Saturday, April 30, 2011 - Sinclair WY

Camped, Dugway Ramp Recreation Area, Sinclair WY, April 30, 2011

Snow

It snowed last night in Meeker CO and it's been a gray day with snow squalls off and on all day. Like yesterday, today took me much farther than I had hoped. I was on the lookout for a place to boondock all day and didn't see anything promising until I got here. This will do nicely for the night. It's not hugely picturesque but there is a river right outside my door. We like that.

North Platte River

Rand McNally tells me that's the North Platte River out there. That gives me an idea. I've been planning to follow the North Platte and Platte rivers across southern Nebraska on my way east. Why not start here and follow it as it makes its way up through Casper and around the bend to the east?

Birds

There are birds here. And a cliff with nests on it. I think I'll stay tomorrow, see what's here, get a few pictures, then head out Monday.

Night camp

Site 5 - Dugway Ramp Recreation Area, Sinclair WY

Verizon cell phone and EVDO service - no service
Locate Dugway Ramp Recreation Area on my Night Camps map
Check the weather here

Heliograph route between Fort Cummings NM and Tubac, AZ

1886 heliograph transmissions between Tubac near Nogales Arizona/Mexico, and Fort Cummings New Mexico: Joe Marques (Flagstaff) was doing some research in old Flagstaff newspapers and found something that might interest. In the Arizona Weekly Champion, Saturday August 7, 1886, page 2 column 1, it says: "A message was recently sent by the government heliograph (signalling by sunlight flashes) from Fort Cummings, N.M. to Tubac, Ariz., a distance of 400 miles, and an answer received in four hours." What a great [research] find! This was during the Geronimo Campaign of 1886, and the heliograph system at that time did indeed extend between the two stations. From Tubac, the most westerly terminus, the intermediate stations were Baldy Peak or possibly Josephine Peak just a little south of Baldy), Fort Huachuca, Antelope Spring, Emma Monk, White's Ranch, Bowie Peak (or Helen's Dome), Steins Peak, and Camp Henely (east of Fort Cummings). This means the message would have been relayed seven times, one way. It most likely was a test message, and relatively short, but I would love to know what it and the reply really said. The 1886 "airline" distance between Tubac and Fort Cummings; and of course on to Fort Cummings. I calculate the one-way distance between the two extremes as being 241 miles, with round trip of course being 482 miles.

more...