A handful of cheers could be heard from The Bighorn Crossing as its owners cut the ribbon to celebrate the official grand opening of the renovated building. Mineral County Building Inspector Stephanie Flow was at The Bighorn Crossing ribbon-cutting while a lot of people were down at the lake watching the first Great Walker Lake Kayak Challenge.
“It went great out there; it was such a lovely day,” Flow said. “This is a great first step in bringing back Walker Lake.”
The Bighorn Crossing also had a food cart available out front called The Steel Kitchen, serving up delicious salads, sandwiches, burgers, burritos, and more.
Kayla Anderson – Monument Beach played host to the kayak races at Walker Lake on Saturday.
In the kayak races down at Monument Beach, only two people competed in the pro class. Mineral County resident Justin Verkamp won the event, taking home $3,000, while Louis Rutledge got second place and went home with $1,000. Patricia Elam from Phoenix, Arizona, won the amateur division, and she is originally from Hawthorne.
“I think she found out about it through social media and saw it as a good excuse to come back,” said Mineral County Recreation & Development Director Kyle Isom. “She said she’ll be back next year,” he added. Tiece Foust claimed second, and Joshua Murphey took third.
Isom noted that maybe 50 people or so watched the races from the beach and that people seemed happy to be there. He noticed that The Bighorn Crossing also had a good day.
“I think it was great for The Bighorn Crossing. I heard that they sold out of food in two hours. The fire department did a fundraiser and served hot dogs and hamburgers; people loved it,” Isom said.
“The morale was great. People were saying it was so fun, and a few were saying they couldn’t remember when there had been an event like this,” he added.
One of the most exciting things was the kids’ races. There were two kids in the 5-10 age division, with Conrad Hagen from Hawthorne taking first place. Five kids competed in the 11-14-year-old division.
“We put the buoys about 400 yards out from the shoreline, so everyone could watch from the beach,” Isom said. “It was a good experience, a good time.”
Isom would like to thank Search & Rescue, NDOW, Tammy Adams, Rob Mathias, Dave Womack, Julie Sanchez, and Darren Hamrey for helping make the Great Walker Lake Kayak Challenge possible.
“And thank you to everyone who came out. It’ll be bigger and better next year,” Isom said.
“The lake was everything to Hawthorne when I was a kid. There was more tourism, it was huge. It’s exciting to see that come back again,” Flow reflected.
Is the Liars Boat Race Coming Back to Walker Lake?
Isom also teased bringing back the Liars Boat Race, a Walker Lake tradition in which participants “race” a boat made of nontraditional materials. Isom’s father won it in a previous year, taking a bunch of floatable underwater mines and attaching huge tires to it to make it look like a monster truck, then using roman candles as burners. Isom remembers one participant having a floatable tiki bar serving up drinks, a watermelon eating contest on a boat, and a space shuttle.
“We’re in the planning stages of it right now; we just have to pick a date,” Isom added.
