Great Basin Recces

On the border with obsidian, dust, and eagles — Hamlin Valley, Nevada and Utah

D. Craig Young · February 1, 2026 · 2 Comments

I have been mapping the distribution of obsidian nodules in the landforms of the Cedar Mountains, where caldera remnants of volcanic tuff and glass have been incorporated into debris flows and alluvial fans the formed well before the last ice age. These ancient landforms, extending well beyond the eastern mountain front, host clasts of the Modena obsidian, a toolstone source of the eastern Escalante Basin. We continue to work on documenting and describing this resource, and I hope to share much more about it here. Today (May 2025), however, I am taking a break to drive a traverse of Hamlin Valley, north and east of our project area.

It is a long loop from my camp in Echo Canyon State Park, and I planned to meet our field team in the late afternoon. There was not a lot of time to explore, but I could get a feel for an area I had not seen much of previously. Heading toward the eastern border of Nevada, beyond the southern end of Lake Valley, I pass through the north end of the Wilson Creek Mountains and through the crunchy, old mining town of Atlanta. I follow some distant Pinyon Jays, birds I have missed closer to home for some reason, but they do not let me get close. I am left only with their laughing calls. That’ll do.

At Wells Summit in the Limestone Hills, I finally look into Hamlin Valley. I had been here before, but I was drawn north into the great wide open below the Snake Range. This time I will turn south to go the length of Hamlin. The valley is bounded by the Mountain Home Range on the east, but the extensional space of the vast valley is amazing. At the remnants of Hyde Well, the valley is over 15 miles wide, but it appears endless in the late-morning haze.

I turn south, rambling on roughly graded dirt and crossing the dry Hamlin Valley Wash, a distant tributary of the once vast, now dry, Lake Bonneville. I am now in Utah, moving along uplifted pediments built of ancient alluvial fans faulted upward to become dissected ramps of sediment, shed from the Mountain Home Range long ago. The wash and road are soon confined between toes of the relict fans extended from both sides of the valley. A Golden Eagle meets me halfway, flying low as it trolls the dissected slope overlooking the dry wash.

Once imperceptibly wide, the valley’s southern reach narrows between the White Rock Mountains (Nevada) and the Needle Range (Utah). The valley begins to close as private lands of small settlements, ranches, and homesteads confine creative travel possibilities. When you reach the southern end of the valley it literally pours into Modena Wash; the drainage divide is at the valley margin, not in the bounding hills of the Indian Peak Range. Modena Wash drops quickly through white-streaked, volcanic outcrops into the Escalante Basin.

The valley deserves more time, and I will be back to spend time among the relict fans and low-flying eagles. For the moment, I am back in the obsidian, full circle.

Keep going.

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands.

#naturefirst #keepgoing

Quick camp on Miller Canyon Fan, western Utah

D. Craig Young · July 26, 2025 · Leave a Comment

Waypoint: Miller Canyon Alluvial Fan, Sevier Valley, Utah

After a warm day of landform reconnaissance in the Great Basin of western Utah, I camped in a small back-berm playette on the broad alluvial fan of Miller Canyon extending from the House Range in western Utah. The playette – a miniature dry lake – formed behind a relict gravel berm of pluvial Lake Gunnison, building over thousands of years as loessic alluvium scoured from the hillslopes settles behind the abandoned berm. This is the modern setting on the expansive alluvial fan – a small dry lake nestled behind a beach long after the once vast pluvial lake faded and dried, its lakebed shrinking to the playa of the Sevier Basin. The berm provides a stage for photographing storms that try and fail, evaporating into the evening skies of the Great Basin. The variegated color of a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird greeted me as I rolled out of my sleeping bag the following morning. Altogether, a somewhat typical experience during geoarchaeological fieldwork in the Great Basin Desert. Keep going.

[2024.05.15 — Bonneville Basin Recce with Brian Codding (Univ of Utah) and Daniel Contreras (Univ of Florida); aka, The Strandline Society].

“These images and words are a reflection, simply and wholly, of my respect for our public lands and the public science and occasional art I am, and we are, able to do there. Our ability to create and think are not trivial, and wild space and healthy ecosystems nourish such things. It is here that we will find our better selves, even as the misdeeds of a few threaten much that, until recently, provides for our common good. Keep going.“

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands.

#naturefirst #keepgoing

Embracing Distractions: Mason Valley – Seaman Range – Lunar Craters

D. Craig Young · May 26, 2025 · 2 Comments

NvGO Notes 2025.03.14

**Biconic**. Young volcanic cones rise in the Lunar Craters National Natural Landmark, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

Maybe high points don’t have to be the goal. I established my High Points quest in the 1990s to encourage my exploration of the Nevada outback. I knew summit goals could guide me as I traversed Nevada’s Basin and Range and grew familiar with its amazing variety of desert landforms. Over 30 intervening years, I was not as persistent in my high-point pursuit as I could have been – I missed several years or went months at a time without visiting a summit, but my exploration has been almost ceaseless as I worked on a wide variety of geoarchaeological projects and managed to summit 130 of Nevada’s 317 (or so) named ranges. I grew more patterned and regular as I began writing about the excursions. I am, however, due for change.

I love walking hills and will continue to do so, but the list has become mildly oppressive. My desire to experience Nevada’s variety of places and landforms is no less, but I found myself focusing on the summit without slowing to take time and experience a place. The value and pleasure of creating images and mapping landforms was, at times, forgotten or set aside. I will also admit that as I age, I am getting slower on the uphills (and downhills), so more time is needed to attain each summit, taking time away from other desires. I rarely, if ever, sit to watch for wildlife or changes in lighting on an outcrop or rock art panel. Something is often missing.

**A start**. A pair of Lesser Scaup take flight in Mason Valley WMA, Great Basin Desert, NV

**Roost**. Double-breasted Comorants await the morning sun, Mason Valley WMA, Great Basin Desert, NV

I begin to realize this as I circle the Worthington Hills in south-central Nevada, looking for a way through the recent snow. The ridges below the summit look great in parting clouds, but I am alone and cutting steps on the steep slopes I had hoped to climb does not seem prudent. I thought I had best leave the Worthingtons for another time and head to a lower set of hills on the White River near Hiko, snow-cover should be less there. I did not want to ‘waste’ a drive this far into southeastern Nevada and not get a summit, so I drove on – Distraction #1. Although I was surrounded by amazing scenes of snow-lined and cloud-wrapped peaks above Joshua Tree sharpness, I did not pause.

**Lost snow**. Horizons fade in a late snow in the Great Basin Desert, NV

As I approach the Hiko Hills, I find a long stretch of irrigation pivots fenced behind ‘no trespassing’ signs. It is late in the day, so I decide to venture around the fields and gain the high point in the morning. I turn into the foothills of the Seaman Range and eventually find a faint two-track that leads to a secluded alcove among a maze of granite outcrops, like a lonely version of the Alabama Hills. Distraction #2. A desire to explore the outcrops begins to take precedence; attention to the nearby hills fades.

**Towers**. Granitic outcrops of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Hanging on**. A juniper tree clings to the granite of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Whale rock**. Heavy shapes in the outcrops of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Way through**. Clasts and texture in the granitic outcrops of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I set camp and wander until after dark, returning to my little camp as snow begins to fall. There is enough wind to push the feathery flakes sideways, and soon an inch or two of snow powders the bitterbrush and sage and covers my tent and field boxes. Distraction #3 – these are getting healthier as I push the any high point further from my mind, wanting only to wander the granite for images in the morning light. I will probably have fog in the desert!

The squalls clear overnight, and the moon takes over, adding bright ambience to haunting calls of a Great Horned Owl. I crawl out of the tent in the pre-dawn as the moon sets beyond Mount Irish. Snow brightens slowly, while the fog teases from the canyon of the White River, far to the east. It is not adding to the intrigue of the nearby hoodoos and spires, but at least I was not wrong completely; it is here, sort of. I grab my gear and lose myself among the rocks.

**Last blue**. Sunrise approaches the snow-spattered outcrops of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Crystal layers.** Weathering release in the plutonic granite of the Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I cannot say that I came away with portfolio imagery, but it was the most fun I’d had in a long while photographing. Distraction #4 – I could not care less about the Hiko Hills except to enjoy the fog along their distant slopes. I would not be hiking any hills today, and that was OK.

After a wonderful morning, the snow melting almost immediately with the sunrise, I head back onto Highway 93, traipsing through a couple Wildlife Management Areas, eventually turning toward Lunar Craters National Natural Landmark. Distraction #5 – I was now excited about scouting locations, thinking about landforms I could document, and enjoying an excursion without goals. I became practically joyful considering how the ‘distractions’ allowed me the freedom to develop a refreshed approach to Second Friday and excursions into the Nevada outback.

**Before or after**. A dash of color in the cold of blue hour, Seaman Range, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

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I never thought I would climb every high point on my list, it has always been aspirational, something to keep me going, something to highlight the lesser-known places – why else would I even think about visiting the Hiko Hills? But I really do not need the list, the intrinsic value, beauty, and curiosity of our public lands – now facing challenges unpredictable – is aspiration and inspiration enough. We will see where the distractions lead.

Keep going.

**Spring flight**. A Red-tailed Hawk searches the Lunar Craters National Natural Landmark, Great Basin Desert, NV

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands.

#naturefirst #keepgoing