Rural Nevada Photography-Stillwater, Austin, Mt Jefferson and Ruby Valley

By Scott

Hi all, it has been a very long time since I have made a new blog post, my apologies for that. We have been busy with our wedding photography business and I have a couple of trips in the hopper that I need to get up, if only so I can remember the high points as time addles my brain further. This trip however really excited me, so I wanted to get it up while the rural Nevada photography was fresh in my mind. Instead of heading out to the High Sierra as we so often do, we decided to head east instead, traveling hundreds of miles through central Nevada on dirt roads. We started out by going to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon because my wife loves birds and has always wanted to go there, then spent the day driving around looking for birds we haven’t seen before. In the nearly 24 hours we were there we never saw another person. There are two overnight spots within the reserve, both basically bathroom parking lots, but without any other people around, it worked out great since we were sleeping in the back of our truck. Mosquitoes were horrible here, so be warned, but the bird viewing was great. The animals are pretty shy and even with a 500mm lens on a Nikon D850, most of my bird photographs are pretty heavily cropped. A good spotting scope would have helped.

From there we headed down the loneliest highway, highway 50, to Austin, Nevada where we turned south and took a dirt road through the mountains to the town of Kingston where we found a nice lake and an abandoned guard station that were interesting to explore. From there it was a short trip through the ghost town of Manhattan (Meh) to the living ghost town of Belmont, (very cool.) After we spent some time in Belmont checking out the well preserved, and not so well preserved, buildings we followed a narrow ATV road about 6 miles to the junction of Forest Road 010 where we turned west and climbed to the summit of the road on the flanks of Mt. Jefferson, the 6th highest peak in Nevada at about 11,945 feet. At the road summit, another rough dirt road branches off headed north up the mountain, but peters out at shortly before the Alta-Toquima Wilderness boundary. We camped at the junction of these two roads and had great views in both directions as well as at Mt. Jefferson, our destination for the next day. I wanted a hike, so we didn’t drive any further (we probably could have shaved a total of 4 more miles round trip if we went to the end of the road) but it was a great day and we started walking. Apparently I misread the map and told my wife it was a 5.5 mile round trip to the summit, no big deal. So we packed up one large water bottle and a couple of bars and started hiking. It turned out to be 5.5 miles EACH WAY! She wasn’t very happy about that and despite it being quite cool, was worried about the water situation. Being part camel, I had a few sips at the summit and let her have the rest and we were fine. This area supposedly has one of the densest populations of Bighorn sheep in the state of Nevada and we saw a herd of 45 just below the summit. They were very shy and even with a 500 kept too far away for great individual shots of the rams, but I got a good picture of the whole herd when we first saw them before they went into alert mode.

The next morning was cold and rainy, but we decided to try and find some unique rock formations that we saw from the summit. We turned at the Meadow Canyon Forest Service guard station, another abandoned building, but this one with a running spring and a picnic table, and had lunch there. Next we continued on the rough road contouring around the hill that I guessed we saw from the summit. I guessed right and we shortly came upon a small area of hoodoo type rocks and mini slot canyons that turned out to be very hard to access. The road up to it at one point required me to put my truck into low range and lock the rear axle briefly, but you could easily make the hike from the bottom. After geeking out on the cool rocks here in the morning we decided to head for Ruby Valley and try to make the hot springs there by dark. About 70 miles on a well graded dirt road we crossed through another wildlife refuge at Ruby Lake and looked forward to exploring that the next morning after a soak. Unfortunately, on the rougher road out to the hot springs my rack flew off the car at dusk leaving me in a bit of a conundrum. I did not have the key to unlock the towers or fixing it would have been a simple act of putting it back on and tightening down the screws, but you couldn’t get to them without the key. Eventually, after removing everything, I realized I had two, 12 foot tie-down cam straps that I had been using for the gas can and water. My cab shell has a side window that opens and with it open, I was able to tie the rack down to the metal loops in my pickup bed on opposing sides. This turned out to be pretty solid, but we didn’t load the rack up again, we just kept everything inside. We had planned to explore around Lamoille Canyon and Elko for another day, but given the rack malfunction, we headed back to Reno the next morning. I plan on heading out again in a couple of weeks for some fall color without the crowds. All images are available for license through my online photography archive.

Protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

photograph of Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada

Thousands of migrating birds at the protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Juvenile Northern Harrier, a white faced Ibis and a Clark’s Grebe in the wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Caspian Terns at the protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Great Herons and Ibis’ at the protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Cracked dirt in one of the dried up wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

An Orb Weaver spider has no problems getting enough to eat at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge

White faced Ibis in the wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Mating Killdeer and a Black Necked Stilt at the protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

Sunset photograph of Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada

Sunset at the protected wetlands and marshes reclaimed after canals dug for agriculture in the 1940’s drained the important stopover for migrating waterfowl at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Fallon, Nevada, USA.

The abandoned Kingston Ranger Station along Kingston Canyon in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest south of Austin, Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

The Lucky Spur Saloon in Kingston Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Photograph of Belmont Ghost Town in Nevada

The historic Belmont courthouse in this living ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

The American flag reflected in a window of the historic Belmont courthouse in this living ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Belmont Ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

An old Cigar store Indian at the Belmont Ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Belmont Ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Bright colors on a rusted out Chevy pickup at the Belmont Ghost town at the south end of the Humboldt-Toiyaba National Forest in central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Monique enjoying a beer at sunset at Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Self portrait under the brilliant Milky Way in the dark skies on the flanks of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

time lapse photograph of stars over mt jefferson nevada

Stars rotating in the sky over Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Sunset on Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft.

photograph of woman having morning coffe in sleeping bag

Monique has her morning coffee at sunrise in purple sleeping bag on the flanks of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. I could do a blog post of all the morning coffee in sleeping bag pictures I have of her througout the years.

Hiking Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Panoramic photo looking west at the Round Mountain Gold Mine from the summit of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

A large bighorn sheep herd near the summit of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Signing the summit log on Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

photograph of mt jefferson summit marker

Signing the summit log on Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Panoramic photo looking north from the summit of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

photograph of Aspen trees on mt jefferson

Looking south from the summit of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Moniuque morning coffee inside the truck because it was rainy on the flanks of Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft.

Meadow Canyon guard station below Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Cool rock formations and mini slot canyons in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest below Mt. Jefferson during a trip through central Nevada, North America. According to my geologist photographer friend Mark Vollmer, this was created by a volcanic ash flow called Tuff common in the area.

Cool rock formations and mini slot canyons in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest below Mt. Jefferson during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Cool rock formations and mini slot canyons in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest below Mt. Jefferson during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

photograph of meadow canyon guard station

Meadow Canyon guard station below Mt. Jefferson in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Central Nevada, the state’s 6th highest peak at 11,949 ft. The summit lies in the Alta-Toquima Wilderness

Prong horn antelope in a sage field during a trip through central Nevada, North America south of Austin

Stone House Ranch, a two-story station house and ranch in the early 1860s. It was a stop on the Belmont-Austin stage line and weary travelers used it for thirty years. Smith was killed on March 6, 1869 in a gun battle and the station was known for many years as Widow Smith’s place.

photograph of clouds over lonely straight road

A lonely dirt road and clouds during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

aerial photograph of dianas punch bowl, nevada

Drone photos of Diana’s punch bowl south of Austin, Nevada during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Monique looks into Ruby Valley hot springs at sunset uring a trip through central Nevada, North America.

The Milky Way galaxy over the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

photograph of sunrise at ruby valley hotspings near Elko, Nevada

A colorful sunrise over the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Sunrise and mist at the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Photograph of woman getting into RUby Valley Hot Spring near Elko

Monique silhouetted in the steam of the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Monique in the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

A colorful sunrise over the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

A woman in red patagonia jacket stands at the Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Ruby Valley hot springs during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Aerial photograph of Ruby Valley Hotsprings near Elko, Nevada

Ruby Valley hot springs in drone photos during a trip through central Nevada, North America.

Rural Nevada Photography-Stillwater, Austin, Mt Jefferson and Ruby Valley

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