When almost to milepost 16, I took an obligatory photo of Floating Island, no doubt named for the mirage that often makes it look like it's floating above the salt flats. Here, the mirage is minimal but present. (See better photos of Floating Island with strong mirage here.)
Floating Island. |
It was a cloudy day, overall, but nevertheless you could see a good 90 miles to the far peaks.
Looking ESE across the desert at the Cedar Mountain, and the crest of the Stansbury Mountains beyond that. |
View Approximate half-way point in a larger map.
It seemed like we had been driving forever! The low hills in the distance, marking the other side of the desert, only looked about 8 to 12 miles away, though they were really about 21 miles off. We knew we had another "almost forever" still left to go!
Milepost 39: Finally we were approaching the east side of the broad, flat crossing. |
Exit 41, Knolls, one mile past the first sand dunes at the east edge of the desert. Milepost 40 is visible in the photo, not far beyond the exit sign. |
Despite this sign, I've never seen any of either... |
...although we did see a horned lark noshing on a pretzel. |
More commentary has been added to a second warning sign. |
The second sign says, among other things, "DANGER: Sex, Sleds, and Snowboards."
Finally, on a day perhaps as cloudy as the one shot here in 2011, we started out on a little leg-stretching expedition. |
Photos to this point in Day 2 have been added to the day's trip log on Google Maps, along with the ones from West Wendover, which I forgot to add after the last post:
View Day 2: Elko, NV to Vernal, UT in a larger map.
Related Posts:
Across the West and Back Day 2: A Side Trip in West Wendover
Across the West and Back Day 2: Pequop Summit to West Wendover
Across the West and Back Day 2: Looking for an Old Roadcut
Across the West and Back: The First Day
Intro to Recent Western Loop Trip
2 comments:
Sign for "Knolls" kinda reminds me of the "Table Shade" signs on some Kansas highways back in the early 1990s.
Seems like it should be The Knolls -- and perhaps the hills south of the sand dunes are called knolls, and the siding on the railroad was named after those...maybe.
Table Shade: probably a good thing in Kansas!
Post a Comment