Area 51

I’ve been within probably 20 miles of Area 51. I’ve camped off Hwy 375, the Extraterrestrial Highway and Hwy 95 where this picture was taken. Area 51 is Nellis and The Nevada Test Site, located about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rather than drive the 18+ miles to the unmanned gate on the road to Groom Lake, we were advised to drive eight miles from Rachel, NV to the manned back gate. It’s a bit more photogenic, but no more accessible. We were warned that fines of $600 to $6,000 were levied on trespassers. Some non-US citizens who took photos beyond the warning sign had their passports confiscated and were deported, without an opportunity to collect their belongings from their hotel room. They are now banned from the United States for life. The people who work at and guard the secrets of Area 51 are very serious. They will not even talk about their work with locals at the bar in Rachel. So don’t expect much. Just bring your sense of adventure (and humor).

BTW.. Verizon signals are strong in this area, but AT&T was non-existent. Apparently, visiting aliens appreciate “the network.”

Don’t waste your time.

The truth is out there, and I seek the truth.

Also, the “been there & done that” tee shirt would be cool.

But it was 36 miles in the wrong direction, so I did not get to go there this trip. Next time, for sure!

Very kewl, near Rhyolite, my favorite ghost town. Hummer apear from nowhere and ask you to pull over (to the side of what? theres no road.. well, where we were)

There is NOTHING out here. And that’s what makes it so interesting. The Little Ale’Inn has a perfect quirkiness.

I’ve been here twice, in 97 and 99, both times with my online Star Wars group when we had a convention in Las Vegas. We had a blast – rented two vans, grabbed Star Wars window clings that were being taken down at Taco Bell and put them on the vans (see photo), drove out to Rachel, ate at the Little A’Le’Inn, saw the mailbox and the signs and the jeep on the hill with guys and guns in it, took pictures, and then drove back to Las Vegas. The company really makes all the difference!

Arrested? How’s about detained and interrogated? “It didn’t happen.” There is no Area 51.

Keep in mind that the private, ex-military security force that guards this facility are armed with full auto weapons, among other things. If you “got in,” (unlikely), they wouldn’t shoot you, but that’s because they’d already have you on the ground with a rifle at your head until the supervisor arrived to interrogate you. Your stay would be very unpleasant, and you’d likely leave a very different way than you came. Your next adventure would be how to get back to your car on the other side of the facility, hundreds of miles away.

Besides the security guys, there are gadgets, you know, as in you are being watched even before you get to the boundaries of the facility. And the boundaries are such that you must cross them to actually see anything (unless you look from a far away mountain with powerful scopes).

This is a top secret place. You can only go there if you work there. And you would never talk about it if you did, not even to your family.

Here’s a picture of the “black mailbox” that marks one entrance to Area 51 (it is painted white now; it’s actually a local rancher’s mailbox). You can’t actually go to Area 51 (Groom Lake area). You would be intercepted by “cammo dudes”, armed camoflauge wearing guards in their white SUVs, long before you crossed the boundary. But you can go to the area next to Area 51, near Rachel Nevada. I have been down this long stretch of lonely lonely road several times. If you want to go drive a very long way through an area that is extremely wild and empty, this is it. You are as likely to meet people from other countries as you are to meet folks from the USA at the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel. They are there to see this very American, very strange little place, with photos of “alien” and experimental test aircraft on the walls (note: Groom Lake air field has been used to secretly test and develop US warplanes).

Once I used this road (Nevada Route 375) as the route for my move back to California. It was during operation Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, which is when fighter pilots from US and several other nations have “war games” out over the Bombing Range (which is in the same area as A51). One of them buzzed my U-Haul! It was very loud. I laughed my head off. It was too cool.