US95 Between Las Vegas & Beatty
Friday March 28th
Mt. Charleston
The Mt. Charleston area is about 45min north of Las Vegas on US95.
Nevada Highways 156, 157 & 158 make a 42mi scenic loop up through
the mountains. The highest elevation on the loop is ~5500ft above the
desert floor. After almost of a week in the desert terrain around Las Vegas,
the area was a wonderful break.
A look-out near the highest elevation on the loop (~8300ft above sea level).
Note the difference in the terrain in this picture. It goes from alpine forest
(foreground), to desert dry lake bed (center).
"Site 88"
This was an area I read about in a rock-hounding book I bought before
the trip. While I didn't find any collectable rocks around here, it was
still a very interesting stop. As you can see, there are some abandoned
buildings in the area. About 10 or 15 separate structures. I would say they
looked more like unfinished construction
than abandoned finished buildings.
Scotty's Junction
Scotty's Jct. is the intersection of US95 and NV267, about 35mi north of
Beatty. NV267 is the northern-most paved road into Death Valley National Park.
There are no services here, and it is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.
