- This time on Wild Nevada, it's a monumental trip.

- We're gonna hike the TriPoint Trail that's gonna take us to where three states conjoined.

- And along the way we're gonna introduce you to a town that we've been wanting to get to know a little bit better.

And we're gonna learn how dancing the Fandango plays a role in this area's history.

- All of that's coming up right now on Wild Nevada.

- [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own Wild Nevada adventures.

For more information, visit travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation, Kristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Meg Myers, Sarah and Leonard Lafrance, in memory of Sue McDowell, and by individual members.

(upbeat music) - We're just a few miles west of the Nevada Stateline in Cedarville, California.

Now we've passed through here on a previous trip, but this time we wanted to get to know the town a little bit better.

- So tomorrow we're headed to a monument, that's the inspiration for this trip.

But today we're headed to the Warner Mountains to do another favorite activity of mine, we're going rock hounding.

It's about half an hour drive on Highways 299 and 395 to the Davis Creek Mercantile where we meet JoAnne Homuth, a geologist from the US Forest Service.

- [Dave] Hi JoAnne.

- So what are we gonna do today?

- We are going to go up and look at the free use permit sites for collecting obsidian.

- So rock hounding.

- Yep.

- I love rock hounding, this is so much fun.

- You know you're a rock hound if you have more rocks in your house than in your driveway.

- Or in your office and your house.

(JoAnne laughs) - So we actually have four sites and there are four sites that have been active since the 1950s.

The four sites, North Fork Davis Creek, we have the Needles, we have the Pink Lady, and we have the Rainbow.

Needles is popular because the obsidian will shatter into these needle-like pieces.

You can tell it's got a tone.

People love to get this and make wind chimes out of it.

Davis Creek is one of the more popular ones.

A little bit of walk to get in there, but it has some really gorgeous rainbow.

- So where are we gonna go today?

- We are going to start with North Fork Davis Creek.

The limit that you can get is the equivalent to the volume of two five gallon buckets.

- So that can get pretty heavy.

- Yes.

- I don't think I want to carry an extra 100 pounds around.

It's fascinating when you talk to somebody who knows things about rocks, they're interesting.

If I'm out by myself, I'm just walking over them.

But you're making this way more fun than I would've ever thought.

- Rocks are our friends.

- I was gonna say rocks are fun.

- Rocks are our friends.

- Cool, well let's go check 'em out.

- [Chris] You can legally collect obsidian from four different sites in the Warner Mountains after you acquire your free use permit.

JoAnne is taking us to one of them, the Davis Creek Mine.

- So this is the North Fork Davis Creek site.

And if you're coming up the road this way you'll know you're here, we've got the gate.

- And then how far is it into the actual area where we can start gathering?

- It's a little over 100 feet or somewhere in there.

- Oh, so very close.

- Not very bad.

- Just stretch our legs.

- Yeah.

There's obsidian everywhere, but isn't the good stuff.

The good stuff is further up.

- [Chris] And this is actually not where our permit is good for, right?

- [JoAnne] No, the permit area has signs posted and you stay within those signs.

- [Dave] So you have to resist the temptation as you walk along this path.

- [JoAnne] And even I fall into the temptation.

- [Chris] It's hard to be patient.

- [JoAnne] Yeah, it is.

And so here we are.

- Oh, okay, a full hillside of potential.

(upbeat music) - [JoAnne] Definitely wear pants, shirts.

You can see there's virtually no shade here.

Sunscreen, water.

- [Chris] So general common sense safety as well.

- [JoAnne] Yeah, this is the North Fork Davis Creek site.

This is the probably the most popular site.

You can see why.

- Yeah.

- [JoAnne] And we didn't make it very far before you guys were picking up rocks.

- [Dave] I know.

- [Chris] I have a hard time not, it's just shined in it.

- Yeah, you can just walk around.

You don't have to break rocks.

If all you wanna do is collect really easy to come up here and find something you like.

Whether it's the rainbow, there's banded here showing the flow patterns of the lava.

There's a little bit of mahogany in some of this, beautiful stuff.

- [Chris] And there's historical significance steps in here, isn't there?

- [JoAnne] Going far enough back the Native Americans collected this.

It's sacred to them.

These sites are open because mining in the 1950s and forward in time destroyed the cultural significance of these sites.

When we were developing this program, we worked with the local groups and they had full say in how we developed this.

That's why you can't collect on the trail.

Also, the better stuff's here.

These guys can attest to that.

(Dave and Chris laughing) - [Chris] Oh, there's like little lines in that one.

- [Dave] Without the gloves, which I should have thought of, I'm being very delicate.

Is that the rainbow we're seeing?

- [JoAnne] Yes, some of these, I'm just standing here looking down and I can see rainbow just from my angle.

- [Dave] That's cool, the color is really rich.

- The colors can come in purple, gold, green, blue.

Sometimes it's like a silver color, silver iridescence in there.

- [Chris] That's the mahogany there.

This one's gorgeous except I'm afraid to put it in in my bag 'cause I think I'm gonna break it.

- [Dave] It's very delicate looking.

The variety of designs on this is surprising to me.

There's so many.

You got banding, beautiful.

- [Chris] Well, I brought my hand tools.

- [Dave] Oh good, yeah.

Chris came prepared and I came unprepared.

- [Chris] Going for this one.

- [Dave] It looks like a good candidate.

- [Chris] Okay.

(rock ringing) - [JoAnne] Hard, really hard.

There you go.

(speaking simultaneously) But it does create all kinds of shards.

- A trick if you don't want the sharp edge is take one, the big rock, just rub that edge right on the rock.

- [Dave] Oh, you can pile it down.

- [JoAnne] Yeah.

- [Dave] Oh, that's smart.

- Hey, there you go.

- [Dave] I don't know if that one kind of exploded there.

- [Chris] That did explode.

It does give you a sense of what's inside of it, huh?

But you really don't need a hammer because you got just beautiful rocks as they are.

- [Dave] There's a lot here just waiting to be found.

- Don't get too bogged down here.

The permit that you get is good for all four sites.

It's all good for the entire day.

From half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset.

- All I have to say, I now agree with Chris.

Rocks are fun.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] This is a fun stop.

But JoAnne has a piece of history to show us.

So we follow her back to the highway and north to a turnoff that leads us along the Applegate-Lassen Trail and into the forest.

- We are at the Fandango Pass where the Lassen and the Applegate Trails converge.

Applegate Trail was pioneered by the Applegate brothers in 1846 and they came through with a crew of 15 people and blazed the trail through.

- Can you imagine blazing this trail just with what?

Wagons and horses?

- Wagons, no refrigeration, no coolers, packing everything you've got that you are going to need for this trip.

So this would've been a really rough trail.

- So, and where did they get the name, Fandango from?

- My understanding is when they came from the east to the west, they came over this pass, saw the valley and celebrated, that they thought their journey was over.

And they had a party that night and were dancing the Fandango, which was a popular dance at the time.

But while they were celebrating Native American tribes attacked them at night and it was a massacre.

- [Chris] And you can imagine, I mean, after all of that hard work, when you see that beautiful valley and all that lush vegetation further.

- And thinking that you're coming from that direction, you're coming from the desert of Nevada going through a valley, up the mountain, down the mountain, across the valley, up the mountain, all the way across, and then you see Surprise Valley, which was noted as being very lush, which is why farmers settled there.

It was pretty spectacular after all the dry and all the heat.

- I could imagine it would make you feel like dancing a little bit out of joy.

- [Chris] Beautiful country is always worth celebrating, right?

- [Dave] Yeah, absolutely.

(upbeat music) Back down the mountain and south returns us to Cedarville, a place we have long been looking forward to exploring.

(upbeat music) - [Chris] You might see Cedarville on a map and wonder what you might do in a town of fewer than 1000 people.

But it doesn't take long for this town to charm a visitor.

(upbeat music) One of the longtime staples of Cedarville is the Country Hearth, where owner, Janet Irene has been cooking up meals for over three decades.

- I opened this in 1985.

When I opened, I was just a little donut shop because when I said, "What am I gonna do?"

I thought, "Well, I don't know, but I know how to make donuts and cinnamon rolls, and so I'll do that."

It's definitely an old fashioned country atmosphere.

- [Chris] That atmosphere continues down the street at The Wholesome Goodness Company Mercantile, where Mikie Royer provides a cornucopia of country themed decor.

Everywhere I look, I'm just falling in love with something.

(laughs) - [Mikie] Yeah, handmade cards and crotchet items, handmade soaps, handmade lotions.

A traveling door to door shoe salesman sample box.

- [Chris] Oh, are you serious?

- [Mikie] That's very cool.

Well, we try and have it set up like a home from anywhere between the 1800s and early 1960s.

The dining room and the kitchen and ... - [Chris] And coffins, you heard that right?

Mikie makes coffins, old west coffins to be exact.

And they are custom made.

Everybody does eventually need a coffin.

- At some point you're kind of gonna wanna need one, yeah.

It's something that really touches my heart.

I feel like it's an honor that I'm trusted with providing somebody's last good night, just old fashion simple pine boxes.

They need to be affordable.

And so that's why we started doing it.

Memory foam in the bottom.

It's beautiful.

And then we have a lady locally that crochet is just gorgeous lace.

And so I like to put some of her handmade lace.

- So that's handmade lace?

- Mm-hmm.

- Wow.

- [Mikie] Yep, isn't that beautiful?

Oh, the toe pincher has become the most popular, and it's called that because it's narrow at the toe.

- [Chris] So is that more traditional?

- [Mikie] Yeah, these are like the ones you'd see in the old Western movies leaning up against the wall of a mercantile, kind of old fashioned.

- [Chris] Did you paint the lilac, is that you?

- [Mikie] I did, but my attempt at lilacs, I like to find out a little about the person that's gonna be for, kind of make it special to them.

And I bet we've had 1000 people or more outside stop and hop into that coffin and get their picture taken.

(Chris laughs) - I did.

(laughs) - [Mikie] Yep, a lot of people do.

- [Dave] Well, before you get around to using that coffin, here's plenty of other stuff to be had in Cedarville.

Across the street from the Country Hearth sits the Cressler and Bonner building, the center of business in town since 1885.

It has some classic features to it, like this hand operated elevator.

- This was considered the most magnificent building north of Sacramento when it was built in 1884.

And you consider that all of the bricks used in this building were made here.

This used to be a mercantile store and they would bring in merchandise from the big cities.

In fact, when I bought the building years ago, I got the record books of how much everything cost and they were all written in the old script.

This one's a pretty high class building, so they had to have fancy doors.

If you look at this door, most people would say that's a beautiful oak door.

But if you look a little closer, you'll see that that door is painted, plain, pine doors painted using feathers.

It's called feather painting.

People who just walk by think it's an oak door.

- Yeah, I would've thought that.

And then I realized it's smooth.

- [Jean] Each mark done by a feather.

- [Dave] It's a work of art inside little frames.

- [Chris] You can see that there's respect for history here in Cedarville, as evidenced by Louieville, a collection of historic buildings collected from all over the area and named for Louis Vermilion who started the project.

- [Dave] There are places to go and things to do all day in Cedarville.

- [Chris] More modern attractions include this brand new art gallery, Studio 540.

Opened by owner and artist Nick Karrasch.

(upbeat music) - [Dave] You can enjoy your morning coffee at The Vault, a meal at Woody's and a night cap at Whalen's.

(upbeat music) But certainly the most well known attraction is the Surprise Valley Hot Springs where visitors can take their best shot at the fishing ponds.

And most of the rooms offer a personal hot tub and views of the dark skies.

For us, it's where we end our day with the promise of some brand new territory ahead of us tomorrow.

We're up and at it in the morning starting at the BLM field office where we meet Jen Rovanpera and plan our day.

- So I've heard about this location for a while now and I'm really excited to maybe get to go take a look at it and I'm really hoping we can get there today.

- Yeah, so we are gonna take County Road 1 up north.

We're gonna go through the town of Lake City and then through Fort Bidwell.

We'll go a few miles past there until we get to the Oregon border.

We're gonna park and then we're gonna hike east until we get to where California, Nevada, and Oregon meet.

- [Dave] Cool.

- Is there actually anything there?

- There is actually a monument that we'll be able to see.

- I think that's gonna be really cool.

- What kind of terrain are we looking at as we hike?

- So we're in the high desert, but we're also at the southern tip of the Columbia Plateau.

And so even though it's gonna be fairly flat is going to be very rocky.

- I like flat hikes.

- So is there an actual trail or are we gonna be bush whacking?

- I think most of it's bush whacking.

- Okay we will follow you then.

- Okay.

(chuckles) (Dave laughs) - All right, well let's hit it.

- Sounds good, okay.

- [Dave] We begin our road trip heading north from Cedarville on Surprise Valley Road.

About 10 miles up, we reach Lake City.

In the late 1800s, this town was both remote enough and populous enough to require its own flour mill, which still stands today in a beautiful, peaceful spot next to a bubbling creek.

- People in this valley had to be very self-sufficient.

If they got any goods, it was coming in from Redding, it was coming in from Susanville.

So grow your wheat, mill your flour, and that way then you can of course bake your own bread and feed your family and ... - All that stuff you kind of have to do to survive.

From Lake City, it's another 16 or so miles to Fort Bidwell, a California historical landmark and a place where you can see the enduring portions of its history.

This mercantile building is a good example.

Fort Bidwell is worth a visit by itself, but we're only passing through today.

So we just get a glimpse of town, like the cemetery, which began when the fort was established in the 1860s during a time of conflict with Native Americans.

And the remains of the Fort Bidwell Indian School, now abandoned but a reminder of a truly unfortunate part of history.

About five miles out of Fort Bidwell, we quickly run out of paved road and continue on dirt.

We're on Surprise Valley Road for another 10 dusty miles or so, and we nearly reach the Oregon border before we finally pull over.

- So this is where our trail begins for this little journey?

- Yes it is.

So we are standing on County Road 1, just south of the Oregon border.

If you look at Google Maps, the hiking trail is going to direct you down this road right here.

But that is actually on private property.

So we're not going to trespass.

We're actually gonna walk along the fence line first and then we'll continue on to the Tri-State Marker.

- Fair enough.

Lead the way, we will follow you.

We're in your hands, Jen.

- [Jen] So this whole area is open for cattle grazing.

If you come across any cows, we just have to be very careful.

Just give 'em their distance.

It's the general policy.

- [Dave] You were not kidding about this being rocky.

- [Jen] Yes, yeah, it's flat, but very rocky.

This is all the salt rock hot spot that now sits under Yellowstone.

30 million years ago that was actually just north of us in Oregon, and that's where we get these very old basalt flows.

20 million years ago, we had more volcanic activity and more basalt flows and rhyolitic flows.

And then 5 million years ago, Sierra started to uplift and at the same time the Warner Mountain range started to uplift.

- [Dave] Walking in these tracks makes me feel like I could understand what it must have been like to be in a wagon going on one of these trails.

I don't know if it was this rocky, probably was, right?

- [Jen] Oh, it's not rocky here.

Some of the wagon roads actually improved by clearing the rocks, but it would've been bumpy and most likely miserable.

- [Chris] I think I'd rather be hiking it than in a wagon on this.

- [Jen] A lot of people actually just walked alongside the wagons because it was either very bumpy or stuffy.

And this might be one of the old wagon roads, although you'd have to look at the general land office survey maps to help confirm that.

(upbeat music) - [Dave] I'm looking down this path and it's like the yellow brick road.

The wildflowers seem to be showing us the path.

That's so cool.

- Yeah, so we have a couple different plants growing that you can see right here.

The white flowers are a type of phlox.

The ones with the small yellow flowers are a type of lomatium, commonly known as biscuit root.

And there's about two dozen different varieties of biscuit root that grow up in this area.

And it has a edible root that was traditionally used by the Northern Paiute in this area.

- [Chris] Thus the reference to biscuits, right?

- [Jen] Yes, I believe you could like grind it into a flour and then make it into a biscuit.

- [Dave] Oh wow.

- [Jen] There's another plant here called yampah, and that was really commonly used up on these volcanic plateaus.

It just grows in these massive fields.

The root is edible.

You don't need to cook it.

And it's pretty amazing because you can eat it raw, you can cook it, you can store it for long periods of time.

It's hiding calories.

It's actually for a plant, one of the most complete proteins.

I think it rates as a 72 on the complete protein scale.

And the Americans have been harvesting this for 1000 of years, and they've most likely been maintaining large, large fields of it out here for 1000s of years as well.

Some people say it tastes kinda like a water chestnut.

Other people say it has almost a peanut flavor.

Do you guys wanna try this one?

- Yeah.

- We skipped lunch, so yeah, I'm willing to try.

- So here, you can, I just take my thumb and take off the skin.

- Cool, is that looking.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] It does almost look like a nut.

- That one's pretty clean.

It's cleaner than my fingers, so.

(laughs) - Oh yeah, you did a much better job than I did.

Oh, get some.

- All right.

- Yeah.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

(upbeat music) It's good, it's got a little carroty taste right now.

- Oh yeah.

And actually gummy.

- Yeah.

- A little parsnip to it.

- Yeah.

- Pretty good, yeah.

Look at this stack of rocks.

This little can.

- Yeah.

I believe this might be the end of our road trail, guys.

So now we just have to go down through (indistinct) Slough, back up and then continue heading towards the Tri-State Marker.

- Okay.

- So we just bush whack from here?

- I believe so.

- All right.

So just down and up.

- Yep.

- [Dave] Start whacking bushes.

- [Chris] So now we gotta pick our own adventure down, right?

- [Jen] Yeah, and be careful coming down these rocky areas.

It's good to test the rock before you commit your weight to it, because some of the rocks do move.

Guys, probably you have seen the piles of cut juniper.

This is a project that BLM did a few years ago to help restore the sage step habitat.

The juniper is really good in this hot dry climate.

And while it expands, it's actually out competing some of the other native strawberry, sage brush, bitter brush, even have a pine tree on our hike.

- [Chris] Yeah, tiny bit of shade for us.

- [Jen] Yeah.

- [Chris] We got a little bit of a creek crossing in here.

- [Jen] Yeah so this is (indistinct) Slough.

It will flow down to 12 Mile Creek, which is just along the Oregon border.

And now we make our way up the other side of the creek.

(Dave and Chris laugh) - [Chris] And we didn't even get wet.

(bright music) - [Dave] Look at this flower bed here, pow!

That's gorgeous.

- [Chris] Blooming pretty.

- [Dave] We had no idea that it was about to become even better.

These meadows full of flowers as far as the eye could see is simply breathtaking.

(calming music) Hey, look at that.

- [Jen] And there we have the monument.

- [Chris] We've reached our goal.

- [Dave] We're finally in the state of Nevada for this episode of Wild Nevada.

(laughs) - Yeah, so Nevada's on this side, California's over there, and just north of us is 12 Mile Creek in Oregon.

- So we are really, we're right on that corner.

Hey, your dream came true.

- I know.

I've been wanting to be in this spot at the map for lots of years now.

So I'm right in the spot I look at in the map all the time.

- That's really cool.

I see the monument has the name carved into it and a year 1872.

And then are those coordinates at the bottom?

- It does look like there's coordinates.

It says Longitude 120 and Latitude 42, corner of California, in the northwest corner of Nevada.

- So that's the coordinates that caused a lot of dispute over a lot of years.

(Chris and Jen laugh) - Even some bloodshed.

There is some serious debates on where 120th Meridian was.

- And it's really interesting that this one little spot created all of those maps and all of that discussion and is still going on.

That's part of why I wanted to come.

And it made for a beautiful hike too.

- It was a fantastic hike.

Well, this trip has come to an end and this episode of Wild Nevada has come to an end finally in Nevada.

How about that?

- Well, at least you're on Nevada.

Maybe I'm still in California.

(both laugh) - Well, we won't have any more border arguments about that right now.

We'll just enjoy the fact that we made it and you've achieved your goal and I got to come along and enjoy it too.

That was pretty cool.

So this trip coming to an end now, what will you remember most about it?

- That this corner of the state is not a sharp point like you look on a map, but it's actually a really beautiful place.

- And I will remember all the things I saw on the way here that I did not know existed.

Like the incredible beauty of this hike and the stuff we saw yesterday I didn't know anything about.

And then Fandango Pass and I will never think of dancing the Fandango the same way again.

We hope you enjoyed coming along this trip with us.

- To stream this episode or any other Wild Nevada series, you can visit us at pbsreno.org or use the PBS video app.

- Until our next Wild Nevada adventure I was hoping that you're able to get out and explore some on your own.

See you next time.

That's Valley Hot Springs, what do you think?

- I don't mind if I do.

(laughs) - [Dave] Steve, are you learning a lot about fly fishing from Martin?

- Yes, he's got three fish in the last 10 minutes.

- [Speaker] Even the speed limit signs are polite here.

It says please.

- [Dave] Three, two, one, toast, cheers.

Oh, I put my glass right in the middle of it, hold on.

- [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] Travel Nevada helps provide travel inspiration and experiences for those interested in creating their own Wild Nevada adventures.

For more information, visit travelnevada.com.

And by Millie Hopper and Millard Reed, Charles and Margaret Burback, Sande Family Foundation, Kristine Perry, Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, June S. Wisham Trust, the Hall Family, Dillard and Mag Myers, Sarah and Leonard Lafrance, in memory of Sue McDowell, and by individual members.

(upbeat music)