2021 June TD News -- Season Opener
Dennis R Austin | Published on 5/4/2021
May 3rd marked the first TD4WD Club run of the year. We started in Carson City, Nevada, dropped into Brunswick Canyon, then over Sunrise Pass, onto the Como Ghost Town Site and then out through Dayton, Nevada. The route has an exciting steep drop down into Brunswick Canyon and then good dirt roads over the Pinyon Pine Mountains. The extensive pinyon pine forest was a major food supply for the Paiute Indians and a source of contention when settlers started cutting the trees down for fuel and building material.
I used a GPS suggested shortcut to Como following a power line service road only to have it end abruptly in a rocky dry wash that was too rough for the stock vehicles to tackle without potential damage. We were able to get all nine vehicles turned around in the tight canyon and get back on our way.
There isn’t much left in the town site of Como, except the ruins of one building, lots of yellowish tailings, and a mill site a few miles west. Over 150 years ago Como was once home to a few thousand people. It is amazing to think such a large town existed in the middle of such a stark landscape. Chief Truckee’s grave site is supposedly nearby but the exact location has been lost to history.
We are lucky to have such interesting areas nearby to explore from our Tahoe Donner Base Camp.