remember, i was in this bear's home.
We finally got on the road ad 10:30, later than planned, making our goal for the day of Ely Nevada difficult to make, but we'll try.
The clockwise drive around Lake Tahoe was pleasant, especially seeing some of the super mansions along the way, as was the drive down the mountain to Carson City, where the real route 50 really begins as the two-lane lonely road that it is. You do not want to get stranded on 50, especially without water or some means of sure communication at any time of the year.
There were four reasons i wanted ti take route 50: to get away from the interstate traffic, to see the absolutely magnificent desert scenery for hundreds of miles, and,to spend another night at the magnificent Cave Lake State Park where we spent a memorable night under billions of stars in 2001, a memory that has stayed with me for 13 years.
The fourth reason was to see if i could find the spot way off the road down a dirt road where we almost bivouacked in 2001, a scene in the rocky hills that reminded me of scenes in so many westerns i saw as a kid. I always regretted not bivouacking there, but the road beckoned thar day.
Some day, when i learn the vocabulary of what i saw on the road, i will revise this posting to describe it. Briefly, you drive through the desert from summit to summit crossing valleys that stretch in all directions for miles, valleys once used by the pony express.
At 2:30, as i drove speedily toward Ely, still four hours away,i saw a sign for the Berlin-something camp that i thought said five miles to the right and which would have given me the same experience i passed up in 2001 at a cost of only 10 miles in both directions. But after 10 miles with no sign of the camp, i gave up and turned around back to 50, but before i headed on in the direction of Ely,i checked the sign back on 50 to see what I missed. See photo.
After a pit stop in Austin at 4:30, knowing we would be getting into Ely after sundown, i decided to spend two nights at Cave Lake and get some errands done on Monday, i.e. oil change, laundry, etc. But then, 30 minutes later, at 5:00 p.m. precisely, when i like to arrive in a camp, i flew by a sign for the Petroglyph camp, which was just off the highway about a mile in a setting that bettered the setting i passed up 13.years ago. For the next two miles i debated the pros and cons of bivouacking there for the night and extending the trip home by one day. The pros won. I slammed on the breaks, turned the Defender around and found what had to be one of the most magnificent desert settings for a camp that most people pay big money for to stay in on dude ranches. I paid nothing and shared the camp with one other hardy soul. Instead if describing the camp, i am sending photos. Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous are the only three words i can find to describe it. This is what Buddha meant by solitude and tranquility. And i provided the dog to add the third best thing in life.
Photos...
The handiwork of the good bear. When the ranger came by this morning to inquire about any bear sightings, i told her, nothing thst wasn't normal or expected of a bear. I did not want bear 73 (my site number) to be marked as a trouble bear. Not was not his or her fault anyway.
Zeus, the dog that save the Defender from extinction. He is a ten-month old mix between a great Pyrenees and Saint Bernard. What a beautiful, good dog. He was well treated by Erde for his heroism.
Our humble camp at Sugar Pines SP, if that indeed was the name of it. Notice my temporary fix for my rear window, which was supposed to hold till we got home, but last 20 minutes. Notice also how close my head at the front of the tent was to where the bear was. The poor bear was only trying to get to the green food container propped on the rear of the roof rack. The Defender actually did the guy sleeping in the green tent behind ours a favor as he slept with his door wide open and the first thing tge bear would have encountered was the guy's head.
The Defender saying goodbye to Lake Tahoe for the second time. Not many Defenders can say that.
Why this stretch of US route 50 is called the loneliest road. You do not want to break down on this road.
Ar 2:30, we passed this sign quickly and i had time only to read the first 26 characters, so assuming it said 5 miles, i turned right, assuming that's where the arrow pointed. I was right about the arrow, but wrong about the 5.
The beauty of this road cannot be described adequately. It has to be experienced.
One of the few towns along the road to Ely, in this case, Austin.
the eastern view from our camp at Petroglyph R.A.
The northern view
The southern view...
Erde inspecting the new site for its compliance with her standards.
This was to be our home for the night. Upon seeing it immediately, i knew it was the perfect site, and i was right (so far, that is). Where do you think the tent will go, and why?
Ed and Erde, On The Road
P.S. Sorry for any errors in this message or posting. The iPad spellcheck is not known for its attention to detail.
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