Nevada is full of empty highways. You can drive slowly or fast. You can come upon a dirt road, travel it a short distance, and get out and breathe. It is quiet. You can hear every thought your mind has been trying to tell you, but you were too busy listening to other things to notice.
Along these highways, you come upon small towns. Quiet places with little economic activity. At the crossroads of US95 and State Highway 374, you come upon Beatty, Nevada. To the north on US95 is Reno, to the south is Las Vegas. The town is home to about 1,000 people, sometimes more and sometimes less, depending on mining activity in the area.
There are several motels in the area. Beatty is only seven miles from the east entrance of Death Valley National Park.
Precipitation is only about 6 inches (152 mm) a year. You will not find many trees outside of town.
In town, you will find cottonwood trees everywhere. Beatty is located in the Amargosa River Watershed. The river runs through the middle of town. The river begins above the mountains surrounding the area and flows southward until it turns west into the southern part of Death Valley, eventually ending at Badwater.
There are no fast food chains here. But they do have Mel’s Diner.
The place is open only till 1 PM. This image was captured through the window.
Beatty is not pretentious.
And there are shopping opportunities.
These images were captured with the Nikon FM3a, with either the Nikkor 50mm 1:1.2 or the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 28mm 1:2.8 Lens attached. I developed the film in HC-110(B) for 4 minutes @20 °C. I scanned the film with the PrimeFilmXEs using VueScan.
Steven Lawrence Pictures 