Rhyolite Ghost Town (Nye County, Nevada)

The drive between Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada is quite long and quite desolate. It's always nice to be able to break it up a little bit with some type of diversion. The ghost town formerly known as Rhyolite, just outside of Death Valley serves such a purpose.

After parking the jeep, I walk around the ruins of this formerly dense mining town. From 1905 until 1911, Rhyolite was a booming metropolis with a population approaching 5,000. As with so many towns in this part of the country though, when the mine dried up, the town fell to ruins. Many years later and just a few miles east, Beatty, Nevada sprung up out of the ruins to become a pit stop between the northern and southern population centers of Nevada and a gateway into Death Valley.

As I wander around these ruins, I'm amazed at the size of some of the buildings. A few walls of what was formerly a three story stone building tower over the desert landscape. In and around the area, I note several people in formal-ish attire having photos taken. I guess this serves as an interesting backdrop for photo sessions.

A number of foundations still remain from what was once a population center. It brings a sense of despair to think this is how some things end. This place was once home to thousands of souls and now, it's simply a collection of ruined buildings and rusted piles of junk. Nothing lasts forever and as the band Kansas so melodically phrased it, we're all "Dust in the Wind".