u/DesertRatJack

Looking west-southwest down Sear Valley from near the boundary of the Nevada National Security Site. In the middle distance is Big Dune in Amargosa Valley. Further back are the Funeral Mountains and then between them and the most distant range, the Panamint Mountains, lies Death Valley. From this vantage point, Death Valley is less than 30 miles away. The strange stick on the right of the shot is a makeshift flagpole. This site was used for desert field training some time in the late 1940s/early 1950s and there is still evidence of the temporary camp scattered around.

Crater Flat is part of the Southern Nevada Volcanic Field. In this panorama, the massive Bare Mountain range sits in the distance and the much smaller and younger volcanoes, Red Cone (left) and Black Cone (right), sit in the foreground.

Miles of beautiful desert we’ll never get to see lie beyond this gate which, you’ll notice, doesn’t even have a fence. Beyond it is Range 77A (Electronic Combat South) of the Nevada Test and Training Range. Twenty-seven miles beyond this gate lies Yucca Flat, where 1,021 nuclear tests occurred between 1951 and 1992. The gate may be unmanned, but it isn’t unmonitored, and NTTR Range Control knows when someone is coming long before they arrive. Along the hike to this gate, we saw multiple ground vibration sensors and camouflaged cameras on the ridge lines. So, take a photo, but never go past the invisible line in the sand.

On a stormy day in the desert.

This was a unique one.

Saw it hanging out under a creosote during a hike in the Cuprite Hills, Esmeralda County, Nevada today.

Looking south into Lida Valley.

Looking much better today! Thank you firefighters!

Go firefighters!!

Visible flora: Joshua Tree, California barrel cactus, Buckhorn cholla, catclaw acacia, Mojava yucca, blackbrush