♪♪♪
Seventy million acres
of wide-open possibilities.
Nevada is untouched...
♪♪♪
a place where the desert comes to life.
The ground holds the history,
and nature perseveres.
♪♪♪
"I've been camping all my life,
"and these are the kind of places
"where I feel free and feel like a whole person.
"This is where I feel at home."
I get a ride with Nevada's most notorious
outdoorsman, Jim Boone.
"They discovered gold,
"and hence the name became Gold Point
"which is what we live with now."
I stop at Gold Point
for one-of-a-kind mining history.
"It was meant to look like a watchtower,
"a wonderful watchtower
"looking out over this valley."
In Austin I explore the history
behind Stokes Castle.
"All right, so we're gonna race.
-We're gonna race, and you're gonna go down.
-Drake, you know I like you,
"but you're talking smack.
"I'm gonna have to put you in your place.
-We'll see."
And I get some air at the Nellis Dunes.
♪♪♪
"Pretty spectacular, isn't it?
"Nevada is like that."
♪♪♪
I'm John Burke.
Join me as I explore the seventh-largest
state in the nation
here on Outdoor Nevada.
♪♪♪
Any visitor to Nevada will quickly find
that one of the state's greatest treasures
is its people and today I found a gem
in Jim Boone, an ecologist who knows
all of Las Vegas' nature secrets.
(John Burke) Nevada's favorite son. Jim, good seeing you.
-It's nice to meet you too, John,
and what a great place to do it.
-Yeah, no kidding.
If I described you as an outdoorsman
and an environmentalist, would that be accurate?
(Jim Boone) Yeah, it would be. I spend most of my time
these days working on protecting the landscape,
both to keep it open for recreation
so we can continue to go out here
and also keep it safe for the plants
and animals that live here.
-And you're very successful at that.
Give me some of the places you've worked on,
where you've succeeded at that.
-Well, we helped get Basin and Range
National Monument established.
We helped get Gold Butte
National Monument established.
And I've been very active on the mining claim
marker project too where we're taking down
old historic markers that are trapping
and killing birds out here.
-Why do you love it so much?
You take it to the next level of action.
How come?
-You know, I've been camping all my life,
and these are the kind of places
where I feel free and feel like a whole person.
This is where I feel at home.
In 2002 Jim started BirdAndHike.com,
a passion-driven website that details
all the hikes around Las Vegas
and gives tips on how to optimize birdwatching
and hiking experiences in the area.
What are we going to see today?
-We're going to start here at Pahranagat
headquarters, and then we're going
to drive out into the Desert National
Wildlife Refuge, a big wild country,
and hopefully see some petroglyphs
and those spectacular sand dunes out there.
-I'm excited. I got this feeling
like it's going to be a great day.
Shall we go take a look? -Let's do it.
-Are you driving? -I am.
-Let's go. -All right.
At Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge,
9.2 miles of hiking trails cross over meadows,
marshes, lakes, streams and desert habitat,
and 264 bird species have been recorded here.
That's half of all birds documented
in the entire state of Nevada.
Well, I gotta say, Jim, that I find this
to be kind of unusual out here to see this.
What do we know about this?
-It turns out we don't know a whole lot.
We think it was probably built about 1870,
but just not a whole lot of information about why.
The place, the exact site seems to be
confusing to people, to historians.
-How would the role of the Southern Paiutes
or the Native Americans in this area
play into this building?
-Well, the stones that were used to build it
have petroglyphs on them so the native people
would have been doing something
like sitting up on the hill behind us
and maybe watching for deer or something
coming down to the water
and just maybe doodling in their spare time.
It's hard to say.
But making petroglyphs on small rocks,
and then people came and gathered the rocks
and built them into this building.
Though it may not offer the comforts
that appeal to you and me,
this modest home has become
a critical environment for local bats.
♪♪♪
A short hike off of Alamo Road
brings us to something pretty special.
What is it?
-These are some really old petroglyphs here
we can see on the rock walls behind us.
-Now, who would have put these here and when?
-The Southern Paiute people or perhaps
the people that lived here before them
because we can tell these are old
because they're all abstract designs.
On these we don't see any bighorn sheep
or representations of people.
That tells us this is some pretty old artwork.
-Impossible to answer, I know,
but I'm going to ask you anyway,
what do you think it says?
-Yes indeed, impossible to answer
because we weren't part of that culture.
But we can look at some things,
for instance back here we see
a lot of dots on the rocks.
This suggests to me that somebody
was counting something and it's the longest
nights of the year, shortest days,
and the Sun is low on the horizon.
These dots with that shadow cast across,
that could actually be a solstice calendar.
We might have to come back on December 21
and see where that shadow lies
relative to those dots.
-I'm struck by how you're able to read the land.
It talks to you like a book,
and I don't have that talent.
How many hikes have you taken in your life?
-You know, that's like asking
how many is infinity.
(laughter)
-People look at me and they say
you've hiked everywhere, haven't you?
And I say no, there's one more ridge,
there's one more wash.
I haven't been up every one.
That's an infinite number of places here,
and you look in every one
and you're going to find something exciting.
With a Ph.D in ecology
and a lifetime spent in the outdoors,
Jim has some of the richest knowledge
of Nevada lands.
Ask him about flora and fauna,
geology or anything outdoors,
and Jim likely has the answer.
There's nothing I like more
than an interesting landscape in Nevada,
and this certainly has that.
Tell me about these sand dunes here
because you don't see that very often.
-Well, certainly not in this part of the world.
These sand dunes are probably
100 to 120 feet high back here,
and the sand comes from this big open
expanse out here, this big dry lake.
Prevailing winds blow it this way,
the winds hit up against the mountains
and drop their load of sand.
The wind keeps going,
and the sand dunes build here.
-How long has the dry lake bed been there?
-It's hard to say how long it's been dry.
We know that about 10,000 years ago
when people first came, it would have been a lake
with reeds and tules and ducks and everything
you'd expect to find around a lake.
-One thing you notice out here
besides how quiet it is, there's not too many
roads out here. -No, there's not.
In fact, this is the largest
roadless area in the Lower 48.
These sand dunes spread over 15,600 square miles
within the Desert National Wildlife
Refuge's 1.65 million acres of land.
You're a man who knows about the outdoors,
who certainly knows about Nevada.
One of the challenges I have in my job
is to explain to people how beautiful it is
in a place like this.
How do you describe this?
Can you help me with that?
-You know, that's a big question.
It's hard to say.
You have to come here
and see it to understand it.
But what do I feel? I feel at home.
I feel like this is where I belong.
This is peace and quiet,
and this is where my brain slows down.
I feel calm and content out here.
-I gotta say, I know you had to take a day
out of your life to spend it with me
but I have really benefited from this,
and I hope the audience does as well.
So Jim, thank you so much for this,
and I appreciate it. -Thanks for having me,
and thanks for your interest
in our public lands.
People like Jim spend years of their lives
preserving the most precious landscapes
and life forms of Nevada.
Their endless dedication makes the state
the treasure we know today.
Although these sand dunes have been in motion
for thousands of years, they've left this land
relatively unchanged, and that's in part
because of guys like Jim, a true Nevadan
who knows all the great hiking spots
and cares deeply about this land.
♪♪♪
The Silver State is full of mining history
and old ghost towns in the middle
of absolutely nowhere, but today I think
I found something a little different.
Welcome to Gold Point, Nevada,
population five, or maybe six,
depending on who's in town that day.
This place is like a living museum,
and if you're feeling it,
you can even stay here overnight.
About 180 miles away from Las Vegas
and frozen a half a century in the past,
this defunct mining town may be
tapped out of gold ore, but it's still producing
incredible memories to this day.
Walt, how are you? -Great, John.
How are you doing? -Good, good to see you.
-Yeah.
-I got a thousand questions for you.
-One at a time, though.
-All right, it all begins here.
When was this town founded?
When did this all begin?
(Walter Kremin) This started back in 1868
when it was called Lime Point originally
where they used to come up here.
That hill over there was a lime deposit,
and that's how it got its name,
by people coming up here doing prospecting.
Then in '08 they came up here
and found silver, hornsilver,
and renamed the town Hornsilver.
"Hornsilver" is an informal name
for silver chloride that's been exposed
to desert air and polished by the elements.
The resulting patina is said to resemble
the color of a cow's horn,
thus the name "hornsilver."
In the late '20s,
in '28 they discovered gold,
and hence the name became Gold Point
which is what we live with now.
-And back in the day at its height,
how many people were here?
-As many as coming and going 1,200,
mostly around the 800 level
during the heyday of the town.
Unfortunately mining is a boom
or bust industry, and Gold Point
eventually hit hard times.
But in the late 1970s,
Walt and his partners stepped in.
What are you trying to do out here?
-We're trying to make it something
that people can come up and enjoy
and get a feel of what it was like
back in the day when people had to live
this hard life that it was up here.
-I just got here, but I can see
you're doing an awesome job.
What is this building behind us?
-This one is the post office right here
which also has an adjoining residence
next to it which we've made
into part of our bed and breakfast.
The post office has been closed since 1964.
Ora Mae, which was the post mistress,
lived on here until the '80s.
When she passed away
is when we acquired the building.
-And it's like a time capsule.
You're maintaining it but nothing has changed.
-Nothing. In fact, I keep
some of the buildings exactly like that.
I haven't even removed or put anything
in there for 35 years.
-You're really preserving it.
-Yeah, absolutely.
We left all the dust from the '70s in there.
But Walt isn't just saving
on housecleaning bills,
he's capturing a remarkable slice
of American history.
You're looking at the Ohio Mine
which was closed in the late '30s
just before the war for the war effort.
The Ohio Mine wasn't the only gold mine
that closed for World War II.
In 1942 the War Production Board
issued Order No. 208
deeming gold mining "inessential."
After that all the mines shut down,
and the miners went to war.
How deep does this mine go?
-About 1,000 feet.
-It looks like it's in great condition.
Did you fix it up or was it like that?
-No, it was like that, and pretty much
what you see there is the way it's stayed
since they removed the equipment in the '60s.
The only thing that changes it
is the panels start disappearing
because the wind takes them.
The mine reopened on a smaller scale
after the war but in the 1960s,
a cave-in closed the Dunfee Shaft for good.
Since then the town has been
pretty much frozen in time.
I think American history really never dies,
and when you've got a curator,
somebody that knows it and can show it in 3D,
it's a whole new experience.
When people stay here,
where do they stay in town?
-We have the bed and breakfast,
and that would be the rooms that we have
which are eight, and they go anywhere
from renting a whole house to a cabin that suits two.
We have the dry camping
which people put up tents for that matter,
and then we also have the trailer park.
-And where do they eat?
-They eat right by the saloon there;
we have a full kitchen.
-A saloon? Now you're talking my language.
Can we go take a look at that?
-Absolutely. Let's do it.
At its peak Gold Point boasted 13 saloons.
After all, mining is a thirsty business.
But now the town only has one,
so a Gold Point pub crawl starts and ends right here.
So Walt, this is the saloon.
I'm guessing this is the big gathering place.
-Yeah, it's the focal point of the whole town.
It's nice especially when evenings
cool off a little bit.
We start a fire and in the morning
when we have breakfast, it's nice and welcoming
especially if you're camping.
-What would you say is the busiest time for you?
-Spring and fall.
Usually spring is the best time I think
because people love that freshness
and the earth hasn't had a chance to warm up.
As it warms up during the summer,
it retains a lot of that heat,
and spring is usually so much more refreshing.
-I gotta tell you, this place has character
and I think you're a character
in the best way. -Yeah, thank you.
-I don't know how many people come here,
but it's not enough.
Everybody should come here, meet you,
get a drink and spend the night
and get some mining history.
Thank you for this day. -Thanks for being here.
You have a good trip back.
No matter what time of year,
Gold Point is a refreshing way
to slip out of the present
and into Nevada's mining history.
I guess it seems this little town
is frozen in time and I suppose
that's probably true,
and that's why people come here.
But that's not the end of the story.
See, Walt has big plans.
It turns out he wants to build a mining museum
right here at the end of Main Street.
Until then come on out to Gold Point.
You look like the kind of folks
that fit right in.
♪♪♪
On the Loneliest Highway in America,
Austin hold on to the memories of times past.
Founded in 1862, the mining town
was once the second-largest city
in the state, but that's not all.
This little town keeps something else
to be remembered by:
A western castle you gotta see to believe.
Robyn, how are you doing?
-I'm doing fantastic. How are you?
-Come on, look where we are.
-I know, it's wonderful up here.
Thanks for coming up and sharing
this Saturday morning with us.
-You're really passionate about this area.
-Yes, I'm very passionate about Austin.
-And you just got here, right?
(Robyn Veach) I just got here. April 7 I drove
through Austin for the first time,
and that was this year.
-Now you're working for the Chamber of Commerce.
-Working for the Chamber
and keeper of the keys to this castle.
I bought a home, buying a business,
and I just love to share how amazing
and quirky wonderful this place is.
The 1860 silver rush brought venturers
of all kinds to Austin, including one prospector
who would unknowingly give the town
its most noteworthy feature.
His name was Anson Phelps Stokes.
Anson Stokes was a mogul: A banking mogul,
a mining mogul and a railroad mogul.
In the 1890s, that's what was
happening out here was banking,
mining and railroads.
There was a project he was working on
that ended up being the Central Nevada Railway.
He saw this location and there were mines
on the property and mining equipment,
and he bought it.
-He had a little bit of money?
-He had a lot of money.
When he passed away in 1913,
his estimated net worth was about $20 million.
-Yeah, that would do it. -That would do it.
-So he comes out here, he's figuring,
I'm thinking, maybe a summer home?
-Yes, this was meant to be a summer home.
He was a well traveled businessman,
had traveled through Europe,
and outside of Rome he had seen
a castle that he loved so when he landed here,
he could build whatever he wanted
so he built this castle,
which they referred to as the "Tower."
They did not call it a castle.
It had a battlement on the third floor,
on the roof level, so it was meant
to look like a watchtower,
a wonderful watchtower
looking out over this valley
and watching everything below it.
In between each hand-hewn stone,
a layer of clay mortar and wedged rocks
have held this structure together
for over a century.
It took about a year and a half
for the Tower or the castle to be built.
It was done all by local miners and craftsmen.
The granite is native to the area,
so as they mined out these stones and rocks,
they could use them for the castle.
-You said it's three levels,
and then there's these beams coming out.
-Yes, these are the balconies.
This was an opulent palace.
It had balconies that could look out
over the valley.
It had plate-glass windows and fireplaces
and the fanciest indoor plumbing for the day.
-How many bedrooms?
How many kids did he and his wife have?
-He ended up having nine children
with his wife together.
We believe at the age they traveled here
and were here for that one summer,
there were a few children that traveled with them
and that was it, two to three.
The Stokes laid their roots in New York City
where Anson ran multiple prospering businesses
in mining, banking and even real estate.
At the time Austin seemed to give
the Stokes family a much-needed escape.
Oh, my gosh, I'm seeing it. I'm seeing Italy.
-Can't you picture it? -Yes.
-It was very Italian, very opulent.
If you imagine this building
with the fresh plaster walls
and possibly wallpaper, they were not camping.
This was a vacation home for a very wealthy family
in the 1890s.
-We're talking candelabras...
-We're talking rugs and furniture,
tapestries and china and silver.
All of that was here.
-And I could see where the stairs went,
so there were three levels.
-Three levels, very Victorian
with the 12-foot ceilings.
You can imagine what it looked like in the 1800s.
-And three fireplaces?
-There were three fireplaces,
so we're on the lower level.
This would have been the first floor,
and it would have the kitchen and dining area.
The second floor would have most likely
been the parlor and the gathering area,
and the third floor would be two bedrooms.
Each of the second and third floor
had a balcony and plate-glass windows
that you could go out and enjoy
the Reese River Valley view.
-If these walls could talk, what would they say?
-Oh, gosh, they'd talk of an amazing spot
and a home that wasn't lived in
or loved enough, I think.
It was too short-lived, I believe,
for as beautiful as I imagine it was.
-It certainly deserved a little bit more.
-I think it did.
The Stokes family spent a full month
in the castle in the summer of 1897.
They came back for a few days in October
of the same year and made their final
visit in the summer of 1898
when they sold all their property in town.
Robyn, thank you for everything
you're doing for Austin, for Nevada
and for taking me out here today.
-Thanks for coming to visit us.
To call it a short-lived vacation home
barely scratches the surface of what
Stokes Castle represents to this community,
a time stamp of its history
and the pride of the town.
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Stokes Castle, a perfect example
of Nevada history standing tall,
waiting for you to come and see it for yourself.
♪♪♪
When the world tells you
there's some place you aren't meant
to drive, a high-torque,
adrenaline-fueled buggy says
"try me."
Look behind me through the haze and dust,
and you might see Las Vegas.
Now, on the outskirts of Las Vegas
is Nellis Air Force Base.
Out here there's not much,
but you know the people in Nevada,
they usually do something with that land,
wondering why nothing's going on.
Oh, but there is.
It's called Sunbuggy, and this is my guy Drake.
How are you doing, pal? -How's it going?
-Good. How many of these buggies have you got?
-We've got 90.
-And then you've got ATVs?
-Oh, yeah. We've got roughly 50.
Today I'm on the north side of town
for a high-octane adventure.
Drake will be my guide over the dunes today
and maybe even some good-natured competition.
He's a Vegas native
whose father was once a pilot
in the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
Needless to say, speed runs in this guy's blood.
What are the ages that can come out here?
(Drake Hickey) We've got kids as young as four years old
or as old as 90-plus. -No kidding!
How many people can go out at one time?
-At one time we can have nine buggies
with between four and two people per buggy.
-Okay, tell me about your courses.
You have different kinds of courses?
-We can do Nellis, which is a slower pace.
We're still going over the dunes
and it's more sand.
Then we also have the Baja Chase.
On that I go as fast as I can
and you guys try to catch up,
but it's kind of hard.
-Oh, that sounds like a challenge,
but we'll get to that in a second.
How long are these courses?
-We have a 30-minute and an hour.
-And you also have an evening ride.
-Yes, at 7 p.m. where we put some lights on here
and you can follow us through the dark.
-Dude, that's insane! Is it all year?
-All year-round, 365 days.
-What about conditions,
like today it's a little breezy.
Is that going to slow you down any?
-The wind has no effect on the engines.
Buggies rose in popularity in the '60s
after the introduction of the Meyers Manx.
Air-cooled engines and wide tires
make them fast, stable and able to rip across
all kinds of sandy, rough terrain.
So how does this work today between you and I?
-First we're going to get strapped up,
be nice and safe and we're just gonna hit it.
-All right, so we're gonna race?
-We're gonna race, and you're gonna go down.
-Drake, you know I like you,
but you're talking smack
I'm gonna have to put you in your place.
-We'll see, we'll see.
-Let's have at it. -All right.
Drake and I get in position for a classic
hotrod-style race, only today instead
of shredding the blacktop,
we're crashing through the sand.
Call me delusional, but I like my chances.
Here we go!
(engines roaring)
♪♪♪
Whoo! This is like fuel-injected fun
to the max out here, and here's the thing:
There's like 100 people out here,
this is the place to be,
but there's 15,000 acres of BLM land.
These tracks are endless.
I gotta go join them!
♪♪♪
When the dune buggy became popular
in the '60s, it represented
the non-conformity and free spirit
that was the signature of the decade.
Today that spirit lives on as the modern buggy
still races us into the great outdoors
towards freedom and adventure.
♪♪♪
Drake, you totally owned me on that, man.
-You almost had me but then at the end,
I got you.
-Yeah, you're being kind.
I got one more word for you:
Rematch! -Done!
♪♪♪
Support for Outdoor Nevada
comes from Jaguar Land Rover Las Vegas
and Jaguar Land Rover Reno,
inspiring the spirit of adventure
with confidence in any terrain or conditions.
Information at JLRLV.com or JLRReno.com.
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