AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1 9 6 6 double issue - Desert Magazine of ...

have the thrill of discovery without Park
department signs pointing the way, this
was a treat we were anxious to get into
print.
We were there in early September, before
winter snows fell. Juicy pine cones
dripped with fragrant sap and pricklepoppies,
blue ground daisies and vivid
paint brush splattered rich color among
the shadows. Shafts of warm sunlight filtered
through a filigree of quaking aspen
and then we twisted around a sharp bluff
and there, before us, was a very funny
tree. Tall and well-shaped, thick clusters
of needles hung from its branches like
the fingers of a Siamese temple dancer.
"Could that be it?" I considered.
"Uh-uh. Looks too healthy for a Bristlecone,"
Jack decided.
A little further and we came upon a
grove growing in a wide crevice protected
from the wind. Jack stopped to bend a
twig toward the camera so I could get
a close-up. "It looks like a tail," I commented,
observing how its bushy needles
narrowed to a point tipped with a purple
cone.
"This is it then," Jack exclaimed, "The
foxtail pine!"
34 / Desert Magazine / August-September, 1966
As we approached the apex of the
mountain where /inter winds are fierce,
the trees grew shorter and more stunted,
like those of photos we'd seen. Perhaps
photographers deliberately choose models
with an "ancient" look rather than those
which thrived in protected spots, but all
of them are beautiful, misshapen or not.
They're like no other pine tree on earth.
Located on the peak of Highland
Mountain is a Federal Communication
station, which accounts for the good condition
of the road. The superintendent,
who commutes from Pioche, was there
when we arrived and took us on a tour
of his set-up, which looks about as complicated
as a space capsule.
On the downhill trek we explored
several side roads and found signs of deer
around the springs, but to really get back
into this country would require a 4-wheel
drive or hiker's boots.
Pioche is about as ideal a place to vacation
as any offbeat trail-tracker could
find. By-passed some three miles by U.S.
Highway 93, this picturesque community
terraced up and down the sides of a series
of golden hills was once the wildest mining
town in the Wild West. Slightly
fictionalized, its history is recounted in a
February 1964, DESERT story, c&Wci
"Chioche."
Home of the largest reduction mill in
the world, Caselton Mill, its mining
activity has been a constant saga of boom
and bust. Currently enjoying a boom
period due to Uranium king Charlie
Steen's amalgamation of Combined Metals
at Caselton with his Grand Panam Company,
new tourist accommodations have
been built in town and there's a housing
shortage, but vacationers will still find it
virgin territory for back country exploration.
At Spring Valley, on the eastern fringe
of town, springs have been funneled to
produce a sandy-beached lake for recreation.
This should be filled and an ideal
place for swimming and water sking by
now. It's amid a splendid setting (see
this month's cover), and cool in summer.
If you are resourceful and able to find
pleasure without guided tours or superficial
stimulation, there's so much variety
in terrain and activity around Pioche
that, like us, you'll begin to think of it
as a favorite "getting-away-from-it-all"
place, too. •