Deserted Hills

As the sun starts to set, the surrounding desert comes to life: coyotes, birds, snakes, all start shifting around the periphery of your makeshift little camp. There are more than a few times that you hear what sounds like that scuffling sound, but you never really see where it’s coming from.

It sounds big, almost like someone shaking an autumn tree… trying to make it drop it’s leaves. Which still doesn’t make it feel any less creepy than what you thought it sounded like earlier: one big-ass spider. But then again you have a serious thing against spiders, so it’s probably just your imagination running wild with the idea.

You try to just not think about it. The dying light looks brilliant for a time, setting oblique shadows dancing across the hills and desert floor.

After the last rays of light shift ever darker purple and violet and then inky dark night, the stars come on in full force. At first only the planets and brighter stars, but then an hour passes by without notice… and yet you can’t stop gawking at the uncountable, distant lights. So many stars!

Nothing really seems to be going on around you on the outskirts of some abandoned desert town, so you finally get over the sounds and the stars and try instead to get some sleep. By tomorrow morning you’ll be well on your way to Tonapah.

Cents Per Gallon

This gas pump is so old it gives a price in only “cents per gallon”.

Seems to reflect the overall situation in Gold Point pretty well… it’s pretty much an open-air museum too. There are a few houses around the area that don’t look abandoned, but also quite a lot of “No Trespassing” signs and fences, too. The Post Office looks like it’s in good shape.

You try to open the door, but it’s apparently locked.  So you try knocking… and you hear that same bizarre shuffling inside.

No one ever opens or answers. Whatever that sound was, it doesn’t seem eager to help. That same unsettling feeling… Nothing like that was ever mentioned in the Disney films, you think almost out loud.

You notice the sun is starting to go down; maybe you should just leave the area completely and head towards Tonopah?

Or you can brave the evening here in Gold Point and wait for someone to appear. After all… someone has to live in this town, right?

RUSTEZ3

As you approach what you think must be Gold Point, you notice a bunch of old trucks lined up as if on display. Laying on the ground next to this one, you notice a homemade sign that still barely reads “WE SHADOW FORTH…”  whatever that means. You can’t help but notice that the truck appears to have an almost cartoonish face to it.

There’s another vaguely familiar truck-face nearby… or you can just Git-R-Done and head over to what looks like the town’s Post Office.

Unleaded Only

You head out of Rhyolite and quickly lose sight of any other buildings. For a few hours it’s just you and the wind, sand and asphalt. Even though you don’t see anything like smoke in the air, a strong burnt-wood smell lingers around what looks like the abandoned husk of some gas station.

A strange silhouette catches your eye… is that a person leaning against the building?

As you close in, you realize the silhouette that caught your eye is just some poster thrown up on the wall. It’s apparently not that old, either… but damned if you can reason what it’s supposed to mean.

It’s still too early to make camp, so you decide to keep heading toward Gold Point Gold Point.

Daisy Dukes Was Here

These shorts have seen some wild times, it looks like.

Somebody decided the base of Icara makes a decent altar. Business cards, bottle caps, a busted watch, and now apparently a well-worn pair of daisy dukes- all left behind like the statue’s some kind of confessional.

You’ve got nothing on you worth leaving. Not that you’d leave a business card out here anyway.

Might be worth checking on those ghosts Icara pointed you toward, or you could just get moving before the heat gets any worse.

“To Gold Point”

That’s what the last legible sign in Rhyolite offered up, so you pack into your vehicle and start heading out towards this Gold Point.

The road looks pretty sparse, but there are power lines nearby and you see a house in the distance.

Maybe you’ll find help, a drink of something cool and refreshing in this crazy heat… directions back to civilization, even?

Getting to that house was no problem, but you realize pretty quickly that even if they were inside, they had no intention of answering.

You call out hello but nothing… no one responds.

A smashed-up car and assorted parts are rusting about in the yard. Other than the dust devil that whips around every so often, there is absolutely no sign of activity. The door is locked. The windows are intact and covered from the inside.

Knocking on the door, you could have sworn you heard some scuffling sound inside. It was unsettling. You have a feeling that breaking in would be really stupid, so you eventually move on.

Hopefully you’ll find Gold Point before dark.

Ghost Rider

The ghost has a bike, that much is certain. Where it suggests going is not as clear. The beach cruiser it’s holding onto is missing some pretty important parts and looks to be as permanently stuck here as the ghost statue itself.

You start to wonder if this scene is a little more lively after dark… but you’ve been here a few hours and the sun is still beating down relentlessly, so you consider the options: Head out of town now or stick around a bit longer and check out the old bank ruins.

Cook’s Bank

You’d heard a few stories about Rhyolite, and how it fell into obscurity almost as quickly as it showed up. The three-story John S. Cook Bank on Golden Street represents the story pretty well: this three-story building once had luxuries like marble stairs and stained-glass windows, but the luxuries only lasted as long as the ore flowed freely. 

The town boomed during the Gold Rush with nearly 5000 fortune-seekers settling in from 1907 to about 1911. It had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, and a stock exchange. But the nearby mines stopped producing any sizeable ore around 1913.

And by 1920 only 14 people remained. Now there’s not much but a few buildings’ remains and some really interesting art. You can check out the general store nearby.