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By Paul Brickett, San José, CA
Bob Ellis led his fourth trip to these south/central Nevada destinations. Seven Survivors participated this year: Karen was a threepeat; Ingrid was returning from the very first trip; I was back from 1993; David, Lynne, and Jeff were initiates. After meeting Thursday morning in Warm Springs, which is classified as a town only in central Nevada, we sunk our teeth into Fang Ridge in the Reveille Range and proceeded to Bongo Butte. This mesa was so-named on the 1993 trip after an impromptu percussion jam session at the top. Any musical performance this night would have been drowned out by the wind section playing forte, so we waited until morning, when we beat it. After getting back to the vehicles and driving down highway 375 to the relative metropolis of Rachel we dined at the famous Aleinn. Sadly, we learned there that the owner, Joe Travis, had died just a few days before. All of us repeat visitors remembered Joe. After waiting for a photo opportunity at sunset, we started on the rough drive into the Worthington Mountains, camping on the west side of the range, although an easterly approach has also been reported. In the morning we hiked up rugged terrain to Leviathan cave (see NORA history, previous DS trip report, photos, more photos; also see Friends of Nevada Wilderness "Eastern" section, and Southern Nevada Grotto for cave maps and still more photos), where I took lots of photos. Since I have exceeded the minimum text requirements of the web master I can stop here. |
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| Start of Reveille backpack. | Ingrid et al. ascending. | Mound Cactus: Echinocereus triglochidiatus. | David and view east. |
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| Bob and Karen at rest stop. | Ingrid with plant specimen. | Ingrid at tricky section of trail. | Eastern panorama from Bongo Butte. |
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| Flowering shrub. | UFO just disappeared behind this rock. | Departing Fang Ridge. | Where Area 51 watchers party. |
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| Map from Southern Nevada Grotto. |
Jeff exploring east room. | Water drops on ceiling. | Cave formations in "B" section. |
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| Bighorn sheep remains in cave. | Jeff making rock music. | Pool reflection. | Karen making rock music. |
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| Awed by the spectacular formations. | Jeff inspecting stalactites. | Karen and the stalagmites. | Rock curtain. |
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| Bacon style stalactites. | Colorful formations. | Bacon formations. | Ingrid and Lynne exiting. |
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| Lynne exiting squeeze passage. | Ceiling detail. | Another flowering shrub. | Mat Rockspirea: Petrophyton caespitosum. |
Notes on constructing this web page. |
