| So much of Nevada is government land used for military purposes. This was the road to the Tonopah Test Range. It is a test facility for Department of Energy funded weapon programs, recording data from artillery shell testing, bomb drops, cruise missiles and rocket tests. |
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| Highway 6 is a rather desolate stretch of road. Over the roughly 150 miles I traveled on this road, I passed about a dozen other vehicles. |
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| There was a lot of cattle though. Much of the highway runs through open range. Cattle routinely cross the road and cowpies on the pavement are not uncommon. |
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| State Rte. 375 runs between US Hwy. 6 at Warm Springs (a town on the map that doesn't even exist) and US Hwy. 93. It runs very close to the Air Force range and the famed Area 51. It has been dubbed Extraterrestrial Highway. |
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| The road to Tybo. One of the many dirt roads I had to travel to get to some of these places. At least it wasn't too muddy. |
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| This vehicle didn't quite make it. |
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| The town is located up in these hills. |
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| Uh-oh. Private property and no trespassing signs. Well maybe I'll just take a quick peek. |
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| Look like the remnants of mining operations. |
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| There is more in Tybo than I got to see, but there was a house right there on the road and a car was in the drive. I didn't feel like getting shot at, so I just took these few photos and got the hell out of there. Even missing some of the old buildings, the canyon was quite beautiful with the snow. |
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| Black Rock Lava Flow is in Nye County. It was formed by a quiet volcanic eruption. Rather than explode like volcanoes we are used to like Mount St. Helens and Mount Pinatubo, this one just kind of swelled and bubbled up. It began to flow to the west and as it cooled it formed these black volcanic rocks. |
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| The historic Hotel Nevada in Ely. |
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| My room is the one at the end of the hall. |
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| A lot of famous people have stayed at the hotel. Several rooms are named after them. I got the Jimmy Stewart suite. I'm not clear on whether or not Mr. Stewart actually stayed in this room, but I think he did. At least that's the story I'm sticking to. |
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| It isn't a suite now, but there was a door behind that dresser that looked like it was sealed shut so it might have been at one time. |
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| The Stardust Ranch. Whorehouse #2 on my trip. It is located on the western end of town. |
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| Right across the street from the Stardust Ranch is another brothel called Big Four Ranch. I don't know if they are affiliated with each other. It might be that the good people of Ely just wanted those establishments in one certain part of town. There was an adult spa around the corner as well. |
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| Since I got to Ely earlier than I anticipated, I went back out on the road to find some other things. About twenty miles out of town I happened upon the Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park. These beehive-shaped ovens were used in the late 19th century to generate charcoal for use in the mines of nearby Ward. |
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| The snow was quite deep here. I also noticed that there were some non-human tracks in the snow that looked like they could have been made by an animal that I didn't want to come across, so I didn't stick around. The road to the park was quite muddy in spots, but the 1/2 mile to this site was almost all mud. The drive to and back was quite a challenge. I was slipping and sliding going as fast as I could so that I wouldn't end up stuck in the mud without being able to get out. |
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| The old historic train station in East Ely now houses the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. |
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| A caboose in the late afternoon. This made a nice photo with the moon in the sky and the setting sun shining on the yellow railroad car. |
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| They still run special "ghost trains" out of this depot, but not in January. |
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| Believe it or not, when the six-story Hotel Nevada opened in 1929, it was the tallest building in the state and its first fire-proof building. Rooms went for $1.50 and up. Prices aren't that expensive today. My room was 30-something dollars a night. |
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