Top off your gas tank before venturing to this park. Fallon and Austin are the nearest towns to the north, about 120 miles away and Tonopah to the south is over 130 miles away. This is actually two parks in one – a mining ghost town and a fossil dig. The town has a self guided walking tour plus a ranger led mine tour and a ranger tour of the fossil shelter. Both tours have a fee in addition to the park entrance fee.
The fossil shelter is accessible but the paths that circle the fossil dig are steep and narrow in places. Most wheelchair uses will need some help. The only way to see the fossils is to go on the tour. There are two a day-one at 10:00 and one at 2:00.
The mine tour is not accessible. The old buildings and equipment can be seen from your vehicle but the signs are too small and far away from the road to be read. The terrain and loose rock in the town area makes it very hard to roll around and get closer to any of buildings.
The campground has three vault toilets that are accessible but the paths to them are steep and they all have a step up to the concrete pad that they rest on. None of the sites are handicapped accessible but the ground is fairly hard packed so rolling around is not too hard and it’s possible to get to the ends of the picnic tables.
This park was not made for large vehicles. There are several miles of one lane dirt road leading to the campground and the fossil site. The turnoff to the fossil site has a steep dip and a tight turn. We parked at the bottom and walked up but another small class C drove up without any problem.The dump station exit road is a bit steep.Some of the campground spaces are long enough for 30’ RVs but I wouldn’t recommend trying to fit a large class A into the spaces. Use caution after exiting the park and heading back to the main road. The road goes down for a long way and is surprisingly steep –downshifting is necessary.Berlin Ichthyosaur Park
38.87152, -117.5931
Sounds like it might be a good idea to take the jeep when we visit there :) I love mine towns.. grew up in one.
ReplyDeleteThe whole time that we were in this area I was wishing we had a jeep - so many dirt roads going off in the mountains! Most of the area is BLM land and boondocking opportunities are everywhere.I've marked some of the places where we stayed on the maps but it's really not necessary to have them marked -just look for a dirt road and you have a camping spot.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you grow up?
I think the maps are a great idea for your readers. I also think that it will be nice for you as you look back and read through your blog. I kept a blog on my trip, but I didn't record campgrounds, restaurants, etc., or even routes because I didn't know which way I'd be going or where I was going to wind up. I used to do these things when my Husband and I traveled, together, but it's kind of difficult when you'r solo. With a map, however, I might take more notes about where I stayed. I did always put reviews on the campground review site. When I look at pictures, I know exactly where they were taken, but if I get to go, again, I'm going to try the map thing. Is it an application or do you just get a map and mark it? Great idea. I'd love to see them throughout your blog, but I realize it's a lot of work--will look for them in the future. Very nice feature. Thanks for enjoyable reading.
ReplyDeleteJack B Nimble - thanks for the comments!
ReplyDeleteThe little state maps at the bottom of the posts are from a clip art disk that I have loaded on my computer. The location dot can be added using Paint or a photo editing program.
What I really love are the Google maps. They are easy to use and you can personalize them in so many ways. They help a lot with planning especially because we travel like you do-not knowing exactly where we're going or where we'll end up. I mark all the attractions that I think we'll be interested in seeing in each state then check to see what is along our route when we're traveling through that state.