This 66-mile Nevada loop circles a volcano and dead-ends in a silver boomtown

Deep in Nevada’s Emptiest County

You can drive 66 miles through northeastern Lincoln County and pass more mule deer than cars.

The loop circles Mount Wilson through an old volcanic caldera, cuts past two reservoirs stocked with trout, and runs straight into a mining town that once outgrew every other settlement in southern Nevada.

Most of the road is gravel, and hardly anyone drives it.

The real story sits inside that town, in a courthouse that took a fortune and decades to finally pay off.

The Loop Circles Mount Wilson Itself

The Mount Wilson Backcountry Byway loops about 66 miles around the Wilson Creek Range in one of the emptiest corners of eastern Nevada.

Gravel and native dirt carry you around most of the loop, with only a short paved section near Pioche breaking up the ride. The circle starts and ends on US Highway 93, wrapping completely around Mount Wilson.

Locals named the range after Charles Wilson, an early county commissioner who worked in this part of the state.

Silver Put Pioche on the Map

Prospectors found silver near what became Pioche in 1864, and mines opened five years later in 1869. The town grew fast around them, and by 1871 Pioche had become the Lincoln County seat.

Mormon pioneers moved into the surrounding valleys during the same decade, building ranches that still stand along the route today.

Long after the mining boom faded, officials recognized the loop as a national backcountry byway, a nod to both the scenery and the history packed into these 66 miles.

Climbing Through a Dead Volcano’s Bowl

The gravel road threads through the bowl of a caldera that went quiet millions of years ago, and the plant life changes as you climb.

Piñon pine and juniper cover the lower slopes and open basins near the bottom of the loop. Higher up, aspen and ponderosa pine take over, growing thick around the peaks.

Mountain mahogany covers many of the drier ridges in between.

The road itself crosses wide basins before narrowing into canyons, so the scenery shifts every few miles.

A 60-Acre Lake Cools the Desert

Spring Valley State Park sits along the byway northeast of Pioche, built around the roughly 60-acre Eagle Valley Reservoir. Crews finished the dam in 1965, and the park opened officially four years later in 1969.

Volcanic rock in shades of light gray, pink, and white rises around the water, giving the lake a backdrop you will not find at most reservoirs.

You can pull off the byway here for a break from the gravel, or stay longer and see what the water holds.

Two Lakes Full of Trout and Bass

You can catch rainbow trout at Eagle Valley Reservoir, along with tiger trout and brown trout pulled from the same water.

Echo Canyon Reservoir, the second lake on the loop, holds rainbow trout too, plus largemouth bass and crappie. Anglers land an occasional brown trout there as well.

Both lakes sit high in the desert, boxed in by canyon walls with nothing above but open sky. Bring a rod on this drive, because you get two very different lakes in the same 66 miles.

Old Ranch Cabins Still Dot the Valley

Ranch buildings from the late 1800s still stand inside Spring Valley.

Families like the Rice and Millet ranches, along with other pioneer homesteaders, built them and left them behind. Park staff run daily operations out of the old Millet Ranch, which serves as park headquarters.

Walk the valley floor and you will pass stone cabins, wooden corrals, and rusted farm equipment scattered across the ground.

A short trail connects the Stone Cabin to the Ranch Campground, so you can see them without a long hike.

Lava Cliffs Frame a Second Reservoir

A short drive east of Pioche puts you at Echo Canyon State Park, home to a reservoir covering somewhere between 65 and 70 acres.

Crews built the dam between 1969 and 1970 to handle water storage and flood control for the area. Basalt lava cliffs rise on one side of the water, while pale ash-flow badlands stretch out on the other.

Look closely at the ground around the park and you can find veins of chalcedony, also called desert rose, scattered through the rock.

A Rim Trail Opens Up the Valley

The Ash Canyon trail runs about 2.5 miles as a loop.

You climb to the valley rim, drop down through Ash Canyon, and return to the campground along the paved road. Shorter walks near the water cut through eroded volcanic rock if a longer hike does not fit your day.

From the high points, the whole valley opens up below you. The park also has an outdoor theater and a group picnic area.

Elk and Eagles Share This High Country

Elk and mule deer browse the aspen groves and grasslands in the higher stretches of the loop. Coyotes move through the range often, and every so often a mountain lion passes through too.

Eagles and other raptors soar above the canyons and valleys, and hawks, owls, songbirds, and vultures fill out the rest of the sky.

Down in the sagebrush, cottontails and jackrabbits are common enough that you will likely spot several on the drive.

Pioche Still Stands as a Silver Town

During the silver boom, Pioche grew into the biggest settlement in southern Nevada, pulling in miners and merchants from all directions. About 900 people still call it home today.

Many of the original buildings survive, each marked with a small sign explaining its history. The Lincoln County Museum makes a good first stop if you want the background before you start walking.

From there, a self-guided walking tour links the town’s landmark buildings, so you can cover the whole downtown on foot.

A Courthouse That Cost a Fortune

Workers built Pioche’s courthouse in 1871 and 1872 on a budget of under $30,000.

Costs climbed fast once construction started, and refinancing along with years of mismanagement kept swelling the debt long after the building opened.

By the time the county finally paid it off in 1938, the total bill had reached nearly $800,000.

The building still stands today, and you can walk through it as a museum, debt long gone but the story still attached to every hallway.

An Old Tramway Still Hangs Above Town

An aerial tramway once ran above Pioche through the 1920s and into the 1930s, carrying buckets of ore from Treasure Hill down to the Godbe Mill.

Gravity did most of the work, with just a small five-horsepower motor helping the system along. Full buckets heading downhill pulled the empty ones back up, so the line kept moving without much power at all.

Rusted cable and old ore carts still hang over the hillside today, a leftover version of how the town once ran.

Visiting the Mount Wilson Backcountry Byway in Nevada

You can start the Mount Wilson Backcountry Byway in Pioche or at the Pony Springs Rest Area, about 22 miles north, and plan on two to four hours for the full 66 miles.

High-clearance vehicles handle the gravel best, and only licensed, street-legal rigs are allowed. Snow closes parts of the route in winter, and signage is thin, so bring a paper map.

Spring Valley and Echo Canyon state parks charge $5 per vehicle for day use, and Pioche has gas, food, and lodging nearby.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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