Apple Hunting on Nevada Back Roads
How you like them apples…
Keeping an open mind and broad interests helps to find inspiration for adventure travel anywhere. Sometimes embarrassingly I start a conversation, “I heard this story on NPR…” It is the frequency of conversations that start this way that is embarrassing, but their reporters create stories that appeal to my nerdy side. My local NPR station, KUNR, is always tuned into my vehicle and reception is pretty good across the desert. The story about the Apple Detective, David Benscoter, really caught my interest. The details of finding lost varieties of apples on backroads of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. And finding clues to varieties in paintings all just made me think, what apples were brought by settlers to Nevada?
I am not a horticulturist or even a gardener by any stretch of the imagination. I rely on the internet and expert friends to identify most plants, trees, and flowers. I appreciate all the advice. What brought me back to the Apple Detective was seeing this amazing rose bush on a ride in the Granite Range in northern Nevada. The spot was identified as Williams Place on the USGS topo map. The homestead was abandoned but along the little spring tributaries of Red Mountain Creek at about 5400’ was this huge bush loaded with beautiful yellow roses. With a little internet sleuthing I found this was Harrison Yellow (aka the yellow rose of Texas and the pioneer rose) a popular rose on the California and Oregon Emigrant Trail. My friend Squeek in Virginia City said it was brought there by the Cornish miners.
But then I brought this up to my friend and mentor Mark Wilson. Mark sparked so many interests in me starting in my early teens, simple cooking from the garden, reading Carlos Castaneda, wetland and grassland conservation, independent films played at the Bijou Theater in Eugene, OR, listening to punk rock albums and so on. He got me my first job at the Lane County Fair, tending the roses in the rose exhibit. I only killed a few. We had an email exchange about the Harison’s Yellow and the Apple Detective. Mark told me about a job he had in an orchard that had so many varieties of apples,
a small old orchard of heirloom apples the first year I moved to OR in the late 70’s. The orchard had been planted with a lot of thought with many varieties that ripened in sequence beginning in mid-summer w/ the Lodi’s and Gravenstein’s, then the Red Astrachans and Northern Spy’s and , and finally the Green Rome Beauty’s and the amazing Winter Bananas in late October! We harvested, polished them up, packed them in ½ bushel boxes, and trucked them to the coast, and set up a roadside stand. -from an email with Mark W.
I told my friend Noah Silverman, professional arborist and owner of Noah’s Park Tree Care, about the Apple Detective. I asked him if he knew of any old orchards. At first he didn’t, but then he recalled an orchard over 100 years old in the Denio area of northern Nevada. To think what those trees have endured over 100 summers and winters.
Would you plan a trip just to seek out heirloom fruit or flowers? How far would you go for that secret blackberry patch behind the old outhouse (this is a real secret coveted by my friend Squeek in Virginia City). If you were looking for particular orchards in National Parks for example, that information is available. In fact there is an orchard in Great Basin National Park, Nevada’s one and only. Now I will have to visit. I wonder about our State Parks. Close to home is Fort Churchill and Buckland Station. With the residence there, I will have to take a closer look at the trees. I did not check with the University of Nevada’s Cooperative Extension beyond a quick internet search but they seem like the group that would be most interested in feral apples. UNR has a research orchard with heirloom apples.
The other part is just to keep an eye open for these fruits in season. Benscoter describes most as “spitters”, so appealing you just want to spit them out. But you might be surprised. Two instances of foraging in the middle of nowhere resulted in tasty apples. First at Porter Spring, at the base of the Seven Troughs Range, I had a delicious apple. Then above Little Fish Lake Valley, from Clear Creek Ranch, I had a few little apples, not as delicious, but they sure were a surprise.
There is scientific value in the genetic diversity in these varieties. Mark W. explained that working on a farm with so many varieties resulted in an extended harvest as fruit ripened at different times. Resistance to pests and disease in addition to resilience to drought, heat, and cold are also good traits to keep around. And I haven’t even mentioned the quality of fruit, color, shape, flavor. It is a complete package.
Then there is the anthropological question of what people brought with them. What were the choices in agricultural products that filled the wagons of the early pioneers? Then there was environmental selection on top of that as to what survived and what became the food and customs of the West’s rural communities.
Foraging for heirloom fruit has become another aspect of touring Nevada’s Back Roads.
Thank you for supporting my storytelling.
Resources from the Rabbit Hole (I was pleasantly surprised what turned up)
The Apple Detective - the original inspiration for the essay
Fruitful Legacy - National Parks System’s Registry of Historical Orchards
Lehman Orchard, Great Basin National Park
Utah State Park Wasatch Mountain’s Huber Grove highlights fruits of pioneers
Immigrant Apples - immigrant fiction, history of Astrachan variety, and an Old World recipe for apple pie
Wonderous Diversity of Heirloom Apples - a great list with descriptions and the notion of their discoveries along fence rows for some
University of Nevada - Reno’s Memorial Orchard - 12 cider apple varieties from antique orchards in Genoa, Mogul, and Washoe Valley
Apple Search - the search for “lost” heritage apples, how to get involved
I tried to limit my resources to a dozen or so, but let me leave you with Goodwill Hunting (1997) “How you like them apples?”
July in Review
The beginning of the month I was finishing a two week trip to Ashfield, MA. It was a great trip, paddling Ashfield Pond, fishing the Deerfield River, Green River Music Festival, and a day in Boston. Then it was a quick turnaround and went camping for two weeks in Lamoille Canyon, Elko, Nevada. Many say it is one of the most beautiful places in Nevada. At 7,600’ is is a great place to spend the Dog Days of Summer. I fished Lamoille Creek with great success thanks to the eager brookies and few rainbows. Back in Carson City, I feel like there is a reset, planning for late summer and fall bikepacking trips.
The Lamoille trip is also a great chance to catch-up on summer reading. I start stacking books for the trip months in advance. I caught up on Bikepacking Journal’s Vols. 10 & 11 as well as Adventure Cyclist’s Jul/Aug 2024. This left me thinking, what is the next big thing in cycle touring. I read the short story anthologies, This Side of the Divide, 2019 &2022. These came out of UNR’s MFA program in creative writing. I hope this continues as I now have a great source for new writers. In a similar vein I read Sagebrushed (A. Deutschman, could not find a copywrite year) coming out of UNR’s school of journalism. I read Great Basin Rock Art (A. Quinlan, Ed. 2007) and Basque Aspen Art of the Sierra Nevada (Earl & Earl, 2011) which is inspiring next month’s newsletter. I re-read Claire Vaye Watkins’ Battleborn and John McPhee’s Basin and Range. I read Water Politics in Northern Nevada 2nd ed. (L Wilds, 2014). And I finished The Outdoor Leader (J Stawski, 2024) which was recommended by the Bikepacking Roots Community Stewards. Time well spent!
What is ahead?
August has two trips on the calendar. Rides with Friends #2 is the Perseids Meteor Shower Campout on the wester shore of the Black Rock Desert playa, Aug 9-11. I will lead riders into camp, and offer night and sunrise rides on the playa. The Friends of Black Rock High Rock have a whole schedule of events including a band, the Dustperados, and a Playa Pork Taco dinner. All are welcome!
Then I will be riding into Burning Man 2024, Curiouser & Curiouser! Aug 25-30, I will be a part of the Earth Guardians Camp, give sunrise and sunset tours, and give a presentation on my Rides with Friends program through Friends of Black Rock High Rock.
September 9-12, my friend Christine A has planned a return to the White Rim, Moab, UT. It really is a spectacular area and it is nice to go on a trip someone else plans. Filling in September I hope to do some riding along US 50 and Interstate 80.
October 5-6 is Rides with Friends #3 Fly and High Rock Canyon Overnight. Then immediately after, my friend Doug A (blog Twenty Years from Now) has a killer route twisting from Eureka, NV to Gandy, UT that will fill out the month.
As always, if there is anything I can do to get you out there, please ask.
Fascinating! Will definitely look up the Apple Detective! If you want a novel to add to your “resources”, The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin is beautiful and haunting and one of my favorite books ever
Great! And I recognize that hand!