Walker Lake, Nevada

May 28, 2023

We thought we had left Nevada in the rear view mirror a few weeks ago, but it called us back this week. Our stay at Walker Lake wasn't in the original plans--we had reservations for a campground in Mammoth Lakes, CA, but they were cancelled because of snow cover. After failing to find an open and available campground in the vicinity for the Memorial Day weekend, we decided on taking a minor detour back into Nevada.

Mountains and wildflowers along the way out of California

Not so many wildflowers anymore

Some strange graffiti-laden "ruins"

Back to snow-covered peaks

We settled on the shore of Walker Lake and were not disappointed. It was a surprisingly beautiful lake.

Approaching Walker Lake

For such a large lake in a generally wind-prone area, we were surprised at how calm it was.

One of the camping areas--plenty of space between campsites

Some days we almost had the place to ourselves

Not a bad view

Granted, there really wasn't much to do at Walker Lake, but it is nice to have a week every now and then where we can be lazy around camp and not feel guilty about missing out on something more exciting. Plus, the lake was quite easy on the eyes and offered changing views with the different weather moods we experienced while here.

The next day we took a walk along the lakeshore as far as we could before the banks became too steep. It wasn't that long of a walk--about 2 miles.

This picture was taken down by the shore, with the camper in the distance. The wide angle on the phone makes it look a bit further away than it was.

Didn't find that many flowers in bloom at this destination

We went into the nearby town of Hawthorne (population about 3300) one day to do laundry. Hawthorne is the site of the Hawthorne Army Depot, reportedly the world's largest munitions storage facility. It was built here after a Naval ammunition depot in New Jersey suffered a major accident in the 1920s, resulting in millions of dollars of damage to the facility and the nearby communities, including 21 deaths. It was decided that moving the facility to somewhere more out in the middle of nowhere was a better plan. To this day, the town is still definitely out in the middle of nowhere.

We passed by an ordnance museum in town. We thought about visiting, but decided we just were not that interested.

For a holiday weekend, the lake was eerily quiet. Aside from one jetski on Saturday, we did not see any boats whatsoever. The lake does not have a natural egress, so after agricultural irrigation began siphoning off water upstream from the lone feeder river in the late 1800s, the lake has generally receded and become increasingly salty year after year. Since most of the fish have died off, the lake no longer attracts fisherman. Of course, the closest major town is Reno at over 70 miles away, so the distance probably helps keeps the crowds away.

Not much else to write in this post, but here are a few more pictures:

Storm clouds gathering in the distance

Turn up the brightness on your monitor to see the stars

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