Greenhorn Cutoff
Greenhorn Cutoff
For this roll I went out into the hills near Elko and took some photos along the Greenhorn Cutoff of the California Trail.
I used JCH Street Pan 400 exposed in my ZI using the MS Optical 35mm Perar. I developed the film in Rodinal 1:25 but I slowed my agitations from two every 30 seconds to three every minute. As a result the contrast was tamed so much that I actually had to apply some curves in post processing to bring up the contrast a little.
However, on to my little photo story.
Back in the 1840s and 50s literally thousands of California bound emigrants followed the Humboldt River past my front doorstep. If they had known how bad the smog would get they may have stayed in Elko. 😀
Along the way their trail led them through this beautiful canyon known today as Carlin Canyon.
Though this canyon looks beautiful and calm today, almost pastoral, it wasn't always this way. There were times that the Canyon was very difficult to get through because high water made the various necessary river crossings extremely dangerous.
As a result many emigrants choose to leave the Humboldt River Valley and climb over the hills thus bypassing the Carlin Canyon. As they climbed up into the hills they could look back at Grindstone Mtn overlooking the valley.
...and this is what they looked towards. A climb into desert hills with dry dust and sagebrush all around. If you look carefully you will see remnants of the wagon trail between the marker in the foreground and the marker poking up on the horizon.
If that piece of the wagon trail wasn't obvious enough for you here you see the deep ruts from the eroded wagon trail headed down into Suzie Creek. You can easily see the ruts trailing from the right side of the photo down toward the small tree on the left. This portion of the California Trail was left behind by wagons traveling this way over 160 years ago. It takes a long time for the desert to forget what happened in the past.
As the emigrants headed down into Suzie Creek they could look out ahead and see the mountains they would have to cross. I doubt however that they would have seen any powerlines. 😀
These are the Hot Springs that feed Suzie Creek. There was grass to feed the livestock and water for drinking and washing. It is interesting to note that along with the Humboldt River, Hot Springs provided a lot of the water sources for the emigrants as they passed through Nevada.
When we look back behind us we can see the trail that we have followed to get to this point. Behind the Jeep the trail moves straight back, then to the right through part of the canyon we can't see, then up and over the ridge through a couple jogs on the far right of this photo. Though we have only occasionally traveled along the actual wagon trail this entire trail has followed closely alongside.
This is our route forward. Our trail along Suzie Creek back down to the Humboldt near the present town of Carlin. We are only a mile or so from another, even tougher detour around a canyon that will take everyone over Emigrant Pass.
Maybe we will follow that route at some future point.