Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
That was what the sign on the highway outside of Reno said, at any rate. I kept waiting for the corresponding sign saying
Ice May Be Foggy
But I haven’t seen it yet. We escaped from the Nugget Hotel, which was a good thing. They have a “Gilleys” bar there, complete with a Bikini Bullriding Competition. I tried to talk the gorgeous ex-fiancee into entering … she said I didn’t look all that good in a bikini even with a following wind, and I couldn’t argue on that score, so we rolled out to visit our friends in Imlay, Nevada.
The first curious sight was a house a few miles outside Reno. It was a white house, with a lovely green front lawn. It had a small tree in the yard, and a 
car in the garage, and a white picket fence around the whole thing.
And on all sides of that … nothing but high desert. Sagebrush and scrub and sand. It looked like the tornado from the Wizard of Oz had picked the house up from Illinois with every homey appurtenance, lawn, picket fence and all, and set it down in raw desert in Nevada …
(We’re in Idaho Falls now, staying by the Snake River. I just heard the train whistle and I can feel the rumble … I do love that sound.)
Mostly what we did in Imlay was play music. One of my friends is a drummer, and one plays the guitar/fiddle/harmonica, so with Ellie we had an entire band. The music and the stories rolled on and on. They live up in the hills above the valley floor, the land there looks like this …
I’d describe it as “medium bleak”. Then this morning we rolled out, stopping on the way at the strangest Indian memorial I’ve ever seen.
There was a curious man, half American Indian and half Dutch, who was known as “Chief Thunder”. He decided to use “white man’s junk” to make a memorial … and what a memorial he made. He called it “excrescence art”, and the building looks like this …
Here’s a closeup of one small section:
The main construction materials appear to be glass bottles, wood, sweat, cement, mud, plaster, chewing gum, and I’m reluctant to ask what else. It is so bizarre I can’t begin to describe it, other than to say that the amount of work and the passion it represents are astounding. People never cease to amaze me.
From there, we went across an endless hot desert landscape. Temperatures were over 100°F (38°C). The most amazing thing was the repeated appearance of the forgotten stepchild of the emergent phenomena that regulate our planet’s surface temperature … the lowly dust devil. We saw big ones, and small ones. We saw ones that lasted only seconds, and a few that lasted many minutes.
Dust devils are one of the many emergent phenomena that appear when the surface is hot compared to the atmosphere. They move an unknown amount of energy from the surface up into the troposphere. As far as I know, there are very few studies of them. We don’t know how many there are, or how much energy they move.
But if you are looking across the desert landscape and you want to know where it is the hottest … that would be where the dust devils are busily at work, cooling the desert surface.
We passed by the valley of the Death Star, and went by a string of no less than 41 giant wind turbines on towers … surprisingly, nine of them were actually turning …
After spending about six weeks going through the desert this afternoon, we finally made it to the Snake River Valley around Twin Falls. The Snake is one of my favorite rivers, in part because some of the time it runs down at the bottom of an outrageous canyon.
Tonight we’re back in wetter country, in a log cabin in Idaho Falls …
It’s a lovely little cabin, built the old-school way, not a kit. Another train is going by. The gorgeous ex-fiancee and I sat out on the picnic table and played guitar as the sun was going down. Life is good.
Tomorrow it’s off to Yellowstone, and then roll we north. The beat goes on … my thanks for the emails and suggestions, I fear I can’t answer them all, but do know that they are much appreciated. I’m tired, it’s 11PM, I’m off to shower and then to sleep.
All the best to all of you,
w.
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Try being near Eielson Air Force Base anywhere between December and March. You will quickly appreciate the meaning of ice fog.
But I can’t recommend making the trip just then. The ice on the Tanana River is still solid
GP Hanner –
Ice fog and fog that may ice are different things. Ice fog is already frozen, happens at single digit F and lower temperatures and doesn’t build up on surfaces. Fog that may ice is in the form of supercooled liquid that freezes when disturbed. It happens around 30-32*F and will build up on surfaces. Fog that ices is more hazardous for travelling than ice fog.
Michael Fox says:
July 14, 2014 at 12:16 am
… Lakeview to Riley. ….
That is a great stretch of road! Outside of Oregon not many people but cowboys, geologists and archaeologists are aware of Riley. Two buildings counting the store. What’s really intersting around there is the abundance of underground water. The Wagon Tire valley is an interesting stretch to the south.
goldminor says:
July 14, 2014 at 7:52 am
cal smith says:
July 14, 2014 at 6:17 am
Katherine is right the tree was in Yosemite. It was a Sequoya not a Redwood, however, as Willis would know living amongst them
==============================================================
Redwood trees are coastal in their habitat. The moisture off of the oceans is important for their health. I have heard that several redwood trees were found in the Sierra,s north of highway 80. Perhaps someone planted a few back in the late 1800s. The only other country where redwoods are found is in China.
Redwoods are Sequoia – Sequoia sempervirens. During the Pleistocene there were groves in the Sacramento Valley, and occasionally an enterprising excavator still encounters the occasional buried log. The Big Trees in the Sierra have been reassigned their own genus; Giganteodendron. The northernmost grove of Big Trees is east of Foresthill – south of I-80. There are only a handful. The Big Tree are survivors of the uplift of the Sierra and the accompanying volcanism and later glaciation. Since the seeds tend to germinate after fires, the biggest limit on them now is fire suppression.
Katherine wrote:
“I don’t remember seeing redwoods in Yellowstone.”
That was because you were looking up, not down. There are fossil Sequoia in those parts, Eocene if I remember correctly. After all, the earth was much warmer throughout most of its history…
Ask any hot air ballonist about emergent air flow… They fly in still air in the morning. Once the sun is up (after about 8 AM to 9 AM it starts in) the winds pick up as to the thermals and more. Folks try to be down and landed then head off to breakfast.
The simple fact is that convection dominates the troposphere. IR is just not important to it.
On redwoods: They are both coastal AND in the Sierras. Also found in Oregon. I’ve seen them growing in farms in New Zealand and, IIRC, Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia
Sequoioideae, a three-genus subfamily of the cypress family.
Sequoia (genus), a genus with one living and several fossil species.
Sequoia sempervirens, coast redwood, found along the coast of California
Sequoiadendron giganteum, giant sequoia, (the sequoia tree), found on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada of California
Metasequoia, dawn redwood.
Dawn redwood is the Chinese one, IIRC. Can drop needles in cold.
So the Big Trees in the Sierra Nevada are redwoods too. As are the ones in Southern Oregon.
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Oregon/ORT.html
Grew up in California. Saw my first drive through redwood at about 7 years old with Dad and a camper. Camped in the redwoods in the Sierras, and in Oregon… and at both Big Basin and Little Basin and…
Willis,
One of the most beautiful spots I have seen in your USA was a “town” called Joseph in Oregon, by the Wallowa mountains. They have a rodeo there in the last week of July. Very picturesque.
If you like the Snake, check out the Rio Grande just west of Taos, NM. The gorge is 600 feet deep there. Then go up to Chama and ride the Cumbres and Toltec. Then drive down to Santa Fe thru Ghost Ranch.
There is sooooooo much to see Out West.
If you like dust devils, you might like this video of a sailboat in an ocean race being hit by a water spout.
Willis, do you have anything on YouTube of you playing guitar?
I met a Dutchman when I was hiking the Highline Trail in Glacier. He said he has been coming to the US two weeks a year for 25 years to do nothing but hike. I asked him how he liked the Highline Tail. He said, “it is the highlight of my hiking career.” I cannot agree more. Spectacular.
Seriously, the ice fog around Reno in the winter can be nasty. Black ice all over the road.
Reply to Wyguy ==> Yes, I though the same thing, that the Indian Monument looked like the Watts Towers. I attended high school in Watts, and visited the towers long before they were institutionalized as either a work of art or a cultural heritage site. The are still there — see their web site.
Yes, Joseph is a pretty town. Lots of tourist shops and it sits at the end of Wallowa Lake. All the towns except that one are farmer towns. Most of us low landers don’t get up their often. Prices too high.
The head of Wallowa Lake is where the summer tourists generally head. There is a campground and several nice lodgings. The lake is glacier fed so is very cold!
Been in both cities yiou mentioned: Our oldest was born in Idaho Falls, in the hospital near the falls.
Are you going to be able to get out to Craters of the Moon or the National Engineering Lab in the wastelands north of Idaho Falls?
To all: Weather data information of the day.
Each morning, on the Idaho Falls and nearby radio stations, the “4 inch soil temperatur”e is measured, reported, tracked, and repeatedduring each weatehr report.
Why?
A good question: They DO grow potatoes in Idaho – it is NOT a stereotype nor a derogatory remark! Potatoes CANNOT be planted into plowed dirt until the 4 inch soil has melted each spring, and the grown potatoes CANNOT be harvested until the 4 inch soil temperature has “firmed up” each fall by the approaching freezing ground, and the potatoes are stiff enough to be handled by the mechanical harvesters.
Oh. All those irrigation ditches filled with water now and freely frozen? They’re frozen but good after a few nights of below 0 F weather. And your nose freezes and crinkles up with little icicles when the air temperature is less than -10 F.
I love all those signs which say “Icy conditions may exist”. It’s great when road signs make philosophical statements! If ice formed briefly on a lonely desert road and no cars skidded on it, did it really ever exist?
Amusing to see the “moderately bleak” countryside. I live at the edge of a coastal desert and would be thrilled to see the surrounding area so green, after 2013 gave 3 inches of rain and this year 2 inches, to translate to the archaic units. The area is however, in the tropical cyclone belt and has had as much as 8 inches of rain in a day. Plenty of dust devils to be seen here, especially in summer; they’re most prevalent in the afternoon as the seabreeze comes in, with as many as 7 or 8 visible at any one time on the right day. When the wind blows off the desert and it hits 30C+ dust devils are still possible in winter. At my last town, which was merely semi-arid, dust devils were also common and it was amusing to see them roll into town laden with dust, only to apparently disappear over town as the dust supply gave out, with only the occasional scrap of paper or leave to being carried aloft to show the dust devil was still around. Pilots who’ve always wondered why the Metar code for Dust Devil is PO will be thrilled to learn that it comes from the French “poussiere”, meaning dust. Fair enough, there’s no reason why all weather descriptors should come from English.
Idaho Falls. Anything glowing in the dark? If I recall correctly in the 50’s a naval research nuclear (what else?) reactor exploded nearby killing three workers.
I remember when “Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder” and his band of hippies were building all that, er, Native American art. Nice people, if a tad unbathed. Word was that was where you could get various mind-expanding Native American botanical products. I don’t remember exactly what led to them all leaving. Just incredible, though, that the state made a monument out of it.
Welcome to Idaho Falls. One could spend at least 3 lives just exploring the country within 200 miles of us! Hope the Yellowstone crowds don’t get you down.
Lol Willis, nobody has ever heard of Imlay, NV, exit 145. Did you happen to say hi to my mom who has lived there since 1984. My wife and I left in 96 to Alaska and only visit now. Small world. Thanks for the laugh.
AKSurveyor says: July 14, 2014 at 6:20 pm
’84 would have been a few years after the Strode murders near Mt. Majuba. Lots of interesting happenings around Imlay / Mill City. For the record, the people there are the salt of the earth: proud, self-sufficient, tough, but would give you the shirt off their back.
Go to Yellowstone in the winter, the thermal features are awesome. You can also tell where they all are due to the steam. The winter scenery is spectacular
If you like the Snake, go see Hells Canyon from the western rim in Wallowa/Baker counties. .
The Snake River canyon around Twin Falls should be seen from the bottom, not the top. If your return visit takes you back that way, take a few hours extra to find Niagra Springs. The aquifer gushes out of the middle of the canyon side. More interesting and upclose than Thousand Springs on old Hwy 30. If you only have a few minutes, stop at Malad Gorge State Park just off I-84 and peer into that canyon.
I’m guessing you drove past the Ruby Mountains in NV. Lamoille Canyon is magical. How the hell did that get in the middle of Nevada? Best wishes.