Site auditions for role of state park

TONOPAH -- Andrea Robb-Bradick and her husband, Frank Bradick, ventured into the Monte Cristo range in search of interesting rocks for her collection.

What they found was Nevada's next state park.

All they had to do next was persuade bureaucrats and lawmakers in Carson City to see the area the same way they did.

That effort is in its fifth year and counting.

"As soon as I saw it, I said to Frank, 'This is beautiful. We need to share this,'" Robb-Bradick said. "A lot of people who travel through don't believe there is anything beautiful to see in the desert."

"You have to get more than 50 feet off the highway, that's all," Bradick said.

Their push for a park got a huge boost earlier this month when state lawmakers passed a bill containing $100,000 "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a state park designated as Monte Cristo's Castle."

The would-be park, just off U.S. Highway 95 about 35 miles west of Tonopah, gets its name from the castlelike shapes of its rock formations.

Right now, the 6,000-acre area is a playground for jackrabbits, coyotes, lizards and crows. On one visit, Bradick snapped pictures of bighorn sheep staring down at him from the tops of the cliffs.

The site is accessed by a nameless dirt track that wanders north from the junction of U.S. 95 and state Route 265. The three-mile road doesn't show up on most maps. It can be navigated without high clearance and four-wheel drive, but seasoned desert wanderers would recommend against it.

Water, sunscreen and a hat are a must, as shade is hard to come by. Monte Cristo's Castle is miles from the nearest tree.

"I think it's very unique and worth saving," said state Sen. Mike McGinness, whose massive district includes all of Esmeralda, Mineral and Churchill counties, most of Nye County and parts of Clark, Lyon and Douglas counties.

McGinness doesn't expect Monte Cristo's Castle to become a major hub for tourism, but it could draw more people to the area and persuade them to stay for a few days.

Robb-Bradick, who owns the Jim Butler Motel in Tonopah, predicts the park will be nothing short of "an economic boom" for the area.

"Once the tourists are here, we can tell them about all the other things there are to see."

She said the park should be of particular interest to stargazers, geologists and amateur rock hounds such as her.

"There's such a variety of colors. There's green and orange and pink and lavender and white, all within a short space," Robb-Bradick said. "I don't think there's any park in the West where you have the diversity of geology and colors and formations."

State Geologist Jon Price doesn't know about that, but he said Monte Cristo's geology is worth the trip.

"I think it definitely qualifies (as a state park). It's a very unusual site. It's easy to get to, and the geological features are quite interesting."

At the request of Robb-Bradick and Bradick, Price co-authored an account of the area's geology, complete with map coordinates so people can find specific formations using a handheld GPS unit.

Such interactive tours known as EarthCaches are part of a growing hobby among rock collectors and other outdoor enthusiasts.

The geology of Monte Cristo was shaped by 20-million-year-old volcanos and by ocean sediments laid down several hundred-million years before that. Some of the site's volcanic debris was blown in from distant eruptions; some came from very close by, Price said.

"This would have been part of a volcano much like the Cascades. It probably was (part of) the Cascades at one time from a geologic perspective."

There are chalky folds strewn with volcanic rock and petrified wood, small natural arches, and seams of stone polished smooth by the friction from earthquakes.

"The water- and wind-sculpted features are really pretty unique for Nevada," said Price, who heads up the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, basically the state equivalent of the U.S. Geological Survey.

One rock formation looks like a 5-foot tall rabbit, another like a half-scale model of a buffalo. Further down the trail, there is a lion with a mane and a wizard with a beard.

Some of the cliffs along the way are striped in red and white like saltwater taffy.

Price said the area, which doesn't look like much from the highway, is proof that there's more to the Nevada outback than sagebrush and lonely asphalt.

"It's one of several areas in Central Nevada that are quite accessible and quite interesting from a geologic perspective. It's a place that people ought to go visit."

Despite such endorsements, the initial funding for Monte Cristo's Castle drew opposition from state parks officials, who argued that a new park would take money away from the 26 existing sites the state already struggles to maintain.

Nevada State Parks Administrator David Morrow said he supports the idea of giving Esmeralda County it's first state park, and he likes the chosen site just fine.

"I'm opposed to bringing a new park on line that the Legislature hasn't fully funded," he said. "It's going to be difficult for us to provide even minimal services out there."

Robb-Bradick said Nevada's parks rarely get the money they need right out of the gate.

"You have to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run," she said.

Morrow estimated $3.4 million would be needed to develop the 10-square-mile park. Another $250,000 a year would be needed for operational costs, he said.

Despite his objections, Morrow said it's hard not to be impressed by the work Robb-Bradick and Bradick have put in. "It's probably one of the better examples of a citizen grass-roots effort I have ever seen."

Robb-Bradick, 64, and Bradick, 66, figure their park campaign has cost them almost 3,000 hours and several thousand dollars of their own money. They have testified in front of lawmakers at least a half a dozen times over the past two years.

During the 2005 session, they registered as lobbyists. Then Robb-Bradick heard from someone that state Sen. Bob Beers was a rock hound, so she and Bradick filled an egg carton with a variety of rocks collected from the park site and left it for him at his office. On the top of the carton, they painted the words "Monte Cristo's Castle State Park: Rock Solid Support."

"The bill never got to see the light of day (that session), but hey, you've got to start cultivating," Bradick said.

In his testimony during this year's session, Bradick actually argued for less money for the park. One bill called for $500,000 in seed money, but he told lawmakers that $300,000 was more realistic.

"They were very tight on money. We realized that," he said. "They couldn't spend $500,000 within the two years the bill gave them anyway."

Bradick practically lived at the Legislature building during the last four days of the session. At the last minute, Robb-Bradick called in a favor to get a meeting with state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio.

The $100,000 for Monte Cristo's Castle was eventually tucked into Senate Bill 579, a 32-page slab of pork passed during the session's final hours.

The money, which must be spent by September 2009, will be used to have the park site transferred to the state from the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Jerry Smith, manager for BLM's Battle Mountain Field Office, said $100,000 should be enough to pay for an environmental assessment and other work required as part of the Recreation and Public Purpose Lease process.

Morrow said he and his staff would "follow the legislation and do the best we can."

Even if everything goes exactly according to plan, it will take at least three years to develop the park and open it to the public, he said.

At least some of their work has been done for them.

Already, the couple have staked out a spot for a handicapped accessible parking lot and campground overlooking a canyon of chalky white tufted ash backed by Boundary Peak, Nevada's tallest mountain. The place they call "Area 1" also offers sweeping views of the desolate valley below, including insect-sized big rigs creeping along on the distant ribbon of U.S. 95.

They have marked a 1 1/2 mile loop trail that winds through and above the bizarre assortment of eroded cliffs, rock formations and boulder fields.

In the end, though, Robb-Bradick and Bradick realize that none of those plans might come to pass. Ultimately, it will be up to state officials to decide how the park is developed and how visitors will get to it.

"That's OK, as long as someone is in control of it and is there to protect it," Robb-Bradick said. "It's like raising a child. You bring it up with the purpose of letting it go."