Southern New Mexico is a harsh desert environment. The winds whip by at intensities provoking an early warning system for dust storms and sun protection is warranted even in the winter. Yet, scrappy people have lived and even thrived in this area for generations. Some stay. Some move on. A bit of both is found in Shakespeare's Ghost Town, the remains of a thriving mining town now passed down through a family of caretakers and conservationists.
Strange things happen in the desert. It is a place of extreme temperatures and temperaments. It is a place of rugged self-sufficiency and creative invention born of necessity. Those that survive here are the outliers. And in the remote outskirts of the Nevada desert, along the border of Death Valley National Park, is one of the strangest destinations we have encountered: the Goldwell Open Air Museum.
Looking out the window while driving Nevada Highway 374, the land seems desolate. Sparse, dry shrubs dot the flat desert landscape, ringed it by mountains. Yet, drive two miles northwest on Rhyolite Road and there are the remains of a once-thriving boom town. There may not be much left standing in Rhyolite Ghost Town, but what remains bears witness to what was a rich and active town during the launch of the twentieth century.
Death Valley is a park meant for vehicles. Stretching 140 miles in length, the Valley is full of attractions that require some kind of vehicle to see in a timely manner. But vehicular diversions are not limited to the pavement.…
With plans to camp at Imperial Sand Dunes canceled, we find ourselves, late in the afternoon, wondering where we will spend the night. Fortunately, the ranger at Imperial Sand Dunes has some advice: check out Tumco Ghost Town in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains.
Cerro Gordo is not easy to reach. If anything, traveling there was a good reminder of the compromises we make with our living situation and the potential shift in mobility that comes with any change. The route to Cerro Gordo is 7 miles of rough road snaking sharply to the summit of Cerro Gordo Peak. Woe betide any unwitting driver that comes across a car in the opposite direction because most stretches of the road are a single lane with a mountain wall to one side and a cliff at the other. It is a route we never would have attempted with Dodgy I or even if Dodgy II had a top heavy camper. It is Dodgy II's light truck bed shell and 4 wheel drive that makes the road feasible.