Wide Open
» Wide Open Two Wheels and the Open Road
May/June 2013
The joy of road biking comes from finding a relatively lightly traveled, but well-maintained strip of asphalt that keeps you spinning through an array of beautiful scenery. In Nevada, the best rides are found where the mountains meet the desert or gentle rangelands abut snow-capped peaks.
» Wide Open Thunder Mountain
March/April 2013
If you’ve ever traveled east from Reno, Fernley, or Lovelock to Winnemucca, you’ve driven by it. You might not have thought twice to look, and if you didn’t, you could easily have missed it even though it abuts Interstate 80. “It” is Thunder Mountain Indian Monument, nominally a monument but also an enigmatic roadside curiosity.
» Wide Open Land Sailing in Nevada
January/February 2013
Nevada has many claims to fame, and you can add one more to the list: land sailing. In fact, I was interested to learn recently that the Silver State is arguably the premier land-sailing destination in the United States.
» Wide Open Ice Fishing
November/December 2012
News anchor Tom Brokaw once said, “If fishing is a religion, fly-fishing is high church.” If that’s the case, then ice fishermen—the most devoted and patient of all anglers—are surely monks. Luckily for those monastic men and women, Nevada is home to a hallowed few frozen temples of the tackle box.
» Wide Open Down to the Barbed Wire
September/October 2012
On a weekend in mid-July, a group of volunteers troop to northwestern Nevada to work in the landscape they love, despite temperatures approaching 100 degrees. They are closing in on a years-long dream of dismantling the last of 175 miles of barbed-wire fence that once stretched across Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.
» Wide Open Remembered in Alamo
July/August 2012
Thanks to an industrious Las Vegas widow and her band of tireless and devoted employees, a formerly nondescript stretch of U.S. Highway 93 boasts two uniquely Nevadan places to stay—the sumptuous A Cowboy’s Dream Bed & Breakfast and the bucolic Windmill Ridge Restaurant & Lodging.
» Wide Open Little Finland
May/June 2012
Hobgoblins, gnomes, and goblin gunships. A raptor, a roaring beast, and a dinosaur. Monsters, dragons, Pokémon creatures, and Jaws. A cougar, a stalking lion, a teapot, an alligator, Little Dumbo, and giant mushrooms. There’s even an arch shaped like a heart and a miniature version of Utah’s Landscape Arch.
» Wide Open Historical Markers
May/June 2012
To begin the process of changing the actual markers, the State Historic Preservation Office is asking for donations. Refurbishing the markers will open a new chapter in a program that has done such great work in promoting the state’s heritage while welcoming its visitors.
» Wide Open Surviving Nevada’s Beauty
March/April 2012
Every year thousands of outdoor enthusiasts are drawn to Nevada by the rugged beauty of its high mountains, sweeping valleys, and remote backcountry. Others passing through arrive by happenstance. Regardless of reason or circumstance, those who accept Nevada’s hospitality must be prepared to reckon with myriad contingencies that could place them in harm’s way.
» Wide Open Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
January/February 2012
Located in the middle of nowhere, according to our visitors, is a place like no other in the world. Literally. In an area smaller than Disney World exist at least 26 species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth.
» Wide Open reno-tahoe’s lakes and parks
November/December 2011
Reno-Tahoe Territory is brimming with places to escape the urban grind. From day trips on the trails and beaches of awe-inspiring Lake Tahoe and camping, boating, and fishing at Pyramid Lake to shady afternoon picnics at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park and alpine hiking just minutes from Reno at Galena Creek Regional Park, there’s an outing in Reno-Tahoe to suit any taste.
» Wide Open beyond burning man
November/December 2011
The playa is just the beginning of the Black Rock Desert experience. For prepared hunters, hikers, wildlife enthusiasts, and other explorers with four-wheel drive, high-clearance vehicles, survival equipment, and common sense, a lifetime of rugged, remote, and beautiful escapades await in Black Rock-High Rock.
» Wide Open parks and recreation
September/October 2011
Nevada’s largest territory, the vast south-central swath of land known as Silver Trails, is a symphony in isolated grandeur—from the flood-carved walls of Cathedral Gorge State Park and the daunting expanses of parched Death Valley National Park to picturesque wetlands in Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge and the ruins of a once-mighty silver industry at Belmont Courthouse State Historic Park.
» Wide Open park pentathlon
September/October 2011
Five of Nevada’s finest state parks—Beaver Dam State Park, Cathedral Gorge State Park, Echo Canyon State Park, Kershaw-Ryan State Park, and Spring Valley State Park—make Lincoln County a must-visit destination.
» Wide Open off the beaten path
September/October 2011
Nevada Silver Trails has long been an arena for inspiring travels. Though staking a mining claim of your own might be a little difficult these days, many treasures await prepared modern adventurers in Nevada’s largest and most geographically diverse territory.
» Wide Open prehistoric storage
July/August 2011
Two such grottos—Hidden Cave above the Carson Sink near Fallon and Lovelock Cave above the Humboldt Sink near Lovelock—offer glimpses into the lives of the people who used them for thousands of years.
» Wide Open parks and recreation
May/June 2011
Whether it’s rattling down Winnemucca’s Bloody Shins (mountain bike) Trail, casting a line into trout-filled South Fork Reservoir, or hiking and scaling peaks in the Jarbidge Wilderness, Cowboy Country provides destinations to suit any outdoor enthusiast.
» Wide Open off the beaten path
May/June 2011
To experience the breathtaking beauty of Cowboy Country’s off-the-beaten-path destinations, making responsible decisions is paramount, and self-reliance is key. Keeping that in mind, here are several ways you can find solitude in this expansive territory.
» Wide Open parks and recreation
March/April 2011
Nevada’s U.S. Highway 50 corridor is dotted with a diverse arrangement of nationally and state-protected sites from Great Basin National Park in the east to Dayton State Park in the west.
» Wide Open off the beaten path
March/April 2011
If the words silence and solitude ever come up during your vacation planning, Nevada’s Pony Express Territory and its off-the-beaten-path attractions should be your next destination.
