Our recent trip to the Nevada desert was brief and we wanted to make the most of it.   We arrived at our trailer, our base camp, after midnight and the next day around noon headed over to Unionville and Kyle’s Hot Springs.  Unionville is a ghost town, formerly a silver boomtown famously inhabited by Samuel Clemens.  Now it is a hamlet of a few sprawling residences with surprisingly lush, green, well-tended and long-established landscapes, including a bed and breakfast, an equestrian property and a lovely ranch where we observed a couple of dozen new calves contentedly grazing.  Properties on the north side of Unionville (which is really to say, the north side of the street) are more characteristic of the rest of northern Nevada: some rustic, some historical, some ranches without spring green pasture.

Above Unionville is a canyon which ascends into the Humboldt Range.  We explored it for an hour or so, scouting for future camp sites.

After leaving Unionville we drove to Kyle’s Hot Springs for a leisurely soak.  I’m always a little incredulous when we arrive at Kyle’s Hot Springs…. it’s ahhh and it’s free.  The hot springs are not staffed but the pools are clean and well-maintained.  It’s virtually private–only once have we arrived to find someone else there–and has 360-degree views of the Nevada desert.  The steamy soothing mineral waters are a perfect place to begin or end a vacation.