Leslie and David's Wanderings: 23 August 2021 Exploring Around Ely

Leslie’s knee was still sore, so we decided to use the day to explore some of the scenic drives around Ely. First up was Success Loop Scenic Drive. It starts on the east side of town off US50 and ends on the north side on US93. The road goes through Cave Lake State Park (the lake was almost dried up) then climbs up through Humbolt National Forest to the top of Success Pass before dropping back down to the highway. The first 7-8 miles on each end of the loop was paved, the rest was a well maintained gravel and dirt road. As we came to the top of the pass we found ourselves in pine and aspen tree groves. In the clearing, you could see the horizon. It was very smoky from fires in California which limited how far you could see through the haze. We then drove back into town, had lunch at La Fiesta (our go to Mexican food place in town) before heading out west of town on US50. US50 is called the loneliest road in America since it crosses very large stretches of rural America. We then followed a series of dirt/gravel roads in Humbolt National Forest to the ghost town of Hamilton. The town of Hamilton sprung up in the late 1880s due to silver being found in the surrounding hills. The rock and wood structures still standing were it fairly good shape considering they are over 100 years old. There was also some more recent buildings and mining equipment from more recent mining attempts in the area. After Hamilton, we decided to take some of the less well maintained dirt roads to loop back to the Illipah Reservoir. At first it was fairly easy going but when we dropped down into the canyons, the vegetation became very thick and close to the road. Our big wide Behemoth was too wide for these roads and we got a lot of dust scrapes along the fenders. Fortunately, these will wash off, but there are a few that will require some polishing. But we were happy we took this route as we got to see six different groups of wild horses, some fairly close up, along with several deer. About the only wild life we have seen in our travels in Nevada.