Las Vegas is more than just the epicenter of Western Civilization------it’s also the starting point for a lengthy day trip that includes three major Top Secret America sites.
This trip will take about ten to twelve hours. You should top off your car’s gas tank at every opportunity----at certain points of this trip, you’re literally over 80 miles from the nearest gas station. Your car should be in good working order, and carrying along some snacks and water would be a good idea. While this trip is through desert, that doesn’t mean the weather will always be warm. Much of this trip is at elevations of over a mile, and freezing temperatures (and even snow) are common in the winter months, so warm clothing would be a good idea if you do this trip from November through March. And be sure to observe posted speed limits in any towns you may pass through, such as Beatty and Tonopah. Speeding fines make up a substantial portion of the budget of such small towns.
With those warnings out of the way, let’s get started. From Las Vegas, take Highway 95 north from Interstate 15; this is the road to Mount Charleston. The Las Vegas housing developments eventually end and you’re in the open desert. About 65 miles north of Las Vegas, you reach the “town” of Mercury. If you take the exit off Highway 95 for Mercury, you come to the entrance for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and can go no further.
The Nevada Test Site is the most heavily-nuked piece of real estate on the planet. 126 above-ground tests were conducted here along with over 800 underground tests. Testing of actual weapons ended in 1992, but “subcritical” tests involving amounts of fissionable material too small to sustain a chain reaction are still conducted. Today, the NTS conducts open-air tests of toxic materials, disassembles atomic weapons, develops ways to clean up radioactively polluted sites and, according to a 2001 report in the New York Times, also conducts germ warfare experiments.
The NTS is larger than the state of Rhode Island and has 1100 buildings, 400 miles of paved roads, 300 miles of dirt roads, housing for 1200 employees, a hospital, a post office, a fire station, and a Nye County sheriff’s department substation (who are there mainly to arrest trespassers and haul them to the county jail). Surprisingly, the NTS also offers public tours with advance registration; complete details can be found in my book, TOP SECRET TOURISM, published by Feral House.
About 10 miles north of the NTS, you might notice some mysterious activity to the west. You’ll see a group of buildings about 5 miles away, and single- and twin-engine aircraft will be seen landing near them. Is this an adjunct facility to the Nevada Test Site? A germ warfare lab? A CIA desert training base? No, it’s actually the “town” of Crystal, NV, the buildings are brothels, and the airplanes are shuttling well-heeled customers from Las Vegas.
Another 50 miles north on Highway 95 is the town of Beatty, where gasoline, food, and lodging are available. Fifty miles north of Beatty is the semi-ghost town of Goldfield. It clings to life as the county seat of Esmeralda County, although it has no gas stations or places to eat.
Tonopah is 30 miles north of Goldfield, and has a shabby, tattered look; many of its downtown buildings and businesses are vacant and appear abandoned. Its economy is based on the boom-and-bust cycles of mining, and mining has been in a “bust” phase for several years. However, Tonopah is the county seat of Nye County, and that keeps the town barely alive. Tonopah has seen some interesting history; Howard Hughes married Jean Peters in Tonopah, and a young Jack Dempsey was the bouncer at the bar of the now-closed Mizpah Hotel.
Howard Hughes married Jean Peters in the second floor room immediately to the right of the "Enter" sign. This crumbling structure is typical of many buildings in Tonopah.
Tonopah has another distinction. Starting in the mid-1980s, its citizens became aware that something unusual was going on at the nearby Tonopah Test Range (TTR). New facilities were constructed at the base, including 54 aircraft hangers. At night, strange lights moving silently through the sky were common sights over Tonopah. And some people reported seeing strange black airplanes around dusk and dawn. But the TTR and its personnel injected some badly needed cash into the Tonopah economy, so the citizens of Tonopah kept quiet about what they were seeing.
It turned out that TTR was home to the then-secret F-117 Stealth fighter/bomber. After the F-117 was declassified in 1992, its operatons were transferred out of TTR. But Tonopah is proud of its role in the development of Stealth technology; a sculpture outside the local fire department honors Tonopah as the “home of Stealth.”
Our next stop is the TTR. Before leaving Tonopah, be sure to top off your gas tank! To reach the TTR, drive east from Tonopah on Highway 6 for about 15 miles and turn right at the TTR sign (it’s shaped like a rocket and can’t be missed). You will then travel approximately twenty miles south to a guardhouse manned 24 hours a day. Caution is required as you approach the guardhouse, as the TTR boundary is before the guardhouse and is poorly marked; it’s easy to stray across the boundary if you’re not careful. The boundary area is highly developed, and you can see numerous aircraft hangers, housing, and support buildings. The “barracks” are hotel-like and far superior to housing found on other military bases. They included soundproofing and “blackout” curtains since almost Stealth operations were conducted at might and personnel slept during the day. While TTR went into a “caretaker” status after the F-117 was declassified in 1992, there has recently been a flurry of activity, including new buildings and roads being repaved, and security has been increased. If there are any new secret aircraft now operational, odds are they are operating out of TTR.
Entrance gate to the Tonopah Test Range; note how the actual boundary extends out from the guardhouse.
Housing barracks at TTR,
The final stop on our trip is the big one, namely the legendary Area 51. Return to Highway 6 and drive east for about 30 miles to the intersection with Highway 375 (now named “the Extraterrestrial Highway”). Highway 375 is an “open range” highway, meaning it is common to see cattle wandering around in the middle of the road. You’ll drive 60 miles south on Highway 375 to the ground zero of the Area 51 phenomenon, the small town of Rachel. For most of this trip, you'll be out of range of cell phone service and reception of terrestrial radio stations will be poor. The sense of isolation can be overwhelming.
The State of Nevada got into the Area 51 craze when it christened Highway 375 "the Extraterrestrial Highway."
Even the warning signs about open range cattle grazing on Highway 375 have a UFO theme.
The town of Rachel is little more than a collection of trailers in the high desert; the permanent population hovers around 100. The main attraction in Rachel is the Little A’le’Inn. The Little A’le’Inn caters to those who come to Area 51 looking for UFOs; its walls are plastered with UFO photos and posters and it carries an extensive selection of UFO merchandise for sale. It also has a restaurant and operates the “Dreamland Resort,” a spartan motel cobbled together from trailers that provides the only accommodations in Rachel (other than camping in the open desert). The Little A’Le’Inn now has a melancholy air compared to its heyday in the 1990s; one of its co-owners died in 2003 and it now gets only a fraction of the visitors/customers it once did. While the UFO fanatics seem to be losing interest, Area 51 and Rachel still draw visitors trying to glimpse still-secret aircraft undergoing development and testing.
The so-called “Main Gate” is the most visited place on the Area 51 boundary. It is located off Highway 375 approximately 24.5 miles south of Rachel; the access road is an unmistakable long, straight gravel road leading to the west. Satellite photos indicate this road continues through Area 51 into the Nevada Test Site and eventually to Highway 95. This distance to the Area 51 border is just short of 14 miles. As you approach the border, the terrain will get hilly and you may see the glint of reflected sunlight from security vehicles. Slow down after having traveled 13 miles, as the Area 51 boundary is not blocked by a security gate and the guardhouse is not visible from outside Area 51-----it is around a bend in the road approximately a half-mile past the boundary. The actual border is well-marked by numerous warning signs, and you must not pass beyond the warnings signs under any circumstances! If you do, you will be detained by Area 51’s legendary security forced known as the “Cammo Dudes” and turned over to the Lincoln County sheriff’s department for arrest. Stop short of the border, turn around, and park well over to the side of the road so as not to block traffic.
The road to the Area 51 main gate is both long and arrow-straight!
These signs are no joke-----you will be arrested if you go past them, and the Area 51 guards are authorized to use deadly force against intruders. Be like me, and be content with photographing a "No Photography Allowed" sign.
You will be under video and human surveillance at the main gate. The Cammo Dudes (so named because of their uniforms) and their trucks (or SUVs) will be visible from the main gate. If you check them out with binoculars, you will see they are also checking you out with binoculars or a video camera. Other than the signs and Cammo Dudes, there’s not much to see from the main gate. But it’s fun to be next to a facility that, officially, doesn’t even exist.
An Area 51 "Cammo Dude" stands guard just inside the Area 51 border.
To return to Las Vegas, return to Highway 375 and take it south until it intersects with Highway 93, then follow Highway 93 south to its intersection with Interstate 15.
Comments (21)
I have been intrigued by the activities at Area 51 for some years now and am looking forward to learning more about that base and other secret installations when you appear on Coast to Coast AM. Thanks.
Posted by Michael | April 14, 2007 2:32 PM
Posted on April 14, 2007 14:32
Politics and money. Nevada has it all. Why does there half to be such a shady side to both of these endeavors. I wonder what link there is between the money and the politics.????
Posted by jeff | April 18, 2007 5:57 PM
Posted on April 18, 2007 17:57
In November 2006, I was in Western MD, Garret County near the city of Cumberland, to visit my father.
While in Garrett County, my father and I went to visit an old ghost town / abandoned mining town formerly known as Vindex, MD. We were met by armed personnel on four wheelers who told us that this was an "off limits hunting club" several thousand acres large. Shortly there after, an SUV arrived on scene with federal government plates and typical dark clothing to escort us off the property. It was at this point we realized this was not a hunting club. That even, we spoke to a few other family members about this experience, and we were informed that this was a CIA training facility. They cited several other locations in Western Maryland and bordering WV that were used by the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security to train personnel. None of these locations are "marked" federal installations either.
Posted by Chuck P | April 18, 2007 11:24 PM
Posted on April 18, 2007 23:24
i'm listening to coast to coast am right now. you gave out a web address, it lead me here. cool site. thanks for the cool pics too. j
Posted by jasommers | April 18, 2007 11:34 PM
Posted on April 18, 2007 23:34
Interesting "trip", and while I have traveled some of this trip some of it was new to me.
Do you have any information on the site that encompases the used-to-be town of Deeth ? It (town) has been completely removed. I visited this area about 2 years ago and only a few foundations & rubble are left. Prior to my last visit I was in the town when it had numerous buildings, streets, motels and even working traffic lights and oublic telephone booths. Now all gone. For what its worth I am a formar USAFSS Security Police veteran (1958-1964) Keep up the good work.
Posted by Theodore L. Gieseking | April 18, 2007 11:59 PM
Posted on April 18, 2007 23:59
Harry,
Great show on Coast to Coast.
Are you aware of the secret Aerojet facility at Garfield Flats in Mineral County, NV SE of Hawthorne. This site is completely fenced. Also another interesting site north of Warm Springs, NV just off Hwy US6.
Dean
Posted by dean | April 19, 2007 1:27 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 01:27
Hi--
I was listing to Coast to Coast when Harry Helms was on 04-18-07.
Can you help me?
For the past 6 out of 7 years I have heard extensive drilling under my home.
i live maybe less than 2 miles from Concord Naval Weapons Station in Concord,Ca. I also live close to a landfill location which i just learned . had alot of radio active material dumped there, but now no one seems to care.
I have reported the drilling 14 times to the local police and also to Homeland Security since the drilling started about 6 mnths after 9/11 and might be terrorist related.
No one has even investigated!!! Not the cops or Homeland Security. Do you have any info about this location? Sometimes I even hear train whistles! I appreciate any help you can give me. thanks
Posted by G. STAFFORD-SMITH | April 19, 2007 3:04 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 03:04
Las vegas is the "epicenter of human civilization"?? I doubt that.
Posted by Al | April 19, 2007 3:43 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 03:43
Having just listened to your appearance on the Coast-to-Coast radio show, I can offer a wealth of information for you to look through. It has actually been a source that has been extremely revealing - over time. If you have not done so, start looking through "Aviation and Space Technology" issues from 1977 onwards. We used to refer to this magazine as "Aviation Leak".
Posted by AW | April 19, 2007 6:22 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 06:22
I really enjoyed you on coast to coast last night.
you were very entertaining as well as informative. Thanks for sharing and making my worknight a fast one!! Sherri
Posted by Sherri Hannon | April 19, 2007 7:51 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 07:51
Last night on Coast to Coast you mentioned a large number of location for various secret organizations and I happen to own one that may be of use to someone interested in a 12k square foot bunker. I am not a secret squirrel. George 805-235-0692.
Posted by George Sullivan | April 19, 2007 4:27 PM
Posted on April 19, 2007 16:27
Hi Harry,
Great show last night on Coast to Coast AM.
I was windering if you have any information on the old satellite tracking station near here (Asheville, NC)known as Rosman tracking station and now PARI observitory. Now equipped with radio telescopes, ULF dishes etc.??? The story of what it has evolved into sounds a little strange to me. Search Rosman NC and hit the PARI link to see for yourself. It seems odd to me that some private individual stargazers would fork out 10 million to play with this old tracking station. After hearing last night's show it seems that it could well be the official story covering up whatever is really going on there. I'd be interested in your thoughts and it's close enough that I could go over to have a look if I knew what I was looking for.
Thanks,
Tim
Posted by Tim Galyean | April 19, 2007 7:44 PM
Posted on April 19, 2007 19:44
I would like to see more
Posted by Anonymous | April 19, 2007 11:27 PM
Posted on April 19, 2007 23:27
i caught your appearance on coast-to-coast. i live near washdc, for over 50yrs., and love spotting such places.
i know of 5 underground pentagon sites, other than the greenbriar, and other sites, if you would care to compare notes, feeel free to email me.
Posted by marc | April 19, 2007 11:30 PM
Posted on April 19, 2007 23:30
Dear Mr Helms: For those of us who are unable to read due to medical problems or blindness we would like to buy your books on audio tape. You would reach many readers who would enjoy your hard work in researching the books that you write. You speaking voice is good so make more money and read it yourself if you so do care. Many thanks to you for not forgetting an audience that is out here. Sincerely, Carolyn C. Turek
Posted by Carolyn C. Turek | April 20, 2007 8:25 PM
Posted on April 20, 2007 20:25
We stopped in Goldvein Nevada on a trip thru the area. Believe it or not, Wyatt Earp was the town marshall for a spell there ! As I recall, in it's heyday, the town had a population of something like 30,000. Being the entepreneur he was, he organized what was then the largest boxing match of its time west of the Mississppi. The gold gave out, the mines died, a fire hit, then most of the rest was washed awat in a flood of biblical proportions. Check out the remaining stone buildings & maybe the general store on the NW side of town on 95 might have the info.
Posted by marc | April 20, 2007 9:20 PM
Posted on April 20, 2007 21:20
I too, caught your appearance on Coast to Coast on Wednesday night and thought it was great. I wanted to call in but I was working and had no opportunity to do so. I live in West Virginia and I (as well as alot of local people) believe that there is a secret government site built under the FBI fingerprint center that was built here in the mid nineties. There are several reasons why I believe this. If you are intested in knowing more, please contact me.
Posted by Julie | April 21, 2007 9:52 AM
Posted on April 21, 2007 09:52
Just got your book today here in Canada!
AWESOME!!!!
Posted by Jon | April 29, 2007 8:42 PM
Posted on April 29, 2007 20:42
Harry,
During the recent show on Coast To Coast, someone called in and mentioned a secret government facility just outside Winchester VA. During the early ‘70s, I worked for the NCR Corporation in Richmond VA as a computer technician. I was called upon, as was a normal occurrence, to drive somewhere and deliver some much needed parts to a fellow technician onsite, This trip was very different! Prior to leaving Richmond I had to get driving directions since it was in a part of the country that was outside our normal area.
These directions were very different; they were delivered to our district service manager by way of hand delivery. There were two individuals that stopped by our office, both wore dark suits, they drove a very plain looking Plymouth Belvidere 4 door sedan, carrying the directions, they checked my company car and told me to follow the directions to the letter and not to memorize them. I wondered what had I gotten my self into. I got the parts, loaded them into my car and left for Winchester, about a 2 ½ hour drive from Richmond. I remember wondering, if they were that important, why they, the two agents, didn’t pick up and deliver the parts themselves? I just enjoyed the ride!
I arrived at my point of entry into what looked like a farmer’s dirt road into a small grouping of trees. Once inside the wooded area, there was a steep concrete drive to the left into a tunnel that was approximately a ¼ mile in length. The tunnel opened into a huge underground parking garage and a guard shack. I was approached by 2 guards in grey uniforms; they checked my ID against a clipboard list. My printed directions were collected along with my keys and I was told that a new set of directions would be provided upon exit. They too, checked out my company car, trunk, back seat, all of the books and parts in the trunk were checked. I was told where to park and then was lead onto a large golf type electric cart by two different guards. I sat directly behind the driver, the second guard sat behind me, I was told to only look at the red X on the back of the driver’s helmet, not to look to the right or left, up or down, just to stare at the X. We rode for what seemed to be miles through brightly lighted halls, making many turns, that by my peripheral vision seemed like they were 30 feet wide or more. I was then told to get off the cart as soon as the cart stopped and was told to follow the driver, this time on foot, through some electric swinging doors. We walked into a huge room, loaded with machines of similar type and style to those I was accustomed to, but never to this magnitude. Finally I arrived at the key to tape machine and the technician who needed the parts. He thanked me for the delivery, took the parts, I helped him install the parts, a capstan motor and pinch roller assembly. It was usually a one man job to align the channels after such a parts swap, but since I was there, I assisted in performing the alignment. We tested it with a scratch tape, verified the alignment and packed up the tools and the returned parts. All this while, must have been 45 minutes or more, the two guards were posted beside us, watching our every move. The site technician was ready to leave as well, so we both walked back out as we came in, single file, one guard followed by us technicians, followed up by the other guard. Both of us technicians were instructed to share the middle seat on the golf cart; we got the same instructions to watch the red X and not to talk. This time my seating position allowed more of my peripheral vision to take in the sheer magnitude of this operation. It was absolutely massive, hundreds of hallways and doors to rooms all along the way back to our exit.
We finally arrived at the garage. We were checked upon exit, tools, test equipment and return parts were checked. We were each given a set of directions to exit. I assume that mine were different from the other technician’s since I never saw him leave the garage with me. We left at different exits. Mine directed me to a point different than where I arrived. The directions took me out a much shorter tunnel and onto a smooth short dirt and rock road bed that when I looked in the rear view mirror, looked like a shale rock hillside with a railroad trestle style or coal mine opening built with large wooden beams, approximately 10”x10” square. The smooth dirt and rock road look like an abandoned rail bed without the tracks. It wound into a small grouping of trees and back onto a paved county road in rural VA.
Once I was back onto the 4 lane road, I glanced down onto my directions, which I had just placed on the seat beside me. The only thing on the paper was a small brownish thumb print in the lower right corner where I had held them. The hand written steps were gone. They disappeared just like the clouds, there one minute, gone the next! I still have that piece of paper, in my field tool kit, it is brownish due to age, but the thumb print is slightly visible.
Years later, I became a field instructor in our Richmond office. During a CRT terminal repair class that I was conducting, there sat the technician I had met in Winchester, years before. During out first classroom break I asked him if he could tell me anything about where we had met. He said that he only worked there a few times, each time he was given different arrival and exit points. He said it was part of the CIA, he thought that since their agents grilled new technicians and did background checks on all that worked in their facilities out of our Rockville MD office of NCR. He said it gave him the creeps to have to take a call there, you couldn’t take in your lunch, and you couldn’t smoke and was only allowed to use the restroom with a guard beside him at the urinal. It was just part of the job!
I had not thought of that trip in years till your show on Coast To Coast.
Thanks,
Ken
Durham, NC
Posted by Ken Bigley | May 10, 2007 6:34 PM
Posted on May 10, 2007 18:34
I went to Los Vegas in 2002 on Monday - the Hotel desk was selling UFO tours to Area 51 by van on UFO Highway etc...- I decided $800 dallors was too high for trip so I turned it down then - but on Wednesday I went back to sign up they said it was sold out - the place was dead nobody was there - I always was suspicious of that- I learned later watching the Area 51 DVD I have that Wednesday is the best day for sightings of UFO's there etc..it only cost me 14 bucks - but I always felt cheated somehow not going there that day - the tour only goes to the black mail box and a trailer called alien Inn etc.. I mean it's a real tourist trap I guess - but I still feel like I missed something - a person I know lives near Vegas has heard underground explosions out there where they live all the time - somethings going on out there underground for sure - your Coast 2 Coast Show was really cool
Posted by John | May 13, 2007 7:19 PM
Posted on May 13, 2007 19:19
Read through your site, Area 51 etc.; it was interesting. There is also lots of funny business abroad, like the "hush-hush" Pine Gap facility near Alice Springs in the middle of Australia. Desmond Ball has written a lot about it; it's an earth station for spy satellites. If you look it up on Wikipedia, you get lots of information including a picture of a friendly welcoming road sign like Area 51, et .
``Roger Williams, Boulder, Colo.
Posted by Roger A.C. Williams | September 8, 2007 2:11 PM
Posted on September 8, 2007 14:11