Exploring More Ghost Towns & A Castle - Goldfield, NV

Hope Valley, CA
Sno Park Lot 

Another two weeks fly by in Placerville and now we are off to Arizona with a few days in Nevada for a special visit with some special RV friends and a birthday.

 

Before we leave, we celebrate Mike's birthday too.  Mike, Rick & Steve have been best friends since the Kodak days where they met and worked back in the early 80s.  Angie, myself and Rose too.

Driving Hwy 50 towards South Lake Tahoe and then south on Hwy 89/88 to one of our favorites, Hope Valley.  It's always seemed like a second home as I've hiked all over this area.

The Aspens are in full color.

We arrived as the sun was heading down behind the mountains.  This is a huge paved lot that allows a 3 night stay for free.  No amenities except a bathroom.  There were only 3 other here.

I guess this guy isn't too happy with "Dee".  We've actually seen him parked around this area a few times this year.

Hawthorne, NV

Sportsman's Beach BLM

Steve had a lot of work to do before we headed into Nevada.  We arrived after dark, which we normally would not do, but we knew where we were going as we've been here a few times. It's very easy to maneuver here. 

No utilities, but nice gazebo, picnic table, firepit and huge pull through sites in the bottom loop. Normally $6, $3 with our Sr. Pass. #24.

Good Morning!

A familiar drive down I95 through some old-used-to-be-towns.  Whatever this plant was growing along the road was, it was blooming profusely.

It's hard to see but this old building outside of Dyer, but there is a pentagram at the top of the front of the building.  I couldn't find any info about it though.

Goldfield, NV

Gemfield BLM

We are boondocking for 3 nights here on Gemfield Rd just outside of Goldfield.  The coordinates for this BLM locations is: 37.7400, 117.2611.

That's us.  Very quiet.  Only a few people went by heading up to Gemfield Ghost Town.

Some of our views around us.

There are a lot of Joshua Trees here and some wild burros.

We did a quick drive through Goldfield and saw this guy walking around.  More on this town later.

We did stop in the saloon for a drink.  It was decorated up for Halloween.

Steve won $40 at the slots here.  That paid for our drinks and the breakfast we will come back for in the morning.

Our view of Goldfield from back at our trailer.

The next day was a full day of exploring the back road ghost towns of Gold Point and Gemfield.  

There isn't any structures left, but this is Gemfield.  It is a popular rock hounding spot.

After a short drive through the area, we headed to Gold Point.

From 95 you take Lida Rd then south on Gold Point Rd. which dead ends at the town. 

The pavement ends at the town.

There are a lot of old buildings still here.  A couple of guys have bought up most of the them and are slowly refurbishing them.  Others are private owned and occupied.  It's a quirky little place.  Here is a link to the HISTORY of the place.

We popped into the Saloon owned by Walt himself.  We talked to him and enjoyed all the stories he told.  He is a very colorful, brusque character that may not be to everyone's liking, but we had a nice time chatting with him.

Walt, saloon owner.

There is a lot of memorabilia inside including a pool table at the opposite end of the bar.

This is looking up at the ceiling.  Yes, that's the sky shining through the gaps and holes.

My bar mate had one too many I think.  We had Bloody Mary's made by Walt.  When we asked how much we owed, he said, whatever you'd like to "donate".  I'm sure this is a way to get around not having a liquor license.  There are also no building codes in Esmerelda County.  It makes for some interesting buildings.

Old piano parts.

We walked all around town looking at and learning about Gold Point.

As we headed out of town down the dirt road, we passed an old mine and headframe.

The road was in good shape most of the way and we loved the views along the way.

We never saw anyone else all day.  Nice view from the top before dropping back down into the valley connecting us to 267.

I loved the striped rocks surrounding this cave.

I happened upon an article about the old Hard Luck Mine and Castle and had to see it.

Randy Johnson purchased the 40 acres in 1998.  12 years and 24,000 bricks later, his dream was complete.  It is 4 stories tall with 16 inch thick walls.  The 8,000 square feet includes 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, a woodshop, wine cellar, solarium, outdoor decks, 2 pipe organs, theater and game room.  It is completely off-grid with a 4,000 gallon water tank, solar and wind power, 3,000 propane tank and diesel generators. WOW!

He has sold it and it is now a AirBnB.  You too could stay here for $1200 a night!

After the castle we came upon this parking meter.  Oh, the things you find in the desert in the middle of no-where!

Then a bit further down the road was this shrine.  This rusty truck bed served generations of builders before its final breakdown at this very spot.  It hauled numerous lodes of sand and gravel to erect the Hard Luck Castle.  Rumor has it if you rub the Budda's belly you will become pregnant.  

We could not figure out the sundial, but it was interesting.

Some Perish Poppies adding color to the desert.

Once back on pavement, we checked out the remains of the Bonnie Claire Ghost Town.  Not much left.

The town thrived from 1906 until 1931. At first it supported the nearby gold mines.  Later it was used as a supply point when Scotty's Castle was built.

You usually find some odd and interesting things inside these old homes and buildings. There wasn't really much inside but crumbling parts of the home.  Then Steve came across this newer looking painting hung on one of the walls.  This was written on the backside:

And this elephant and beads were on one of the windowsills.

There were only two graves in the cemetery.  Dora C. Black and Dorothy Patnoe.  I couldn't find any info about them.

Next up was the Bonnie Claire Lake Playa, home of the mysterious Moving Rocks, much like the ones at Racetrack in Death Valley.  We were here for a geocache about this but could not actually find the ones with tracks that we were looking for.  The dried mud bottom had very interesting patterns though.

We searched for almost an hour but could not find the tracks of the wind-pushed rocks.

It's sure windy out here!

One of the last things we wanted to do was visit the Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley since we were so close to the Scotty's Castle Entrance.  The volcanic crater is 600 feet deep.  We have been to the park several times and seen almost all of it, but not the crater.  Well, those crazy 2015 floods that took out much of Scotty's Castle Rd. and left up to 10 feet of mud at the castle itself, still have not been fixed.  This entrance remains gated and closed.  Wish we knew that ahead of time. 

After a few more caches which led us to find Apache Tears and these old monitoring wells, it was back to the home.  

Pretty colors in the mountainsides.  What a long, but fun day!