Practical guide
Sample Self-Drive Itineraries
Shapes for a half day, a full day, and an overnight. They are not reservations. Businesses close, Lake Mead rises, and dirt roads change. Read the linked destination page for what to verify, and the desert tips for the car.
Miles come from the drive-time table. If two famous names are far apart on that table, they do not belong in one relaxed day.
Half day
Nelson in a morning
Drive south to Nelson Ghost Town, about 45 minutes, and give the canyon a couple of hours if the mine site is open. Come back before the hottest part of a summer afternoon, or start late in the cooler months. Do not add the river unless you have already confirmed access. One stop is the plan.
Goodsprings and back
Goodsprings is the short paved option, also about 45 minutes. See the town and the cemetery, and stop at the Pioneer Saloon if it is open. You should be back with daylight to spare. This is the half day to keep when the forecast is ugly.
Full day
Rhyolite and Beatty
Leave in the morning for Rhyolite, about two hours up US-95. Walk the ruins and the Goldwell sculptures, use Beatty for fuel or food, and drive back the same way. Gold Point is not an extra stop on this day. Death Valley is a different trip.
St. Thomas, if the lake allows
Check the reservoir first. If the foundations are exposed, St. Thomas is a drive of about an hour and a quarter plus an exposed walk, and it can fill a half day or a full one depending on how long you stay out of the car. If the water is up, pick another page. The trailhead without a town is a poor use of the entrance fee.
Extraterrestrial Highway to Rachel
An Area 51 day trip is about two and a half hours each way to Rachel. Leave early, start with a full tank, and treat the town as a short stop on a public highway. The base is closed. Do not pair this with Tonopah unless you are staying overnight somewhere in between, which is a different plan.
Overnight
Tonopah and the Clown Motel
Drive to Tonopah, about three to three and a half hours, and sleep there. The cemetery is beside the motel. The mining park is a separate visit with its own hours. The next morning you are still a long way from Las Vegas, which is the reason to have stayed.
Up US-95, with Rhyolite on the way
Day one: Rhyolite in the morning, then on to Tonopah for the night. Day two: either drive home, or consider Gold Point only if you have checked the unpaved approach and you are willing to turn around. Gold Point is not a casual hour from the Clown Motel.
The full set of towns is on Ghost Towns Near Las Vegas. The two long oddities are indexed under Weird Day Trips.