Kershaw-Ryan State Park and Final Day near Cathedral Gorge

View into Kershaw-Ryan from overlook

The weather is turning colder but that didn’t stop us from making an early start to explore Kershaw-Ryan State Park.

The park is smaller in scope than you might expect for a state park, feeling more like a local city park with a campground. We had thought about camping here for two or three nights but after a brief visit earlier in the week we opted to extend our stay at Cathedral Gorge. Everything we wanted to do was within 45 minutes from there, so it was a good central spot for exploring the area.

Lonely and hungry carp

It was chilly with overcast skies, and we were the only ones exploring the park when we arrived and still alone when we left about 90 minutes later. The highlight of the park is a (manmade) riparian area at the top of the canyon, with roses, Gambel oaks, a wading pool, and a little pond with a single amur carp / Koi.

Julie feeding the carp

Julie took pity on the guy and fed him a few sesame sticks. Bad Julie!

We hung out in Caliente for several hours, doing some grocery shopping and mostly hanging out so that I could watch the final round of the Masters in the van. We actually had a decent CBS signal so I didn’t have to stream it.

Panaca warm spring pond and Tommy Boy

The area is known for hot springs (which they have to pump up from underground) and warm springs. We drove over to Panaca Warm Springs, a clear pond near a ranch. The family responsible for draining it each year happened to be there, with two adorable little girls fishing in the pond. Apparently folks release warm water tropical freshwater fish into the pond. Some of them have teeth (but are not piranhas!). We are going to swing by the pond on our way out this morning to see if it is indeed drained. They do this to clean out the trash, algae, and start the spring and summer season with a clean pond. The water was just over 80 deg F.

Ranch sign near Panaca warm spring

There was a cool ranch sign near the pond.

Sunset view of mountains west of Cathedral Gorge

We ended the day with a sunset hike up to the top of the west side of Cathedral Gorge on the Hawk’s Ridge trail. We did this after dinner and were delighted to see some beautiful sunset colors.

North end of Cathedral Gorge at sunset

I’ll leave you with our last photo of Cathedral Gorge, one of our new favorites in Nevada.