After 77 miles, we'd finally arrived at the town of Gerlach! Having left Wadsworth a little before 3PM, the sun was barely setting around 4:45 in the evening this February afternoon. Time sure flies when you're hunting markers...
Welcome to downtown Gerlach (population 327). Gerlach coins the nickname, "Where the Pavement Ends and the West Begins." This isn't too far from the truth. Gerlach is the largest settlement in an area covering 200 square miles, an area comprising northwestern Nevada, southeast Oregon and northwest California. Gerlach is also the largest community east to Winnemucca, north to Lakeview and Adel, OR to Susanville, CA. If you've been paying attention, this means Gerlach provides the only services in this sparsely populated region. Facts aside, Gerlach of course is celebrated as the gateway to the famed Black Rock Desert, home of the annual Burning Man Festival.
 Looking down Gerlach's main drag. |
SR 447 officially ends at the Shell Station when you enter town, but a paved highway, Old SR 81 (Washoe County Route 447) continues northwest across the desert to Cedarville, California. (For all you atlas lovers, please note that Nevada still refers to this route as "447." This route may or may not be routed as a "state highway.")
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Full Description:
Exact description as reads ...
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Situated between Black Rock Desert on the east and Smoke Creek Desert on the west, the townsite of Gerlach lies in country long occupied by prehistoric man.
John C. Frémont traveled through Northern Paiute Indian lands when he camped here in 1843 and named "Boiling Springs" 1/4 mile north of town.
This was also emigrant country; the Noble Road left the Applegate-Lassen Trail at Black Rock Springs, went past this site and southward through Smoke Creek Desert toward Susanville.
The town was established when the Western Pacific Railroad was constructed in Nevada 1905-1909. It still functions as a railroad division headquarters.
 Notice the dilapidated siding in the b.g. This is proof of Gerlach's once great, but rather recent train legacy. |
As lovely as the trip was, it was time to go home. We didn't take the mileage to "Reno" as long and ardious, but rather short and traditional. The drive home was even further for us because we live in Mound House, just outside of Carson City. Adding another 43 miles to that 107 was yet another right of Nevada passage. Never a place too far for Nevada Landmarks!
 Homeward Bound! The next journey awaits. |
