Daytrips - Pahrump Nevada

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Last week, Robert Croke, Jim Herring an myself, made a trip to Pahrump to do some "wine tasting". We stopped at two of Pahrumps' wineries, the Pahrump Valley Winery and the Sanders Family Winery. We also had an excellent lunch at Symphoney's, the restaurant at the Pahrump Valley Winery. In between these two stops we also had a very educational experience at the Pahrump Museum. Click the links above for pictures and to learn about each of these places.

Daytrips - Locations, Places and Structures

It should be obvious for anyone who lives here in Las Vegas that it has been way too hot to do any strenuous hiking this summer. And, from looking at the extended long term summer weather predictions, it appears that it will stay that way for a quite a while. Sooo, having much else to do, I began reviewing some of the hikes I have taken over the past couple of years and decided to put together a page that would provide readers with some ideas of places to possibly visit during the summer months that, for the most part, don't require any extensive hiking. Check them out here ... 13-2016 Locations, Places & Structures

Summer Projects

This summer's oppressive heat has severely limited my outdoor hiking and activities. As a result, I've been spending some of my time, reviewing my Blog Site, fixing broken links, correcting page errors and making some needed improvements. Hopefully they will make perusing the site more enjoyable.

I then started concentrating on a manuscript project titled, "Rock Art of the Nevada Great Basin" that I started nearly a year ago and had put aside. Though I still have a few chapters yet to write, it is nearly 90% complete. I recently finished one of its longest chapters,  "Rock Art Sites in Nevada's Great Basin". This chapter provides a list with hyperlinks to my Blog and the 26 rock art sites I've visited over the past three years. Because many of you have shared some of these hiking experiences with me, I thought some might be interested in "revisiting" these pages and "reliving" some of these trips.

Chapter 09 - Rock Art Sites in Nevada's Great Basin

p.s. Clicking the link at the bottom of the page will take you to the "Table of Contents" page, allowing you get a "peek review" of the working manuscript. 

Sanders Family Winery

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This page last updated on 08/05/2016

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Directions: From Las NV-160 to Pahrump. Turn left on Manse Rd, then turn left on Hafen Ranch Rd. Go 2 miles and turn right on Kellogg Rd. Go 1.5 miles and turn right into the gate of the winery (Fig. 01).

Description: The winery is nestled on the southern side of the Town of Pahrump, about an hour from the Las Vegas Strip. It offers stunning panoramic mountain views. The Winery is bordered on each side by the beautiful Spring Mountains to the East, and the colorful Nopah Range defining the Nevada-California border to the West. The winery architecture is a renaissance period Italian Tuscan Villa with the nearly 12,000 foot high Mount Charleston as the backdrop. Visitors are welcomed at the gates by the statue of Teresa Lilianna, “The Wine Pourer”. The main entrance to the estate is lined with tall Italian Cypress trees (Fig. 02), flanked by two full production vineyards (Fig. 03). The long driveway brings you through the vineyards to the main tower entrance. There is plenty of parking.

Established in 1988, Jack Sanders founded the first modern winery in Pahrump. The Sanders Family continues to be committed to hand crafting each wine to finesse and perfect balance, bringing out the best in each vintage varietal and proprietary blends. The family has been growing grapes in Pahrump for nearly three decades. The first vineyard was our Valencia Road Property (Now Winery Road) with our newest vineyards located along the Kellogg Agricultural Bench on Kellogg Road. The tradition continues with the completion of our new stunning Renaissance Tuscan style Winery, Visitors Center and Performing Arts Amphitheater (Fig. 04). Much care and thought were involved in the creation of this immaculate facility. Its two home vineyards, located on the Winery property, are part of Sanders Winery’s strengths. The winery property is prime land for wine-grape growing. Other premium contract grape growers give our wine making team flexibility in creative wine production. The Kellogg Bench home vineyards were planted in 2004 in two blocks. The East Block contains Zinfandel Grapes and is located within 50 feet of a 25 year old Pistachio orchard. The West Block is planted with Petite Sirah. Both Vineyards require custom hand harvesting and crushing.

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08/05/2016 Trip Notes: At the end of the day, Bob Croke, Jim Herring and I came here for our last stop of the day, and yet another wine tasting. Though I did like its Renaissance Tuscan style on the outside, I was not impressed by the tasting room (Fig. 05), or its limited gift shop (Fig. 06). During our "tasting" the server made each of us a "spritzer" made with its Ruby Port. This wine has an amazing aroma and taste of rich plum jam and black raspberry preserves that is fortified to balance its sweetness and to keep the big rich flavors and long finish. It was outstanding. We were also told that it is great over Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. Even though there wine selection is more limited than that of the Pahrump Valley Winery, it should be noted that they are all less expensive than those at the other winery. After tasting several wines, Jim and Bob both game out with several purchases (Fig. 07). Free wine tasting is available 7 days a week 10am to 5pm. We would definitely go back for another visit.

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Pahrump Museum

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Directions: 65 miles from Las Vegas, the Pahrump Museum is located a scenic one hour and ten minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Take Highway NV-160 west. Follow NV-160 through the town to E. Basin Ave. Turn left and drive approximately 1.5 miles, and turn left into the museum property.

Description: The Pahrump Museum officially opened on September 1st 2003. Inside the museum you will find several ales of glass enclosed exhibits (Fig. 02) containing Native American artifacts as well as artifacts from some of Pahrumps first Anglo settlers, prospectors, farmers and ranchers. They also have exhibits with war ephemera, fossils, indigenous animal species and rock/mineral samples. There also is an exhibit on both of Pahrump's wineries. There is a large room containing the "Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository History Exhibit". There are six touch screen monitors and two large screen television monitors that provide viewing presentations on the "Yucca Mountain Project". Hung alongside this extremely informational exhibit are photos from the "National Atomic Testing Museum". The have a small gift store with belt buckles, post cards, Nye County History Books, a book titled, "Waste of a Mountain", items from a local artist and extensive line of gifts and souvenirs, many free publications and much more. Outside there are several outbuildings, bronze sculptures (Fig. 03), a cactus garden and a myriad of farming equipment. Four of the museums outbuildings are furnished and open for you to go inside and enjoy.

08/05/2016 Trip Notes: After a great lunch at Symphony, at the Pahrump Valley Winery, Jim, Bob and I spent more than an hour touring the Pahrump Museum. The museum's curator answered all of our many questions and provided much information about the history of the museum and the town. We learned that back in the late 1800's the town started as a grouping of several cotton ranches that stretched across the valley. Over the years more and more ranchers caused the town to grow, but didn't have electricity until 1963. After perusing the inside, we went outside to tour exhibits on the grounds. First we toured the Raycraft Railroad Tie Cottage (Fig. 04). It was built on the Raycraft ranch in 1947 by Stanley Ford, as a vacation cottage. the building is constructed of railroad ties from the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad (TTRR). Scattered between the various buildings, the grounds displayed many period instruments and machinery used in the farming of cotton (Fig. 05). Next we toured the interior of the old Pahrump Store (Fig. 06). Next was an old one-room schoolhouse (Fig. 07). The little red schoolhouse was originally located in Clay Camp, Amargosa. It was still in use as a school house in 1945 when it was moved to the Pahrump Ranch. At this point, we cut our touring short due to the unbearable 105 degree temperatures, and found our way back to the car.  We would like to come back here in the fall when the temperatures would be more comfortable and spend more time roaming the property. Before heading home we then drove to the Sanders Family Winery for yet another "wine tasting" session.

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