slgwv's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

slgwv

I'm a geologist by training and have taught at the University of Nevada, Reno. I've lived most of my life in the US west and currently reside outside Reno, Nevada. I like hiking and exploring 4wd roads, and continue to check out lots of out-of-the-way spots. A disclaimer: the infelicities in the text on a number of the places I've submitted are due to Atlas Obscura's editing. In case anyone's wondering, my avatar is a picture of Fissure Ridge, a volcanic eruptive center about 15 miles west of Gabbs, Nevada. In addition, more of my travels can be found at the Ipernity photo-sharing site:

http://www.ipernity.com/home/289859

2021
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Leaderboard Highlights

slgwv's activity rankings

1^st

Places visited in Fallon, Nevada

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Places added to Nevada

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Places edited in Nevada

2^nd

Places visited in Nevada

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Places added to United States

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Places edited in Idaho

3^rd

Places visited in Hiko, Nevada

3^rd

Places added to Colorado

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Places edited in North Bend, Washington

Tusher Tunnel

A crack flared at the base provides a pathway completely through a sandstone ridge near Moab.

slgwv

Soda Lakes

Two craters, which probably erupted within the last 1,500 years and are now filled by alkaline lakes, represent Nevada's youngest known volcanic activity.

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Swall Meadows, California

White Mountain Peak

A small research station sits at the summit of this mountain, which is one of the few U.S. peaks higher than 14,000 feet outside of the Sierra Nevada.

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Castle Valley, Utah

Fisher Towers

These tall, red sandstone pinnacles outside Moab are often forgotten amid their more famous neighbors.

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Ouray, Colorado

Box Canyon Falls

A glimpse of a waterfall is reached by a steel catwalk along a slot canyon located in an Ouray city park.

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Airmail Arrow

A concrete arrow from a 1920s network of airmail beacons is still preserved at the western edge of suburban Reno.

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Cathedral Gorge

Narrow slot canyons in a badland eroded into soft sedimentary rock provide an otherworldly landscape in this remote Nevada state park.

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Hunter Creek Falls

This wilderness hike to a waterfall has an unlikely beginning in suburban Reno.

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Princeton, Oregon

Steens Mountain

With a crest near 10,000 feet, this treeless fault-block mountain in eastern Oregon provides stunning views and spectacular glacial landforms.

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Boulder City, Nevada

Black Canyon National Water Trail

See Hoover Dam and the bypass bridge from a perspective usually off-limits to the public, and float the upper part of the Black Canyon National Water Trail.

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Wheatland Ferry

This incongruous small ferry across the Willamette River north of Salem, Oregon has been operating continuously since the 1850s.

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Fairview Peak-Dixie Valley Fault Scarps

In 1954, two enormous earthquakes occurred just minutes apart, resulting in prominent scarps that extend for miles along the range fronts.

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Wallowa Lake Tramway

The steepest tramway in North America provides stunning views of the out-of-the-way Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon.

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Truckee, California

Boca

This settlement on the original Transcontinental Railroad began by harvesting timber, but transitioned to a forgotten 19th-century industry: harvesting ice.

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Sierra City, California

Sierra Buttes Lookout

A fire lookout atop a glacial pinnacle is reached by climbing three vertiginous flights of stairs.

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White River Falls

An out-of-the-way state park in Oregon that features both a picturesque waterfall and the ruins of a hydropower plant.

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Gerlach, Nevada

George W. Lund Petrified Forest

A little-known occurrence of fossil wood in northern Washoe County, Nevada, near the Black Rock Desert.

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Castle Dale, Utah

Wedge Overlook

A spectacular overlook of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River, a deep sandstone gorge streaked with orange, red and white in a remote, uncrowded part of Utah.

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Coulee City, Washington

Summer Falls

This large artificial waterfall in Washington state was merely an incidental byproduct of a technological megaproject.

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Gemini Bridges

It's safe—and permitted—to walk across these twin natural sandstone arches.

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Boulder City, Nevada

Historic Railroad Hiking Trail

An old railroad grade built for the construction of Hoover Dam is now a recreational trail featuring several tunnels and sweeping views of Lake Mead.

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Las Vegas, Nevada

Tule Springs Ranch

Now a city park, this site started as a stage stop, then was a working ranch, and finally became a dude ranch that specialized in letting wannabe divorcees establish Nevada residency.

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Nevada State Route 722

US-50 in Nevada is known as "the Loneliest Road in America," but this earlier iteration of the route is even lonelier.

slgwv

Arrow Canyon

A hidden slot canyon in the southern Nevada desert makes an unexpected oasis and scenic hike.

slgwv