Today’s trip was our first attempt to follow the Tonopah and Tidewater rail bed from Rhyolite to Goldfield, NV. We decided to start our trek from the junction of the road to Phinny Canyon where it crosses the railed coming out of Rhyolite. We had driven the rail bed to the south of this junction in the past so now we wanted to follow it north from the junction.
Our trips always start at 8:30 AM which at times causes some grousing about the early hour. All in good humor of course. With lunches packed, folding chairs loaded, maps in hand, and radios checked we are off to adventure.
Today we actually decided to explore the town of Pioneer first as several of our group had not visited this mining site before.
Later, we drove up Hwy 95 to the road to Phinney canyon and in to the railroad crossing of this road. Unfortunately, the road bed at the crossing lies within Death Valley National Park so is undriveable as no off road driving is allowed.
Back tracking to a driveable road we finally headed north to where the road intersected with the railed. This also became our lunch stop.
After lunch we had a very rough 16 mile drive to the Bonnie Claire town site. At one point we stopped to explore remains of the telegraph line which parallel the railed.
We stopped to explore the remains of Bonnie Claire through which a branch of the railroad went.
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Our next stop was to Bonnie Claire Lake on Hwy 267 and a look at the moving rocks. These are much like the moving rocks at the Race Track in Death Valley. Here however you can drive right to the rocks.
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We returned to the RV Park via Hwy 95 about 4:30 PM. A long hard day but tomorrow we will start where we ended today.
