(upbeat music) - [Narrator 1] Support for Wild Nevada Memories is provided by the William N. Pennington Foundation.

- [Narrator 2] Millie Hopper and Millard Reed.

- [Narrator 1] Gail and John Sande.

- [Narrator 2] Margaret and Charles Burback.

- [Narrator 1] And by individual members.

- It's been 20 years since Wild Nevada first appeared on public television.

Over the years, many people have asked, "What's it like to travel around and make the show?"

So, let's celebrate the 20th anniversary by reliving one of our favorite adventures and sharing some Wild Nevada Memories.

(upbeat country music) - [Dave] Hi, I'm Dave Santina.

- [Chris] And I'm Chris Orr.

Welcome to Wild Nevada.

- [Dave] Well, we're going to watch the very first episode we ever recorded for Wild Nevada.

This was recorded in late 2000.

This was just a pilot to see what would happen.

And it's been a long time since we have seen this.

So, let's take a look.

Tomorrow we're going to explore and see what Austin has to offer us.

- [Chris] But today, we're starting from Grimes Point, one of Northern Nevada's largest petroglyph sites.

It includes hundreds of petroglyphs, miles of hiking trails, and just over that hill, the hidden cave archeological site.

It's a place- I had never worked in front of the camera.

And I kept thinking, don't be nervous.

Don't be nervous.

Don't be nervous.

The only person who's going to ever watch this is your mom.

I just kept thinking that, that's how I got through this whole first shoot.

- [Dave] Well, we're going to show you some messages placed on the side of the road in rocks that you can also see when you're driving down this highway.

Cause then we're going to go down to the East, continue to Sand Mountain Recreational Area.

We got a couple of guys who are gonna meet us there.

Tell us a lot about it.

There's a lot of fun to be had there.

We're going to show you.

And then we're going to continue through Frenchmen and on Highway 50 past where- We really talked it through, didn't we?

We spent the whole time here looking at the map.

Now we just use the animated map.

And pull off at Highway seven 22, which is the old Highway 50.

We're going to go up through Eastgate and hike a little bit after we have some lunch.

Come back down past Carroll Summit through Peterson Station.

And then on up to Austin, we hook up with Highway 50 and spend the night there tonight.

Tomorrow, we'll have some more fun in Austin.

- [Jack] This was a proof of concept episode.

We had talked about what we wanted to do, and we planned that it would be kind of a two day trip that a couple could take or an audience member could take.

A two day trip to go from point A to point B, see some things along the way and then come back.

And that's sort of what we did.

- [Dave] About 15 miles past Drive's Point.

As we come over a rise, Sand Mountain appears and it's really stunning.

With desert all around, you might not expect to notice a big pile of sand, but it grabs your attention at the moment you come upon it.

It's truly spectacular.

We pull over to read the historical marker for Sand Mountain Recreational Area which is more than just the sand dune.

In fact, it encompasses nearly 5,000 acres.

(slow country music) This is one of only three singing mountains or singing sand dunes in North America.

What happens is when you get the wind just right on a certain direction you get kind of this eerie whistling sound.

Some people say the mountain, even booms- - [Chris] Jack had done enough scouting that he knew that there was always people doing buggying out there.

And he figured, well, we'll just see who's out there and see who we could find.

- [Dave] And whether you're there to play or watch, the visitors Welcome Pavilion offers a wealth of information on the plants, animals and history of the Sand Mountain Area.

The nearby Sand Springs Desert Study Area is an alternative to those who don't wish to play in nature's giant sandbox.

You were just telling me that this amazing monument has really not been around here very long.

- [Mark] No.

The sand dunes that you're seeing behind us in geologic time probably dumped here last night.

- [Dave] Oh my.

- [Mark] In geologic time.

Probably about seven to 8,000 years ago when ancient Lake Lahontan dropped down and dried up.

But when all those sediments started getting churned up by the air at this end of the Valley the wind would dump the sediments here.

And now we've got a dune that's over 60 stories tall out here.

- [Dave] My goodness.

- [Mark] This is kind of interesting here.

- [Dave] I was just going to ask you.

- [Mark] We were talking about Ancient Lake Lahontan.

- [Dave] Yes.

- [Mark] Well, you know, 10,000 years ago, we would would have been standing under probably two, three 400 feet of water.

If you can believe that.

I mean, not, not a drop in site today.

- [Dave] Hard to imagine today.

- [Mark] But if you look along the hillsides up here you see those little terraces.

- [Dave] Yeah.

There's ridges all the way across.

- [Mark] Exactly.

That's right where the shoreline used to be.

- [Dave] What an amazing change in this area.

- [Mark] Oh yeah and of course the vegetation would have been very different during that time too.

- [Dave] Right.

It wasn't just like a desert surrounding that Lake at the time.

We would've had at least larger brush, maybe even some trees like we see on the Western and Eastern sides of the Sierra.

- [Dave] It's funny, after 20 years, all of this is still relevant.

Yeah.

You can still see all of that.

And it still looks the same.

- [Chris] There were few campsites, not too many because it was during the week, and we just started walking toward them.

To see if they would talk to us and we didn't know these people at all, but they were so gracious and friendly, and they were so willing to help us out.

So, we take off and we're about at this point and I realize, I don't know who this guy is.

- [Dune Buggy Driver] You like speed, huh?

- [Chris] Oh yeah.

(dune buggy motor revs) - [Dave] They go over the top and we realize, we don't even know if they're coming back.

We don't know who that is.

We don't know where they're going.

We don't know how long they're going to be gone.

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, after all.

- [Chris] The ATVs, dirt, bikes, and dune buggies, race up the mountain, making short work of a 60 story expanse.

We travel with such ease.

I don't realize we are as high as we are.

Do we have to come back down?

(dune buggy engine revs) (dune buggy engine revving down) It's so much fun, you got to try it.

This is definitely one of the best things to do at Sand Mountain.

- [Jack] This is the only thing to do at Sand Mountain.

If you have it, ride it, bring it out and ride it.

- [Chris] Oh, so much fun.

And I was covered in sand.

I thought I was going to die a couple times.

We spend too much time here.

Let's get back on the road.

I remember I had all kinds of sand.

Shoe Tree is next.

(uplifting instrumental music) - [Chris] Another of the prominent landmarks in the area is Chalk Mountain.

It stands as a solitary peak overlooking Fairview and Dixie Valley's and is known for its rich deposits of silver and lead.

- [Dave] Looks like we're headed the right way.

Which means our next stop, the Shoe Tree, is straight ahead.

(truck engine roars by) This is that Shoe Tree you were telling me about.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Tradition has it.

That a newlywed couple were camping here.

And they got in an argument about how much money the bride had lost in Reno.

And she said she was walking home.

And he said she was going to do it barefoot and threw her shoes in the tree.

Ever since then people have been adding to it and taking shoes if they needed them, leaving them, kind of rite of passage on Highway 50.

- [Dave] Wow.

And they're still doing it.

(happy violin music) - [Dave] I brought some shoes that I could chuck.

I thought we might come to the Shoe Tree.

So, we'll get 'em out and we'll throw some in ourselves.

- [Chris] And I just remember at this point, I'm carrying these old sneakers of his going ew.

Ew.

These are old and smelly.

- [Dave] Oh, straight up.

Another one that was straight up!

- [Chris] We could not have made this up.

This is exactly how it happened.

So the lesson learned here, is it's not as easy to add shoes to the Shoe Tree as it appears.

- [Dave] It's a myth, the Shoe Tree doesn't work.

- [Chris] It worked for me.

- [Dave] Okay, the Shoe Tree likes women.

- [Jack] Dave tried, you know, throwing his shoes up there and it was very funny as we took take after take and saying like, "Can you get your shoes?"

And then of course, Chris throws it up and there's a single hit right off the bat.

And it was like, "Oh, man", but Dave handled that very well.

- [Dave] Oh!

Come on!

- [Chris] Give up, Dave.

Come on, it's time to go.

- [Dave] I want to find my shoes.

I didn't get them in the tree.

- [Chris] You didn't make the shoe tree.

Come on.

We got somewhere to be.

- [Dave] All right.

All right.

This is one tradition I did not get to participate in fully.

Where are we going next?

- [Chris] Next we go to the turnoff.

We take the old 50.

- [Dave] Oh, right.

Where the 50 splits into the old 50.

All right, this is good.

This is good.

(slow adventurous guitar music) Approaching Eastgate, it's obvious that the landscape will be changing soon.

We're looking forward to a change of scenery and some good hiking.

We're heading up now into the hills.

And this is where we're really glad we left Highway 50.

It's so much more beautiful.

The trees, the colors, even the sky looks better out here.

- [Dave] Hey there, Alvin.

- [Chris] A few miles down the road, we meet up with Alvin McLane, a retired archeologists and avid hiker.

He and his dog, Petroglyph, will be our guides.

- [Dave] Where are we going today, Alvin?

- [Alvin] Oh, we're going up to White Rock Spring.

And it's about two miles up here.

And I think it'll be, we'll be following along an old Jeep trail.

It won't be too hard of a hike, but there's real spectacular scenery along the way, rock cliffs and stuff.

So it'll be really, really enjoyable.

- [Dave] He was just such a nice guy.

Just so real.

He just loved all of this.

He loved it.

We never would have known this hike existed except he told us about it.

I hope I brought the right kind of stuff, but I'd, you know I'd like to get your opinion.

What are the people that are going to go out for a day hike?

What should they bring?

- [Alvin] Oh, if it's during the warm weather like we are now, I think we're dressed pretty comfortably and light clothes, light colored which will reflect the heat away from you.

It's like if you had dark clothes on you'd be probably sweaty right now.

We've hiked a couple of hundred feet.

- [Jack] This hike with Alvin.

This was really another proof of concept.

Could we shoot two cameras following along on the hike?

Them talking, explaining things and go this, I think this hike was about two miles.

So, we're talking about two miles.

It wasn't a strenuous hike, but it was more difficult because of the planning we had to do with the two cameras and keeping in vain, one, one going ahead and capturing them, the other one falling back.

And it was, it was some logistics things and it was a lot of fun at the end.

And, at the end, when we came back I think everyone was very pleased by what we did.

- [Alvin] The Rosehips they're, they're just perfect for making tea right now.

You see the red.

- [Dave] Pretty red.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

How nice and calm.

Nice and juicy.

It's like berries.

Yeah.

And, so this makes really good tea to drink.

And it's it's high in vitamin C. So, if you need your vitamin C. - [Chris] Have Rose Hip tea.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

Rose Hips.

- [Dave] So what if I walked up and said, "Oh, berries cause I'm a dumb guy from the city."

And I picked one up and ate it.

What would happen?

- [Alvin] Nothing, just give you a high dose of vitamin C. - [Dave] All right then.

I won't do it now, but I'll keep that in mind.

- [Alvin] Yeah, next time you need some.

- [Dave] And off we go.

- [Alvin] Even though the rocks are really, really pretty here, I think you'll be in for another surprise up over the hill.

It's also pretty up the Canyon.

Once we get up over this little rise here.

- [Chris] So, where's your favorite place to hike?

- [Alvin] Oh, I really don't have a favorite place.

Matter of fact, I just call it Nevada.

My favorite place to hike.

- [Dave] It's a good place to hike, I hear.

- [Alvin] Yeah, right.

- [Dave] Very nice.

- [Alvin] Well, what's so nice about it is there's so much open land.

You go to some other States.

There's so much private land.

- [Dave] I like this, this almost entryway.

It's like a doorway here.

- [Alvin] It's almost like a gate.

- [Dave] Yeah.

Beautiful rock gateway.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

- [Dave] What kind of rock is that?

- [Alvin] This is all volcanic tuff.

Probably a rhyolite, it's, it's flo-, florock.

Actually, it was ejected out from old volcanic.

What we would call craters.

- [Dave] Okay.

- [Alvin] That there almost looks like a face in that one.

- [Dave] Camera's not always pointing at what we're talking about.

Cause it's pointing at us and then they have to stop down and go, where did you point?

When you showed them that rock and they have to go find it and take a video of it.

It's a, it takes a long time for you know, a five minute hiking segment like this takes a few hours.

Well, what if you were going to rate this hike that we're doing right now on a scale of a one boot to five boots, five boots being the hardest hike.

What would you call it?

- [Alvin] Oh, this would probably be pretty low on the range of scale.

I'd give it about a one to two because there are some, a few steep slopes we had to come up.

But I think anybody in their first hike could enjoy this, especially if they wanted to get out.

- [Dave] Yeah.

I mean, I think, I think it's good, for me especially, I'm someone who doesn't hike a lot, but I'm not uncomfortable.

I can still talk.

- [Alvin] Oh, look at our destination.

There's, there's the water.

- [Dave] We found the water.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

- [Dave] We will live to see another day.

- [Alvin] Well, Petroglyph is happy.

Look at our dog.

- [Dave] Petroglyph is very happy.

- [Chris] If we hadn't brought water with us.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

- [Chris] We'd be very happy to find this.

- [Alvin] Look here.

You can see, well you see the water, the water crest growing, that's an indication it's pretty fresh water.

Clean, clean water.

- [Chris] So you can eat, you can actually eat this?

- [Alvin] You can eat this.

It makes a good salad.

- [Chris] A little Wild Nevada salad.

- [Alvin] Yeah.

Especially, especially when it's fresh and it hasn't gotten too old, you know, you know put a little bit of mayonnaise and salt and pepper on.

It's pretty good.

- [Dave] What are we looking at up here?

- [Chris] (indistinct) trail there.

- [Alvin] (indistinct) are pretty part of the Canyon.

See the lichen and rocks, and water flowing in the, the small stream flown in the channel.

Yeah.

I thought this might be a good change.

Not walking on the road the whole time.

Just to follow along the natural- - [Dave] This would be a nice place for - - [Alvin] Natural drainage here.

- [Dave] To come and get some pictures of these rocks with sunlight in the late afternoon sunlight changing on them.

Really some beautiful shadows that have images.

- [Chris] I remember very well, Jack always asking a hiking guide or anyone that was going to take us for a hike.

Where are the payoffs?

He would want a certain number of payoffs for every hike.

Is there a stopping point, a visual, a narration point where you can explain about the hike or the terrain or the subject matter?

And, and he really had a good sense of what we needed to make a hike work on camera.

- [Dave] Driving out for the high country to cross the Reese River Valley is a visual treat.

All of a sudden this vast area spreads out in front of us, distant mountains on the horizon.

And just look at that sky!

(slow country music) - [Chris] We're just in time to enjoy the sunset.

The hills and mountains make a perfect backdrop for the play of light and shadow.

- [Dave] We enjoyed more than the sunset once we got into Austin.

- [Chris] We had a good time in Austin that night at what was then The International and we played a ton of pool.

We drank probably a few too many cocktails.

- [Dave] And we played other games that the bartender taught us.

The bartender was a woman named Curly who you're going to meet later.

She was a, a rough customer, but lovable.

And every drink we bought was a different price depending on how she felt about it at the time.

It was pretty entertaining.

(relaxed country music) - [Chris] Austin is a small close knit community of about 300.

The old mining town is perched in the mountains and is split down the center by Highway 50.

For weary travelers, it can serve as a welcome break.

- [Jack] This scene was interesting because we got some viewer mail after the episode air.

And one person was convinced that this was a staged moment because Dave and Chris were either married or an item.

So, why was she coming out one door and knocking on his when in fact c'mon they stayed at the same place.

And, it was very funny because they weren't an item.

And, it was just interesting how people perceive what's going on.

- [Dave] Austin is a virtual smorgasbord for mountain bikers with trails to suit everyone from expert to novice.

- [Jack] The only thing we didn't know was that Chris really couldn't ride a bicycle.

We found out that day that she had some sort of phobia to a bike, but she pressed on, she was a true trooper and pressed on, and we got to the castle safe and sound and alive.

- [Chris] Part of what you don't see on camera is I walked my bike up the first hill because I just told Jack, no.

I was so uncomfortable.

I knew I was going to crash.

- [Dave] Taking the left way.

It's sort of down, downgrade more of, more of a downgrade.

So, it's a nice, easy start to a ride.

- [Chris] After a rough start, I'm feeling more comfortable with the bike and able to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

- [Dave] Austin sprang up after William Talcott found silver here while he was hauling wood in may of 1862.

After that, the rush to Reece began and a few other towns appeared nearby but Austin soon became the place to be, and the others faded away.

The town flourished for about 20 years before the mines began to dry up and the population dwindled.

Let's pull over here.

(soft guitar music) - [Chris] It could be an old miner's cabin or could be an old homestead.

- [Dave] A lot of possibilities.

Austin's about 140 years old.

A lot of places could have been here.

There's much to see on the many trails provided for hikers and bikers.

We find ourselves stopping at a number of places to appreciate the views.

Our trail is the most basic one, less than five miles, but for the more adventurous, there are many others of various lengths, up to nearly 28 miles with an elevation change of more than 4,500 feet.

- [Chris] The path we chose takes us through Marshall Canyon just outside of town and near a couple of the areas, old abandoned mines, and prospector cabins.

- [Dave] Why am I wearing that terrible tank top?

This is, this is where we need stylists to protect us from ourselves.

I blame everybody on the crew for not stopping me from this tank top.

This was before the concept of manscaping existed, you see.

So, not a pretty sight.

Our trail is named Castle Loop and now you can begin to see why.

Our destination is Stokes Castle near the West side of town.

The castle was built by Anson Phelps Stokes, a mine developer and railroad magnate.

It was supposed to be a summer home for his sons but they didn't use it much.

Ooh, how old is this castle?

It looks like it's about a 100 years old.

- [Chris] The castle looms over the landscape.

It was modeled after a medieval tower that Stokes had seen near Rome.

He even reconstructed the battlements along the roof line.

Though it's hard to imagine this now stark structure once featured three fireplaces, plate glass windows and some indoor plumbing.

- [Dave] This looks like the place I'd expect to see if we were visiting Rome.

You done?

You tired?

You hungry?

- [Chris] Let's have some lunch.

- [Dave] Yes.

Let's go get lunch.

Back down the mountain we go.

Hopefully to a, a long sleeve shirt or at least something with a collar.

That'd be great.

After lunch, I caught up with The International's longtime bartender, Curly Del Grande.

She's been an Austin icon for 15 years and everybody knows her.

- [Curly] I don't care if a town is small.

That doesn't mean a thing.

As long as you meet people that you like, I'd rather be in a small town myself.

Yeah.

You get more acquainted with the people that are here in town.

- [Dave] She was such a great character.

The night before when we were shooting pool and we were having a great time there.

Curly was selling us drinks.

We shot some footage of that and actually included it in the pilot.

And the management at the station decided they didn't like having that footage in there.

So, every subsequent broadcast of this episode is missing about 30 seconds of us at the bar.

- [Curly] And they're plated with gold about that much gold in the back of them.

I've seen shot glasses thrown at that thing and everything.

And didn't phase it a bit.

- [Chris] While Dave chats with Curly, I get the chance to do some sightseeing.

Austin has several shops that specialize in collectibles from its glory days, especially the old glass bottles from its saloons and restaurants.

The shop owners scout the area for the bottles.

They clean, shine, and sell them to collectors and tourists.

So, now the significance of all the bottles, cause I've noticed a couple of different bottle shops in town.

- [Store Owner] Well basically the old fire maps indicated to us that this was the Chinese restaurant next door.

This room that you're standing in now was a, a bar.

And on the other side was a meat market and a Telegraph office.

And everything that was behind the buildings was exactly what it was like beers and whiskeys came up from behind here.

Over there was all food stuff and Chinese marbles and over there was insulators and inks, master inks.

- [Chris] So, then the glass and the bottles, they come from when Austin was a big- - [Store Owner] In its heyday, probably, a lot of this stuff dates back to 1864-65.

- [Chris] That's wonderful.

- [Store Owner] Yeah.

A lot of the whiskeys are in the 70s and 80s ranges.

(slow guitar music) - [Chris] The towns churches are worth a visit as well.

St. George's Episcopal church was built in 1878.

The funds to build the church and buy it's pipe organ were raised in a single passing of the collection plate.

St. Augustine's Catholic church is the oldest standing Catholic church in Nevada.

And its doors were first opened to the community on Christmas Eve, 1866.

I remember Jack telling me, "Just go over there and look at the plaque, like be a tourist."

And I felt so awkward.

I'm like, "What?

What do you mean?"

Never having done this before?

I had no clue what it was he was visualizing.

Gridley was a partner in the town's general store.

In 1864, he lost an election bet and had to carry a 50 pound sack of flour down main street.

The sack was donated to Austin's Sanitary Fund and auctioned and re-auctioned throughout Nevada and California in a cycle that raised $275,000.

Now the weekend long celebration features a flour sack race, parade, calf roping, and a lot more.

(slow guitar music) (siren blaring) - [Dave] Well, we've had a great time here for the last couple of days, but it's time for us to go home.

- [Chris] If you want to review our trips so you can do one of your own, you can visit our website at www.kmpb.org.

- [Dave] Okay, Chris, let's go.

- [Chris] Let's go.

- [Dave] All right.

That's the first one.

And the people liked it after it got premiered in early 2001 and they said, "Let's make a series."

So, we started making the rest.

I hope you enjoyed it and we'll do it again.

- [Narrator 1] Support for wild Nevada Memories is provided by the William N. Pennington Foundation.

- [Narrator 2] Millie Hopper and Millard Reed.

- [Narrator 1] Gail and John Sande.

- [Narrator 2] Margaret and Charles Burback.

- [Narrator 1] And by individual members.