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.

Union Pacific Caboose

Looks like this caboose was repurposed into gas station or something before being left to it’s own accord. Other than some still-standing powerlines, not much indicates that it’s been used for anything recently.

You consider entering the caboose, but you can tell that someone has taken effort to prevent entry. The ubiquitous warning signs are posted, and what appears to be a tripwire inside the doorway cues you in on the possibility that the signs aren’t just for show.

Other than some stones, accumulated litter, and what appears to be dozens of small holes burrowed into the dirt floor, you really see nothing inside to risk going in for.

Nearby, a motionless, shrouded white form (ghosts?) appears to beckon you away from this relic.

Will you go inside the caboose anyway, or head over to this ghostly apparition?

 

Brutalist Architecture

This building, oh… this crazy old building.

It’s been (so very slowly) deconstructed, and so isn’t viewable at all any more. But for years after it was abandoned, the entire compound just slowly fell apart out in the woods.

For years it was visited by a few thrillseekers, transients, a number of really young children (I know, right?) and a few older folk that remember the compound’s original stories: as the Callahan Center, a branch of Dammasch State Hospital (1883-2012).

If I remember correctly, Dammasch hospital was built to be be available as an emergency nuclear decontamination facility/hospital if there ever was a localized nuclear attack. There were these tunnels that stretched from Dammasch hospital’s basement to the Living Enrichment Center. Supposedly, these tunnels even led to an underground “food cache”.

I’ve seen the entrance to this tunnel system, but it had been filled in/collapsed. Hey I’m a photographer, not a miner.

I think the original plan for the LEC’s remains was to just let nature do most of the deconstruction, as it sat adrift in the woods for almost a decade… but let’s face it, that Brutalist design doesn’t really come down on it’s own.

On quiet days it really had some beautiful, if not totally abandoned and somewhat creepy, moments. RIP, LEC.

Water Wells

This appears to be the truck that either got the most care over the years… or else it just suffered a lot less tragedy than the others.

It looks like it’s pretty decent shape, maybe it even still runs? Someone around here must be collecting these trucks, you think.

But who (and where) the hell are they? Enough trucks already; you decide to head over to the lively side of town: the Post Office.

Esmeralda

The sign bears one word: Esmeralda… where have you heard that before? You’re pretty sure it means Emerald in Spanish, and it is the name of a neighboring county here in Nevada. But there’s not much else about this sign to help you out.

You can still go over to the massive ruins of the three-story tall building or head to the lone train caboose.

New Coca-Cola Sign

This crusty old metal Coca-Cola sign was something I found laying in the dust of East Las Vegas. There’s a little paint still hanging on, but for the most part it’s camouflaged against the desert floor.