We departed Goldfield and drove south to Beatty, Nevada which is the gateway to Death Valley (but yet 20 degrees cooler). Beatty is located just 7 miles east of the border of Death Valley National Park and about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. It is advertised to have 108 RV sites and over 300 hotel/motel rooms. And the burros wander around the streets looking for a bit of love!! Watch out!
Goldwell Open Air Museum sits about 4 miles west of Beatty and is an open air sculpture museum. It is a non-profit museum that was created after the year 2000 when one of the sculptors, Albert Szukalski passed away. Mr. Szukalski created The Last Supper which is ghostly like forms in The Last Supper. There are a variety of other sculptures there and is about 8 acres in size.
Rhyolite, a ghost town, sits right next to Goldwell. It started around 1905 with mining camps set up from the local propsectors. The town is named after an igneous rock named rhyolite which belongs to the same rock class as granite but is much less common. It is a tourist area today and a setting for motion pictures. When we were visiting there was a film crew filming a group of people. It is a nice little area to walk around and view some old buildings. There are a few old, worn out interpretive signs that are a bit difficult to read but you can make out some of the words.
After leaving Beatty we headed further south and stopped at a nice rest area called Amargosa Valley Rest Area. It is right across the street from the Area 51 Alien Center, yes, really. It is actually a convenience store with a gas station, a fireworks store, and a brothel. It was a perfect stop for us to set up our BBQ, make some lunch, and enjoy the afternoon.
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