Fort Churchill State Park is about 40 miles east of Reno, Nevada. It is a small park, with limited camping/picnic space. But it presents an interesting collection of old adobe buildings for photo opportunities. Some are better in Black and White, but I liked the color in these and it gives a better sense of what the old fort looks like. Might have made a different decision if the clouds weren’t there to break up the sky.
Fort Churchill is outside of Fernley, Nevada … about 40 miles east of Reno. It was a supply center for the other regional forts that were involved in suppression of the native tribes. It was not even necessary to provide a defensive perimeter around the fort. There was a pony express station and a telegraph office, but once the railway was available the fort was redundant and was closed in 1868. The image shows the fence around the cemetery. Soldiers graves were relocated to other government sites after the fort closed, but non-military graves remain.
On my recent visit (April 2021) there was a spring storm coming in over the Northern Sierras bringing strong winds regionally and snow at higher elevations. At Fort Churchill, it was quite windy (which thankfully kept down the black flies), but there were some amazing clouds to bring some variety to the endless blue skies.
After several days of photos from Alaska, I really needed some warm sunny image to take the chill off. This one should help. It is outside of Death Valley National Park. It was taken in the spring, so there is still some snow on the higher elevations. But down in the valley, it was quite toasty.
This ruin just made me wonder about the mental state of those men that built homes in areas like this. Tortuously hot. Desolate. Almost uninhabitable. All in the hope of finding some lode that would bring them riches. Living the Dream, as they say these days. What a dream…
Not a lot to say about this, except that this is a great friend of mine and we were in the Death Valley area and saw this old wrecked truck. We both like taking photos of things that are old and falling apart. Maybe it’s that we can identify!
This area is just a few miles from Reno … if you drive in the right direction. Driving in the ‘wrong’ direction will put you through miles of sprawl.
This is a Regal Horned Lizard that I was lucky enough to spot along the roadway when it moved. Otherwise, it is so wonderfully camouflaged to blend in with the surrounding surface, I probably would have missed it.