We joined our original planned route across Nevada on Highway 50 at Eureka, Nevada. You recall, the fires 🔥 in Washington, Oregon and California caused us to reroute the northern portion of our journey. Starting in Eureka, we have been following a bicycling map from Adventure Cycling and I want to acknowledge that some of the history and geology that follows is from their rider information.

The route parallels the route of the Pony Express through this region in 1860-1861. Although the Pony Express was short-lived, prompted by the secession of states from the southerly mail route threatening travel and then in 1861 made redundant by the completion of the transcontinental telegraph, it has always been an icon of the Wild West. Let me share an ad for riders: “Wanted: Young Skinny Wiry Fellows, not over eighteen. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week. Apply Central Overland Express.” Riders couldn’t weigh more than 120 lbs, couldn’t swear or drink. Amazingly, there were lots of applicants!

So as I cycle through this territory I often envisage the bold Pony Express riders galloping 75 to 100 miles before they switched off to a new rider.

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The geology of this region is fascinating. It is called Basin and Range and was formed as the earth’s crust was stretched apart, east to west, and broken into blocks that became mountain ranges running north to south. This process left numerous mountain ranges with flat desert basins in between.

You can see from the map elevations above that the route crosses range after range with a flat desert basin in between. It is all part of the region called the Great Basin. It is still very sparsely populated with frequent stretches of 70-90 miles with no services. The highway has been discovered by more tourists today but is still amazing cycling.

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Today we are spending a day in Baker, Nevada, a funky little town near the entrance to the Great Basin National Park. We drove up to over 10,000 ft on Mount Wheeler. Just awesome!!

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Back on the bikes tomorrow we will enter Utah on our way to Zion and the Grand Canyon. See you all soon. Thanks for riding along 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️