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This page last updated on 11/08/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Directions: I created this map (Fig. 01) of an area northwest behind the town of Goodsprings, NV. Shown near the center of the map you can see the locations of the Red Cloud Mine and the Pilgrim Mine, both of located approximately 4 miles northwest of Goodsprings Nevada, off of Nevada (53) what today is know as Kingston Road. From the Pilgrim Mine, the Microwave Tower Road heads north toward the top of Lower Potosi. Highlighted with yellow (and arrows) shows the route we traveled on today's trip.
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| (Fig. 1A) Click to Enlarge |
11/03/2018 Trip Notes: Today Jim Herring, Harvey Smith, Bob Croke and I drove up Microwave Tower Road after spending nearly two hours exploring three mine sites. As you can see from the views in (Figs. 02 & 04), this steep road climbs nearly 1,780 feet and is full of the many switchbacks. The view to the right (Fig. 1A) is a picture from Google Earth that shows the range where we were. Once you reach the top, elevation 6,240 feet, there are several microwave towers (Fig. 03). The view in (Fig. 04) is a shot taken by a person paragliding above the site. At the top we all (Fig. 05) spent considerable time taking pictures of the outstanding views in every direction. The view in (Fig. 06 is looking north at the road that leads to the towers atop of Mt. Potosi. The view in (Fig. 07) is looking east down on Rainbow Quarry and the city of Las Vegas. The view in (Fig. 08) is looking west toward the town of Sandy Valley. The view in (Fig. 09) is looking south at the town of Goodsprings. (notes con't below)
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| (Fig. 02) |
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Notes Continued: Probably the highlight of our visit was the 7 people that followed us up to do some paragliding. Seven people took turns
flying paragliders. These are lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft
with no rigid primary structure jumping off the side of the mountain.
The pilot sits in a harness
suspended below a fabric wing. The wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside. Their skillful exploitation of sources of lift
, these pilots were able to gain amazing heights, many staying aloft for more than an hour. They all took turns hiking up to the launching area on the hill behind the lower towers. When the up-drafts filled the paragliders, they ran down the side of the hill and eventually took flight (Fig. 10). As they became airborne we attempted to gather pictures (Figs. 11 & 12). There was even one "fixed wing" glider (Fig. 13). As we enjoyed our bag lunched, we spent more than an hour taking pictures of them flying above and around us (Fig. 14). The views up here were so nice, it was hard to stop taking pictures (Figs. 15 & 16). Eventually we decided it was time to drive back down of the mountain top. On the way home I learned that Jim and Bob had never been to the site of the Seven Magic Mountains outdoor art installation along the side of highway 15 outside Las Vegas. So I took a detour to let them get some pictures of this outdoor art installation (Fig. 17). Read more about this here ...
Seven Magic Mountains.
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| (Fig. 17) |
