Geological Time, p. 14
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We spend the entire next day slowly making our way back northwest. We drove on FR 014 back through the Toquima Range to Manhattan, a village where the lack of cable television does not preclude Sex in the City.

Satellite dish near cabin in Manhatten.
We passed by the vast open pit of a shuttered gold mine. Driving in as far as possible, we then climbed up the tailings heap until we could get a view down into the frozen lake where once millions of ounces of gold were extracted. The undisturbed ice in the chemical-laden water created patterns like distant galaxies expanding after the Big Bang.

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Click on the picture to see the patterns close up.
Driving north on paved SR 376 up the Big Smokey Valley we passed the working gold mine at Round Mountain. This open-pit extravaganza is miles long, presenting to the roadside a colorful mosaic of its piles of excavated minerals. When its vein of gold is played out one day in the future, the reclamation of all this material would be enough to create a small planet. We drove to the mine’s entrance and asked the security person in a trailer if there were any tours available. I also asked her if there were any free samples, a question I’m sure she had never heard before.

From the entrance to the mine, high up on the east side of the valley, we could see a dirt road heading up into a canyon in the Toiyabe range from the other side of the valley. The sight of the road snaking up the foothills and then disappearing into a hidden canyon was a compelling invitation to another off-road adventure. So we drove up into Jett Canyon as far as we could, until the narrowing road began threatening the 4Runner’s trim. Then I walked about a mile or so up into the canyon while Judy and Mica sunned themselves down below. A clear mountain stream ran down the canyon’s increasingly narrow girth, adding sound to the profusion of color and light. I busied myself taking pictures and looking out for colorful rock samples for Judy, who bought a rock hound’s hammer just for this trip.


Jett Canyon, looking out toward Big Smokey Valley
 
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