A Salty Lake And A Whole Sea Of Ammo – Hawthorne, NV
Having recovered from our escapade down the 375, we decided to head northwest and sample some of Nevada’s other side. The roads heading this way, especially the initial stretch of Hwy 6 are spectacularly isolated. They’re lonely 2-lane highways in excellent condition with less than a handful of cars travelling through each day. These are just the kind of long, desert stretches that I love and somehow, as strange as it seems, I feel totally at peace in these places. As “the beast” motors her way through the eerie landscape my thoughts wonder to the people that settled in these crazy, remote areas so long ago…so hard to understand with the luxury we live in today and yet in other ways so completely understandable. I wonder how I would have survived back then?
As you hit the Western Corridor you join the more traveled Hwy 95 and ride though patches of empty hills interspersed with small dusty towns, each as intriguing as the next. As tempting as it was to stop, our goal that day was an inviting patch of blue that I had spotted up by Hawthorne on our trusty Nevada Benchmark Map. We were headed to Walker Lake for some more boondocking and to explore a town unlike any other I’d ever seen. You see Hawthorne is a town that owes it’s history to ammo. Originally founded in 1880 as a railroad distribution point to support the active mining in the area, it was transformed into a munitions depot in 1928…and since then the town has basically blossomed and ebbed with the activities of war. The first thing you see as you enter from the south is bunkers, hundreds of them…no scratch that thousands of them, stretching line upon line across 147,000 acres (59,000 ha) of desert.
What IS this place???
Then you drive through the teeny downtown passing rows of red, white and blue stores many of which look like they stopped in time around 50 years ago. You see artistic sculptures made out of rockets (wow…unusual), pass road-signs directing vehicles with loaded arms and explosives (hmm….interesting), and read warning signs about unexploded munitions on the south side of the lake (note to self…not a good spot to boondock). Finally you break through to the other side only to be surprised by the massive blue of Walker Lake shimmering gloriously in the shadow of the surrounding mountains. The contrast of what this place is and what the lake is, is just so darn strange!
Goodness, its…well…it’s so PRETTY!
We settled into our boondocking spot and spent the next few days trying to figure all this out. Like most places you to, once you peel back the outer layers you find a whole lotta interesting stuff underneath and Hawthorne is no exception. Beyond the run-down exterior you discover a town of super-friendly folks proud of their heritage. Downtown is centered around the classic El Capitan (where you can also boondock by the way), dominated by the majestic 11,270′ Mount Grant, and hides two small (free) outstanding museums -> The Mineral County Museum and the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum. The former is a fantastic overview of the history of this area and well worth the visit while the latter is unlike any museum I’ve been to (ever). It covers the history of weapons from small arms up to fully-fledged Torpedoes and is simply put, fascinating. If ever a museum matched a place, this would be it and I don’t think you can pass through town without visiting it. I enjoyed both and if I hadn’t discovered these places by accident I would never have known they were there.
Then, there’s the little gem of the golf-course. Out here amongst all these strange bunkers, in the middle of the arid Nevada desert lies a secret which only the bold discover. Walker Lake Golf Course is probably the only golf course (in the world?) where your vehicle will be searched for ammo before entering, but once you do you’ll find a gorgeous course where the greens have been exotically described as “floating in elevated pools at each fairway’s end like green satin pillows on a velvet bed.” It’s tree-lined fairways are beautiful, almost ethereal, entirely empty and cost a pittance to play ($15 for 9 holes during the week). Who would ever have imagined?
We’ve spent several days hanging at our lakeside site and enjoying the exploration of this unusual place, but we’ve once again got the itch to move on. This time I’ve got my eye set on another intriguing piece of blue just north of here. Who knows what we’ll find up there?
What a fascinating place to find and explore. Adding it to my list.
It’s an unusual little town. Well worth the visit.
Nina
Nina…Walker lake is one of the places we like very much and stop on the way up or down. You didn’t detail your BD’ing location. We now have a bit of solar(and will add more)so we are looking forward to seeing some of your spots for ourselves. We usually stay at Whiskey Flat RV park but would really like to do more of what you do. Enjoy your trip north and hopefully we can see you guys in the summer here in Florence…Peter
I’ll be doing a full review of all three boondocking spots around Walker Lake in the next post. Hang tight 🙂
Nina
Sounds like an awesome place! I have put it on my list of places to visit. Thanks for telling about the area.
It’s definitely worth the stop. An interesting & unusual place.
Nina
We stayed at Sportsman Beach when we were there. What a gorgeous place even if the lake isn’t fit habitation for fish. Missed the golf course (but we aren’t golfers) but loved both the museums.
I drove by to check out Sportsman’s Beach and I have to agree it’s probably the nicest dry-camping in the area. Very pretty, excellent sites. That’s where we’ll stay if we come back this way.
Nina
We love your articles. We are planning to travel by RV to Idaho and Nevada in September in our 22 foot Trail Lite motor home.
Ann Cabezas Creed and Ken Creed (wish we could take our motorhome to Costa Rica and explore that tiny beautiful country but too expensive to do so. http://www.costaricalearn.com
Sounds like you’re going to have a fine trip. With your 22-footer you’ll be able to camp just about anywhere you wish.
Nina
Wow! Great find…who knew!
Definitely a bit of a surprise find for us. I’m glad we stopped.
Nina
“…the only golf course (in the world?) where your vehicle will be searched for ammo before entering…”
Is this personal ammo or ammo “found” by treasure hunters? I’m just curious as to why a town known for, and celebrating, munitions manufacturing would require such a search.
Pat
Good question Pat and I should clarify. The golf course is within the secure compound of the base (or what used to be the base), so you have to go through the front security gate before you can get in…thus the search. You can’t bring in either munitions (that aren’t pre-authorized) or alcohol.
Nina
Another interesting place nw of you is Patton Village, CA. If you look on Google Earth you can make out thousands of armored vehicles, field artillery, etc stored in the desert.
How interesting…Cheers for that tip!
Nina
Here’s more info on the place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Army_Depot
Cool stuff. Thanks!
Nina
The pumps were not working at the first service station I tried to use. I drove to the next; filled with fuel and wondered why the fill was so high. I noticed there was no inspection sticker on the pumps. Wish I would have gotten 10.00 worth of fuel to see if the pumps were calibrated correctly. The whole place was straight out The Twilight Zone for me. Happy to hear that you found some “good” in that unique area.
You know I did notice gas prices seemed abnormally high here. We haven’t filled up since we’ve been here.
Nina
i lived in hawthorne nv for approx 5 years. the fuel was always approx 60 cents more than carson city or reno. i have no idea why. i am glad that you spoke so highly of hawthorne. i loved living there. everyday was another spectacular sunset. i found it to be a jewel in the middle of no where. Happy trails, my friends!
Wonderful post, I really enjoyed this.
I recall your reply to a comment I once made, that you don’t take in many sunrises. You sure grabbed a good one here. And then the sunset in the last photo, awesome.
What a neat way to frame your story with those two photos. Smooth work.
You have a very good memory! Yes, the sunrise shot is a total rarity for me. Very unusual for me to be up that early LOL. This particular shot is a composite (mix) of 2 exposures…one for the sun/background and one for the foreground. I combined them in Photoshop. It was fun to take!
Nina
We driven past Walker Lake but never stopped. Looks like an excellent boondocking area. You always find these hidden gems!
This area is well worth the stop, even if just for a few days. I’ll be reviewing the boondocking location next.
Nina
I have recently discovered your blog and enjoy the information you provide. I see that you discovered an area where I lived and worked for a year after getting out of the Navy as an ordnancman. I lived in a one room cabin on Walker Lake and Worked security at the Hawthorne Ammunition plant. The storage sites cover 250 sq. miles as I remember. I spent many nights patrolling the desert areas and ‘shaking’ locks. Thanks for the memory jogger. This will be one place I will be taking my wife as our full time adventure begins.
How interesting that you lived here! It’s a small world when you get down to it. Thanks for sharing some of your history. Love to hear shout these connections.
Nina
In addition to the ammunition plant ‘proper’ there are areas in the desert where testing is done on various systems. I remember one unusual assignment that sent myself and another guard to stand watch in a travel trailer in the middle of a dry lake bed deep in the desert. I believe they where testing unmanned aerial vehicles as I recall. This is well before anyone was familiar with drones. That was one weird assignment.
I was raised in Reno and have learned that the Nevada desert has many strange and unusual stories. All it takes is a little exploring.
How interesting. The testing is probably also the reason most of the southern portion of the lake is barred to entry. I do so enjoy all these hidden secrets. As you said the desert always has a story to tell.
Nina
As I was reading about Walker Lake I thought it sounded familiar. Had to search on our blog and found we were there in November 2009 and stayed at Sportsman’s Beach. Not sure how we would ever remember where we’ve been without a blog!
Turns out we only spent a night there, and didn’t explore the town, so that will be for next time. Looks like an interesting place.
Jim & Gayle – Over our years of exploring, hiking and camping, we have kept online photo albums (with dates) and then Facebook (almost impossible to go back and look at the past) and now a blog. If only us and family read it – all worthwhile. I look at the blog as an online diary with photos. I have so much fun reading other blogs! Cheers
Too funny…without the blog I’d forget half of what we do too!!
Nina
Hi Folks, I just sit out here “Lurking?”..But you should visit Berlin-Ichthysaur State Park..Not sure of the spelling…I believe they have campsites,It’s been many years since I visited, but well worth visiting as you are close by. Watching you head towards my neck of the woods in Washington. Keep having fun!
David
Looks mighty interesting. It’s about 80 miles from us which is (waaay) further than we drive in a day-trip, but I’m going to keep it in mind for when we come back to Nevada. Cool tip!
Nina
Ooops I forgot..Lyrid meteor shower this week, you are in a perfect place to watch..Wish I was there..
David
Thank you for mentioning that! Yes, I think we’ll be in a good spot to catch it.
Nina
My father lived in Hawthorne years ago. I visited with my then 9 month old son, and when my dad inquired about renting a crib, someone in the store just told him to come by their house and pick up one they had, and just return it whenever we went back home. We found everyone there to be very friendly.
Traveling those long, lonely distances, I, too, wonder about the settlers traveling there, seeing that same view for weeks on end, perhaps not knowing how long it would take, and what they really would find at their destination. Also, with every step, knowing there would be no easy return trip if it didn’t work out well for them. I don’t know how they found the courage to say goodbye to their families, probably to never see them again.
Thanks for the post!
I definitely found folks to be incredibly friendly here. Had a long chat with the nice lady at the Ordnance Museum (turns out her parents were Danish) and another nice chat with the security guards by the golf course. I think there’s a real sense of community that evolves in these small towns.
Nina
Sounds like another really neat place. Adding this to my Streets and Trips file for the must see places out there.
Do watch out for the unexploded ordinance, scary!!
Thankfully our site is well away from those unexplored ordnances. I don’t think they even allow you to drive into the dangerous area. It’s a huge lake!
Nina
Nina,
Looks like you are further west than our route to Utah will take us. So maybe we’ll see you in Oregon when we get back, or perhaps later this summer up in the O.P. Safe Travels.
Sure. You know where we’ll be most of the summer with our hosting gigs.
Nina
what a gorgeous spot and great fotos…I really think you found a gem in this state that so many put down…I think it may have to be one we explore in the future and add it to a few others for a short time out…
It was indeed quite a nice, and surprising find. I think there’s alot more to NV than most folks imagine…and we’re just scratching the surface too.
Nina
I hope your still not on the shores of Walker Lake. It’s windy here in Smith Valley and I bet it’s howling there. Even your Beast might blow away 😉
We’ve moved north to Silver Springs and are settled by the lake in a more sheltered spot amongst the trees. Still pretty windy, but better than our last spot which was very exposed. We saw this storm coming on the forecast which is partly why we moved.
Nina
We love those places that have such stark contrasts, New Mexico was like that for us. Lovely boon docking spot.
Brenda
The New Mexico State Parks were outstanding too. We need to get back there sometime. Maybe next spring….
Nina
You seem to always amaze us. 🙂 (in regards to the double expose photo) We’ll see where this posts… lol ..
Notes on data coverage?
I’ve included data coverage info in my review (just posted today). Basically we had full 4G Verizon signal at our site, so all-around excellent signal.
Nina
Aliens then Ammo, what’s next Aardvarks? Great posts!
G
Love reading your blog. We’re learning a lot for when we hit the road. I’m a computer nerd so I was wondering who hosts your blog?
I’m using Dreampress (from Dreamhost.com). My blog got too big for the cheaper hosts which is why I went with the Dreampress option. So far so good. No complaints at all.
Nina
Treasure hunters should NEVER pick up objects from anywere around this area. They could be unexploded munitions. Signs are posted.
I lived in Hawthorne for four years (2002-2006) and worked at the El Cap first as a blackjack dealer and then in the cage. It is an odd place, but folks are friendly for the most part. It was perfectly safe to be out at night – I often took walks from my house to the Safeway and back for exercise. The beach at the lake always had WAAAAAY too many jumping spiders, so I didn’t spend much time there. I commend you for spend more than one day visiting as most travelers stop to gas up, eat and use the bathroom – maybe hit the slot machines for a bit and then leave.
I currently work at the Hawthorne Army Depot! Born and raised in Hawthorne and only 24 years old, I love this town. If you ever get a chance, come down on the 3rd weekend in May – ARMED FORCES DAY. It’s a party like no other. This town is America’s Patriotic Home and is proud of it! There is SO much cool history and though we are small, we are great. Thank you for talking so highly about our little square-mile of history. We do hope you stop back by!
My stepfather, CWO4 John F. Wheeler, was a Marine stationed at the Hawthorne Depot. We lived in Officer’s Quarters. On 3/22/63 my stepfather and his Sargent went fishing at Walker Lake. Their small boat and some fishing tackle was found the next day. Neither of their bodies were ever located. A funeral was held at the base after the CO declared both men dead. I have never been able to locate any other details of their deaths.
I was 5 years old when my family moved from Reno to Babbitt in February 1963. My stepfather went to work at the Army Ammunition Depot doing civilian logistics. We lived in a full duplex in the Babbitt Housing Area. I can’t remember the street we lived on but do remember a medical clinic just behind our house. It must have been close to the landfill because I remember playing there with my brother & seeing a large white painted “H” on the side of the mountains. Near our house, there were many concrete slabs where homes used to be. Our house was the last duplex on our street. We spent most of our time catching snakes, lizards & scorpions. I also remember playing on seesaws that were east of where we lived & an indoor swimming pool somewhere in Babbitt. One year, a huge sandstorm hit removing paint from vehicles & piling sand up in our yard & around doors & windows. I spent weeks shoveling sand into my radio flyer wagon & hauling it into the desert.
We would have picnics at Walker Lake & I remember turning a large rock over on the banks of the water & found a huge bullfrog. I was surprised it could survive in water that salty. I imagine the water was much less salty then than it is today. I really loved living in Babbitt.
We lived there for 4 years from ‘63 to ‘66 until my stepfather was transferred to the Defense Depot in Tracy, CA.
I have searched unsuccessfully for photos of the duplexes in Babbitt during the ‘60s.
If anyone reads this that has access or info of photos of the Babbitt Housing Area in the 1960s, please contact me. I would surely appreciate it!
Just made a res there, looking fwd to seeing the area