Exploring the Shores of an Ancient Nevada Dry Lake

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
On our way home from a recent trip to Vegas, Cindy and I decided to do what we often end up doing and that's to head off pavement and take a long cut across the Northern Nevada desert. On this particular excursion, we made our way out to the edge of a military base and so that we could explore the shoreline of an ancient dry lake. Being that this was a completely unscheduled trip, we didn't take a whole lot of pics but thought some of you would still enjoying seeing some of the things that we got to see.

One of the things we love most about Northern Nevada is that it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to find yourself out in the middle of nowhere.
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And there it is - the dry lake we've been looking for.
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Diving into the dusty playa.
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While there are a myriad of small black stones strewn across the surface of the playa, a closer examination showed that many of them weren't stones at all but rather, .50 cal bullets.
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Back on shore, we worked our way over to an interesting looking bluff covered in tuffas.
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About 10,000 years ago, this dry lake would have been filled with water and traces of ancient human habitation can be found here.
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While more modern by far, we also found evidence of historic camps in this area as well.
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This broken bottle has a "S.G.Co." marked on the bottom of it and would mean that it was made by the Southern Glass Works Company. Written the way it is with the small letter "o", I found this bottle was most likely manufactured around 1877-1879.
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This bottle was made by the same company but as you can see, the mark shows a "S.G.CO." which would indicate it was manufactured around 1924-1925.
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And as you can see on this thick bottle, the mark shows a capital letter "O" with the numbers "88" next to it which would mean that it was most likely made by the Graham Glass Co. somewhere between 1912-1929.
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Exploring some of the cool rock formations.
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Looking back out across the lake bed.
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On the move again, we decided to drive along the shoreline to see what else we could find.
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Soon, we came across the remnants of an old Mercury.
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Judging by how the metal was ripped to shreds, it would appear that it was the victim of some heavy ordinance.
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And here's the line in the sand that we won't be crossing.
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Some more cars from the 1940's that were used for target practice just on the other side of the fence.
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Following the fence line across the playa.
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As we continued our way to the north and away from the dry lake, we continued to see evidence of military use. Looking across the desert, we noticed this odd, egg shaped object sticking out of an otherwise featureless landscape and from what we could tell, it was the remnant of an old dummy bomb. Others like it could be found later on as well.
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After getting back on pavement, we made a course correction for home and found ourselves over at Walker Lake just as the sun was starting to set. In addition to Pyramid Lake, this is one of the last remaining remnants the massive Pleistocene era, Lake Lahontan - one of the largest lakes to have existed in North America. A fitting way to end our day.
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Unlike the dry lake we visited earlier in the day, Walker Lake has actually started to rise over the last couple of years thanks to a couple of good winters and now, for the first time in almost 10 years, this pier is just now starting to touch water again. With any luck, it'll continue to grow.
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Unfortunately, we may have stayed by the lake a bit too long as the bugs came swarming in as we drove through into them at highway speeds.
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Needless to say, it was a massacre...
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And, that was our little excursion to explore the shores of an ancient Northern Nevada dry lake as well as one that's just starting to come back to life. We hope you enjoyed our pics. :cool:
 

QuicksilverJK

Caught the Bug
That looks like a fun detour. And some cool finds out there. The .50cal bullets are cool but the glass bottles, and the fact that you could actually date them is really awesome.


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TrailHunter

Hooked
Looks like a fun Journey... Cool Pics... You must of thought for a brief second (after realizing that was a .50 cal).... “is there any more coming this way?” [emoji15]
 

jesse3638

Hooked
I love that stuff. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine how many pics you would have taken if this was a planned trip. I'm assuming that was the Nellis Boundry. We were out there many rears ago for a fire and had to get background checks and the whole 9 before we were even allowed to cross their fence. It was also explained no photos and do not go near certain features out there as you will most like shorten your life span by many years...haha.
 

jdofmemi

Active Member
Nice bit of exploring.

I used to do that often, but changes in work and life have prevented me from doing it for a while.

I am working on changing that so I can explore more. It will add years back to my life that work has sucked away.

Some of the bases are more strict than others. I have had a squad of MPs surround me because I had parked near a fence. It happened to be the last place with cell service, and I was finishing some calls, but I was "asked" to move along.
 

jeeeep

Hooked
very cool!

Would be nice to explore like that around here but everything has a fence.

We do however have the bugs lol
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
That was a cool trip! That was something, finding those .50 bullets. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I'm always amazed at what can be found out in the desert. :cool:

That looks like a fun detour. And some cool finds out there. The .50cal bullets are cool but the glass bottles, and the fact that you could actually date them is really awesome.

Oh yeah, love finding old bottles, plates and tins especially when you can date them. :yup:

Looks like a fun Journey... Cool Pics... You must of thought for a brief second (after realizing that was a .50 cal).... “is there any more coming this way?” [emoji15]

LOL!! Oh yeah, there were bullets everywhere. They had to come from somewhere. :crazyeyes:

I love that stuff. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine how many pics you would have taken if this was a planned trip. I'm assuming that was the Nellis Boundry. We were out there many rears ago for a fire and had to get background checks and the whole 9 before we were even allowed to cross their fence. It was also explained no photos and do not go near certain features out there as you will most like shorten your life span by many years...haha.

LOL!! Yeah, we weren't meaning to get that close to the boundary or stay any longer than we needed to. :crazyeyes:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Nice bit of exploring.

I used to do that often, but changes in work and life have prevented me from doing it for a while.

I am working on changing that so I can explore more. It will add years back to my life that work has sucked away.

Some of the bases are more strict than others. I have had a squad of MPs surround me because I had parked near a fence. It happened to be the last place with cell service, and I was finishing some calls, but I was "asked" to move along.

LOL! I'm sure they didn't have to ask you twice. :D

very cool!

Would be nice to explore like that around here but everything has a fence.

We do however have the bugs lol

That's what I love most about my neck of the woods. There are fences to keep cattle from getting on to the road but all have gates that say "please close gate". :yup:

Love the history. The older I get, the more I appreciate stuff like that.

History like this is like time travel. It's fun to imagine what things were like especially when the place you're at looks pretty much the same as it did way back then. :yup:

Awesome! Nevada is a great state for exploring

Yes it is :)

Having both a Jeep and time is the definition of success. Failure is having neither. Eddie, you are one successful dude.

LOL!! Well, I do feel pretty lucky if nothing else. :cool:
 

Jsouder53

Hooked
Awesome pictures and history as always! Seeing all those bugs on your windshield reminds me of driving through the Everglades [emoji23] couldn’t see a thing and ran out of washer fluid!


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sgkdhk

New member
Great trip and story

On our way home from a recent trip to Vegas, Cindy and I decided to do what we often end up doing and that's to head off pavement and take a long cut across the Northern Nevada desert. On this particular excursion, we made our way out to the edge of a military base and so that we could explore the shoreline of an ancient dry lake. Being that this was a completely unscheduled trip, we didn't take a whole lot of pics but thought some of you would still enjoying seeing some of the things that we got to see.

That was one great trip and story I really enjoyed. Although I no longer live in Nevada I really miss my expeditions with my wife exploring the old ghost towns and the history of Nevada. Thank you for sharing
 
Excellent report as always. As much as I love exploring north western Utah, Nevada is still where I find myself most wanting to see.
 
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