White Mountains Nevada - May 2018 - Part Two

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A Search

After another quiet night that gives the best sleep possible, we were ready to begin our search again. Since my research did not pan out for success the previous day, today we expanded our search area. We also took a broader view and used more of our instincts on figuring out where and how the ancient ones may have used this place. We spent an incredible morning discovering amazing sites.

The ground - over a wide area - was littered with obsidian flakes from tool making.

We found sleeping circles.

We also found several petroglyph sites with very faded glyphs.

And, we found a grinding slick.

But, we did not find what we were looking for. We amassed a good deal of knowledge about this area of the White Mountains with our two days of searching and exploring. We can hardly feel defeated but instead invigorated and excited to return again. The best things in life are worth the effort.

A friend invited us to meet him for breakfast at 7:00 am Monday morning at the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining.

We wanted to camp Sunday night in the Mono Lake area so we would not be late for breakfast the next morning. We headed back out toward pavement in classic Nevada style.

We had time to make a stop along our route. I had heard of a spot to find special obsidian called mahogany obsidian.

If you travel highway 6 between Benton Station and Montgomery Pass, you have passed by Janie's Ranch - a now abandoned Nevada brothel. It was perched right close to the border with California. Your first opportunity if you are into that kind of establishment. Janie's closed down in the early 1990's.

Two reasons you need to know about Janie's Ranch. It is the landmark for the turn off for the Queen Mine route to Boundary Peak - Nevada's highpoint - and to find mahogany obsidian.

We also found black obsidian flakes almost as clear as glass.

I'll mention that the area of our campsite in the White Mountains was a good place to find Apache tears.

We did not keep any of the rocks we found. They are just fun to find. We have no need to carry them home.

It was late afternoon when we reached Mono Lake and the Lee Vining area. We returned and camped at a place we call Donna's Camp.

Desert Peach was blooming.

This is a wonderful place just to wander about, as we did, after our dinner.

We walked over and looked at the ruins of the old Conway Ranch.

 

We didn't think it would happen - special color this evening - but at the last moment the Sierra Wave came alive for only a few seconds.

We woke before dawn to be sure not to be late for our breakfast date but still took time to  take in the day's beginnings.

Our drive home after breakfast was uneventful. The highways were quiet. We will return to the White's to continue our search. As I said at the beginning of this story -

"All the information I had on it was a few paragraphs of text in an obscure research paper. But those few paragraphs were more than enough to ignite a desire to find this place. Certainly it was well worth a second try."

It will be well worth a third try.