Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125872
YOUR Rh yoli t e boomed just long enough (19 05·1 907) for th is ba nk to be bu ilt . Now it's a silent re minder of ephemeral pr o sp erity in the desert. house still stands t here below a water tro ugh and a pipeline made of twist-formed and riveted w ater pipe. I awoke during the night to the pattering of rain o n the roof of the cam pe r van. No matter. Any desert rider knows that rain makes For better co hesion of t he soil and affords you super riding. I've found that if you want to investigate the o ld min ing areas t he U.S . Governmen t geological maps are m uch better than the tried and true topo maps. T he geo maps show eve ry road, most trails an d the si te of every mine. To get t he most ou t of your trail ride , pack the appropriate charts . F irst s to p tha t day was the aban do ne d m ine ca lle d Gold Bar . T he re ar e mo re t han ten dee p shafts around there so we were very ca reful w here we rode . From th e top o f the steep road at Gold Bar we loo ked down o n the A margosa Desert, a reall y beautiful sigh t with ' th e s p 10 t c h e s of sun fil tering down to th e d esert tt oo r through th e clou ds . Next. we rod e around the mo unt ain below Go ld Bar, across Sar co batu s Flat to Currie Well (see map) . Once again we fou nd so me of that ol d sty le rive ted pipe. I do n't kn o w wh en th a t we ll was first dug, bu t o ne thing I do know is that the new er, wel de d p ipe, wh ich is so common to da y has been in use for quite of t he railroad line . It was ab andoned for good in 1940. We rode d own the roadbed, but were very careful not to get tra p ped in the few hazards left by the tearing up of the railroad hardware when the lin e was abandoned. Those hazards can kinda sneak up on you. They exist in the form of gaps left when the trestles over the DEALER IS SOLD OUT OF CYCLE NEWS, & sandwashes were rem o ve d . You can be zipp ing along the smooth roa dbed and suddenly, there it is. a great big hole where on ce a bridge crossed a sma ll canyon. Gotta watch w here you're rid in g! Riding the ghost railroad bed, skirti ng t he wash es, brough t us to Rh yolite. In t he tow n . besides the "finest railroad dep o t west of Chic ago, " are so me ol d, fa llen -down adobes and the skeleto ns of co ncrete build ings. O n the o ld ban k b uild in g is the d at e 19 0 6. Also , since the ghost town can be reach ed by car , the re's a so uvenir- shop in a hou se made of ho tt Ies. Rh yo lit e lived and di ed in two short yea rs! Begu n after a pr ospect or made a strike at Bull fro g, the tow n had gro wing pains and wil d speculation during its qu ick life. With a population at one tim e of 7,000 an d its own stock exchange , Rh yo lite was trying its best to get into the Tonopah-Goldfield bonanza. where over a quarter -billion dollars was taken fro m the ground. some lime. Whe n we rode into town tha t Rounding t he bend in the hill by wintery morn ing the we ather had begun Currie Well, we fou nd wh at we were to turn cold. We loo ked aro und for a while and took a few pictures but we looking for : the remains of the To nopah and Tidewater Railroad. We scrambled co u ld see from the cloud build-up it was time to be gelling back to cam p. our ma chines up the embankment an d Enroute: the: few miles back to our found ourselves atop the historical camp at Buck Springs we were pelted roadbed itself. with sleet, then t he sleet turned to A little background on t he rail line snow. The snow was kinda co ld , bu t at see ms in o rde r. Like most of the thi ngs least it didn't sting lik e the sleet did arou nd the go ld fields, it didn't last when it 'hit you. Actually, it was fun long. but it di d ou tlast the big booms of and good experience fo r Larry since t his the era . was his first time to ride in a snow Const ructi on on the T & T began in storm , 1905, at th e peak of the loca l gold Back at camp we parked our fai thfu l boom. Wo rkin g its way n orth fro m ' th e Yamahas out of the weat her in th e Atchison , Tope ka and th e Sa nta Fe abandoned house by th e spring and trac ks at Ludl ow (east of Bars to w, fixed a nice ho t meal. We loaf ed an d Cali f. ), th e Tonopah an d Tidewater wat ched the turns in th e wea ther Railro ad never reac hed To no pah . Nevad a. ou ts ide t he w indows o f th e snug van . No r did it ever co nnect wi th the ocean . It wasn 't lon g until the sun o nce It passed through Bake r, Si lver Lake, again b ur s t through the clo u ds a t the S h o shon e, Death Valley Junction , eas tern ga te way to Death Valley . A Beatty and o n to R hyolite . Above fantas tic sight! Rhyolite it joi ned wit h the Bullfrog Wh at 'd we do ? Well, since we 'd on ly Line for co n nections as fa r as Goldfield . That 's as far as it eve r got. This last cove red a fraction of th e ghost rai lroad, sec tion was the one we rode o ur first we did what any r e d-b looded ay out from cam p. motorcyclist would do. We went riding T he fltlo d of 1.938 ' spe lled .rhe end. • ", ''''~ . of course ! , • • YOU HAD TO DRIVE ALL OVER TOWN TO GET YOUR COPY, FILL OUT THIS BLANK AND SEND IT TO OS. Please send my dealer more copies of Cycle News each week. Dealer's name ............................••. •••... Address ........................................•........ ~it~ . z·1P State . Phone ..................................................... Mail to: CYCLE NEWS P.O. Box 498 Long Beach, CA 90801 23