Friday we left Cathedral Gorge State Park on US 93 and soon turned onto Nevada 375, the Extraterrestrial Highway. It runs for 98 miles along the edge of Area 51, which contains the highly classified Air Force Facility Homey Field or Groom Lake. This is what the whole 98 miles was like; empty and remote. We passed the only road that I can see that leads to Homey Field, Groom Road. Where it joins Route 375 it is gravel, though on the satellite map it looks like it is paved as it gets closer to the airbase.
We spent the night without unhitching at a commercial RV park just outside the town of Tonopah, Nevada.
They used to mine silver here, now they are mining lithium and boron.
We had time Saturday morning so we went up (trailer and all) to see the Tonopah Historic Mining Park.
This is a hand dug hole, over 50 feet deep where quartz bearing silver was removed.
This is a reconstructed horizontal tunnel that burros would pull carts through.
It led to this vertical shaft going hundreds of feet down.
Ultimately the Mitzpah Mine had this 1200 foot deep shaft.
Men, equipment and ore moved down and up in cages raised and lowered with flat wire cables on wheels on one of the first steel headframes built.
After a short visit to the museum we headed west.
We drove up to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas and crossed into California.
There we picked up the eastern end of California 120 which wound up…
through some
convoluted rocks on the eastern side of the mountains,
and then down into a broad valley where US 395 runs north and south.
Our destination was June Lake where we were meeting our friend Skip Gaskill. That’s Skip with Bud and Matey in front of Gull Lake. The little town of June Lake is situated between June Lake and Gull Lake. They are about 5 blocks apart.
We’re staying at a very small commercial RV park right in town, Golden Pine RV Park.
Even though we are right in town, you just have to look up and out to see the rocks and mountains all around. We will be here until next Saturday touring this beautiful area which includes Yosemite National Park.
Do you know why that one road is called the Extraterrestrial Highway? Maybe because it IS so remote?? 98 miles is a long distance of remoteness! Tonopah, NV looks pretty remote, too. Those convoluted rocks are very interesting, and I really like the views of the snow-covered mountains!
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It’s because Area 51 has long been a place where UFO’s have been reported.
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OOOHHHH very interesting! (Maybe that is somehow connected to the air base being in the area??)
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