Leslie and David's Wanderings: 4 November 2019 Ghost Towns

Sunday, November 10, 2019

4 November 2019 Ghost Towns

We decided today would be our ghost town and abandoned mine day. We headed out of the park toward Beatty Nevada. After exiting the park, we drove into Nevada, our 22^ndstate since we started our full time journey. Our first stop was the ghost town of Rhyolite. This former mining town saw its hay day in the early 1900s where they mined the mineral Rhyolite which was used as a light weight insulator. A local artist has opened an outdoor museum just outside the ghost town which reminded us of Terlingua. Our plan was to take the one way dirt road through Titus Canyon to get to the ghost town of Leadfield. But after driving a couple of miles on the road outside the park we came to a closed gate at the national park boundary which surprised us because the ranger had told us it was open yesterday. So we turned around and when back to the pavement, disappointed we would miss Titus canyon and the ghost town. We went to the Keane Wonder Mill and Mine instead. This abandoned mine closed its door in 1917 and was the only gold mine in the valley that made a profit. It even had an aerial tramway to move the ore from the mine to the mill. Following the mine, we went to Zabriskie Point which has great views over the valley and into Twenty Mule Team Canyon. From there we drove up to Dantes View overlook (5475 feet). The climb up to the parking lot was interesting since the road grades were 3-16% with narrow roads and the sun setting into our eyes in several corners. But the views of the valley and the colorful mountains, as the sun was setting, was spectacular. Not wanting to tackle those roads in the dark, we left before the sunset and headed back to the Wanderer.