Real Nevada. Real Adventure.
Out here, valet parking is a hitching post or a big patch of dirt for your ATV. Bottle service is the canteen you take on your hike with you. And celebrity chefs? Yeah, we got them too – every small town’s got a café cook who’s famous for miles. We’ve got a different way of looking at things… for a whole different kind of adventure.
The ruins of the boiler at Harmony Borax in Death Valley National Park
If you really want to be truthful about it, in many ways it’s where the 20 Mule Team Trail starts. Of course 20 Mule Teams and long line teams were used throughout Nevada in the 1870s and Harmony didn’t start shipping out borax til 1883 but it’s the Death Valley connection that’s important. The use of mules and big wagons here set the stage for marketing the product that you can still find on your grocery shelf today: 20 Mule Team Borax.
Harmony Borax Works approximately 1883.
For the complete story see: The Twenty Mule Team Trail – Part 4
What does that mean? Pahrump: Your Adventure Hub?? Well, quite simply it means that just like the hub in the middle of a wheel you can venture out from the town of Pahrump in a whole lotta different directions. It’s the best place with the most conveniences to get to Nevada’s wild backcountry. You can be in the great wide open spaces in less than a half hour. Forget Vegas – by the time you get up, get breakfast and fight traffic out of town, the day’s already half gone! So here are your Pahrump rules for adventure and a great day loop trip that doesn’t backtrack!
Rule 1: Get to Pahrump the day before. Get all your supplies, bottled water, snacks, cooler filled with ice – to be prepared for your day adventure the next day. There’s plenty of places to get supplies like Walmart and grocery stores and for maps and directions see the Desert Mercantile store or the Pahrump Chamber of Commerce.
Rule 2: Stay at one of the RV Parks or Casino Hotels in town. You can get a good dinner the night before – and a great rest.
Rule 3: Up early! Get an early start to your Adventure Day! Whatever you do, be on the road by 7am – so that may mean up by 5:30 to get a good early breakfast. If a big breakfast isn’t important – get breakfasty snacks the night before – get up an hour later at 6:30 and hit the road by 7!
Rule 4: First stop: Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Head out of town (away from Vegas) on 160 and find the sign to Death Valley National Park. Take that road (Belle Vista) and head out of Pahrump. In 10-15 minutes civilization is far behind. Take the road that says “to Ash Meadows”, turn right and you’re on your way to discover one of the desert’s true oases.
Rule 5: When you’ve finished exploring Ash Meadows (a couple hours max) head on out to either Route 373 or Highway 127. There you’ll discover Death Valley Junction. This is the home of famed dancer and artist Marta Beckett. Be sure to stop in, visit the gift store. You may be able to see the opera house which Marta painted with an Elizabethan audience. If you’re in the mood for a snack the café has excellent food.
Caves where the prospectors lived in Shoshone.
(Photo by Jim Nieto)
Rule 6: Head on south from the Junction on Highway 127. Keep a lookout on either side of the road and you may spot the old railroad bed from the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad which ran here from 1907-1940.
Rule 7: Arrive in Shoshone. You should be here in time to see the museum. There are plenty of books and videos which tell the story of the people who lived here. Be sure to check out the caves where the prospectors used to live. You can also visit the folks at the Amargosa Conservancy and discover more about the unusual natural world around you. There’s also a great little cafe called Cafe C’Est Si Bon or of course there’s the Crowbar.
Rule 8: From Shoshone you can head back to Pahrump over the Charles Brown highway just south of town.
Just one great journey from Pahrump as Your Adventure Hub! Look for more coming soon!
Once again Pahrump is your adventure Hub for yet another loop trip! On this one your destination is one of Nevada’s most well known ghost towns: Rhyolite!
The most famous ruin in Rhyolite: The Cook Bank Building, 1908
Once again find a great place to stay in Pahrump. You’ve got plenty of choices whether you’re in your own RV, Camping or need a nice room at a reasonable rate! So pick a place the night before your trip, buy all your supplies at the local stores, including snacks and water; and then it’s time for your adventure! Check out Google Maps for the route: Pahrump – Beatty – Death Valley Junction – Pahrump!
Rule1: Up early! On the road by 7am! You’re heading north on Route 160 out of Pahrump. In about 27 miles you get to US 95 where you’ll head north. By the way, when you get to the end of 160 and meet 95, all of that empty desert in front of you is military land: Nellis Air Force Base, Mercury and the Nevada Test Site.
Rule 2: Head on up Highway 95. Download our CD “Road Thrills” and get a narrated tour of the route.
Rule 3: Your first stop is Beatty! Just another 45 miles up the road from the 95 intersection. Check out the little restaurant row on the North Side of Main Street. The Death Valley Nut and Candy is fun and for great history check out the Beatty Museum! Just imagine there were railroads and belching steam locomotives here only 70 years ago!
Rule 4: Head on out of Beatty to Rhyolite, just 7 miles out of town. And be prepared to step back in time and…..to see a quirky little museum called the Goldwell Open Air Museum. Take a couple of hours to explore and touch the past. Imagine 10,000 people here in 1907 and 1908. But by 1910 there were only 600 souls left! What happened? That’s an entire story you have to find out when you get there.
Rule 5: From Rhyolite you’ll come back through Beatty. Gas up and get any supplies you need. When you head out of Beatty you have an option. You can go out and check out Big Dune! If you’re an ATVer and you brought your gear – head on out! If not you can check out the dunes and then head on down US 95.
Rule 6: You’ll turn off on Nevada 373 South. If you see a small sign to Fairbanks Spring you can go down and check it out – great for birding – or keep on going. Soon you’ll see the last Casino before you enter California: Longstreet Inn and Casino - Just look for the big cow!! A great stop for fun and maybe even dinner.
The Amargosa Opera House – Is it Haunted? See “The Ghosts of Death Valley Junction”!
Rule 7: Head on into Death Valley Junction and check it out. Here Marta Becket has been dancing for nearly 50 years. She’s still performing a sit-down show now but her work is evident everywhere in this old borax lmilling town.
Rule 8: Head back East on the Ash Meadows/State Line Road straight into Pahrump.
You’ll have covered a little over 250 miles but it will be a full day of adventure and fun! And if you want to make it a two day trip, Beatty has places to stay and there’s always Longstreet or Death Valley Junction for a nice stopover!
Come on out for one of the most fun and interesting events in
Nevada Silver Trails Territory!
GOLDFIELD DAYS!
August 19,20 and 21, 2011
Esmeralda County Celebrating its
150 Year Anniversary 1861-2011
The Historic and Haunted Goldfield Hotel!
Parades, Land Auctions, Bus Tours Of Historic Goldfield, Live Music & Street Dancing, Pet Parade, Antiques, Crafts, Food, Beer Garden, Old West Gunfights, Miner’s Liar Contest, Horseshoes, Old Fashioned Children’s Games, Western BBQ And MUCH, MUCH More
Drawings Include Fabulous Getaways and Prizes! For More Information Contact
The Goldfield Chamber of Commerce
gfnvchamber@aol.com
(775) 485-3560
P.O. Box 204
Goldfield, Nevada 89013
On a hill above town sits Tonopah’s historic past. Yep, the past itself is sitting on top of the hill. You can actually visit the very place where Tonopah began. And not only Tonopah, but where the last great gold rush in the entire USA took place. It was 1900 when silver was discovered up on this hill. But it wasn’t long before gold was found in nearby Goldfield, Beatty and Death Valley. From 1900 to 1911 the great Nevada Mining Boom was center stage in American financing. Stocks were sold at a furious rate. Investors from all over the country were placing their hard-earned money in stocks like Tonopah Mining Company, Goldfield Consolidated and the Original Bullfrog! Yes! Bullfrog! Crazy names for mines in Nevada’s boom times! Visit where it all happened at Tonopah’s Historic Mining Park in Tonopah, Nevada.
For More Information see: TONOPAH HISTORIC MINING PARK WEBSITE!
These old miners shacks and buildings waiting for your visit
at the Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah, Nevada.
In this year’s Nevada Magazine’s “Best of” – the Central Nevada Museum and Historical Society is listed as the best museum in rural Nevada. It is a true gem located in Tonopah, Nevada. It has an outstanding collection of ephemera, artifacts, photographs and buildings! Yes, buildings! Miner’s quarters moved from various mining camps and even some unbelievable little dugouts where Chinese laborers lived. It’s a great treat and you won’t be disappointed. Check it out! The Central Nevada Museum on Highway 95 in Tonopah, Nevada!
There’s a place in Nevada called the Tonopah Historic Mining Park. And it’s historic for a reason. It was there in 1900 that one of the richest mineral strikes in history was made. And you can visit it. It was claimed to have been found by Jim Butler when he was chasing one of his burros but historians think the Indians probably showed him where it was. The richest claim wasn’t struck by Jim at all but by his wife Belle, who was probably a much better prospector. For the complete story check out this blog:
The Hoist House for the Mizpah Mine, built 1902
One of the highlights at the Tonopah Historic Mining Park!
For a map and directions to get there: CLICK HERE!
Recently, in New York City, a woman named Huguette Clark passed away. She was born in 1906 and lived to be 104 years old. No one there probably knew her connection to Rhyolite, Nevada but she had one. Her father was William Andrews Clark, one of America’s wealthiest men in 1906, and he built a railroad called the Las Vegas and Tonopah. And he built this depot. For the entire story and the details on the link between this New York heiress and Rhyolite see: THE HEIRESS AND THE GHOST TOWN!
That was the shout of discoverer Aaron Winters to his new wife, Rosie! In 1881 Aaron and Rosie were living in Nevada’s Ash Meadows in a little mud hut that was described as “carved out of the mud hillside.” One day a prospector told them about all the borax discovered in central and northern Nevada and told Aaron how to test for borax. A solution mixed with borax would burn green if lit. Aaron suspected there might be borax in Death Valley. So Aaron and Rosie went camping at Furnace Creek (you can do that today too). Well, Aaron scooped up some white, salty stuff, followed the directions and guess what? Yep, it burned green and Aaron shouted, “She burns green Rosie, by God we’re rich!” For the entire story see The Twenty Mule Team Trail – Part 3!
The restored cabin at Ash Meadows where Aaron and Rosie probably lived in 1881.
For the entire story click here for The Twenty Mule Team Trail – Part 3
