Nightingale Mining District - Nightingale Mountains

The Nightingale Mining district was located throughout the Nightingale Mountains. The Mountain Range runs North - South, and is directly East of Pyramid Lake, on the East side of Winnemucca Dry Lake, which is on Hwy 447 that will take you to Gerlach. Ruins can be found on both West and East slopes of the range. For the Western Slope Ruins, read my other trial map here.

The road up the canyon from Winnemucca Dry Lake.

The Nightingale Mining District started around 1917, and fizzled out in the mid 1950’s. They found primarily Tungsten that was used in the war effort. However, they found other trace elements, including a good amount of gold. This is one of the most “abandoned” and “left alone” sites I have seen. Many of the mines are still wide open, and I am sure they are not OSHA approved. Fun to look at, but I would not even attempt to enter some of the open mines.

This ride can be as long as you wish, with a minimum of about 20 miles. From Reno (It is possible to drive the entire thing), it is fastest to drive almost to Fernley on I-80 East. Take the Wadsworth exit for Hwy 447 North through Nixon for a total of 28 miles. You could take Pyramid Highway to Nixon, then turn left on Hwy 447 also. As you drop down the highway towards Winnemucca Dry Lake, you will cross a cattle guard and fence that is the Pyramid Lake Reservation Boundary. Directly across the cattle guard, you take a right on the dirt road and drop down toward the Lake Bed. Here is the Google Map Point for the location of the Dirt Road.. If you want a longer ride, you could start here, and it would be a 18ish miles out, so 36 miles round trip. If you decide to start here, or drive to the base of the canyon on the East side of the Dry Lake, here is the Google Map layout for the ride to the main mine site.

For the ease of having extra time to explore, I drove out to the base of the canyon on the East side of Winnemucca Dry Lake to make it a 20 mile ride. The ride up the canyon is mostly fantastic. There are a few soft sections, and a rocky section that goes up a wash, but nothing that difficult for a Gravel Bike. The climb is 6.6 miles, and there is a section of Private Land that borders the road, so please stay on the main Jeep road. Right before the top of the climb is your first mining location. A couple shafts and tailings. Slightly past this first mine site is the top of the climb. Take your first left, and follow the mountain range North for almost a mile and you will be at the main mine site. The amount of digging was amazing. There are holes in the ground big enough to drive a full sized SUV into. All that is left are just some foundations, and tons of dirt work. It is impressive to walk around and look at the amount of work that was done.

Once you are done exploring this site, jump back on the bike and follow the road North for about a mile, and it will turn left and head up to the ridge. You cross over the ridge, and the road turns north again and takes you to the most extreme site I have seen. The road is smooth the entire way, but if you don’t know this site is here, you would never have any idea it exists. It simply amazes me that people worked in conditions like this.

From this point, you would just retrace your path back to the car. But take some time, explore, but Stay Out - Stay Safe!!!!

Here is the Strava link for the ride: Nightingale Mining District with more pictures

Here is our FaceBook Link with more pics.

Once you are at the mine site, there are tons of dirt roads that go further North, further east, and Further South. So, you could do as many miles as you would ever want to.

Here is the Strava Link

Here is the Ride with GPS link

Here is the Google Map Link

Massive earth mining at the main mine site.

WHEN ACCESSING THE RIDE WITH GPS LINK BELOW, THERE IS A DROP DOWN MENU ON THE UPPER RIGHT OF THE MAP. THIS DROP DOWN MENU ALLOWS YOU TO CHANGE THE KIND OF MAP YOU ARE LOOKING AT, FROM A GOOGLE SATELLITE MAP TO A USGS TOPO MAP, AND ANY OTHER MAP IN BETWEEN. IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE GPS FILE FOR YOUR GARMIN, FEEL FREE TO E-MAIL OR CALL THE SHOP.