Tonapah- Silver mining

Yesterdays's roadtrip was pretty heavy going to be honest. The fires in Yosemite meant that the easier road to get out of the park was shut and so a huge detor was needed. Many walks in the park were closed because of burining and large trees were thoroughly charred. The smoke hung in the valley creating an unusual effect that was hard to photograph and everything smelled of burning. The queues to get into the park were awful. 30 minutes or so just sitting. I feel sorry for the people who had travelled miles and this was their one day to see the park.

It took 4 hours to cross the park and get to Lee Vining. The weather turned and was very rainy but ironically none of the downpour seemed to make it as far as the Yosemite hills where I guess the firecrews were fighting thier battles with the flames. I saw Mono Lake which was not as beautiful as it was last time I saw it 5 years ago due to poor lighting conditions. I did see the Tuftas poking out of it though for the first time, they seem to be rockformations a bit like staligmites (forgive spelling) but again my shots of those were rubbish.

Lunch was a plate of mixed food from a Hawaiian food truck on the highway, it was superb, really delicious. Mr H was hot and tired at this point and walked off to get food. Due to a lack of communication I stayed in the car he hadn't locked and he got his food sorted whilst I was still messing around trying to pack up cameras and the like. The result was that I ended up getting twice as much food as him by accident, not great news for my waistline but my brian and tatsebuds enjoyed it!

Travelled about 3 more hours in the middle of nowhere. Scrublands, great plains, lonley roads, cattle grids, lots of windy roads and hidden dips. No fuel stops, nothing. This is northern, bleak, rural Nevada. There were several abandoned towns and empty houses and the like, interesting to see. Got to Tonapah shattered and ready for a sleep at 5pm. The hotel is allegedly haunted but I didn't feel any sort of presence at all. It is a very historic building which lay empty for ages but was rennovated in 2011 by a family who own a vineyard in California. They have done a good job. It feels old and Victorian and the staff dress in Victorian style things (bit odd but ok). It's the Mizpah Hotel and the name is based on those split silver heart necklaces as this was a silver mining town.

The photo shows some buildings at the back of the hotel near the mining area. These ones are not lived in but there are some of a similar state that are lived in still. You can see the very rainy weather about to move in! Tonapah is a strange place, interesting to see the once but I don't think I'll be back as it is in the middle of nowhere and the drive was a bit too much.