Fish Lake Valley Hot Springs in Western Nevada

We are driving down Highway listening to some tunes that match the desert landscape and keeping our eye out for a small sign. The sign says Mineral Gold Ridge, we make a quick turn and make our way down a 7-mile dusty road. A beautiful western Nevada day, we find the site empty except for a water truck filling up at the other end of the lake. An observation of lake reveals a school of common Goldfish, dozens of orange and blue dragonflies buzz overhead as the wind rustles the nearby reeds. A group of ducks has made the warm lake their home. The main hot spring water is diverted into a small cement pool.

The hot springs are called Dyer / Fish Lake Valley Hot Well and are located off NV264 in the town of Dyer. This man-made hot springs pool is 7x7 and 3.5 foot and the water is heated to 105 degrees. You can also wade into the lake which is heated by the geothermal water.

Owned and maintained by Esmeralda County the park is open to the public for free camping and swimming. The county has installed a pit toilet and BBQ’s grills. Recommended by many websites sites for RV’ers; there’s a lot of room to spread out. Try a weekday to avoid the weekend crowds and be warned of the possibility of overflowing trash cans from the weekend. Be sure to pack out your trash.

If your heading towards Yosemite; check out our friends’ recommendation: Whoa Nellie Deli. We hear they make some great sandwiches.

Luv It Frozen Custard

Nestled in the old part of downtown still scattered with retro homes from the 1970's stands an unique place to get ice cream in Las Vegas. Luv-It Custard has been around since 1973. Pull up to the old blue house with bars on the windows, you will think its closed but the walk up window is on the side of the house. We ordered the special root beer custard in waffle and sugar cones. This is a great way to get off the strip and enjoy something from Vegas bygone days, also check out the nearby arts district. 

A Ride On A Steam Train

A steam train at Nevada Northern Railway Museum takes you for a 90 minutes ride up to a mine and ends near the engine house for a tour. Departing from East Ely, Nevada the train runs through two tunnels, up to a grade and towards Ruth Copper Mining District. With the choice of the open-air car behind the caboose or coach, I picked the open air car and really enjoyed the sounds of the steam engine, the ding of the railroad crossing and the whistle of the train. The train we rode was the ghost train. Its name was given to the train because in 1941 due to the need of scrap metal for the war efforts the master mechanic fearing the train would be scrapped would order the train to be hidden when war department officials came to visit. Take the tour of the engine house after the ride, our guide introduced to the engine house cats and gave us amazing facts about the repair of trains and the differences between the diesel and steam trains. I was disappointed not to be able to finish the whole tour but it gives me a reason to come back. Some of the other options you have while at the museum are sleeping in the caboose and being the engineer of the train.

Loneliest Highway in America: 50

Called the loneliest Highway in the U.S Highway 50 crosses the upper portion of the states. This is the Nevada section which offered up some obscure and surreal scenery and some great stops that includes a dune rising from the barren desert, relaxing spencer hot springs, caves that can only be accessed through a tiny door, a shoe tree, run down casinos and free camping.