Signals and shards

Tonopah, oh Tonopah!

We're leaving in the morning for Tonopah, one of my favorite Nevada (nearly) ghost towns. It's getting harder and harder to find things there I haven't already photographed but I'll try. On Sunday we are going on to revisit an area where, a couple of years ago, I found scattered remnants from what appears to have been the Fremont culture, namely their distinctive gray painted pottery shards accompanied by lots of arrowheads and a couple of chipping stations. Pieces of a mystery. According to the Utah History Encyclopedia,

"Fremont pottery first occurs as early as 1,500 years ago in several caves and rock shelters associated with mobile hunting and gathering groups and is not found in what we think of as settled villages until several hundred years later ... Whether or not Fremont peoples died out, were forced to move, or were integrated into Numic-speaking groups is unclear."

Otherwise, here's the photo I took of The City from where we stopped. We'd already passed it crossing the valley on our way back to camp.

The City, a work in progress by Michael Heizer, The New York Times called Heizer art's last, lonely cowboy. Don't miss the article's slide show. If you want to see The City in Google Earth, the coordinates are 38°01'48" N, 115°26'10" W

No, we didn't go back in hopes of cashing Heizer's exhibit. He won't allow the public to view his work until after his death. However, here are photos of some people who did try.

Area 51 buffs searching for Michael Heizer and the Complex City

The dark of the moon is on the 11th so we should have a wonderful view of the night sky this trip, elbow to elbow stars. We should be back by the end of next week.


Here's what James Gandolfini has been up to since the Sopranos.