Silver City & Goldhill, Nevada

Thursday 5/17/2012

Joe went to the office to get some information about Carson City. The work camper in Tahoe Valley Resort, told Joe that if we were going to go to Carson City, we should also go to Virginia City, which was just a few miles further. As we left South Lake Tahoe, heading east we cross back into Nevada. In Stateline, Nevada, there are 5 casino's.

As we traveled north on the east side of Lake Tahoe, we come to Cave Rock. This is the rock we saw from the Tahoe Queen boat ride.

We have decided we are going to leave Lake Tahoe via Hwy. 50/28 on the east shore, since the west shore is not recommended for anything over 30 ft. Joe checked out the height of the tunnel, as we drove through, to make sure we would be OK. We fit fine under the tunnel with height to spare!

Hwy 50  goes up to Spooner Summit at 7,146 ft. in the Carson Ranger, then it is all down hill from there.

Closeup of Spooners Summit.

The downhill trek to Carson Valley.

Enjoy the views,

without having to drive it!. 

I was driving until we hit the summit, then Joe took over.

I was going too slow, because downhills scare me.

We crossed the line from trees to no trees!

Back in the desert with no trees for a day.

Carson City is the capitol of Nevada. It has a population of 55,220 and sits at 4,697 ft.

We stopped at Wal-Mart in Carson City for a couple of items. I took this picture, because it shows the Carson Range with trees, and then no trees. I just find this strange where it goes from forest to desert!

As we head out of Carson City, I see this warrior on the hillside. Hope he isn't coming after us!

We decided to go ahead and drive to Virginia City, and if we had time, we would stop in Carson City on our way back. Carson City seemed to be a very clean and nice city.



Outside of Carson City, we took Hwy 341 toward Virginia City.

A few miles on Hwy 341, we came to the junction of 342 and 341. Both said to Virginia City. Hwy. 341 was the truck route, so if you are driving a big rig, you would want to take it. Hwy. 342 also took you through Goldhill and Silver City, so we decided to take Hwy. 342, thinking it might be more scenic.

Route 342 had a grade sign of 15%. Definitely not for big rigs.

Silver City sits at 5,100 and has a population of 170 as of the census of 2000.

This is a very tight spot in the road. Wouldn't want to be driving our motor home through here.

OK, where is the "Famous Suicide Table" at?

Silver City and Goldhill sit in a gorge where mining took place. The cities developed due to the mining of gold, and then silver in Virginia City.

Silver City is a near ghost town. At it's peak in 1861, it had a population of 1,200. It started to decrease at the completion of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in 1869.

There were a few newer homes in Silver City, like this pink home sitting on the hills. They had great views.



Goldhill had a population of 8000 between the years of 1868 and 1888. Today it has 191 people according to the 2005 census. It has the oldest hotel in Nevada.

Goldhill Hotel and Saloon.

Part of the old hotel.

Goldhill Hotel and Saloon est. in 1859.

After diving through Goldhill, we had to turn around, because the road was closed just outside of it. This is the view that the residents of Silver City and Golldhill have.

As we retraced our drive back down to Hwy. 341, we saw some mining going on to the west of the road. I read that most of the mining here is now for landscaping rock.

Driving back through Silver City to take Hwy. 341 truck route.

Hwy. 342, Silver City.

A few miles north on Hwy. 341, we saw a car that had pulled off the side of the road. Up further from them, were wild horses. We had seen signs to watch for horses.

I was real excited about seeing them. Joe said he didn't understand why I was excited. He said you can see horses anywhere. He just didn't get it, that these were different because they were wild.

This guy kept an eye on me as I slowly approached closer, with my zoom lens.

There were several colts in the herd.

Joe was talking to the other people that had stopped for pictures. This couple was from Oregon, and use to be RVers, but now just do car trips. To Be Continued: