{"id":1328,"date":"2012-04-28T22:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T02:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:20:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:20:55","slug":"if-i-were-a-geologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=1328","title":{"rendered":"If I Were A Geologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Burton traveling from Carson City, Nevada to Elko, Nevada on the way to Salt Lake City, Utah<\/em> \u2013 If I were a geologist, I think I\u2019d choose to live in Nevada. Nevada claims to be the \u201cmost mountainous\u201d state of the lower 48, yes, ahead of California, Montana, Washington, Colorado. The numbers vary a bit depending on the source, but Nevada has (approximately) 314 named mountain ranges and 172 summits over 2,000 feet. With that many mountains, you wind up with a matching number of valleys of course; just think what a challenging life of ups and downs for a serious-minded geologist! (Technically, that is range and basin geology.) And good news for the traveler, none of these mountain-valley scenarios looks the same. Today, I\u2019m just a traveler. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0I knew the drive from Caron City to Elko would take me across sparsely populated terrain; after all, most of Nevada\u2019s residents are clustered in a few cities. I took Hwy 50 towards Fallon, it\u2019s been called the \u201cloneliest road in America\u201d and that\u2019s what I wanted to experience. At Fallon I moved onto 95 North to connect to I-80 for the most direct route to Salt Lake City. \u201cWake up cats,\u201d I said after a while, \u201cthere\u2019s the biggest litter box you\u2019ll ever see.\u201d An expanse of sand stretched toward the West Humboldt Range, which claims a peak of 6,155 feet, and geologically speaking is Triassic limestone. But I won\u2019t try to get technical; I\u2019ll just stick to what I saw. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Approaching Lovelock, there\u2019s the Trinity Range and the Tufa Formation; keep going east on I-80; the Seven Troughs to the left, the Humboldt Range to the right with a peak over 9,000 feet; then the East Range as you get into Winnemucca. A stop for lunch, Arby\u2019s on a mountainside; back on the road over Golconda Summit (5,118) and down. I realized then I\u2019d forgotten to gas up and I was under a quarter-tank! How many miles of isolation ahead? A lonely Shell sign was a joyful sight, no price comparison, just STOP. I was at Valmy, according to the map. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Another hundred miles to go, past the town of Battle Mountain, over Emigrant Pass (6,114); I see the Tuscarora, Cortez, and Independence mountains ; I see green valleys, and dry; sharp peaks and rounded hills; a little snow scattered here and there; blazing sun, some clouds. Variety makes for good traveling, I think, coming into Elko for the night, a million thoughts and images swirling in my head. It makes for good working too. If you\u2019re a traveler, or if you are a geologist. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Read about geology: http:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Read about traveling in Nevada: http:\/\/travelnevada.com\/things-to-do\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton traveling from Carson City, Nevada to Elko, Nevada on the way to Salt Lake City, Utah \u2013 If I were a geologist, I think I\u2019d choose to live in Nevada. Nevada claims to be the \u201cmost mountainous\u201d state of the lower 48, yes, ahead of California, Montana, Washington, Colorado. The numbers vary a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4586],"tags":[2053,395,396,397,352,394],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1332,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}