Hope Valley Campground

Highway 88 and Hope Valley Scenic Wallpapers

Images by: Shawn and Annette Hall

These natural photos were taken on a recent trip down Highway 88, on our way back to our California home. Our trip to Nevada had been a stressful one and these beautiful surroundings filled our souls with joy and wonder at God's creation.

Highway 88 is unique in that unlike many other two-lane California highways, which cut through the mountains (such as Routes 4, 108 and 120); Route 88 stays open through winter, except during the worst of winter snowstorms. Route 88 over the Carson Pass is designated as Alternate U.S. 50, in that it may be used during floods of the American River Canyon.

White House

Fall Mountain Colors

Mountain Pine Trees

Serene Hope Valley

Rotting Tree

Pine Needles

Driving around Carson City, NV during my last visit, left me wondering about the history of this unique community. After all, there really aren't too many towns that are surrounded on all sides by mountains. Though you can't really tell by looking at your surroundings, Carson City is 4,802 feet above sea-level - that's pretty high, almost a mile in fact (5,280 feet). When one visits Denver, CO (nicknamed The Mile-High City), you know your not at sea-level; but I really couldn't tell just how far up I was, when visiting the Capital of Nevada. The mountains surrounding the city, give the illusion that you are really in the valley.

I was pretty sure Carson City and all things named "Carson" in this neck of the woods were named after Kit Carson. Kit was born in Boone's Lick, Missouri in 1809 and made his way westward at the tender age of seventeen. You can find out more about Kit Carson on PBS.

According to Wikipedia:

"Like many towns in Nevada, Carson City was founded in the boom days of mining. A center of silver mining, Carson City was the county seat of the former Ormsby County and was named for explorer Kit Carson."

Plan a Visit to Carson City, Nevada

If you are visiting Carson City be sure to stop at the visitor's center, located at: 1900 S. Carson Street. If you are planning a trip to Carson City, in the near future, you can request a free Carson City Visitor's Guide. I was surprised at just how helpful the folks were and the vast amount of information they provided - absolutely free.

As we wound our way up and down the majestic mountainside, we stopped every few miles to take in our breath-taking surroundings and snap up a few pictures. In my own travels I've found that no matter how many times I visit an area, it's always a new experience. Nature has a way of constantly renewing and transforming itself.

Our family was able to spend several hours at the Hope Valley Campground area. What a treat that was! We climbed rocks, examined a dead bird, explored grass tufts, unique geological formations, the boys even had a chance to skip rocks. This particular trip brought back many fond memories my husband had of time spend here as a child. He took great joy in sharing his adventures with our son. We are already planning our next visit.

Mountain Diversity

Fun skipping Rocks

Mountain Meadow

Dead Leaves

Naked Pinetree

Mountain Greenery

Carson Pass & Highway 88 Information

More Wallpapers and Wildlife

Additional Resources

Wallpaper Instructions

These desktop wallpapers are available in .jpg format. I have set them to the highest possible quality. Each image is downloadable at 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution. This should accomodate most screen sizes.

To see what resolution your computer is displaying, right-click on your desktop, select "Properties", and choose the "Settings" tab (this will work for Windows 95/98/NT/XP).

There are two ways to use these images as your desktop wallpaper. The easiest way is to click on the thumbnail of the image you would like to download, then right-click on the image and select "Set as Wallpaper" or "Set as Background". Your browser will automatically set the image as your background.

For those who would like to save these images for later use, click on the thumbnail of the image you would like to save, then right-click on the image and select "Save Image As" or "Save Picture As" (depending on your browser). Make sure you remember where you are saving the wallpapers. Once you have saved them to your computer, you can view them (offline) with a browser and install them as in the above procedure. If you have a separate program, which handles wallpapers, you may also be able to select them from there.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, just keep in mind that they are the highest quality images I could upload, they are large files, in most cases at least 2 meg. So, be sure to save them to your computer before trying to view them. If you are using a screen resolution greater than 1600x1200, these images will not scale properly. We are happy to e-mail the proper size images upon request.

You are authorized to download a copy of as many of these images as you would like for use on your personal computer. You may not reuse these images on your own website or reproduce them for distribution. Any other use requires express written permission. If you are interested in purchasing any of our high quality images, please contact Annette M. Hall for details.

Posted February 10, 2009