Goldwell Open Air Museum

The Goldwell Open Air Museum is a striking outdoor sculpture park set in the high desert near the ghost town of Rhyolite Nevada.  Known for its monumental, often surreal works, the museum features a haunting, life-size ghostly interpretation of The Last Supper inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, a towering 25-foot woman built from pink cinder blocks, and a whimsical 24-foot steel prospector accompanied by his penguin companion. Set against the stark Amargosa Desert, the sculptures feel both otherworldly and deeply tied to the region’s mining past—making the Goldwell Open Air Museum anything but an average art experience. 

Ghost Rider 

Tribute to Shorty Harris

Amy walking the Medicine Wheel.

The purpose is to walk  slowly to the center while

praying or meditating for healing powers

The Last Supper 

The museum began in 1984 with the creation and installation of 

a major sculpture by Belgian artist Albert Szukalski.

To make the life size ghost figures, Szukalski wrapped live models in fabric

soaked in wet plaster and posed them as i the painting. When the plaster set, 

the model was slipped out, leaving the rigid shroud behind. 

Serving Ghost

The Pink Lady

Kilns and Mines

High in the Panamint Mountains west of Death Valley are ten remarkably preserved, 25-foot-high beehive-shaped masonry structures built in 1877 to produce charcoal for nearby Modock Mine smelter.  Workers filled he stone kilns with pion pine logs and fired them. The burning which reduced the wood to charcoal, took six to eight days. Cooling took another five days. 

Looking down on Death Valley 

Me, Amy and Larry

In 1905, Shorty Harris, one of Death Valley’s most colorful prospectors, discovered gold in the Panamint Range on the west side of Death Valley. Working with Pete Aguereberry, the strike led to the development of the Eureka Mine, one of the more productive gold mines in the region. To support mining operations, the small boomtown of Harrisburgsprang up nearby, along with the Cashier Mill, which processed ore

Another great day exploring. 

Death Valley

Death Valley lies at the transition between the arid Great Basin Desert and the Mojave Desert, protecting the northwestern corner of the Mojave and its remarkably diverse landscapes of salt flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It is the hottest, driest, and lowest national park in the United States.  At its lowest point, Badwater Basin lies 282 feet (86 m) below sea level—the lowest elevation in the country—while Mount Whitney, just 85 miles (137 km) to the west, rises to 14,505 feet (4,421 m), the highest peak in the contiguous United States.  During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several short-lived boom towns emerged as miners sought gold and silver. The only consistently profitable mineral, however, was borax, which was famously hauled out of the valley by twenty-mule teams.  

The Devil's Golf Course

Amy checking things out

Artist’s Palette is one of the most striking and colorful geological features in Death Valley. This gently sloping hillside looks as if it has been painted with broad strokes of color—soft pinks, lavenders, mint greens, yellows, rust reds, and purples. The colors come from oxidized metals in the volcanic rocks.  Iron compounds create reds, pinks, and yellows Manganese produces purples Chlorite contributes green hues

The remains of a once working Borax mine

Each team consisted of 18 mules and 2 horses, hitched in pairs to pull two massive wagons loaded with borax ore and a third wagon carrying water. The wagons were enormous—often more than 30 feet long—and the total load could exceed 36 tons. Despite extreme heat, rough desert trails, and steep mountain passes, the teams traveled up to 165 miles from Death Valley to the nearest railroad.