Being a major holiday weekend at the tail end of spring, Cindy and I have always used Memorial Day Weekend as way to kick off summer and get back up into the mountains and do some camping. Ironically, the last few years had been more of a "winter finale" than anything and unfortunately, this year was pretty much more of the same or at least, for the first part of our trip. In spite of the fact that we decided to head out into the middle of Nevada where it should have been warm, we instead found ourselves in a storm that left the desert soggy and filled with mud. Still, we were able to have a ton of fun and the rest of the weekend ended up being nice, sunny and relaxing. Here are some photos from our trip, I hope you enjoy.
It had been a while since we took Rubicat out and so, we decided to pack her up for this one.
Loaded up and ready to head out.
Now that he lives out in our neck of the woods, it was easy to meet up with Trail Bud for the caravan out.
Filling up our Rotopax for our camping trip or what some like to call, "overlanding".
Trail Bud has been seeing a bit of oil consumption on his Jeep and so he decided to add a bit of oil before heading out.
Funny how there's a Jeep on the label - almost as if Mavericks knows something we don't.
The sun left us about as soon as we hit the road and the rain started to come down.
Taking a break from along the shores of Walker Lake.
The holiday traffic getting out of town on a Friday was murder.
Looks like more rain was heading our way.
Made it to our starting point in Tonopah - time to for a drink and wait for the rest of our friends to show up.
And here they are - CHEERS!!
Having a flight with our dinner over at the Tonopah Brewing Co.
CHEERS again!
Heading back to the hotel, we saw this amazing SUV.
Stephanie and Moochie having a great time with a one armed bandit back at the hotel.
Surprisingly, Moochie doubled his money on the nickel slot and made a whole $5!
Getting ready to head out the next morning with clouds and a light rain still falling.
Off the pavement and with a little dust kicking up, maybe it won't be so bad.
I see a little bit of blue sky.
After driving over 70 miles on Nevada superhighways (dirt roads), the old ghost town of Berlin was finally in sight.
Our first stop of the day - the old mining town of Berlin.
Time to do some exploring with our first stop over at the old stamp mill.
Looking back at the old homes and valley beyond.
Tony and I giving this old Dodge truck a look to see if we could get it running again.
Taking shelter from the rain in the old machine shop.
Looking back at our Jeeps, we noticed that MTG had arrived.
Checking out some of the cool relics that have been collected and were on display in the main cabin/office.
For some reason, you can't get on the internet with this thing.
Collection of old worn out tires.
Shotgun cheese grater.
Making our way over to the Diana Mine where we had signed up to take a tour of it.
Eva, Jackson and Wendy all suited up and ready head into the Diana Mine.
Our tour guide giving us a rundown of the mine's history before going in.
Hi-ho, hi-ho...
Signs to inform you that this is in fact a safe place to be in.
Ummm, Alex, you might not want to step back.
An old compressed air drill still in place.
Dynamite!
Cool ore bucket on a ladder designed to also serve as guide rails.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Hurry up and close it up!
After our mine tour, we quickly headed up the hill to get in on the Ichthyosaur dig site tour.
Here's a life size mural of what one would have looked like.
Our tour guide showing us a model of what a shonisaurus would have looked like. This is the type of Ichthyosaur that lived in this area and it is also the largest of its kind.
Looking across the field of bones.
More pics below...
It had been a while since we took Rubicat out and so, we decided to pack her up for this one.
Loaded up and ready to head out.
Now that he lives out in our neck of the woods, it was easy to meet up with Trail Bud for the caravan out.
Filling up our Rotopax for our camping trip or what some like to call, "overlanding".
Trail Bud has been seeing a bit of oil consumption on his Jeep and so he decided to add a bit of oil before heading out.
Funny how there's a Jeep on the label - almost as if Mavericks knows something we don't.
The sun left us about as soon as we hit the road and the rain started to come down.
Taking a break from along the shores of Walker Lake.
The holiday traffic getting out of town on a Friday was murder.
Looks like more rain was heading our way.
Made it to our starting point in Tonopah - time to for a drink and wait for the rest of our friends to show up.
And here they are - CHEERS!!
Having a flight with our dinner over at the Tonopah Brewing Co.
CHEERS again!
Heading back to the hotel, we saw this amazing SUV.
Stephanie and Moochie having a great time with a one armed bandit back at the hotel.
Surprisingly, Moochie doubled his money on the nickel slot and made a whole $5!
Getting ready to head out the next morning with clouds and a light rain still falling.
Off the pavement and with a little dust kicking up, maybe it won't be so bad.
I see a little bit of blue sky.
After driving over 70 miles on Nevada superhighways (dirt roads), the old ghost town of Berlin was finally in sight.
Our first stop of the day - the old mining town of Berlin.
Time to do some exploring with our first stop over at the old stamp mill.
Looking back at the old homes and valley beyond.
Tony and I giving this old Dodge truck a look to see if we could get it running again.
Taking shelter from the rain in the old machine shop.
Looking back at our Jeeps, we noticed that MTG had arrived.
Checking out some of the cool relics that have been collected and were on display in the main cabin/office.
For some reason, you can't get on the internet with this thing.
Collection of old worn out tires.
Shotgun cheese grater.
Making our way over to the Diana Mine where we had signed up to take a tour of it.
Eva, Jackson and Wendy all suited up and ready head into the Diana Mine.
Our tour guide giving us a rundown of the mine's history before going in.
Hi-ho, hi-ho...
Signs to inform you that this is in fact a safe place to be in.
Ummm, Alex, you might not want to step back.
An old compressed air drill still in place.
Dynamite!
Cool ore bucket on a ladder designed to also serve as guide rails.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Hurry up and close it up!
After our mine tour, we quickly headed up the hill to get in on the Ichthyosaur dig site tour.
Here's a life size mural of what one would have looked like.
Our tour guide showing us a model of what a shonisaurus would have looked like. This is the type of Ichthyosaur that lived in this area and it is also the largest of its kind.
Looking across the field of bones.
More pics below...
