2005 04 30 Beatty to Tonopah
Today I had a decision to make. I had three alternatives. First, drive through Death Valley and spend two nights in Lone Pine CA. Second, drive either US6 or take the long way and drive US95, US93 to Ely, and spend two nights. Third, head back to Tonopah for the two nights. The weather was the major factor. It was predicted to be cloudy and rainy in Ely, and partly cloudy to partly sunny in Tonopah. I also had decided I wanted to spend this whole trip in Nevada.
I also had time to make a longer drive. So instead of just heading back to Tonopah on US95, I went south on US95 to Las Vegas, then north along the east side of Nellis to the junction of US95 and NV 318, which almost immediately intersects NV 375, which then heads north and west skirting Nellis, through Rachel, and to Warm Springs, where it ends at US6. US6 can then be taken west to Tonopah. So it was a lot more driving, but it was good to see some of those stretches of road again.
The desert is still blooming in southern Nevada. Here are a couple of shots:
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I didn't really get into the heart of Las Vegas, but went in only as far as Cheyenne Ave., which runs east west. I took that over to I15 which heads northeast and maybe 20 miles out of Las Vegas intersects US93, the "Great Basin Highway", which is a beautiful drive. Las Vegas, on the other hand, is incredible. It's not growing, it's metastasizing.
The drive along US93 is wonderful. Even though you are only 30 miles north of Las Vegas, it seems like you're on another planet.
At the intersection of 93 and NV 318 there is this .. I had to stop.
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About 1/2 mile west of US93, NV 318 and NV 375 merge. I was going to be driving NV 375 to Tonopah, completing the circuit around Nellis. In the very early 90s the Groom Lake site ("Area 51") started to get some attention from a group of people that watched the base from mountains that were just outside the Nellis perimiter. It was possible to see the base, and this activity, coupled with speculation about UFOs being housed inside Area 51, began to put the very tiny community of Rachel, and NV 375 on the map. After a number of years even the state of Nevada itself got into the act. Hence the highway signs. This one is at the south end of 375, closest to Las Vegas.
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Rachel has it's own web page now. It's actually pretty good and there are a lot of useful links.
In 1995 the Air Force finally made the case that the mountains being used by observers should be "withdrawn" from public lands and incorporated into Nellis.
This is an interesting web site, but it's hard to get past the annoying ads.
Here's a shot of Groom Lake Road from 375. On maps it just ends at the Nellis boundary.
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Here are a couple of shots made along 375, the first looking sort of west, the second looking sort of east. The Tikaboo Valley is one of many huge flat "basin and range" valleys in Nevada. They are all covered with sage and surrounded by tall mountains. All are very beautiful.
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At the end of the day I thought I had time to do some panoramic at the Lunar Lake I had visited a few days ago. While the site is beautiful and very remote, the sunset was nothing special. I took a few snaps anyway. The first I will try to sell to Jeep to use in their promotional material.
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Tomorrow I have an appointment to get into the abandoned tungsten mine at Tempiute, near Rachel.