This is innovative -- a wood-fired...
This is innovative -- a wood-fired shower. Water comes from the creek, the heated drum provides the water supply, and a valve at the showerhead adjusts the flow. Once you learn the temperature mix, this actually works. A sitting pool, dammed by handset rocks, provides the ultimate test: a Swedish bath fed by snowmelt water! The windbreak provides a buffer when chilling gusts drive down the canyon from the peaks.
Each of the canyons and draws on the east slope of the Sweetwaters begins in Nevada and winds up in California. The Silverado Mine lies halfway up Silverado Canyon. Unmarked at the highway and accessed due west of the Sweetwater Ranch, there are remnants of the mine and other activity in the area. As always, visitors should use care to avoid open or obscured mineshafts and tunnels. Lightly trafficked and primitive, these sites are not marked. A trickling creek runs throughout the year, and cattle graze here in summer and fall.
At the southernmost end of the range, southwest of the Sweetwater Ranch, is Mount Patterson. Towering to 11,384 feet above sea level, Mount Patterson is accessible to approximately 10,900 feet by four-wheel drive road on the east slope. Star City, now just a vacant plateau, rests near 9,500 feet. Belfort, at 10,200 feet, qualifies as a ghost town, the remnant of a once productive silver and gold mining district.
The views from any angle of Mt. Patterson are spectacular. A 100-mile eastward panorama scans the Bodie Hills, Corey Peak (10,520 feet) and Mt. Grant (11,245 feet). Corey Peak, Mt. Grant, and Lucky Boy Pass (8,001 feet) lie due east in Nevada's Wassuk Range. The west side of Mt. Patterson, accessible by California dirt roads, provides a sweeping view of the Sierra Range.
Additional travels and activities in the area include the ghost towns of Bodie, Aurora, and Masonic. For fly-fishers, the East Walker River's acclaimed catch-and-release section is just below the Sweetwater Ranch. Dirt road access to Lucky Boy Pass leads to Mono Lake, California, or Hawthorne, Nevada. Nearby Bridgeport, California, provides meals, lodging and resources like camping, boating, and fishing at Bridgeport Reservoir or picturesque Twin Lakes.
 Native berries and hips provide...  Native berries and hips provide sustenance for deer and other browsing animals, especially in late fall and wintertime. This bush is just yards from the Nugent Cabin. White fir of Columbia Basin origins mixes with Great Basin flora in this mountain range. A close look at trees, shrubs, and ground cover reveals a variety of species from the Sierra, Cascade, and Great Basin systems. |  Silverado Canyon view from...  Silverado Canyon view from the Silverado Mine reaches more than 20 miles line-of-sight to Corey Peak in Nevada's Wassuk Range. Corey Peak, at 10,520 feet, towers above Lucky Boy Pass (8,001 feet). Aside from the ravages of bullet holes and surface rust, the 1920s touring car body in the foreground remains relatively intact, a testament to the low-humidity of this high desert climate. |  The head rig and cement structure...  The head rig and cement structure at Silverado Mine was functional through the 1930s. At one time, this was the largest silver producing mine in California. Despite the elevation, the Silverado ran year round. One winter in the '30s, a heavy snow slide wiped out the bunkhouse, ending the lives of several miners. |