10 experiences you can only do in Nevada

There’s nothing ordinary about Nevada. With a heady mix of pioneers, cowboys, pleasure-seekers, artists and free spirits all part of its story, it’s not surprising the Silver State has plenty of personality. Whether you’re admiring art installations in mystical landscapes, roaming rickety old ghosts towns, photographing kitsch road stops or bathing in old cattle troughs, the wows keep coming in this state that doesn’t settle for the ordinary.

Steer a route just off Highway 95 to see this free and thought-provoking installation in Goldfield, a one-time boom gold mining town that’s now little more than a living ghost one. Surreal and strangely beautiful, the International Car Forest of the Last Church is a series of rusted wrecks rising out of the arid earth. Around 40 vehicles, including a school bus, are embedded in the sun-baked ground at assorted angles (some are stacked on top of each other) and point up at the big desert sky. The wrecks’ corroding metal has been spray painted with colourful murals.

If stopping to ogle oddball attractions isn’t enough for you, consider checking in to the Clown Motel. Creepy doesn’t begin to describe this eccentric motel in Tonopah that lays claim to the largest private collection of clowns (5,000 figurines and counting) and clown-related memorabilia. Pop into the lobby for a peek, browse the museum and gift shop or dare to check-in for a night or two. If you feel like you’re being watched, you probably are. All 31 colourful rooms include a few clown art pieces. If that’s not unnerving enough, the motel is right next door to the Old Tonopah Cemetery, renowned for spooky goings on.

Nevada does a great line in obscure and original museums. The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City preserves the fascinating heritage of the Boulder Branch Lane, purpose-built to transport everything needed to construct the Hoover Dam, from 1931 to the dam’s opening in 1936. Not only can you pore over well-restored railroad artefacts and equipment once used on Nevada’s train tracks, but take a ride on the original line for yourself (weekends only). On the eastern edge of Death Valley National Park, the Goldwell Open Air Museum is another unconventional arts venue that both startles and inspires. The outdoor sculpture park has various haunting works, most notably a spectral-like reimaging of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

There’s nothing better after a hot and dusty hike than a restorative soak in mineral-rich waters. Happily, the state of Nevada has more hot springs than any other. They don’t get much more scenic (or convenient) than those at Spencer Hot Springs, a series of free-to-use geothermal pools overlooking Big Smoky Valley. The spring-fed hot water is piped right into a series of tubs, two fashioned from metal cattle troughs. For a more rough-and-ready wallow go to Ruby Valley, an out-of-the-way spot south of Elko. Also known as Smith Ranch Hot Springs, you can soak in seclusion under the Ruby Mountains. Be sure to test the temperature before sliding in and adhere to Nevada’s hot spring etiquette.

A larger-than-life public artwork that blends the forms of land art and pop art, Seven Magic Mountains was created by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone. Five years in the making, it’s a feat of engineering as well as artistic triumph. Made from local boulders, stacked on top of each other and painted in varying rainbow hues, the structures were inspired hoodoos (spire-like rock formations) and are between 30 and 35-foot-tall. The sight of the day-glo columns protruding from the muted Mojave Desert with the piercing blue sky behind is dazzling. Just south of Las Vegas near Jean Dry Lake and Interstate 15, the installation is free to visit.

You’ll want to stock up on that quintessential cowboy staple beef jerky to fuel your adventures around Nevada’s epic landscapes. For an out-of-the-world snacking experience, E.T. Fresh Jerky is an essential road trip stop. Look out for the cowboy alien murals that decorate the outside of this quirky roadside shop along State Route 375 and you’ll know you’re in the right place. Set on the Extraterrestrial Highway near Area 51, it sells protein-packed “alien jerky”, along with a range of dried fruits and nuts and intergalactic themed merch. If you’re in the area after dark, then stick around for some incredible star gazing too (UFOs not guaranteed).

A teeny desert town right on the border with California, Death Valley Junction is the last place you’d expect to find an opera house. But that’s Nevada for you. The Amargosa Opera House was the singular vision of a dancer called Marta Becket who discovered an old theatre here in the Sixties. Take one of the twice daily tours to see inside the theatre that’s set within a charming Spanish Colonial Revival-style building (now also home to a hotel). Marta, who died in 2017, painted a 16^th-century audience on the walls to witness to her solo performances. She last performed here when she was 80.

The historic sites in the old mining town of Goldfield swirl with hair-raising stories from its prosperous but brutal past. None more so than Goldfield Cemetery. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, this Old West burial place – in what was once the state’s largest city but has since dwindled to a hardy few hundred – whispers with long-forgotten tales. You’ll find the oldest part of the cemetery at the back left: look out for the large white gravestones. Some carry blunt and bizarre epitaphs like “gunshot” and “Man Died Eating Library Paste” while others are poignantly unmarked.

This cheery, cigarette-toting neon cowboy has been saying howdy to gamblers and travellers crossing the border since 1952. Wendover Will was erected by the Smith family on the old Highway 40 as part of the State Line Hotel & Casino, which opened right by the Utah-Nevada border. Flickering to show his hand waving, eye winking and cigarette flicking, 1,184 feet of neon tubing went into the now iconic 63-foot-high sign. The restored cowboy is now situated in the centre of West Wendover and lights up every evening at sunset.

Get a taste of the past in Nevada’s abandoned and hauntingly beautiful old towns. Well-preserved relics of the West’s mining boom, Belmont and Rhyolite are among the 600 or so ghost towns that stud the Silver State. The latter’s beautiful old bank, jail and train station hint at the turn-of-the-20^th-century community that sprang up as prospectors came in search of fortune. While Belmont’s courthouse and mill site ruins tell of the 1860s silver town’s boom and inevitable bust. With its rusting remnants of mining machinery, Gold Butte National Monument’s namesake ghost town is another photogenic gem.