Category Archives: national parks

Rhyolite

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Places that you may never have heard of

I’m a dyed in the wool traveler. In my travels I sometimes run across a place that bears a “funny” name – a place that has an unfamiliar moniker.

Not long ago after taking in the scenic wonders of Death Valley National Park I pointed the rental auto towards my destination: Las Vegas

Shortly thereafter I encountered one of the places with a strange name.

I turned onto a side road and followed it a couple of miles to find a ghost town. Judging from the many weathered foundations here, Rhyolite must have been fairly active years ago.

The Overbury Bldg opened in 1905 housed offices.
The Rhyolite schoolhouse built about 1910 for 250 children
The Cook Bank was first occupied in 1907.
An artistic silhouette of miners at work

When I returned home I spent a few minutes to find out the history of Rhyolite.

The rhyolite mineral is a volcanic substance containing quartz. About 1904 rhyolite was discovered in the area and a large number of prospectors moved to the area in hopes to strike it rich. When electricity came to Rhyolite a large mill was built to mine and process the ore. But the 1907 financial panic soon affected the town, businesses and residents. The mines and mill slowed production and workers left. By 1916 the town was effectively shut down.

If you’re interested you can visit this ghost town by driving from Las Vegas to Beatty, NV and then driving on NV-374 west about four miles.

Still Interested?

Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of –

Argenta, Nevada
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming

Glacier NP

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<br /> Ahead of the Snow<br />

To the Tall Mountains of Montana


After our cross country drive to visit family in Utah and Nevada, we took a long detour north to Montana.

We were excited to take a few days to explore Glacier National Park again. Here are just a few photos that we snapped on our short visit to the park.
 



Logan Pass is near the top of Going To The Sun Road. This trail goes to Hidden Lake.


Not far from Logan Pass you can look downward into one of the many valleys. From this vantage point you can see McDonald Creek.

 



Here’s a selfie of Kris and myself taking a driving break on the snake-like Going To The Sun Road.


After descending from Logan Pass and the mountains we headed to Apgar and Lake McDonald.

 



Along its colorful shoreline, the waters of Lake McDonald are crystal clear (and cold this time of the year).


Along the western border in the Polebridge area are wide swaths of forests along the mountains.

 


Beargrass grows on the many slopes in Glacier NP.

On another pleasant sunny day we snapped a final selfie.

 

 

Although we had only a few days to experience the mountain air at Glacier, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Montana’s big sky country.

 

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Road Trip

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Loving Fall Travel

We’ve found that early fall is a good time for a vacation. Most of the summer road repair is completed, the places that we’ll visit are less crowded, gasoline prices have come down and lodging is less expensive. So it’s off we go.

We decided to skip the camping this year and instead enjoy the comfortable hotel beds at the stops along our planned itinerary. This trip is probably a 5000 mile journey, but I like driving and my wife Kris doesn’t mind filling in once in a while. She has plenty of books to read during the long hours in the car.

From our home in Grand Rapids we start with a long initial drive to Salt Lake City to visit our grandson in college. Next across the sparsely populated central Nevada to Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite to view its sweet valley and giant sequoias. It’s a short hop to Reno for a few days stay with family. Then it’s through the mountainous forest of Idaho and Montana to do some hiking in gorgeous Glacier. We’ll head south to northern Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley and then traverse the torturous Beartooth Hwy before the snow falls. Finally traveling east again we’ll hit Badlands and then head home again through South Dakota.

The car is filled with snacks and drinks for the long hours on the road. And as always I have my photo equipment ready to travel.

We’re going to place a few stickers on our car from our sister company StickItToYourCar.com

We’ll have some new photos from our travels here when we return.