On the afternoon of the 2nd, Billy, Tractor, Ouray, and I headed out for Virginia and Nevada Cities. Someone I spoke with on the Jenny Lake boat shuttle (Tetons) recommended these sites, and when I saw how close we were to them, I brought the subject up with Bill, and he was interested, so away we went.
Quake Lake. A 7.5 earthquake in the region in 1959 (yes, that recently!) caused an 80-ton landslide, which dammed up the Madison River -thus, this lake! This is just a ways beyond the Hebgen Lake dam (which also suffered cracks and injury from the quake).
And...wow, what a storm! I had to stop and photograph these clouds! LOVE these clouds! Very impressive, interesting shapes!! And these folks were right to have their headlights on! Even though it was only about 4pm (quite early as far as daylight goes in this neck of the woods and time of year!), these serious clouds were making things a whole lot darker!
We had our headlights on too! And wipers - going full blast at times. I don't think I've ever had rain come down so hard around me before. If I wasn't seeing the rain with my own eyes, I'd have sworn it was hail it was pounding so hard! I wouldn't have been surprised to see dents in the truck! I was grateful that both Tractor and Ouray seemed to do OK, relatively unaffected with all that was going on outside. I did wonder if we shouldn't just turn around though - the storm was obviously VERY big, and it was so dark out. I wasn't holding out much hope for our being able to get out and enjoy the ghost towns much! But we'd already come so far, what the heck, what else were we going to do with the rest of that day? Might as well continue on and hope for the best!
A scenic overlook (and one where you could actually SEE something - I'm amazed at all the posted overlooks where you can't really see anything worthwhile!) towards the town of Ennis and the Madison Range. We stopped here on the way back, and you will see a completely different look - after the weather shift.
We lucked out big time and the rain stopped! Here, Billy and Tractor stroll down a sidewalk in Virginia City. It was kind of late in the day, so things were mostly closed up, but that late hour also meant we got the place practically to ourselves!
Because things were closed up, I needed to shoot through windows into the dark shops, but it mostly worked OK. It was fascinating to see the displays of goods, as they really were back in the day. These abandoned gold mining towns were essentially bought and preserved by one couple (starting in the 1940s), and they did a fantastic job! Upon their deaths, the state took over, with the towns becoming National Historical Landmarks and "open air museums." Definitely more my kind of museums!
And on to Nevada City, just about 1/2 mile away.
Just to prove that even the most photogenic of us can be caught in that goofy, unflattering pose...!
And here's that Ennis overlook again, on our way back home. Amazing what an hour or two can do!
And a warning to those looking to dine in Ennis (as we were - and starving by then!). If you see a restaurant named Banditos, drive on by! Like our Spanish-speaking friend Diana (meet her in coming blog entry!) reminded us, you know what Banditos means, right?!! Yep, bandits, robbers, thieves! Just a little food for a lot of money! Fortunately, we didn't order much, but we left unhappy with the experience nonetheless!
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