Rhyolite - One of the most photographed ghost towns in the West, Rhyolite was a mining town in the early years of the 20th century. A house made of bottles (restored in 2005), the railroad depot and various concrete ruins are all that remain.
The largest ghost town near Death Valley, Rhyolite boated a population of nearly 10,000 people during its peak between 1905 & 1911. At its height, the town contained two churches, 50 saloons, 18 stores, two undertakers, 19 lodging houses, eight doctors, two dentists, stock exchange and an opera.
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge - The 24,000 acres of spring-fed wetlands and alkaline desert uplands is so unique that it is recognized as a wetland of international importance. Participants from various countries attended a convention in Ramsar, Iran in 1971, where they worked to provide a framework allowing countries to sign a treaty agreeing to voluntary international cooperation for wetland conservation. These wetland sites around the world are known as Ramsar sites and Ash Meadows was one of the first Ramsar sites in the United States. 
Its the largest remaining oasis in the Mojave Desert. Nearly 30 species of plants and animals that don't exist anyplace else on earth (referred to as endemic species). Ash Meadows has the highest concentration of endemic species in the United States. See relict species of desert fish that have existed here since mammoths drank from these very springs. Have you ever heard of fossil water? The water here is known as fossil water because it comes from melted ice from the last ice age. Devils Hole is over 500 feet deep and the bottom has never been found.
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| The tiny inch-long pupfish that live in Devils Hole exist nowhere else in the world. |
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Amargosa Pupfish - species exists only in Ash Meadows |
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