Friday, June 11, 2010

California Zephyr - The Sierra Nevadas

The next part of my trip was going through the Sierra Nevada which was another thing I was looking forward to. We didn't go through the part with the Half Moon Dome and what not though so I will have to make it out this way again. Anways...

The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range goes from roughly Colfax California to Reno, Nevada. The highest point is Mount Whitney at over 14,000 feet. It is estimated to be 4 million years old.

I'm not sure what highway this is. Again, I didn't have my proper GPS and my phone reception was spotty.

Looking down at a valley.

Looking towards some trees.

This is Gold Run, California. It was formed in 1854 with the name coming in 1863. This was a major mining down until 1882 when using water to mine was made illegal. Basically they would wash the mountain down with water and get whatever gold came out. It was very destructive.

Looking out towards a mountain.

Looking towards another mountain.





I love the snow covered peaks.





There was even some snow on the ground.









This is the western part of Donner Lake which was named after the famed settler party.







This is Truckee, California.

The train station there.

Another part of the town.

I wish I knew what river this was.



The mountains towering over the trees.





The train heading around another curve.









This was the end of the Sierra Nevadas as far as I could tell. I'll have to say that what I saw was pretty impressive. It is a tough call between this and Glacier Mountain though.

No comments: