Homeward

May 8, 2025

We left Cathedral Gorge State Park on April 26 and headed north and west through miles and miles of empty space with mountains in the distance. We arrived in Ely, Nevada at about 11:30am and set up camp. After lunch we visited the Pine County Museum. It had lots of interesting facts about the county and a quality reproduction of a giant short faced bear whose fossilized remains were found in a cave about 30 miles from Ely.  We also drove around Ely looking for murals that were painted on many of the buildings.

Giant Short Faced Bear

Ely has many lovely murals

Sunday it got down to 29 degrees  with a high for the day of 34 degrees. This was quite a shock for our bodies which had been dealing with 90 degree temperatures. At 11:30 am, we went for a train ride on the Nevada Northern Railroad. It was pulled by steam engine #93. It was a nice one and a half hour ride to the original mine west of town and back. Afterwards, we got a guided tour of the original engine house. All the equipment was left in tact when the mining company stopped using the train in 1941. The train yard is now a National Historic Landmark. We were rather surprised that they just let us walk all over the engine house.  We also got to meet three of the famous engine house cats. It was a fun day.

Engine House Cats

Monday, we moved west and north again to Winnemuca, Nevada. We stopped in Winnemuca because it was midway between Ely and our next destination and because it is well known for its Basque food. We went out to dinner at the Martin Hotel, which serves Basque food family style. That means that you get soup, salad, 5 side dishes, your main course and bread pudding for dessert. Oh, I forgot to mention that wine was included. It was quite the feast!

Martin Hotel for dinner

The next day we continued north crossing back into Oregon. Our destination was Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 30 miles south of Burns, Oregon and also in the middle of nowhere. We stayed in an RV park  very near the  refuge for 4 nights and enjoyed lots of birding. The refuge consists of over 187,000 acres and is a crucial stop along the Pacific flyway. We saw between 30 and 40 different bird species each day. We drove the Central Patrol Road through the refuge stopping all the time as we saw birds in the field or ponds and taking short hikes at times. We were surprised to see so many white faces ibis, yellow headed blackbirds, avocets, black necked stilts, and American white pelicans. We also saw pheasants, Lewis's woodpeckers, Trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, and a bald eagle and red tailed hawk on their nests. That is only mentioning a few of the birds. We also ate lunch at the historic Frenchglen Hotel, saw the historic P ranch and the Peter French Round Barn. This area was and still is a very big cattle ranching area.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center Area

View along Central Patrol Road

Black Crowned Night Heron

Willet

White Faced Ibis

American Avocet

Cinnamon Teal

Pheasant

Western Meadow Lark

Black Necked Stilt

Lewis's Woodpecker

Trumpeter Swan

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

Peter French Round Barn

We also visited the nearby Diamond Craters Outstanding Natural Area. Diamond Craters has some of the most diverse basaltic vocanic features in the United States and we didn’t even know about it. It was formed sometime within the past 25,000 years and features craters and vents, cinder cones, spatter cones and lots more. Not being a geologist, even after reading their  pamphlet, I don’t understand all the features, but it was very interesting.

We left Malheur NWR and continued toward home. We spent Saturday night at Cove Palisades State Park near Madras, Oregon. It is a stunning park located on Lake Billy Chinook which was formed by the damming of the Deschutes, Crooked, and Metolious Rivers. Much of the lake is surrounded by very steep canyons. The snowy Cascade Mountains can be seen in the distance. We drove all around the park and also took a view short hikes. We haven’t been here in over five years and forgot how beautiful it is.

Mount Jefferson from campground

Sunday, we drove home. As we drive into the Portland area, we always comment how green and beautiful it is, especially in the springtime.  Now we are busy doing yard work and getting the vegetable garden ready for planting. 

Hope you all have a wonderful spring and summer. Thanks for riding along. Hope you come along on our next adventure.