Major production funding for Wild Nevada is made possible by the Nevada Commission on Tourism, who encourages everyone to explore the Silver State's hidden treasures.

MUSIC >>Dave Santina: Hi, welcome to Wild Nevada.

I'm Dave Santina.

>>Chris Orr: And, I'm Chris Orr.

We'll be beginning this trip in Soldier Meadows Guest Ranch which is a working cattle ranch about 60 miles north of Gerlach.

Now, we could begin this trip in Gerlach, but this puts us a little bit closer to where we're going which is High Rock Canyon.

>>Dave: Yeah, Soldier Meadows used to be known as Fort McGarry and it was a stopping point along the Emigrant Trail, the Lassen-Applegate Trail for the emigrants coming across the country.

We're gonna be following some of that actual trail on our trip this time.

And, to help us do that we have Alvin McLane, our old friend and traveling companion.

>>Alvin McLane: Hi.

>>Dave: Hi, Alvin.

>>Chris: Hi, Alvin.

>>Alvin: How you guys doin' today?

>>Dave: Good, thanks.

>>Chris: Good to see ya.

>>Dave: So, what have you got in store for us?

>>Alvin: Well, we'll, uh, part of this trip the next two days will be along this, uh, Emigrant Trail you're talking about and it was pioneered by John C. Freemont in, uh, 1843, 1844.

Along the way, uh, we'll see, uh, some streams, some potholes, uh, we'll go through the real high walls where the High Rock Canyon itself is with showing, uh, there's Emigrant names painted on the walls with ax, axle grease and paint, and, uh, this evening we'll camp at, uh, the mouth of Yellow Rock Canyon and then the following day we'll see a big arch that was formed by the falling rock and we'll see a, a petroglyph that was, uh, it may be modern, but it's got, it's a, uh, looks like an elephant with a spear in its side.

>>Dave: Hmm.

>>Alvin: And, then, uh, we'll see some, uh, Stone Boys and, then, uh, we'll stop at a place with some colorful, uh, hot spring deposits, uh, coming from a well that's built up some colorful, uh, cones.

And, uh, that's where we'll end the trip a few miles, oh, from Gerlach.

>>Dave: That's a lot to do.

>>Chris: And, we'd better get going.

>>Dave: We better get moving.

>>Dave: From Soldier Meadows we turn toward High Rock Canyon.

The sky's a bit overcast as we begin our adventure, but we can see blue sky on the horizon, so we hope that means the clouds will burn off soon.

MUSIC >>Chris: The road from Soldier Meadows soon meets up with the Applegate-Lassen Emigrant Trail.

We'll be following the actual historic wagon trail off and on for much of the next two days.

MUSIC >>Dave: This area was first recorded by frontier explorer Captain John Freemont in 1844.

The Applegate Brothers then guided emigrant wagon trains through on their way to Oregon's Willamette Valley.

In 1849 and into the 1850's, it was also a well-known pass to the goldfields and towns of California.

>>Alvin: Well, we'll park here, then we'll walk up to where the, uh, the so-called Wagon Slide on the Emigrant Trail.

>>Dave: Cool.

>>Alvin: Then, we'll take a hike down, uh, down the canyon to see some potholes.

Then we'll hike it back up to the Jeep and then we'll do another, uh, drive a little bit farther and go to a, the giant, the mother of all potholes.

>>Dave: (Laughs) Alright.

>>Chris: By a pothole, I don't mean, uh, I suppose you don't mean the big ruts we were hittin' on the way up here?

(Laughs) >>Alvin: No.

>>Dave: Those are just rocks.

>>Alvin: This is a real geological term.

It's, uh, it's a hole that's been swirled by sand and rocks in, in, uh, stream beds.

>>Chris: Oh, okay.

>>Alvin: So, things are, and this is a, and we'll see one after this part of the trip, the next, the next part of the trip just a short distance beyond we'll see the biggest one that I've ever have heard of, read of anywhere.

And, then here's the, uh, rock that the, uh... >>Chris: Wow!

Look at this!

>>Alvin: that the wagon, that the pioneers tied their, uh, wagons to.

And, uh... >>Dave: Huh.

>>Alvin: ...you can see how uh, steep the slope is down there.

(Chris laughs) >>Dave: Oh.

>>Alvin: And, they loaded... >>Dave: I can't imagine.

>>Alvin: ...yeah, they loaded 'em down to the bottom, >>Dave: Wow.

>>Alvin: and then the wagon trail actually went on up Fly Canyon here.

And, you can see the modern later road off on the right over here.

>>Dave: I can't believe the ropes wouldn't just get cut by these, these rocks, too.

>>Alvin: Well, I guess they, back in those days they used really big manila ropes.

>>Dave: Hmm.

>>Alvin: You know, really, really thick.

>>Dave: We descend a rough slope of jagged and broken rock, and then find ourselves in an area of striking geology.

These magnificent volcanic slabs tower above us on either side.

>>Chris: Well, it looks like the dog's led us to water.

(Laughs) >>Alvin: Yeah.

Here's, uh, where, these are just shallow, shallow pools in the bedrock, these, from here on down now, it's pretty smooth like this.

And, right up here in front of us is where we get into the real round, the real round potholes.

>>Chris: Oh, we have a bit of a drop.

(Laughs) >>Dave: Yeah.

A little cliff here.

>>Alvin: Yeah, I think there's a way to climb down the way I remember it.

>>Dave: Oh, that's cool!

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: That is cool.

>>Chris: Oh, wow Oops.

Watch out.

>>Dave: Is this a pothole?

With the green...?

>>Alvin: Yeah, look, see how... >>Chris: Wow.

>>Alvin: ...yeah, there's, there's our first real pothole, right there.

>>Dave: Ah, I didn't really get what you were saying before, but now I... >>Alvin: Now you know what I'm talking about.

>>Dave: can see it.

>>Alvin: What we, uh, what happened here, when the water, when the water comes down it probably hit one side of the canyon and it just started like a swirling, like a... >>Chris: A whirlpool almost?

>>Alvin: a whirlpool.

And, rough sand or cobbles or stones would get in there and just, just hollowed it out.

>>Chris: Wow!

That's wild!

>>Dave: Are there more of these down the canyon?

>>Alvin: Yeah, hopefully.

I remember more being down the canyon, some real, real nice ones.

>>Chris: Over here on the left.

>>Dave: Oh, that's cool.

>>Chris: There's kinda... >>Alvin: Pretty nice for Mother Nature to, uh, provide us these steps coming down.

>>Chris: Yeah, no kidding.

>>Dave: That was thoughtful.

>>Alvin: See, and here's a, here's a dry round one on the side.

>>Chris: So... >>Alvin: Water, water just came flowin' in here, just started swirling.

>>Chris: So, you would almost think it would be a waterfall.

>>Alvin: It probably started up, well, actually the, the pothole probably started up there.

>>Chris: And, just came on down.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

And, then, uh, the lowering of the, uh, stream just, uh... >>Chris: Wow.

>>Alvin: ...made it, made the pothole lower.

>>Chris: I have never seen a geologic pothole before and I'm struck not only by the size of the holes, but at how perfectly cylindrical they are.

The stone walls are almost perfectly smooth as though they've been sanded or polished clean.

If you consider the rushing water that it took to create these landmarks, I guess they have.

>>Dave: We hike further down the canyon and find another pothole.

This one is a little more irregular in shape, but still an amazing site.

>>Alvin: I think we might have to -- do a detour here.

>>Chris: (Laughs) I like that idea.

>>Chris: There are more examples of potholes in the canyon, but we'll have to leave them for another trip.

It's time for us to move on to what Alvin calls the Mother of All Potholes.

So, we climb out and head back to the car.

>>Dave: Chris and I are both overwhelmed by the natural wonders hidden in this canyon and it's less than a few hundred yards off the main road.

As we drive to the "Big" pothole, our imaginations are whetted for something spectacular.

It's a short drive, less than a mile.

>>Alvin: Well, here's where we'll go to what I call the Fly Creek Pothole.

>>Dave: Fly Creek Pothole.

>>Alvin: The BIG Pothole.

(Chris laughs) >>Dave: Oh, that one I understand.

The BIG puddle.

>>Chris: Alvin suggests that we take his climbing rope and ladder with us this time which makes me wonder exactly how big the BIG Pothole really is.

>>Alvin: Well, what do you think?

>>Chris: Oh my gosh!

>>Alvin: Here is... (Dave laughs) >>Alvin: ...the Mother of All Potholes.

>>Dave: Wow.

>>Chris: It looks like a giant crater.

Like a big bomb went off.

>>Chris: Alvin tells us that this pothole was formed by swirling water that dug out the softer layer underneath the rock.

>>Dave: Does that mean that some day this is all gonna fall in?

>>Alvin: Well, it could collapse.

>>Dave: Hope that's safe.

>>Alvin: And, it's just hollowed out, hollowed out underneath and it's 151 feet across and 80 feet from the top of the canyon to the bottom when I measured it a number of years ago.

So, to really experience it I guess we oughta rig up the ladder... >>Dave: Yeah.

>>Chris: Okay.

>>Alvin: ...and rope... >>Dave: Yeah, let's go in.

>>Alvin: ...and drop down in it.

MUSIC >>Dave: The belt was not a bad move on my part.

MUSIC >>Chris: Oh, golly!

>>Alvin: See, another thing you can do is twist the ladder sideways.

>>Dave: This is pretty incredible.

>>Alvin: Well, why don't we, uh, why don't we take a walk back in there just going back in... >>Dave: Alright.

>>Alvin: ...back into a cave.

>>Dave: Cool.

I see some bones.

What do you think lives up there?

>>Chris: Oh, the swallows.

Yeah.

>>Alvin: Look at all those swallow nests right in there.

>>Chris: All the mud swallows.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: Look at that!

That is a really flat overhang.

Is that normal?

Does -- that smooth?

>>Alvin: Yeah, what it was is just a big, this was undercut and just a big rock... >>Chris: A big chunk fell out.

>>Alvin: ...fell down.

>>Dave: And that's probably what this is.

>>Alvin: Yep.

>>Chris: So, how many millions of years would it take to make something like this, Alvin?

>>Alvin: Well... >>Chris: Or are we talking tens of thousands instead?

>>Alvin: Yeah, it, probably not millions, but several, several thousand, I would say.

Um, it's really, it's really hard to say.

>>Chris: I would almost expect to smell like bat guano, but I don't.

>>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: Yeah, well there's not that, that many animals perching down in here.

See the stream bed just goes right on through and then when, when the water was down here swirling it found this softer, looks like a tough... >>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: ...rock?

>>Dave: Carved it out.

>>Alvin: And it just was easier to erode with the swirling waters.

>>Dave: Oh, cool.

You know, it, it, and our, uh, the sound is, is becoming more dampened in here.

>>Alvin: Almost like a cave.

>>Dave: Yeah.

Very like a cave.

>>Alvin: Look how, I mean, this is really, really impressive.

>>Chris: It is.

>>Dave: Cool.

(Chuckles) >>Chris: It's kinda like a giant sink drain almost.

>>Alvin: You know, when I first came back in here, I wonder if I was the first one to put a foot, put a footprint here.

Probably not, you know.

(Chris and Dave laugh) >>Dave: Yeah, ha.

Maybe, though.

>>Alvin: The cowboys, cowboys were pretty, some of the cowboys were pretty, pretty adventuresome.

>>Dave: Boy, it's pretty interesting, though, in here.

It's fun.

This is a fun little dugout.

>>Alvin: Yeah, it's the most unique, one of the most unique geological features I know of in Nevada.

You know, there's a lot of nice ones... >>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: ...but, of this type it is unique.

>>Dave: Yeah, this size.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: It's just immense.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

Really impressive.

Well, what about coming back over, going back over to the ladder?

I guess we... >>Dave: I don't wanna leave yet.

(Chris laughs) >>Alvin: We're gonna have to get out.

Well, it's nice and shade, shady.

The only problem is we don't have our lunches with us.

>>Dave: Yeah, I was gonna say this would've been a great picnic spot.

>>Dave: Alvin takes us to another spot where a mini-pothole drops into the big pothole and reminds me a little bit of a firehouse.

I kind of expect to see a pole come through that hole.

What a surreal feeling this place has!

It's really hard to imagine that this complex shape is the result of something as simple as water drainage.

How much water and how many years must it have taken to make this?

>>Chris: With the help of the ladder, it's an easy scramble out of the pothole.

And, once we're all back up on the canyon floor, we head back to the vehicle.

MUSIC >>Chris: It's about three miles down the trail to High Rock Canyon.

The road gets progressively more remote and difficult to drive.

A 4-wheel drive is definitely needed for this.

>>Dave: The thunderstorms and clouds that had been threatening us finally decide to get serious.

We stop for lunch and try to keep out of the downpour.

Even in the rain, the canyon scenery is gorgeous.

Sheer rock walls loom above us with their red stone faces decorated with brightly colored lichen.

>>Chris: During the break in the rain we continue down the road to an historic landmark in the area.

The pioneers on the Applegate-Lassen Trail left their mark here as they traveled down the trail.

>>Alvin: So, it's been here a while.

But, it's George N. Jacklith.

See how they made the "N"?

>>Chris: Mm, hmm.

>>Chris: We still have a few miles to drive before we reach camp.

This road is definitely only for high clearance 4-wheel drives.

It's rutted and choked with vegetation.

The rain makes the trail even more difficult.

We hit a spot that's been made slick and sticky with mud.

But, with a little maneuvering, Alvin gets us through.

>>Alvin: Hey this is pretty neat.

>>Dave: Yes, it is nice.

>>Dave: The terrain keeps changing.

A sea of rabbit brush greets us in the next valley and then we run into deep water.

Finally, we reach the Yellow Rock Canyon Area and our stopping point for the evening.

We have just enough time to make camp and have something to eat before it gets dark.

>>Chris: Well, we got chased by some thunderstorms yesterday and had to change our plans a little bit, but we still saw some great things.

>>Dave: Yeah, those thunderstorms caught up to us and rained on us... (Chris chuckles) >>Dave: ...when we were camping here last night.

And, this morning the ground is wet, but the sky is lookin' pretty clear and the sun's comin' out, so it was gonna be a, I think, a dry and warm day, so what are we doin' this morning, Alvin?

>>Alvin: Well, this morning we'll, uh, go to a, uh, what I call a fallen rock arch behind us and we're camped here at, uh, Yellow Rock Canyon, the mouth of Yellow Rock Canyon.

And, later in the morning we'll go to a wounded elephant petroglyph which is very interesting, and then after that we'll go see some tall, stacked, uh, rock features called "Stone Boys" that the Basque probably, probably built and we'll see some petrified wood and some, very colorful, uh, mineral deposits from a hot spring.

>>Dave: Alright.

Sounds like another busy day.

Let's get started.

>>Alvin: Okay.

MUSIC >>Dave: From our camp we hike around to the mouth of Yellow Rock Canyon.

There's no trail here, so we're just kind of bushwhacking our way.

Our destination is the Fallen Rock Arch, which is about a quarter-mile away.

What better way to wipe the sleep from your eyes than hiking up a 45-degree hill, right?

(Dave laughs) >>Chris: With pounding hearts we reach the base of the Fallen Rock.

It's an amazing site.

Alvin estimates that the opening is about 40 feet high and 8 feet wide.

>>Dave: This arch was formed when the huge slab broke off the cliff about 150 feet up and slammed into the ground wedging itself at the bottom.

The top then leaned up against the face of the cliff.

We head back down to the road below, slip-sliding our way across the loose rock.

If we weren't all awake before, we are now.

>>Chris: We continue our hike along a closed road in one of the BLM's Wilderness Areas.

We have about two miles to go before we reach our next destination.

This is a great area for a hike.

It's loaded with beautiful scenery, rock pinnacles, chuckers and hawks.

>>Dave: It's hard not to stare at the surrounding canyon walls because the perspective changes as I go, from the red-brown cliffs to the lichen-covered rocks.

>>Chris: We finally reach the site of the elephant petroglyph.

It's a large square-like rock that has several petroglyphs on it.

>>Alvin: But, the elephant is right here.

You can see a spear.. >>Dave: Oh, yeah.

>>Alvin: ...going through it.

>>Chris: Yeah.

Now, a pet, an elephant is not a regular petroglyph... >>Alvin: No, you don't... >>Chris: ...around this area, is it?

>>Alvin: you don't see these very often, so, but when this was first recorded back in the, uh, '60's, the, uh, the, uh, it was recorded as a, uh, an actual mammoth.

>>Dave: Okay.

>>Alvin: And, so they thought that it was old enough.

>>Dave: It looks like one.

>>Alvin: Yeah, so they thought it was old enough to, uh, be associated with, uh, with people about, uh, oh, uh, over 10,000 years ago.

But, the latest reading that I've done on, uh, mammoths in, um, in Nevada was they died out about 14,000 years ago.

So, I don't think it's possible that they could've been, that this is that old.

And, I did a real close look at it with, uh, with a magnifying glass, etcetera.

>Chris: Mm, hmm.

>>Alvin: You can see the crystals are real sharp in here?

>>Dave: Mm, hmm.

>>Chris: Yeah.

>>Alvin: And, I think if it was that old it would be much more worn.

>>Dave: Hmm.

>>Alvin: You know, in the, where the... >>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: ...where the pecked groves are.

So, I think it's, uh, could've done, been done in this century.

There is a metaphor, uh, about killing or spearing a bighorn sheep, it will make rain.

And, so I was wondering, hmm, now did, was this an elder Native American... >>Dave: Hmm.

>>Alvin: ...or Indian who knew, uh, something about the old, the old ways and instead of making a bighorn sheep, he uh... >>Dave: Made an elephant.

>>Chris: Made an elephant.

>>Alvin: ...made an elephant.

>>Chris: He needed a lot more rain.

>>Dave: Maybe.

I'm still, I'm still confused about how anyone in this area would've, would know what an elephant is from that far back.

>>Alvin: Yeah, that, that, yeah, that early.

>>Dave: 'Cause they weren't runnin' around this area as far as I know.

>>Alvin: So, uh, yeah.

Well, there is, there is controversy and the BLM's trying to see if they can, um, get somebody up here with a portable x-ray ma -- machine, uh, that could maybe could date, date this patina.

>>Dave: Oh, you can really tell how old it is from that.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

Yeah, from, from dating the weathering.

My take on it is it's not that old and then other people think that it's the real, real thing.

>>Dave: Hmm.

>>Alvin: Much older.

>>Chris: Before we head back, I take a short 'nature hike' by myself and end up finding a little more nature than I meant to.

This young rattler serves as a reminder that when hiking in the desert, stay alert and close to the rest of your hiking party.

>>Dave: As we continue down the canyon road, we drive by some striking mountains made up of basalt and ash.

Next are some treacherous wash areas that make us glad that Alvin is a safe and experienced off-road driver.

>>Chris: As we get to a point where we'll soon be leaving the canyons, we come across a spring-fed pond.

Alvin notices watercress growing on the edge of the water and can't resist stopping for a closer look.

>>Alvin: Oh, wow!

Look at all the fish in there.

>>Dave: Hey, there's a ton of 'em here.

>>Alvin: I've seen 'em when the streams are completely, completely dry and I don't know whether they lay their eggs or burrow down in the mud or what, but they're back.

>>Dave: We see some wild horses as we make our way out of High Rock Canyon and head west in the direction of Stephen's Camp.

That's not our destination, though.

We leave the Applegate-Lassen Trail and turn south to visit a unique feature of this area.

>>Alvin: Well, we'll go down here to an area of, of Stone Boys.

>>Dave: This area was used as grazing land by Basque shepherds in the late 1800's and throughout the early part of the 20th Century.

While tending their flocks, the sheep herders would sometimes create structures of stacked stones called Stone Boys, or in Basque, "arri mutilla."

>>Alvin: You know, when you see 'em from a distance they almost do look like a boy standing out there.

>>Dave: Yeah.

>>Chris: The Stone Boy figures were often positioned on the high spots in the desert making them visible on the horizon from a distance.

It's been speculated by some that the stone figures were man-made landmarks while others argue that they were simply a way for sheep herders to occupy their time and to provide themselves with companionship in the lonely Nevada desert.

>>Alvin: They're all over the West where, wherever there's been sheep and the Basque sheep herders, for some reason, they would build these big cairns.

>>Chris: This is a historic structure, right?

>>Alvin: Right.

>>Chris: So you wouldn't want to... >>Alvin: No.

Tear it down or destroy it.

And, it very possibly could be nearly a hundred years old.

MUSIC >>Dave: A couple of more miles of wilderness road later we reach Route 34.

After the many miles of rutted and bumpy jeep trail we've traveled, this graded dirt road feels like a major paved highway.

MUSIC >>Chris: A few miles down the road we stop for a look at a few million years of Nevada history.

>>Alvin: Well, here is a very large petrified tree.

We don't grow them this big in Nevada anymore.

>>Chris: But, this was originally here?

I mean, it was native?

>>Alvin: Right.

This is a sequoiadendron.

It's in the family of the giant sequioas as we know them today from California.

And, this is, uh, 15 million years old, old.

>>Dave: Wow.

>>Alvin: It was buried under sediments and hardened to stone.

>>Dave: That's amazing.

Now, and the process of petri -- petrification, how does that work again?

>>Alvin: Oh, it's, uh, it's the sediments, uh, covering up the wood and then over the years the pressure silici, uh, silicifies it and turns it into silicified stone.

>>Dave: So, it's, it just replaces the wood... >>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: ...with stone and that's why... >>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: it keeps that shape.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: Now, why is this buried in the ground like that?

>>Alvin: It's just a, another log that was probably laying down and, and buried and you can see it's exposed right here.

>>Chris: And, you can almost see the wood grain.

>>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: It looks like wood still.

>>Chris: The wood grain is still there.

>>Alvin: Yeah, you can see the, you can see the, uh, you can see the different, uh, tree, tree layers.

>>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: Counting the years the uh, the hard way.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: So, do you think there are more of these buried out here?

>>Alvin: Yeah, there's a number of these, uh, scattered around in the area.

And, the Bureau of Land Management built a fence around here to protect 'em because they're so close to the road that people would, uh, probably, you know, tear a lot of this up... >>Dave: Yeah.

>>Alvin: ...and destroy a lot of it.

And, this is, uh, petrified wood area is dedicated to, uh, George Lund.

And, I knew him.

We, we used to work together, a group in Nevada, that, uh, was, uh, tried to preserve certain areas in Nevada and he was very interested in preserving the petrified wood.

And, I knew him back in the early 1960's before he passed away in 1964.

Quite a spectacular area.

I mean, if you're interested in this type of thing and... (Chuckles) >>Dave: Oh, yeah.

>>Chris: It's fascinating.

>>Alvin: Interesting, interesting geology.

>>Dave: Well, it's nice that they made the effort to preserve it because... >>Alvin: Yeah.

Yeah.

It's really neat to be able to still find things like this that hasn't been hauled away with a front-end loader.

>>Dave: Yeah, and I betcha they probably would take too much of it away without the fence.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

MUSIC >>Dave: We continue on Route 34 for about 20 more miles.

We have one final stop on this trip at Fly Ranch.

This is private property and trespassing is not allowed.

Fortunately we were able to make arrangements to enter the ranch and visit the amazing Fly Geyser.

>>Dave: Wow!

That just is... >>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: ...unbelievable.

>>Chris: That's incredible.

>>Alvin: They're pretty neat.

>>Dave: This amazing geyser at Fly Ranch is actually a well that was drilled in the 1960's to tap geothermal energy.

>>Alvin: And, apparently it was too much water and not enough steam.

So, they abandoned it.

>>Dave: But, the well wasn't capped, so the minerals in the water were deposited on the flat surface around the wellhead and over the years the geyser took shape.

>>Alvin: Just like, uh, almost like in Yellowstone.

See, when the water flow's, cascades and flows down you get these little terraces and pools, pools that builds up.

>>Dave: That's just, it's just so hard to look at that and not think that it's a sculpture.

>>Alvin: Yeah.

>>Dave: Because it just looks like one, but it, it's just a well under there, huh?

>>Alvin: Right.

>>Dave: And, it just, just all happened over the years.

>>Alvin: Right.

>>Dave: Is it continuing to grow and change shape?

>>Alvin: Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, uh, it's, uh, when it first started depositing it was just a little bit of, uh, mineralization around the pipe that was sticking out of the ground and, and there's so much mineralization in the water here that it just keeps depositing up, somewhat like water dripping in a cave and forming, uh, stalagmites and stalactites.

>>Chris: Across the pond from where we're standing there's an earlier well that was drilled in the 1920's.

Locals call it the Cone of Colors and you can still see a wisp of steam wafting from its top.

>>Chris: We have had a great trip this time.

We've seen some incredible things.

>>Alvin: Yep.

And, I've really enjoyed take, taking you guys on along the Emigrant Trail and showing you the beauty and the wonders along the route.

>>Dave: Well, we really appreciate you taking us.

>>Alvin: Oh, you're welcome.

>>Dave: It was fantastic and it's fun to imagine what it must've been like to be one of those pioneers and, uh, just going through there on... >>Chris: Incredible.

>>Dave: ...you know, a wooden wagon.

It's, it's just beyond me and, uh, and then the rest of the stuff we saw was just so much fun.

We can't thank you enough, Alvin.

And, uh, you can thank us by going to our website at knpb.org and leaving us some information about some of your favorite adventures.

>>Chris: Until the next Wild Nevada adventure, you go out and enjoy our beautiful state for yourself.

MUSIC Major production funding for Wild Nevada is made possible by the Nevada Commission on Tourism, who encourages everyone to explore the Silver State's hidden treasures.