Legends of Lost Nevada
Nevada’s a mysterious place. With history and mystery as far and wide as the Great Basin, there’s plenty out there to let your imagination run wild in the Sagebrush Sea. I still can’t figure some of these stories (and locations) out. I’ll never stop trying.
Lily the Giant and the Quest of Her Keepers
Knowing something is there that you canβt see right away really has become the center of my Nevada intrigue, and the more I think about…
In Defense of Freedom: Nomadic Poacher and Remorseless Mountain Man Claude Dallas
A long, complicated, and sensitive true story that still divides many Nevadans, itβs the story of one of the longest, and most confusing court cases…
The Flying M Ranch: Where the Hill of 1,000 Tombs, True Adventure, and Safeguarded Isolation Meet
This massive acreage gets skipped over a lot, at least by the average person. But to anthropologists, chemists, theologists, spiritualists, billionaire hoteliers, astronauts, Hollywood actors,…
A Wide & Lonely Highland Desert: Josie Pearl, the Roebling Opal, & the Last Free Antelope
True mystery and real isolation. And with pronghorn antelope, insanely dark skies, flowing hot creeks, and massive black fire opals as your compass, it’s the…
Land of A Thousand (Steamy) Thrills: Nevada’s Lost Hot Spring Geysers
To know something is there even though you canβt see it right away is my most favorite thing about Nevada, and proves true with all…
The American Indian Dog, Danger Cave, and Realizing Some of the Oldest Canine Bones Ever Found
Becoming manβs best friend alongside this countryβs first people, itβs the story of original friendship, and that of Danger Cave: one of the oldest canine…
The Life & Lore of Jack Longstreet: Where Truth and Myth Know No Difference
To live life in a secret hideaway locked deep inside a faraway Nevada canyon. Itβs the ultimate dream, at least for me, but it was…
Stolen Nevada: The Great & Abominable Theft of A Name
Nevada, and all that snowcapped Spanish name represents sure is a lovely thing. But was the Silver State really the very first to adapt it?…
The Kestrel Caller
I hereby swear on Nevada backroads to never overload your inboxes, ever.
The Kestrel Caller enewsletter will soar into your inboxes about once a month with info about new Song Dog Silver online store updates and upcoming in-person events, the latest story from my blog series Legends of Lost Nevada (where you can read or listen), and sometimes a rare combo of the two.
Song Dog Silver
Ride Shotgun
@sydneymmartinez
Forever chasing backroads, hot water, and that Great Basin State of mind, follow me to the darkest corners of
one of the most misunderstood states in America one wild raptor, great dirt roads drive, and ghost town at a time.
Dreaming in goldfish today. What an aquarium β¨ #InSagebrushWeTrust
A dusty purple dream that makes me just about as happy as telling the many Legends of Lost Nevadaβespecially that hot springs geyser π
Unisex sizes are now up for grabs on my site, along with a full restock of the Song Dog crewnecks if youβve been waiting for one! There are a couple tees left somewhere in there too. Thanks for always making me look cool, Travis. β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust #legendsoflostnevada
Of all the roads you travel in life, make sure a few of them are the NDOT road striper paint flushing test strip π #insagebrushwetrust
One year ago from today we got my overnighted publishing contract in the mail, and decided to sign it in a place that means something to all three of us: the Black Rock. π
It wouldβve been my 10 year anniversary to the day of my old job. And you know, signing a contract for the publishing rights of my own, and a LOT of hard work was so much better than that. In fact, weβre all still smiling. β€οΈβπ₯π #insagebrushwetrust #findingnevadawild
Where barrenness, aloneness, enormity, danger, and unforgiving beauty IS the attraction β‘οΈ#insagebrushwetrust
We used our tailgate as a tripod to shoot this photo that night. The only noise crackling from our campfire, our own heartbeats, and a pair of Coopers Hawks tucking in their chicks for the night, it was unbelievably silent here which gave us a lot of time to think about the thousands of people that surely built a fire in the same exact spot throughout the years.
That was after we spent four days hiking around, bumping over gravel roads, and basically being completely entranced by thousands of signs of ancient human histories left throughout the missing strata from the Grand Canyon and one of the most dangerous and beautiful national monuments in Nevada borders. Itβs a stunning place in every respect, and even though we got to be here without the distraction of anyone else, it belongs to everyone and lies squarely on public lands.
Like most Nevada recreationalists, I strongly feel public lands are not just important, but at the center of the Nevada experience. With a higher percentage of public lands acreage than any other state, your ability to wonder whatβs over there down that valley then actually go find out is possible here, and not the case in most other places. The privatization of public lands is the biggest thing we have to lose, and while I really try to stay away from anything political on here, I simply cannot fathom the Nevada so many of us know without freely accessing its most special and surprising placesβlike this one.
Despite which box you checked on your ballot, I do know Nevada Public Lands is what unites so many of us. I enthusiastically encourage anyone else who loves this state as much as I do to call, write, and do whatever else to voice that admiration of Nevadaβs most lasting and special quality. Donβt forget to use your voiceβitβs a powerful thing. β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust #publiclands
The art of survival never really endsβnot in the Big Empty it doesnβt. The more I think about it, itβs usually somewhere out there where they find each other π #insagebrushwetrust
What an unending force this place is. Longer days and even longer dirt roads soon, please π₯π₯ #insagebrushwetrust
This dog has given me more than just about everyone else. We took this picture I the day I signed my publishing contract last year. He knew. And now he gets to be immortalized, being along for all those truck rides, well, forever.
Thank you for being the most loyal, loving bear to me, Elks. I canβt imagine life, or being in the wilds of Nevada without you. Happy 8th birthday!! β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯ #ElkoBear
Introducing Finding Nevada Wild: The Terrain, Culture, and People of the Most Mysterious State in the West. π
Can you believe it??? After a LOT of meltdowns, more rewrites than I can wrap my mind around, and a wily ass publishing world, weβre so freakinβ excited to announce this project. Itβs about our lives exploring Nevadaβs ultra ruralsβJonny, Elko, and Iβand filled with hundreds of color photos, itβs equally at home on your coffee table as it is on the dashboard as you bump down Nevadaβs backcountry roads. Shipping summer 2025, preorder your own copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million starting now.
β¦and be sure to stick with me on more updates to come. This is going to be an exciting lap around the sun β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust
Elks and the main character energy he was born with. In Teddy Bear Cholla we trust??? β¨ #ElkoBear
I can say with certainty thereβs nobody Iβd rather get sucker punched by the desert with than you. Happy Valentineβs Day, you maniac β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust
The exact sort of thing that happens in a dream, isnβt it? β¨
Just Nevadaβs upper right hand corner, though. The only thing dreamier is knowing Iβll be back there this week.β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust
Knowing something is there that you canβt see right away really has become the center of my Nevada intrigue. And the more I think about it, there really is no truer emblem of those sentiments than Nevada Caves. π
And from trying to figure out the largest cluster of natural caves in Nevada from the speleological pros, to connecting with the same guys who wiggled into that waterlogged cave back in β82, to realizing the force of this ancient superbeast twice the size of a grizzly bear, to unpacking the Pleistocene timeline and Nevadaβs prehistory with paleontologists responsible for excavating the cave then safeguarding its ten thousand year old remains, I realized there are lots of layers to this story. Just about as many as the sediment in which these remarkable ancient fossils were discovered, in fact.
Itβs the latest Legend of Lost Nevada, about Lily the Giant Short-Faced Cave Bear, and the team of people who were courageous enough to find, protect, and preserve her place in a world that always seems to be changing. Find it on my site, or whatever streaming service youβre listening to. β¨ #insagebrushwetrust
History and mystery are alive in the most misunderstood state in the West. And it just got a facelift β¨
I write stories about Nevadans, the Great Basin, and where they meet somewhere in a place youβve probably never heard of. Theyβre published over on my site. But if you donβt want to read the blogs, theyβre available in podcast form on Spotify and now Apple Podcasts, too. Now you can feast your eyes AND ears out any olβ time you want. β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust
Dialing into a new frequency with a higher antenna. And of course the best boy(s) in the West β€οΈβπ₯ #insagebrushwetrust
Not so calm, definitely bright β¨
β¦now that Torani Amer is back in Nevada and where it belongs and hitting the floor (again) as the hopeful official state drink of the Silver State, who do we have to talk to about a real Picon emoji anyway??π·ππ #saypiconplease
When in doubt, donβt π #insagebrushwetrust
Thought about it π𧻠#insagebrushwetrust
Something amazing happens when forgotten and misunderstood places change the fabric of who you are. Something wonderful happens when they define who youβve become π #insagebrushwetrust
