Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Day 2 In ET Highway Country

There was frost on the truck as we headed out of town on Saturday morning. We like to fill fuel and grab coffee as we leave each morning. We had to stop at two gas stations (pumps weren't working at the first one). Coffee was very spendy at the first one. It was daylight as we headed east out of town.

The bonus for the day was driving on paved roads in the morning stretch of geocaching.




two memorials  near the first geocaches


that is some rack!


the snow capped mountains stayed in the distance


terrain change


more change in geology and flora


And then the second bonus of the day...




cemetery stop for a geocache


a well-kept cemetery





someone is showing their backside


a gathering spot for native Americans
town started in 1865 when silver was discovered
in its hey-day Belmont had a Chinatown,
a red light district & racetrack,
a newspaper, schools & churches, 
a post office & newspaper and 
was the county seat 'til 1905



originally I thought this was the schoolhouse
but I think it is the courthouse
it is still used as a community center
 it has a new metal roof


some of the remaining structures along Main Street


one of the oldest businesses in Belmont
1867
catchy name: Dirty Dick's Saloon
it was a gathering place for the locals when we drove through
in the early afternoon


we saw a few houses, but also some RVs


the only church we saw


some of the more modern homes


East Belmont
mining & milling district








                                                                                              
and then a little farther along the non-paved road


not certain what a flotation mill was


but this huge building was a part of it


looking at the valley and snow capped mountains



And for those keeping score, this was our busiest caching day. We found 444 geocaches, looking for them after dark, using a very good flashlight, and needing to clean-up back-roads and out-of-the-way areas. I had a goal of 500 in one day, but the areas we needed to geocache were just too far away from each other. Seeing the mining town of Belmont helped counter the disappointment of not reaching my goal.



2 comments:

  1. With those pictures and my love of rust and ghost towns, I just might have to visit the ET Highway after all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved the photos of Belmont. Will have to keep that in mind if we travel that area one day!

    ReplyDelete

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