Two loops and a spring: the goodness of side roads

Panaca Spring

Lazy Sunday morning in camp, reading and sleeping, maybe somewhat in denial over having to go home. My reluctance to leave only increased as the campground steadily emptied out around us. It would clearly be almost deserted by night ... and a quiet campground is pretty much my favourite kind. But we had clichés to insert and eventually we packed up and shipped out.

Go straight home though? Yeah nah. Side roads for the win.

First, we ventured off the (admittedly fairly small scale) map, turning south at Ursine to see how far the road was paved. (This required no very great intrepidity on our part, having previously asked the nice man at the Million Dollar Courthouse to tell us about it - but we forgot to ask whether it was paved.)

Eagle Valley Rd & Harry

Eagle Valley Road follows the river down to Rose Valley, where it meets Rose Valley Road - the hill road, which is not paved, runs west then north to rejoin the 322 (another day!) and the rest of it turns south and a little west until it becomes Echo Dam road. This passes through Echo Canyon State Park before turning north again, meeting the 322 some miles east of the 93.

It is a lovely road, peaceful, green, on an intimate scale - and I'd like to go back and cycle it from Echo Canyon to Spring Valley and back. (Or perhaps vice versa, depending on the wind direction.) There are more fantastical rock formations, hundred year old graffiti, the odd homestead, and a lot of trees and grass. And, in season, there would be roses.

Wheel. What? Junction of Eagle and Rose Valley Rds

We'd been past the turnoff to Echo Canyon, then, on Friday night on the way in as well as both ways between Spring Valley and Pioche the day before. (It's a little closer to home, and we'd considered stopping there instead.) As well, the little dirt road marked 'Rose Valley' - I've seen huge thickets of wild rose not far south of here in the Delamar Mountains, so even though the flowering season was almost certainly over, I was decidedly in favour of seeing such a winningly named locality. 

National silt sand clay reservoir.

Kaffetåren den bästa är ...plus, 'heron' in Swedish?

There's even something you might describe as forest at the top of Echo Reservoir. At the park, we drove across the dam to the primitive camping, and stopped to brew coffee.

A heron was standing at the river bend and a local hare watched us closely from the next campsite.

At the junction with 93 we turned north to take a loop road around behind Pioche through Caselton and past Prince Mine on Highway 320. First, we took what we rightly suspected to be a wrong turn, down a narrow and dilapidated dead end to a picturesque closed mine festooned with barbed wire and 'keep out' signs. The right road was further north. It curved around and over a saddle between two mountains. This high sagebrush country is very soothing.

And lastly, we stopped at Panaca to try and find the warm springs for bathing. With the closure of both Ash and Crystal Springs to the public, we were starting to feel like Lincoln County doesn't care much about these little delights (in fairness, Ash Springs is BLM, not county, and I don't know who owns Crystal Springs.)

Panaca more than made up for this. The only reason I am even willing to post it by name is that it's just us chickens here and I doubt many people will find this post. The pool has clear, warm water - a few quiet folks enjoying it along with - and little fish, catching which was the delight of one little girl who was there with her parents. Idyllic. Worth the sunburn (couldn't bear to put sunscreen in that clear water.)

Itinerary

Sunday: Eagle Valley Rd, Rose Valley Rd, Echo Dam Rd, 93, 320 via Caselton, 93 South to I15, 215, home.