Things You Find in the Field: Pyramidal Objects #3

A few years back, while out taking a set of roads that makes a large loop starting from Highway 50 at either Garnet Hill or Ely, going either northeast or north and then going west, then heading north and west some more, and then running back south to Highway 50 at the Thirty Mile Road junction, MOH and I ran across this wooden pyramid at Summit Springs near Piscevich Summit (MSRMaps location and also see the Google Maps Location at the end of this post).

A closer view of the wooden pyramid.

Even closer.

I really don't know what this type of structure is used for, but went inside to take a look.

Inside view: a metal pipe runs up one wall and out the top.

Another inside view.

Possibly this small structure was used as a smoke house? (And although I don't see a lot of coating of the walls by creosote, some planks look darkened.)

Inside looking out toward a tree near the spring.

A second inside-looking-out view, this time past tree No. 2 toward the broad curve into Bothwick Creek canyon, which runs off to the north (right).

Springtime in the Egan Range

This is what spring looks like, in a good year, in what some call the "high desert," above 6400 feet in eastern Nevada. (I've heard the term "high desert" applied to Barstow, CA, at below 3000 feet elevation, so I'm quite leery of using it.)

This winter wasn't particularly cold, nor was it particularly wet. The monsoon, however, moved into the area a little early, in May rather than in June or July, and April's official rainfall was above average. I won't get into the technicalities of whether eastern Nevada qualifies as arid or semi-arid, though back when I went to school in the Paleocene, I was taught that much of Nevada is semi-arid steppe rather than arid desert.

Looking south towards Hercules Gap. The dark things in the background and into the mountains are piñon pine and juniper trees.
Orange, yellow, and minor red Indian paintbrush, and many other kinds of wildflowers.
Lupine, of the purple-yellow variety, with mountain mahogany bushes.
Lupine just east of Piscovitch Summit.
Looking west towards the Butte Mountains.
An old cabin.
Looking northeast, down a side road, back towards the Eagan Range.
Flowers!
These pictures were all taken on May 29 in the Egan Range of eastern Nevada. All photos were taken between about 6400 and 7600 feet in elevation, from Hercules Gap to Piscevitch Summit to the junction of Thirty Mile with Highway 50.

This post is a submission to the Carnival of the Arid #5, which is hosted at Coyote Crossing by Chris Clarke.

UPDATE: For other views of the Great Basin Desert in spring to summer, see these two June posts from Wheeler Peak: Wheeler Peak Photos Sets, Spring and Summer 2006-2009 and Friday Field Photos: Tarn It! The elevation is higher, spring comes later, and summer is relatively short.