The journey to this location was a lesson in patience, as the drive took me about five hours round trip. However, what I thought was going to be an uneventful, long drive through the abyss became a very interesting day of exploring many locations, now made to be sufficiently post-apocalyptic by the receding water of Lake Mead.
I have been out here for many days over many months and experienced all sorts of challenging experiences, weather, sickness, frustration, and injuries. But I must say, no matter how tired I have been, or any other ailments this courier has had, every day has been blissful. Especially this one, that turned into one of the most interesting days without even planning for it.
Locations
# 64 / 260 – Devil’s Throat / cavern
# 65 – Ranger station Bravo
# 263 – The One
# 296 – Garnet
Location Details
# 64 – Devil’s Throat – This location exists in our world and is just as strange. I think Dr. Boone said it best when he referred to it as “disconcerting” – a geographical anomaly caused by the collapse of a large cave in the early 1900’s. It is about 120 feet / 36 m wide and equally deep, with a gravel bottom and no exit. In the game and in real life, it is located quite a ways east on the map, in real life more-so than in game. There is no associated cavern.
The hole continues to grow larger as the sides erode. There is a large fence surrounding it so to keep everyone safe, but the fence keeps falling in as the hole grows. Please heed all the posted warnings. I used a selfie stick to get some additional clearance, but of course, make sure your photo taking device does not go tumbling.
# 65 – Ranger station Bravo – Off of the interstate, I saw two places that perked up my curiosity as a Ranger Station Bravo possibility. The first was the Mormon Mesa VORTAC station (MMM VORTAC), which was similar in location but very small. Secondly was a set of large radio towers to the north of Highway 169, about a mile past Glendale and a few miles before the VORTAC station. These were by far the tallest radio towers I have seen thus far, and since Ranger station Bravo has similar installments, I thought it was a good match. Maybe some day I will go climb up to them.
# 263 – The One – Although I assumed I would not find an un-detonated nuclear bomb out here, I thought I would take this opportunity to share a location I did find that is suitably post-apocalyptic – the abandoned Echo Bay Marina. This marina closed in 2013 due to Lake Mead’s falling water level, and among the detritus, I found some old buoys half buried in the sand that looked like cute, tiny nuclear bombs.
This location fits in perfectly with the rest of my journey thus far. It is eerie and awesome. It is only a 15 minute round trip detour off of Nevada 167, and highly recommended.
# 296 – Garnet – Although this is a cut location from the final game, the location is based on the real world location Garnet in Arrolime, a little north of Nellis Air Force Base.
Honorable mentions – There are many other interesting, abandoned places to see while driving to Devil’s Throat. Past Echo Bay is another dilapidated marina ten miles north, Overton Marina, but it is a tad less apocalyptic-y. Still pretty interesting how you can see where the lake was, is now just an open (green!) field.
Farther past Overton is the former Mormon town of St. Thomas. When the Hoover Dam was built, the water forming Lake Mead inundated the small rivers there and flooded the town. It was underwater for decades, until recent water levels have uncovered this town’s ruins. The trail goes through the points of interest and is not too time consuming.
Although sad, it was amusing to read that the last resident of St. Thomas, a man named Hugh Lord, refused to leave until the water was swirling around his bed – prompting him to put his remaining possessions in a boat and evacuate … but not before lighting the house on fire behind him!
i imagine this is the middle finger of hugh lord
On the southern decent towards Devil’s Throat, you will drive through another ghost town called Riverside. Not too many buildings are left here, and it was comforting to see the remnants of societies everywhere I looked, a reflection in true New Vegas fashion.
ditto
The Lucky Thirty Kate 