please remember you can click on a photo to see a larger version
Robin, the
Nevada State Park Ranger, found us around the alcove of the machine shop
building in the ghost town of Berlin.
We were up
against the warm dark wooden walls and enjoying our lunches. “You guys sure know how to get out of the
wind,” he said and then continued, “I don’t have to be back with the film crew
at the fossil building until two and I’ve got the keys to everything.” He held up his key
ring and smiled. “What do you want to see?” he asked. Beside Robin and the three person film crew, we were the only people in the State Park.
Robin’s smile
and question just about sums up our remarkable adventure over the long
President’s Weekend.
I started
in the middle of the story again. Now back to the beginning. How did this trip start?
With Plan B.
We had just
spent a quick weekend in Nevada. The temperatures then were typical for the
area, quite cold. As I watched the weather forecasts for trip planning,
temperatures were predicted to be almost 30° warmer. Really? Wind was
predicted, though, with gusts up to 50 to 60 mph. A warm front was quickly
passing through with high snow levels back at home.
The Barking
Spiders were along. They had been itching to visit Nevada’s Berlin Ichthyosaur
State Park. We left early Saturday morning with the required breakfast stop at
the Roadrunner in Dayton. Then I suggested a roundabout route that could,
maybe, based on wet road conditions, enable a remote hot spring soak – Plan B.
After
fueling up in Fallon we encountered only a few vehicles on highway 50. The Lady
could keep track of the number on her left hand. After turning off 50 we were
it, in over 70 miles of additional driving, we were it. This was our kind of
holiday weekend traffic.
The remote
hot springs were inaccessible for vehicles. Great! Even in the best of
conditions I’d hardly think of it as accessible. But we evolved with legs for a
reason. We walked. It does us all good, both physically and spiritually. Our Sherpas
handled our packs and supplies.
Barking and
I were scouting the area. The women folk were anxious to get to deliciously hot
spring water, grabbed our gear, and started out. The Sherpa stuff was totally
inadvertent - really. With packs more evenly distributed, we continued around
wetlands and reached the series of hot springs.
A huge note
of caution. This can be a dangerous area. The source pools are very hot. Ours was 145°. Some are as high as 170°. We
carry a thermometer, always. This is a place to take your time, relax after you
fill your tank, let it cool, enjoy a wonderful lunch, and savor being so far
from anyone else.
When we
returned to the vehicles, the wind was kicking up dust on the playa.
We had a
route planned to reach Berlin. Would it go?
With only
one mid course correction, we reached Berlin late afternoon. We set up in the
well kept campground and Robin, the Park Ranger, came through and checked us
out. He explained he had a film crew showing up at 9:30 am Sunday morning but
could fit us in for a tour of the ichthyosaur fossil dig site at 10:00 am.
We enjoyed
the evening’s sunset with the heavy cloud deck of the passing front.
It is a
short walk from the campground to the fossil building. The center piece of the
parking area is a large concrete wall with a life size rendition of an adult
ichthyosaur.
The film
crew was readying Robin for the first segment of filming.
Robin
explained they were with Destination America, filming for television. We don’t
have much interest in television and with experience working on television
projects – including prime time reality TV complete with signed mandatory
confidentially agreements – my interest level remains low. On the NBC prime time
job I got to come up with my own title, Technical Advisor and Safety Officer,
and I enjoyed the pay scale. I also greatly enjoyed the hard working very
professional crew, absolutely wonderful people. It was the story that ………………….oops,
can’t say anything about that!
Robin was
holding his own with the director and camera and audio crew.
We enjoyed
the art work in the CXT outhouse as we quietly waited.
Soon it was
time to enter the building covering the fossil dig.
We learned
there were all different kinds of ichthyosaurs, so we needed to get oriented.
These are
big ones here in this dig site, up to 57 feet. The species is named for the surrounding Shoshone Mountains. Robin mentioned ichthyosaurs recently
discovered elsewhere that approach the length of blue whales.
We were going to be looking at bones so we needed to acquaint ourselves with skeletal structure.
We were going to be looking at bones so we needed to acquaint ourselves with skeletal structure.
Robin has
been working at Berlin Ichthyosaur for 14 years. He is self taught on the
subject and very knowledgeable. It is obvious he loves his job and sharing
his knowledge. He was recently recognized by Nevada for his work at
Berlin.
What, at
first, only looked like rocks now came to life as vertebrae………………………..
……………………and
rib cages.
The film
crew was ever present. You’ll have to let us know if we survive the cutting
room floor.
Dr. Camp was
responsible for the exploration of the site after its earlier discovery
His
grandchildren donated one of his textbooks to the State Park.
We visited
his cabin on our walk down to Berlin.
His failure
to cut any trees at his cabin site confirmed, for us at least, that he was
indeed from Berkeley.
Berlin,
Nevada had its beginning in 1897 with a gold strike. Below the fossil site, in
lower Union Canyon are the remains (sparse) of Union, a silver town born in
1863. The ruins of Union were taken over during the later Berlin boom.
The wind – happily
not close to the predicted speeds – was in our faces as we walked to Berlin.
“In a state
of arrested decay,” we liked the terminology and figured it could also describe us.
We found our
spot out of the wind and we heard Robin’s truck door and then Robin found us.
We are back to the beginning, or middle, of the story.
Our first
stop with Robin was the interior of the huge Berlin Mill.
We went
inside the Assay Office.
Our next
stop was Mrs. Steven’s House.
Next stop
was a visit to Mrs. Phillips House.
Across the
way was the Bachelor’s Quarters, appropriately appointed.
A wonderful
old combination gas and wood stove was outside the Watson House.
We reminded
Robin of the time and his appointment as we finished up in the Mine Superintendent’s
House.
Alone again
in the ghost town, we stopped at the Stage Station and looked for plates with
our birth years. Barking discovered his “medicare” plate.
This had
been a remarkable trip in many ways. One was the warm weather. Robin said the
coldest he had experienced was -19° and it
had reached -9° four times this winter. To have a couple of days with a high of
60° and lows around 32° was indeed remarkable. We had the campground and Park
to ourselves our last night. We ate outside and watched the rising moon.
And about
that film crew and the program subject…………………..we were not asked to sign a
confidentially agreement, but we will not spoil your fun and the surprise by
spilling the beans.
