Death Valley has been on my all time wish list for a while, it is a contrast of differencing landscapes in one very large area, approx. 3,000 sq. miles give or take. We had booked 2 days out of our road trip to visit and had booked a motel in a small town called Bishop, which was about 1hr 30mins drive away, what we didn't expect, maybe naively was that from the park entrance to anywhere of note inside the park was about another hour (and the rest). The park really is so impressive, expansive, fascinating that it really needs a week especially if you want to photograph it properly. Ideally if you are going to do it stay in or nearby one of the parks entrances because if not there is a lot of driving for you ahead.
But this is not a post about the valley itself, this is about the abandoned town which we stumbled across. Rhyolite Ghost Town was founded in 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after prospecting was discovered nearby. As with many of the old ghost towns around Death Valley prospecting quickly dried up and everyone moved on. Rhyolite contained everything from old banks, a casino and railway but now sits in amongst dust and rubble. There is also another town nearby alas, the off road track was closed and we couldn't get to it. Maybe next time.
