Nostalgia & History > Necrophoamin the West* Slope of Montgomery Pass (SPNG)

First, an explanation:
*On the SP, West had nothing to do with the compass.  West was the most direct through route to San Francisco.  On the C&C, N&C, and finally SPNG, this meant Keeler to Hazen to the Oakland Mole was Westbound.  This Westbound designation remained intact even after the line over Montgomery Pass was pulled in 1938.  So for anyone who hadn't sipped from the SP's cup of Kool-Aid, the Nevada side of Montgomery Pass would be the East Slope-  but here I'm speaking SP'nese, so, alas, it's the West Slope.

On this outing I only flew the West side of Montgomery.  The East side was quite buried in snow, and I figured the RoW probably wouldn't show well in aerials.  So...   another day.
I started just West of the summit and worked down the grade.
SR

Photos 1&2.  This is the curve near US-6, in the lower left of the map.  The summit is off to the left in Photo 1.  Photo 2 is the same area looking back from the completely opposite direction.  The summit is behind and to the left of the camera.

Photo 3.  The, rather impressive, double horseshoe curves shown on the center left of the map.
Photos 4&5.  Looking back up the grade from below the double horseshoes.  I posted photo 5 a couple days ago because of the group of wild horses in the foreground.  i kind of cheated a bit and gently herded the horses over to the RoW with the drone for this portrait.  I marked the spot on the map.

Photos 6&7.  From above the horses, looking (SP) West.  There are several roads here, so it might get confusing, but the RR RoW is the far more "substantial" looking of the various paths.  In Photo 7 I've backed away from the view in #6 and gained a little altitude too.  Basalt, on the map, is in the upper right hand corner of Photo 7.

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Really, really cool!  Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Beautifully amazing how much is still there!

Great thing about the desert and an arid climate.  Stuff is preserved forever, sort of like Egypt!