Lonesome Highway — Centennial Road to Beatty via Lida Valley and Bare Mountain

This route threads through some of Nevada’s least-visited high desert, picking up the old mining roads southwest of Goldfield and running through the Lida Valley past the ruins of Lida itself — a silver camp that boomed in the 1870s and left behind a handful of stone walls and a cemetery with hand-carved markers. From Lida, the route climbs into the Montezuma Range before dropping across the flats toward Bare Mountain, a geologically odd oxidized peak the color of rust that rises above the Amargosa Desert west of Beatty. The final approach to Beatty follows washes and graded mining roads that were active as recently as the 1990s. Watch for soft sand in the wash bottoms after any rain — what looks solid can swallow a tire fast.

Most of this route is passable in a stock high-clearance 4WD, but the wash crossings and rocky Montezuma climb warrant skid plates and a proper recovery kit. It’s a dry-country route — no reliable water anywhere along the way — so carry at least four gallons per person. Best run October through April when the heat is manageable; summer temps in the Amargosa Desert push above 110°F and the washes can flash without warning during monsoon season. Beatty has fuel, a couple of motels, and the Sourdough Saloon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Cell service is effectively zero between Goldfield and Beatty.