Warm Springs, Nevada

Finding a forgotten stop in the Nevada desert has its own kind of pull. Warm Springs catches that feeling in one glance, because it is three places at once: a hot spring site, a former stage stop, and one of those ghost towns that seem stranded between centuries.

Still, set your expectations early. This is not a developed soaking spot. It is a historic roadside ruin on private property at the junction of US 6 and State Route 375, the start of the Extraterrestrial highway. That makes it an easy add-on for an alien-country road trip, if you want history with your empty desert miles.Just west across the Extraterrestrial highway from Ash Springs/Crystal Springs and Close to Area 51.

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Ash Springs / Crystal Springs, Nevada

There are stretches of US-93 in southern Nevada where the land looks half asleep, all pale dirt and blue distance, and then, almost absurdly, water appears. Ash Springs and Crystal Springs are part of that small miracle, two clear-water stops in the Pahranagat Valley near Alamo that roadtrippers and bird watchers tend to mention in the same breath.

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