After hacker games, I could finally leave the Starbucks I’d been parked out front of for many hours. Finally on the direct route, I headed up toward Vegas and took US-95 straight up to Beatty. A ways north of Las Vegas, I drove next to a massive military installation that I realized was “Area 51” because the one gas station in 100 miles, right on the edge, was full of alien tchotchkes.
Beatty, NV
After making the customary stop at the StageCoach Hotel & Casino & Denny’s in Beatty, I headed over to my campsite for the night, the ghost town of Rhyolite.
As I wandered around, I felt like there were ghosts. And there is a residence on the far side of town. And two more cars drove in while I was there — sir, what the heck are you doing in a ghost town at midnight? So I decided to obey the “Day Use Only. No Camping or Overnight Parking” signs and park at the entrance to Titus Canyon Road instead.
The sun may set early here, but when it rises, you get free Lasik through your eyelids. Which was probably good because I wanted to do Titus Canyon Road again and I had a big hike planned, despite the short winter days in this region.
This may be my third run through Titus Canyon, but it never gets old. After that, I drove down the park down to to Dante’s Viewpoint for Mount Perry, a ridge hike. Major ass-kicking, but beautiful.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/mount-perry-3817157 Could not Embed
The parking area, at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, looks out over the Badwater Basin salt flats at 300 feet below sea level. What I missed about the trail map is that between me and the peak was a valley. The uphill that started at mile 8 was pretty-soul crushing, but put me at the top right at sunset.
After laying down in the parking lot because my Death Valley march damn near killed me — and also to let the insane sunset traffic jam dissipate — I got back on the road and took Furnace Creek Wash out the south edge of the park, carrying on our tradition of not arriving or departing the park on a paved road.
Next up, Vegas!