Mina Nevada
It was a summer of 2017 when I first visited this beautiful town of Mina Nevada with couple of my friends. I immediately fell in love with it!
The vast views and magnificent Pilot mountain range is stunning! I believe this beautiful Nevada ghost town has a future. And the future might be surprisingly great! There are a lot of non believers in this town. And I understand. But I am convinced that exactly opposite of what is now considered a ghost town will this town become in the future.
Above is my most favorite photo from Mina Nevada. It really captures the moment of abandoned town with its rich history. Mining industry went through depression, people left. There was no need for railroad anymore. Railroad abandoned its properties and sold it for pennies to last people that believed in this Town. The old miner living here stayed. He still believed. But eventually he left too, leaving his old Ford diesel pick up truck behind. Anyway, that photo I made few years ago captures this perfect moment in time and gives this land of broken dreams its true character. But Mina Nevada still lives and will live in the future!
We stopped at a nearby burger place to have lunch. It was amazing! I have never ate true American burgers good like these! And my friends all agreed. It was an amazing experience to enjoy lunch with these stunning views! This is the only place you can get some food in Mina Nevada.
Mina Nevada and the look at the beautiful expansive environment this tow lies in video:
There is no grocery store and most retail spaces in Mina Nevada are empty. That’s understandable. But again, I believe this town has future and I think it will grow.
People are longing for space. They want views and nature. They want little seclusion sometimes or all the time. People want to be away from craziness of the big cities. And Mina, this charming ghost town in West Central Nevada provides all these benefits that are being just now discovered by smart people.
This picture was taken from our lunch brake when we enjoyed best burgers we ever had! Pilot Mountain Range view from local restaurant/burger place is spectacular! Mina, Nevada is truly and amazing old western mining town. And you can only imagine the life here in great old times when trains would come by and bring miners, prospectors and spectators. And they would all blend into this thriving life of a true American West.
Mina Nevada has little airport! I don’t know much about this airport but it is very cool! There is another reason to escape to Mina, NV. You’re more connected than you really think you are, even though you’re so far away from everything.
Talking about being too far from everything, is that even true? It took me 5 hours an 50 minutes to reach Mina Nevada from San Francisco Bay Area. My Neighbour in Mina visits his doctor in SF Bay Area regularly. So even though Mina is called a ghost town considered to be cut from the world and called place in the middle of nowhere, is it really? I don’t think so!
All these scattered little cute houses in Mina Nevada should be fixed and used as vacation houses. Some of them are so beautiful, interesting and mysterious! They all have stories to tell. Stories from the true American Mining West history.
Mina Nevada is magical! The views are incredible. The privacy and small town feel you get here is nowhere else to be found like it is here. It’s the ghost town like small town feel. It is awesome!!!
Mina Nevada beautiful views video: https://youtu.be/AR0s7Edbf6k
People still live in Mina, but not that many. I heard there is maybe about 300-400 people living here. Mina Nevada has its own post office and few businesses are here too.
In Mina I heard springs are beautiful. When it gets warmer and sun comes out, there are yellow beautiful flowers everywhere. Is that really true? I’ve never been in Mina in spring time, but Earl my friend and neighbour told me it is true. And I can only imagine the beauty! Maybe next spring I’ll come and visit.
Mina Nevada offers rural, forgotten beauty of a town of the old west. Something magical that used to be there but it’s long gone now. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be remembered, enjoyed and even brought back to life. The history and character this little town has is interesting and valuable. Connect that to the beautiful surroundings, nature, mountains and wast plains and you have one hell of a place to visit, enjoy and even dream to live in. I do! Even if only for few months per year!
When spring comes and snow melts from the Pilot Mountain range, the water washes down to part of Mina and creates little temporary lake. That’s why part of the Minas properties are in flood zone. I think this is kind of cool and interesting natural occurrence and it makes Mina Nevada more interesting. Maybe I should bring a canoe next time I visit Mina with my kids and go have fun on this little temporary lake.
Later in the summer this lake becomes a nice flat huge piece of ground and sand that could be used for some off road speed challenges. Or maybe not. I want you to be safe. Don’t go too fast! Just enjoy the beautiful flatness that you can go and mess up. Because when next spring comes the melted snow and coming water will flatten it perfectly once again! The beauty, power and persistence of nature!
Abandoned home sites like on the photo above in Mina Nevada are everywhere. An old miner used to live here. I never met him. But I heard stories about him. He was a hard working honest man. Long before he lived here, this property was a Southern Pacific railroad property. But after the mining industry started dying, the miners moved away and trains didn’t have customers to transport. The land was sold and now is empty with empty old house on it. The hey days of Mina Nevada are over. Or are they? I believe this little town will still see great days in the future. I’m convinced of it! Mina NV glory and it’s history will live!
Above on the photo is abandoned old Ford diesel truck. Interesting, why would the old miner leave it behind and not take it with him. I wonder what happened. That truck can tell mining stories I bet! Now it rests lonely on my large property in Mina Nevada. And I like it. It is kind of beautiful in its own way and fits there well. It’s an old abandoned American truck, sitting in old mining abandoned town! My friend suggested to use it as a shooting target. “Are you crazy?” I told him. This one will rest peacefully on my land and I won’t disturb it. It deserves some respect!
It seams like, things happened fast in Mina Nevada. Mining industry went downhill and with it its railroad station and demand for transportation. People left. Old miner left. Leaving his old truck behind. It was probably easiest thing to do. He didn’t own his land and old house. He was renting it from a local guy who bought the property for few thousand dollars. It wasn’t expensive. People were leaving Mina, NV. Town was dying. The old miner was one of the last ones to leave.
Beautiful vistas are all around Mina. Vast space and desert planes are expanding as far as eye can see. For a city living man like me it almost feels uncomfortable to see all this space. But I’m sure if I lived here for some time, all this space would become natural to me like it is for the few people that still live here.
Us humans, we were really meant to live and have lots of outdoors space to enjoy and look at. The city life is so unnatural for us. And just now I see people realizing it and moving further and further from large cities to more rural areas. And it really feels rural in here in this beautiful town of Mina, Nevada! And I love that about it!
People from the cities are buying little properties with their old mining houses on them in Mina. Why are they doing it? I heard that the main reason is recreation. They want to escape the noisy city. They want to have a little quite place for themselves. They want little unusual vacation cabin property to call weekend get away!
My Neighbour Mark just bought a lot with an old house on it right next to my property. He demolished the old house and he is building a new house now. He comes to Mina for a weekend stay and he loves it! He goes off roading and turquoise hunting. And you can tell, that he’s having time of his life when he’s there. And I understand! Because I got my little or big 🙂 piece of paradise in Mina Nevada for the same reason too!
