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Well, here is the best of the rest of the photos from my Rhyolite camping trip. It was my first time camping in the desert, so I was fairly excited. It wasn't quite the "desert" I had in mind, as there were plenty of shrubs in the area. So many in fact, that we had to do a big no-no, and set-up camp in a dried up river bed. Luckily for us it didn't rain, and we were not flash-flooded out of the State.
Here I am checking the head clearance of our shade tarp. I had it bungee-corded to my roof rack to allow the tarp to give if the winds picked up. The winds did kick up a bit, and the stakes we used just didn't have a good footing in the dirt. There was a time were several of us were holding the corners of the tarp, waiting for the wind to die down. Luckily this only happened once, and lasted for about an hour. The rest of the weekend the tarp worked like a charm.
The sign says it all, except we didn't run across any rattlesnakes during our weekend. I was kind of looking forward to seeing a few. It's been a long time since I've eaten rattlesnake.
Here's my dependable transportation, a 2000 Xterra 2wd. I wish I had sprung for the 4wd model, but I can't complain, I don't have to make payments anymore. Even in 2wd trim, its very capable on rough terrain.
A wide shot of our "base camp". During the nights and days, members of our camp would hike out into the desert, looking for rocks or what not. So you were either "rockhound 1" or "base camp".
To get to Rhyolite, NV we had to drive through Death valley. There was some great views to be had along the 395.
Here's a view of Death Valley. The picture doesn't do the scale justice. I am amazed that the early pioneers even found a way through. I couldn't image doing it with horses and wagons.
Ah-ha! I finally have documented proof that I have been in the wilderness. I just thought this was a rather funny sign.
Another shot of Death Valley. I imagine the pioneers coming to this point in their trip and thinking, "We're screwed..."
This is one of my "artistic" shots, a mountain peak visible through a square opening in the ruins of a small building. It was about 6am, so the lighting was just great.
This is a mountain that has been strip mined, located in Rhyolite, NV. About 2/3 of the mountain was missing, all for microscopic gold. It was really amazing to see the damage to the surrounding mountains caused by this sort of mining.
Here's a furry friend, I think a kangaroo rat, but not sure. I saw him dart into his hole, so I took a seat and waited a good 15mins for him to feel safe enough to poke his head out. He was about 6" nose to butt, tail was another 6".
Another furry friend, this time a desert hare. He only let me get about 10-12yds close to him before he would hop a few feet away. It took awhile to get this image, but I think it was worth it.
Here's the desert, with my friends Nate and Greg looking for rocks. Don't let the green colors fool you, it was dry desert.
Here's a morning shot of the surrounding mountains. The sun was just begining to peek over another mountain, and the background colors were just awsome purples.
Another morning shot, this time the sun was illuminating a range of mountains in the background, while everything in the foregrpund was still "in shade".
Finally! It's a bout 6:20am and the sun just broke over the mountains. Yes.. I did blind myself taking this picture. I didn't go to sleep at all for the first night, so this was very bright to my weary eyes.
Sunshine on Rhyolite, NV. Here's a good shot showing the remains of a few buildings as the shadows receed from them.
Another morning shot, trying to capture the purple colors of the mountains (now those lyrics to God Bless America make sense).
A bronze plaque to the memories of those that lost their lives trying to establish the town of Rhyolite. It's amazing how quickly the town got started and died out.
Part of an old wagon. As I said, I just couldn't imagine going through the surrounding deserts in wagons. I think they had to go really slow in order not to break axles or wheels.
An artist had errected these fiberglass "ghosts" in Rhyolite. I think this one is called Ghost Rider. You can Google for it if you're really interested. It was nice to see that no one tried to deface these statues.
This was just an interesting totem-pole-statue-thing that had some nice lighting due to the late evening sun. It was about 6:30pm.
This was a giant metal statue of a miner and what looks like a pengiun. I'm not sure what it was suppose to be, but it was cool. For reference, the crotch of the miner was about 6ft high.
More of the fiberglass ghosts. This display was actually titled The Last Supper. I haven't bothered to reference the positions of the figures with those of the painting. It's art, they don't have to match.
Again, just neat evening lighting. This was a detail of some figures from the The Last Supper display. Again, it was nice to see no one wrote thier names on the display.
This didn't have a title that I could find. Its just a collection of chrome bumpers. I walked around it several times, but couldn't figure if it was suppose to resemble anything.
Here's a wide angle shot of the totem-pole-statue-thing and the remains of the old wagon. The totem was about 50ft high.
This is probably the most photographed ruin in Rhyolite. At one time this was the 3-story Cook Bank. It was built in the very early 1900's for about $90k. That was a lot of money back in the day.
A wooden struture, still standing. It was gated off, probably because it was too unsafe to allow people to enter.
This was a shack, looking like it might have been built in the 1950s or so. It seemed that at sometime in the past it was converted into a chicken coop. Now it's about to fall apart.
This was an interesting sight. To the left (out of frame) was a trailer where the groundkeepers stay. I can't imagine what was in the cooler that needed to be locked up. Either way, there's no making phone calls from this booth.
This is a minature town made from fragments of glass and stones. I don't think it was a scale model of Rhyolite or anything of that nature.
Another photo of the minature town. It is located right next to the "famous" Bottle House. The area was gated off.
Well, here is Mr. Kelly's Bottle House. It took 5-1/2 months and over 30,000 bottles to create. From what I read, this was one of 3 bottle houses in the area, but this was the largest and only remaining.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with any of these images.
This was just a dead bush. I thought it looked a lot like drift wood, so I took this macro shot of it. Again, that's me trying to be artistic.
There were scattered patches of dried mud here and there, but they were rather rare. I suppose this is what I was thinking the enitre place was going to look like. I'm glad it didn't turn out that way.
It was amazing to see all the odd things that collect in the desert. This was 4 o-rings, about 2.50 in diameter, about .120 thick. Not sure where they came from.
There were a lot of broken bottles scattered all over the place. One thing I found interesting were the various colors, especially the clear soda bottles. I suppose after exposure to the elements, they changed color to this really nice greenish-blue. The color reminded me of a swiming pool. The photo didn't do the color any justice.
It was nice to get out early in the morning and see the sunlight glinting off all the various spider webs. Some were rather wide, stretching over 10ft. Industrious little arachnids.
The ammount of stars visible in the desert was amazing. Amazing until the moon came out around 11pm, then it over powered everything in the sky. There are stars in the above photo, honest.
Some of the rock samples that were collected, glowing under the UV light we brought with us. I'm no rockhound, so if you ask me what type of rocks, I'll just say hard ones.
More rock samples under the UV lamp. It was interesting seeing all the various colors: blues, greens, oranges, reds, yellows and purples.
Speaking of Independence Day...
Here I am checking the head clearance of our shade tarp. I had it bungee-corded to my roof rack to allow the tarp to give if the winds picked up. The winds did kick up a bit, and the stakes we used just didn't have a good footing in the dirt. There was a time were several of us were holding the corners of the tarp, waiting for the wind to die down. Luckily this only happened once, and lasted for about an hour. The rest of the weekend the tarp worked like a charm.
The sign says it all, except we didn't run across any rattlesnakes during our weekend. I was kind of looking forward to seeing a few. It's been a long time since I've eaten rattlesnake.
Here's my dependable transportation, a 2000 Xterra 2wd. I wish I had sprung for the 4wd model, but I can't complain, I don't have to make payments anymore. Even in 2wd trim, its very capable on rough terrain.
A wide shot of our "base camp". During the nights and days, members of our camp would hike out into the desert, looking for rocks or what not. So you were either "rockhound 1" or "base camp".
To get to Rhyolite, NV we had to drive through Death valley. There was some great views to be had along the 395.
Here's a view of Death Valley. The picture doesn't do the scale justice. I am amazed that the early pioneers even found a way through. I couldn't image doing it with horses and wagons.
Ah-ha! I finally have documented proof that I have been in the wilderness. I just thought this was a rather funny sign.
Another shot of Death Valley. I imagine the pioneers coming to this point in their trip and thinking, "We're screwed..."
This is one of my "artistic" shots, a mountain peak visible through a square opening in the ruins of a small building. It was about 6am, so the lighting was just great.
This is a mountain that has been strip mined, located in Rhyolite, NV. About 2/3 of the mountain was missing, all for microscopic gold. It was really amazing to see the damage to the surrounding mountains caused by this sort of mining.
Here's a furry friend, I think a kangaroo rat, but not sure. I saw him dart into his hole, so I took a seat and waited a good 15mins for him to feel safe enough to poke his head out. He was about 6" nose to butt, tail was another 6".
Another furry friend, this time a desert hare. He only let me get about 10-12yds close to him before he would hop a few feet away. It took awhile to get this image, but I think it was worth it.
Here's the desert, with my friends Nate and Greg looking for rocks. Don't let the green colors fool you, it was dry desert.
Here's a morning shot of the surrounding mountains. The sun was just begining to peek over another mountain, and the background colors were just awsome purples.
Another morning shot, this time the sun was illuminating a range of mountains in the background, while everything in the foregrpund was still "in shade".
Finally! It's a bout 6:20am and the sun just broke over the mountains. Yes.. I did blind myself taking this picture. I didn't go to sleep at all for the first night, so this was very bright to my weary eyes.
Sunshine on Rhyolite, NV. Here's a good shot showing the remains of a few buildings as the shadows receed from them.
Another morning shot, trying to capture the purple colors of the mountains (now those lyrics to God Bless America make sense).
A bronze plaque to the memories of those that lost their lives trying to establish the town of Rhyolite. It's amazing how quickly the town got started and died out.
Part of an old wagon. As I said, I just couldn't imagine going through the surrounding deserts in wagons. I think they had to go really slow in order not to break axles or wheels.
An artist had errected these fiberglass "ghosts" in Rhyolite. I think this one is called Ghost Rider. You can Google for it if you're really interested. It was nice to see that no one tried to deface these statues.
This was just an interesting totem-pole-statue-thing that had some nice lighting due to the late evening sun. It was about 6:30pm.
This was a giant metal statue of a miner and what looks like a pengiun. I'm not sure what it was suppose to be, but it was cool. For reference, the crotch of the miner was about 6ft high.
More of the fiberglass ghosts. This display was actually titled The Last Supper. I haven't bothered to reference the positions of the figures with those of the painting. It's art, they don't have to match.
Again, just neat evening lighting. This was a detail of some figures from the The Last Supper display. Again, it was nice to see no one wrote thier names on the display.
This didn't have a title that I could find. Its just a collection of chrome bumpers. I walked around it several times, but couldn't figure if it was suppose to resemble anything.
Here's a wide angle shot of the totem-pole-statue-thing and the remains of the old wagon. The totem was about 50ft high.
This is probably the most photographed ruin in Rhyolite. At one time this was the 3-story Cook Bank. It was built in the very early 1900's for about $90k. That was a lot of money back in the day.
A wooden struture, still standing. It was gated off, probably because it was too unsafe to allow people to enter.
This was a shack, looking like it might have been built in the 1950s or so. It seemed that at sometime in the past it was converted into a chicken coop. Now it's about to fall apart.
This was an interesting sight. To the left (out of frame) was a trailer where the groundkeepers stay. I can't imagine what was in the cooler that needed to be locked up. Either way, there's no making phone calls from this booth.
This is a minature town made from fragments of glass and stones. I don't think it was a scale model of Rhyolite or anything of that nature.
Another photo of the minature town. It is located right next to the "famous" Bottle House. The area was gated off.
Well, here is Mr. Kelly's Bottle House. It took 5-1/2 months and over 30,000 bottles to create. From what I read, this was one of 3 bottle houses in the area, but this was the largest and only remaining.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with these images.
A macro shot of some of the desert plants. I have not had the chance to do any research to associate names with any of these images.
This was just a dead bush. I thought it looked a lot like drift wood, so I took this macro shot of it. Again, that's me trying to be artistic.
There were scattered patches of dried mud here and there, but they were rather rare. I suppose this is what I was thinking the enitre place was going to look like. I'm glad it didn't turn out that way.
It was amazing to see all the odd things that collect in the desert. This was 4 o-rings, about 2.50 in diameter, about .120 thick. Not sure where they came from.
There were a lot of broken bottles scattered all over the place. One thing I found interesting were the various colors, especially the clear soda bottles. I suppose after exposure to the elements, they changed color to this really nice greenish-blue. The color reminded me of a swiming pool. The photo didn't do the color any justice.
It was nice to get out early in the morning and see the sunlight glinting off all the various spider webs. Some were rather wide, stretching over 10ft. Industrious little arachnids.
The ammount of stars visible in the desert was amazing. Amazing until the moon came out around 11pm, then it over powered everything in the sky. There are stars in the above photo, honest.
Some of the rock samples that were collected, glowing under the UV light we brought with us. I'm no rockhound, so if you ask me what type of rocks, I'll just say hard ones.
More rock samples under the UV lamp. It was interesting seeing all the various colors: blues, greens, oranges, reds, yellows and purples.
