5 Photo Spots at the Rhyolite Ghost Town you shouldn't miss
A road trip led me to Rhyolite, Nevada, a ghost town where a gold rush boom quickly turned to bust, leaving behind fascinating ruins and great photo opportunities.
Located in the Bullfrog Hills near Beatty, roughly 2.5 hours from Las Vegas, Rhyolite is one of the most famous and photogenic ghost towns you'll find near Death Valley. In this blog post, I'll share the best spots to capture images in Rhyolite and a few things to pay attention to when planning your photo trip to the Rhyolite Ghost Town.
- Things to know before you visit Rhyolite, Nevada
- Things to photography in Rhyolite, Nevada
- Beyond the Lens: Interesting Facts about Rhyolite, NV
- The verdict: Is Rhyolite worth a visit?
Things to know before you visit Rhyolite, Nevada
As Rhyolite is a Ghost Town in the Desert, do not expect any amenities there. You’re going to visit an abandoned place without snack bars and toilet facilities. But do expect to encounter rattlesnakes. So watch your step and mind that when I visited, there was no cell phone coverage there!
Where is Rhyolite, Nevada?
If you're planning a trip to Death Valley or to spend a few days in Las Vegas, consider adding a visit to the Rhyolite Ghost Town to your bucket list. Located approximately 2.5 hours by car from Las Vegas, this historic site offers unique photo opportunities if you seek off-the-beaten-path adventures or want to visit a film set.
To get to Rhyolite from Las Vegas:
- Take highway 95 eastbound towards Reno and Tonopah.
- In Beatty, turn left onto road 374 and turn right after 4 miles.
- Continue about 1.8 miles until you see the first photo spot, which should be Tom Kelly's Bottle House on the right side of the road
Here's the exact location of Rhyolite in Nevada.
For your convenience, here's Rhyolite on Apple Maps and on Google Maps.
What's the best time to visit Rhyolite, Nevada?
Situated next to Death Valley, Rhyolite experiences high summer temperatures that can reach more than 110 Fahrenheit during the daytime. If you intend to visit during summer, it is essential to be well-prepared. Official guidelines suggest carrying at least a gallon of water per person per day when exploring Death Valley, ensuring you stay hydrated in the desert heat.
How much is the entrance fee for Rhyolite, Nevada?
In 2015, you could visit Rhyolite freely. There was no entrance fee.
For your convenience, here's Rhyolite on Apple Maps and on Google Maps.
Things to photography in Rhyolite, Nevada
There are plenty of things to do and see in Rhyolite, Nevada, like taking stunning photos of the abandoned and decayed buildings. I recommend starting at Tom Kelly's Bottle House.
Tom Kelly’s Bottle House
In 1905, Tom Kelly settled in Rhyolite and built a house from more than 50,000 bottles collected from the 50 saloons in Rhyolite. Allegedly, he used the bottles because he couldn't find any suitable material to construct a house. The Bottle House is one of the iconic photo spots in Rhyolite.
Tom Kelly’s bottle house in Rhyolite
Abandoned Classic Car next to Tom Kelly's Bottle House
You'll also see an abandoned car next to the Bottle House that’s an awesome photo spot. I'm not good at identifying old vehicles, but please sound off in the comments if any of my readers can identify it.
Old car in Rhyolite
Once you’ve taken photos of these two photo spots in Rhyolite, Nevada, continue along the road until you read the Porter Brother’s Store. To edit this photo, I used the masking feature of Adobe Lightroom. I created a mask for the car and increased clarity, exposure and shadows of the masked area only. This helped to bring out the details of the classic car a bit more. If you’re curious, please check out my Review of Lightroom Mobile Premium and why I use it.
The Porter Brothers Store
In 1905, the Porter brothers opened a merchant store right across the street from the cook bank. In September 2014, a lightning strike hit this historic building and destroyed it almost completely. Only the stone made front facade of the store still stands.
Remains of the Porter Brother Store in Rhyolite
By this time, allegedly 5000 people lived in Rhyolite, Nevada. Even when photographing such a small building from the street level, you’ll get a perspective distortion that makes the building look like it’s falling over. I’ve compiled a list of options I use myself to fix perspective distortions on iPhone.
Opposite the Porter Brothers Store, you’ll see the most iconic building in Rhyolite, Nevada: the Cook Bank building.
The Cook Bank Building
Probably the most iconic photo spot at Rhyolite is the former cook bank building, which was one of the most modern buildings in Rhyolite. It was made of stone and had electric lights, marble stairs, and other luxuries. It’s also a film location where, e.g. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson filmed a few scenes. Read on to find out which movies were filmed at Rhyolite.
Ruins of the Cook Bank in Rhyolite
During my research, I discovered this photo of the Cook Bank Building that dates back to 1908.
Cook Bank Rhyolite 1908
Image Credit: Mark Holloway 1908; Cook Bank Building Rhyolite, Nevada; Digital Image of an analog photograph from Wikipedia; accessed May 16th, 2021; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cook_Bank_Building_1908.jpg.
The Railroad Station
The railroad depot was the first train station in Rhyolite. After Rhyolite became a ghost town, it was used as a casino in the desert that finally closed in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the house is fenced in, and all doors and windows are boarded up. I would have loved to take a peek inside!
Railroad Depot in Rhyolite, Nevada
Around 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone mine became concerned that the mine was overvalued. It became increasingly difficult and expensive to unearth the gold and silver, and by 1910, the mine operated at a loss. Only one year later, the Montgomery Shoshone mine was closed.
Due to the significant number of unemployed miners, the population of Rhyolite dropped to around 1000 within a few weeks. By 1920, the population was close to zero, and Rhyolite became one of the many ghost towns in Nevada.
This photo is actually a snapshot made using the stock camera app of iPhone. To learn which other camera apps I use for my travel photography, check my blog post about the best camera apps for iPhone.
Beyond the Lens: Interesting Facts about Rhyolite, NV
What's the population of Rhyolite?
In 2015, when I visited, the population of Rhyolite was zero. Abandonment of Rhyolite began between 1906 and 1907. By 1910, the census reported 675 inhabitants in Rhyolite, Nevada. When the last train station finally ceased operation in 1913 and electricity was turned off in 1914, only a handful of souls lived in Rhyolite. There's a legend that in 1922, a 92-year-old man still lived in Rhyolite. Only after he died in the 1920s, Rhyolite became a real ghost town.
Which movies were filmed in Rhyolite?
Rhyolite and the ruins of the former cook bank were used as a film location in a few films, most notably in “The Island” (2005), starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, and Ultraviolet (2006), starring Milla Jovovich.
You can see the remains of the Cook Bank briefly in the trailer for the film The Island at 0:33.
Check your Apple TV to watch the movie “The Island” starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson
Why is Rhyolite, Nevada, a ghost town?
Rhyolite shares the fate of many other cities of the gold rush, and went from boom to bust within a few years. As the story goes, Rhyolite was founded in 1904, when two prospectors discovered gold on a hill in Death Valley, Nevada. The hill and the entire district later became the bullfrog mining district.
Word about the gold strike got around fast. Within a few weeks, more than one thousand prospectors arrived and established many camps in the area. One of the camps grew to the city of Rhyolite.
But as soon as 1908, it was suspected that the mine was overvalued, and a mining engineer was hired to inspect it. The result was as the miners supposed. The gold mine was overvalued. This was the beginning of the end of Rhyolite.
The verdict: Is Rhyolite worth a visit?
Rhyolite Ghost Town is definitely worth visiting, especially if you're a fan of lost place or want to see a former film set. Just be prepared for the hot and dry climate in the ghost town of Rhyolite.
Another former mining town I recommend visiting is the Bodie State Historic Park or see the other ghost towns or lost places I visited and photographed with my iPhone.
