Discover Your Nevada

By MATTHEW B. BROWN | July/August 2012

It’s the middle of August, and outside of our air-conditioned Toyota Yaris rental car is a figurative inferno—the temperature is somewhere between 115 and 120 degrees. But inside the car is the last place we’d rather be, not with the discoveries that await with each stop along the way. This is our first time exploring Southern Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park, and we’re mesmerized by the place. It’s even better than advertised.

While the height of summer is not the recommended season to do so, no matter what time of year you visit the park, you will not be disappointed by its iconic red sandstone landscapes and dramatic rainbow vistas.

That’s just two paragraphs from a chapter in the ongoing story of Nevada Magazine discovering our Nevada. But for two months, our Nevada Commission on Tourism partners asked you to Discover Your Nevada, in a campaign in which the public voted for their favorite Silver State treasures. Here are the results—a six-pack of Nevada gems (one from each territory), starting with Valley of Fire State Park.

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Nevada’s largest and oldest state park is a tourist hotspot.

Roughly an hour’s drive northeast of Las Vegas lies a true Silver State treasure, which the state officially recognized as such in 1935 when it dedicated it as Nevada’s inaugural state park.

Since then, Valley of Fire—named for the red sandstone formations that define it—has welcomed world travelers interested in camping, hiking, picnicking, photography, and history.

The visitor center, open daily, offers a comprehensive history lesson. Numerous educational exhibits keep guests occupied for hours, as does the gift shop, which sells postcards, books, cactus candies, and various souvenirs. Also, early native inhabitants of the region, and later the Shoshone and Southern Paiute people of Moapa Valley, left petroglyphs (rock carvings) that are visible on a number of the park’s trails. Photo: Chris Nunez

If a day trip is not enough, there are two campgrounds—available on a first-come, first-serve basis—with a combined 72 units (20 of which are RV-friendly). Shaded tables, grills, water, fire pits, and restrooms await visitors, and a dump station and showers are available. Three day-use group areas, each accommodating up to 45 people, can be reserved by calling the park.

Spring and fall are the optimal tourist seasons, as summer highs routinely exceed 100 degrees, and winter mornings and nights can be bitterly cold. In early spring, the park hosts the annual World Atlatl (a notched stick used by prehistoric peoples to add slingshot power to the throwing of a spear) Association contest.

DISCOVER: Petroglyph Canyon Trail provides one of the park’s premier views of Indian rock art and ends at Mouse’s Tank, a stream-worn basin that holds water even in extreme drought and is named for a renegade Southern Paiute who preyed on Indians and settlers alike in the 1890s.

GOOD TO KNOW: An entrance fee is charged per vehicle upon entering the park. Use of the campgrounds requires an additional fee. Pets are welcome, but they must be kept on a leash of no more than six feet in length and are not allowed in the visitor center.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Valley of Fire State Park
29450 Valley of Fire Rd., Overton, NV 89040
parks.nv.gov
702-397-2088

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More than a century of Basque tradition shines bright at The Star.

Try to say the word “Basque” in Elko without someone immediately saying “The Star.” The words are practically interchangeable in Elko-speak, and residents are ready and willing to inform even a complete stranger of this.

That is because The Star Bar & Dining Room has been serving up some of Elko’s best family-style Basque and European-style food for more than a century in an old-world atmosphere. The former Star Hotel (lodging is no longer offered at the building) opened in December 1910. Original owner Pete Jauregui aimed to create a gathering place for the region’s Basques, many of whom were sheepherders that had immigrated to America. Photo: Dini Esplin

Today, the Elko restaurant and lounge provides a social hub for all who sit at its bar or post up (come hungry) here for lunch or dinner. Current owner Scotty Ygoa says The Star has been Basque-owned for all of its 102 years. “This place has a lot of history,” he says. “Our focus is keeping the traditions alive and hopefully keeping [The Star] around for another 100 years.”

The Star is known for its house-aged and cut beef. One bite of any of the enormous, flavorful steaks will make you immediately grateful for the extra attention the restaurant pays to the meat. Family-style dinner includes all the usual suspects, such as soup, French bread, salad with an unmatched house dressing, Basque beans, vegetables, fries, and spaghetti.

DISCOVER: If you need a little added incentive to visit Elko, the city hosts its National Basque Festival from July 6-8, when The Star is even more lively than usual.

GOOD TO KNOW: If you spend time around a Basque restaurant, you’re bound to be introduced to the staple drink, the Picon Punch (one’s not enough, and three’s too many). Also, the restaurant is closed on Sundays.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Star Bar & Dining Room
246 Silver St., Elko, NV 89801
elkostarhotel.com
775-753-8696

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Outdoor art museum only adds to the allure of a popular ghost town.

Rhyolite’s handful of picturesque buildings and ruins and proximity to Beatty and U.S. Highway 95 make it one of Nevada’s most-visited ghost towns. The advent of nearby Goldwell Open Air Museum, established in the 1980s, gives tourists even more incentive to discover this corner of southwestern Nevada.

The museum consists of eight outdoor sculptures, a visitor center, and the Red Barn Art Center. “The Last Supper” sculpture, created by artist Albert Szukalski in 1984 (effectively marking the museum’s origination), is among the most commonly photographed exhibits at the museum. The 13 ghostly figures, which permanently sit on an old boardwalk, were the subject of the September/October 2010 cover of Nevada Magazine. The same artist’s “Ghost Rider” and “Desert Flower” pieces are popular as well.

Szukalski’s work is part of the many large-scale sculptures that comprise the overall creative space—“art where it seemingly shouldn’t be,” according to the website. You can’t miss Dr. Hugo Heyrman’s “Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada,” now 20 years old. The tall pink cinderblock sculpture of a woman stands out noticeably in its Mojave Desert surrounds. Sofie Siegmann’s “Sit Here!,” installed and restored at the museum in 2007, is a brightly and ornately decorated couch that—unlike most pieces of art—actually encourages human contact.

These are just a few of the oddities that can be expected at one of Nevada’s most unusual museums. If you fancy yourself an artist, you can apply for a residency on the museum’s website.

DISCOVER: Goldwell Open Air Museum’s artist residency program has hosted more than 60 painters, printmakers, sculptors, and composers since launching in 2007. It presents Albert’s Tarantella, an “eclectic evening of music, art, and theatre in a historic ghost-town setting,” in alternate years. The 2011 event was held in early October.

GOOD TO KNOW: The Goldwell Open Air Museum offers free admission and welcomes guests 24/7. The visitor center and gift shop is open daily except Sundays. Commercial photography, film, and video recording require permission from the property owners.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Goldwell Open Air Museum
PO Box 405, Beatty, NV 89003
goldwellmuseum.org
702-870-9946

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Get to know one of Carson Valley’s most influential ranching families.

One of the first-ever Mickey Mouse toys, the oldest known pair of Levi’s in Nevada, Christmas cards from a litany of Nevada Governors, and the oldest electric refrigerator in Carson Valley are only a handful of the nearly 40,000 artifacts found at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, in Minden off State Route 88.

German immigrant Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg homesteaded a patch of land near present-day Minden in 1857 and within a few decades became a successful rancher, businessman, and politician. By the time of his death in 1904, the Dangberg Land and Live Stock Company held more than 30,000 acres in Carson Valley, Douglas County, and California’s Alpine County.

The Dangbergs are revered as the most prominent ranching family in Carson Valley history, having founded Minden in 1905. Successive Dangberg generations inhabited and improved upon the original cabin and continued to hold prominence throughout the region well into the 20th century.

Today, the ranch house and surrounding out buildings hold the memories of four generations of Dangbergs. Despite state budget woes that caused the park to be dropped from the Nevada Division of State Parks system in mid-2011, the ranch and home are maintained and shared with the public thanks to the work of the nonprofit Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch and Douglas County.

The park hosts a comedic melodrama with a ranching theme July 28-29, and the Carson Valley Community Theater presents a western-themed “radio” program August 15-16. Annual exhibits include a clothing exhibit in October and a toy exhibit in December, both featuring artifacts not seen during regular tours.

DISCOVER: Guided tours (reservations are required) take visitors through the main residence, where artifacts and stories connect more than 150 years of Nevada history. Tours are $8 per person 17 and older, and children are free.

GOOD TO KNOW: The picturesque ranch is available for weddings and other special events. The park provides a beautiful setting for large or small ceremonies, receptions, and dinners.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch
1450 State Route 88,
PO Box 1158, Minden, NV 89423
dangberghomeranch.org
775-783-9417

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It’s full steam ahead at Ely’s proud National Historic Landmark.

“The Nevada Northern Railway is the last of its kind,” says Nevada Northern Railway Executive Director Mark Bassett. “It’s the sole survivor from a grand era in the Silver State.”

This popular Ely attraction (or is it East Ely? Ask Bassett when you see him; it’s a great conversation starter) is unique in that it’s a National Historic Landmark and a museum—but not the stereotypical museum that some visualize when they hear that word. “It’s an operating historical railroad,” Bassett says, “instead of relics in glass cases or repainted old equipment on static display. Here you can witness a working steam railroad.”

Nevada Northern Railway recently introduced its “spend the night at the museum” program. Guests can sleep in either a caboose or bunkhouse in the original 1900s rail yard. “You can sit in the cupola and watch as the sun goes down…imagine what it was like during the heyday of the railroad,” Bassett says, adding that reservations are strongly recommended.

If an overnighter isn’t enough to satisfy the train lover in you, Railroad Reality Week for adults and teens allows participants to get their hands dirty in the shop and work on the track as part of the train crew for multiple days, but not before you’re asked to pass a safety/training test.

In addition to those listed on this page, popular events are the annual Nevada Railway Symposium and Taste of Italy Dinner Train in September; Haunted Ghost Trains in October; and the Polar Express in November and December. The Wild West Limited Dinner Train debuted in June, with more runnings upcoming.

DISCOVER: The ultimate Nevada Northern Railway experience is its “Be the Engineer” opportunity. Drivers are given the opportunity to operate a steam locomotive, diesel locomotive, or both—with the freight cars attached!

GOOD TO KNOW: For the sixth year in a row, Nevada Northern Railway was selected in the Nevada Magazine Best of Nevada readers’ survey as the number one Place to Take the Kids in the Rural Nevada category. In addition, the railway has been featured on History Channel’s reality TV show “American Restoration” four times.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Nevada Northern Railway
PO Box 150040, East Ely, NV 89315-0400
nnry.com
866-407-8326

UPCOMING EVENTS

• 4th of July Fireworks Express & Ice Cream Social
• Rockin’ & Rollin’ Geology Dinner Train, July 7 & Aug. 11
• Steptoe Valley Flyer Dinner Train, July 14 & Aug. 18
• BBQ Express, July 21 & Aug. 4
• Railroad Reality Weeks: Teen/Adult Session: July 22-28; Adult Session: Aug. 17-25 (limit 12 per session)
• Wild West Limited Dinner Train, July 28 & Aug. 25
• Plein-Air Outdoor Art Festival, Sept. 1-2

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This sacred Northern Nevada lake stands out like a desert jewel.

May 2012 was a historic month for tourism at Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe recently hosted the Symbiosis Gathering: Pyramid Eclipse from May 17-21 on the east side of Pyramid Lake. “This was the first event of this size to be held on the reservation since a Grateful Dead concert in 1986,” says Tribal Planner Scott Carey. “The gathering attracted more than 7,000 people and featured musicians and artists from more than 40 countries.”

An annular solar eclipse occurred on May 20, and Pyramid Lake was promoted as one of the best places to view the cosmic rarity. “The event brought people from all over the world,” Carey adds. “Viewing events were held at the Pyramid Lake Museum and Pyramid Lake High School in Nixon, while thousands of others viewed the eclipse from the shores of Pyramid Lake.”

Since explorer John C. Fremont recorded his first impressions of Pyramid Lake in 1844, people have been discovering this Northern Nevada lake for themselves that the native Kooyooe Ticutta Northern Paiute people have held sacred for more than 9,000 years. Although it doesn’t contain the pine tree-covered mountainous backdrop of its sister Lake Tahoe—the two are connected by the Truckee River—it’s still a pleasant surprise amid its desert landscape.

Kooyooe Ticutta translates to “Cui-ui eaters,” referring to the large species of suckerfish found nowhere else in the world but Pyramid Lake. More important to tourism, however, is another type of fish, the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, which are prized by fishermen who can be seen in droves on the lake during the fall and winter fishing season. Pyramid Lake is one of a few lakes in the world with a Lahontan Cutthroat Trout population, which three hatcheries on the reservation work to preserve.

DISCOVER: The Pyramid Lake Museum and Visitors Center—designed to resemble a tepee—is a treasure trove of Northern Paiute artifacts and history. State Routes 445, 446, and 447 curl around the southern end of the lake and make up a National Scenic Byway.

GOOD TO KNOW: Sizeable sections of the lake and its shoreline, including Anaho Island (the largest breeding colony for the American White Pelican in North America), The Needle Rocks, and Pyramid Island (see photo at top), are off limits to the public. Tribal permits, which can be purchased online or at many retailers on the reservation and in nearby Reno and Sparks, are required to access other parts of the lake.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
709 Hwy. 446, Nixon, NV 89424
pyramidlake.us
775-574-1000

CHECK OUT THE DISCOVER YOUR NEVADA PHOTO COLLECTION ON FLICKR.

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Silver State Governors hit the Discover Your Nevada campaign trail.

When Governor Brian Sandoval and Lieutenant Governor Brian K. Krolicki stood together at Reno’s Wilbur D. May Museum on March 1 to announce the launch of the Discover Your Nevada campaign, one of the moments that had the room chuckling was when Sandoval referenced the mid-20th century “Road to…” movies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Sandoval was poking fun at the fact that he and Krolicki were going to accompany one another on three Nevada road trips later in the year. The first of those trips was May 22 to Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. “The Road to Pyramid Lake” (don’t look for it in theaters any time soon) included a presentation of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s Discover Your Nevada plaque to tribal dignitaries.

“Today has brought together three of my favorite things: friendship, history, and culture,” Sandoval said in his closing remarks. “It has truly been a privilege and an honor to visit Pyramid Lake.” Krolicki added: “The essence of Discover Your Nevada has been learning who we are, what Nevada is; and Pyramid Lake is [a big part of] that.”

The governors also visited Southern Nevada at the end of May, and—at the time this issue went to press—they planned to tour the Fort Churchill State Historic Park area in June. At the March 1 press conference, Sandoval stated that the main purpose of Discover Your Nevada is to encourage visitation within the state.