AzFoo::Places::Yucca Mountain (27-29 May 2002)

Yucca Mountain, Nevada
3 Day/2 Night; 1,443 Miles

Day 1::Southwest Deserts
Day 2::Yucca Mountain Loop/Extraterrestrial Highway/Area 51
Day 3::100 Miles of Route 66
Day 1

On the road again at 7:00am.

Get out of town and drive I-10 west to Quartzsite.

Quartzsite has a 'Q' Mountain just like Tempe has an 'A' Mountain. From a climbing perspective, the 'Q' and 'A' are similar. Here is a picture from the top of 'Q' mountain.

A Quartzsite intersection was torn-up and had been recently watered (i.e. it was mud so the car is dirty). I got paced by a police officer driving out of town. Speed limit was 25mph in an area where a 45mph speed limit would have been okay. I was tempted to speed through, but it was Memorial Day and I am convinced I avoided a ticket.

When driving through small towns, I drive the speed limit. If no traffic is behind me, then in some cases I drive well below the posted speed limit. Drive slow and you see stuff. Some of the stuff is excellent in quality.

Arizona Hwy-95 North is used to get to Parker, Arizona. It is at Parker that the Colorado River is crossed and you enter into the huge state of California. It is Memorial Day and the last day of a long holiday weekend. It took longer than normal to get through Parker because I got stuck in a southern California traffic jam. I will have to put up with this traffic for almost 40 miles driving west on CA Hwy-62. This should be fast and empty road. It will be fast, but it will be far from empty. This is dangerous road.

I am taking a 38 mile detour to Rice, California. Rice has a dot on the map and some road signs have mileages to Rice, but from my perspective Rice is gone. Rice pictures: #1 | #2 | #3

Artie on a Tamarisk Shoe Tree. A couple of weeks earlier I stuck Artie into this Tamarisk Tree. [ as left on 20 May | as found on 27 May ] I considered that wrong, so I returned to fix my error. Thank You to Kathleen for donating the shoes. I moved Artie onto one of the shoes and put the shoes onto the tree. I then proceeded to wander out into the desert to pick up garbage. I returned to the tree twenty minutes later and the shoes were gone! [before | after] I had a backup Artie with me and he was left hanging from the tree. [Picture is blurry -- I've got to go back.]

Detour Review.

Railroad Tracks and Foo to 4:20.

The north side of Hwy-62 parallels train tracks. There is a spot where people put their names and words on the side of a man-made pile of dirt using rocks. I stopped to put up the word foo and take a picture, but that was going to take a long time so I took the 4:20 picture.

The detour ends at Vidal Junction. The picture shows the traffic that was heading west on Hwy-62. Defensive driving on my part help avoid an accident with somebody doing a dangerous pass. I used my horn as much as possible and hugged the shoulder. Next stop is Needles for gas.

North on US-95 in CA. 23 miles later and it is Nevada time. Some place I encountered this excellent mural.

Small scale Burning Man. Nevada has a bunch of areas that are like Black Rock Desert.

I hit Las Vegas and drove 7 miles past my exit. [14 wasted miles] I cut across the southern part of Las Vegas to NV Hwy-160 and headed west to Pahrump. Much of this is a scenic drive, but I have no pictures.

I was going to stay in Pahrump, but I didn't like it; therefore, I decided to keep driving. Before leaving town, I stopped at a Smith's grocery store for some food. [I got VIP prices.]

It had been a long 480 miles to this point. It was 5:00pm. I knew that 45 miles away was a motel in Amargosa Valley. Amargosa Valley is as close to Yucca Mountain I can get. The drive to Amargosa is scenic and fast. It turned out that I was wrong about Amargosa Valley. Amargosa Valley along US-95 has gas and food, and a great rest area, but no lodging. A look at the map made me remember that the motel I am thinking about is 20 miles away at Death Valley Junction, California.

Death Valley Junction, California has lodging. Death Valley Junction has a lodge where rooms have nothing but inside plumbing and a bed. I decided to go sleep under the stars at Sunset Campground in Death Valley. That was only 30 miles away. Sunset Campground was closed for the summer, so I had to drive another mile and stay at Furnance Creek Campground. It was nice, but warm and hard night. Going to Death Valley resulted in a 100 mile detour. After entering Death Valley I stopped and got a Zabriskie Point at sunset picture. I was up at 5:15am and hiked a hill that I had never done before. Took the car for a first-time drive through Mustard Canyon. Before leaving Furnance Creek I took a picture of a small piece of the valley of death.

Day 1::Tempe AZ to Death Valley CA::582 Miles
Day Two

Left Death Valley early AM and drove back through Amargosa Valley to US-95 north. From this location, Yucca Mountain is off to the east.

I went by a huge sand dune on the west side of the road. Next time I'd like to hike those dunes.

The drive north on US-95 goes through Beatty, Nevada, which provides an access route to Death Valley. I thought Beatty was a ghost town, but was wrong. Beatty is a functional town.

Continuing US-95 north goes through Scotty's Junction, which is the last Death Valley access point. There is nothing at Scotty's Junction.

Goldfield, NV is a genuine ghost town. Next to an empty hotel I found these works of aluminum art.

Between Goldfield and Tonopah, you can see snow capped mountains to the west.

Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah, Nevada is excellent and it is free.

Leave Tonopah heading east on US-6. Yucca Mountain is far to the south. Driving US-6 east reminded if driving US-50 east through north central Nevada. [ US-50 picture]

US-6 at Hwy-375. Turn south onto Hwy-375 and we are now on the Extraterrestrial Highway.

The Extraterrestrial Highway adventure began at mile 819 around 12:30pm. It was nice to see cows enjoying the area. After a few miles, two strange images appear in the mountain ranges. Here is the one to the left and the one to the right. I hiked out to the mountain base, but got spooked when I encountered these bones.

The Extraterrestrial Highway is fast road and a one of those scenic Nevada drives.

In Rachel, Nevada I stopped at the Little A'Le'Inn and got a huge stack of pancakes. I also spent $0.33 (thirty-three cents) for a map to Area 51.

About 20 miles from Rachel, you leave Hwy-375 and take dirt road to Area 51. I was not worried about aliens, but I was worried about getting into a trouble with our military. I was so spooked that could not get out of the car when I did get to Area 51. [Here is a picture of the sign that I didn't get.] I felt a rush of relief when I got back to Hwy-375. [I will be back. I need to try an Alien Burger and spend the night.]

Hwy-375 ends at US-93. Las Vegas is a few miles away to the south. Yucca Mountain is over 100 miles away to the north.

The drive through Las Vegas was no fun and it was five o'clock hour, but traffic was not a problem. The garbage upon Entering Las Vegas from the north on I-15 is amazing in its quantity. I think there is a land-fill nearby and garbage blows away from it. Going over the Hoover Dam is a bore. There was minimal security check; my car never came to a complete stop. Drive 70 miles to Kingman, AZ.

Across from Motel 6 room was this fantastic mural.

Day 2::Death Valley CA to Kingman AZ::573 Miles
Day 3

Getting some kicks on The Mother Road...Route 66.

I have only a couple pictures from this part of the trip, but what a fun part it was.

The 100 mile drive from Kingman to Ash Fork is one long scenic drive with minimal traffic.

I ran over two squirrels and almost hit a third.

Day 3::Kingman AZ to Tempe AZ::288 Miles
[ICO]NameLast modifiedSizeDescription
[DIR]Parent Directory  -
[IMG]01_QMountain.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 68K
[IMG]02_Quartzsite.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 77K
[IMG]03_AZ-Hwy95.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 48K
[IMG]04_ParkerTraffic.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 57K
[IMG]05_CA-Hwy62W.jpg30-May-2002 07:38 95K
[IMG]06_RiceCA.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 72K
[IMG]07_ViewFromRice.jpg30-May-2002 07:37 56K
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[IMG]09_ArtiShoeTree.jpg21-Feb-2003 08:42 57K
[IMG]10_ArtiShoeTree.jpg30-May-2002 07:38 84K
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[IMG]15_VidalJunction.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 66K
[IMG]16_CA-US95N.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 71K
[IMG]17_NVborder.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 52K
[IMG]18_3DMural.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 91K
[IMG]19_MiniBurningMan.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 49K
[IMG]20_TheRoad.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 47K
[IMG]21_DeathValley.jpg30-May-2002 07:39 60K
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[IMG]23_MustardCanyon.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 57K
[IMG]24_TwentyMuleTeam.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 57K
[IMG]26_NV-US95N.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 64K
[IMG]27_YuccaToEast.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 84K
[IMG]28_GoldFieldNV.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 65K
[IMG]29_AluminumArt.jpg30-May-2002 07:40 91K
[IMG]30_SnowCapMountains.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 59K
[IMG]31_CentralNevadaMuseum.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 81K
[IMG]32_US6-YuccaToSouth.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 68K
[IMG]33_NV-US6E.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 50K
[IMG]34_US6-Hwy375.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 54K
[IMG]35_NV-Hwy375S.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 47K
[IMG]36_CowsOnHwy375.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 64K
[IMG]37_MountainAlien.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 71K
[IMG]38_MountainAlien.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 71K
[IMG]39_Bones.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 108K
[IMG]40_ExtraterrestrialHwy.jpg30-May-2002 07:41 48K
[IMG]41_LittleAlienPancakes.jpg30-May-2002 07:42 100K
[IMG]42_NV-US93S.jpg30-May-2002 07:42 54K
[IMG]43_KingmanMural.jpg30-May-2002 07:42 63K
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