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Not everything that is popular is worth the hype
Sometimes the most interesting places are precisely the ones no one talks about.
Some places live almost entirely from their reputation. They are well visited, appear in travel guides and on social media, but ultimately leave little impression.
Other locations are hardly known to the general public, but grow into unexpected highlights of a trip.
That does not mean that popular destinations are necessarily disappointing.
The Grand Canyon remains the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon remains Bryce Canyon. But during our tour, it was often the lesser-known places that reverberated the longest:
Oatman and Virginia City
Oatman and Virginia City, two tourist mining towns that are about 600 kilometers apart, one in California, the other in Nevada, are still kept alive by their past.
Oatman with its donkeys, Virginia City with its beautiful saloons, gambling joints and shops.
It is precisely this mix of reconstruction and authenticity that makes them surprisingly fascinating, even though they are super touristy.
Seligman and Kingman
Seligman, also along Route 66, receives visitors from all over the world every day — many bikers — and still has that distinctly retro Route 66 atmosphere.
The town clearly lives off heritage tourism, with its Snow Cap diner where everyone is queuing up to get a joke from the boss.
We also joined and were treated to a joke…
Kingman, further along the same route, gave us a completely different feeling.
In the sleek, historic downtown, we especially noticed the vacant buildings.
The activity seemed to have shifted completely to the modern hotel and motel area along the highway further on towards Williams.
Pioneertown
Pioneertown, on the way to Joshua Tree National Park, is highly hyped on social media.
Photos of wooden facades, western streets and an authentic cowboy setting try to make you feel like you’ve discovered a forgotten piece of Wild West.
Our experience was different.
To us, it felt like an empty western set that was once built as a film setting and exists today mainly because visitors want to experience that idea.
Ten dollars per person to be allowed to walk among the farmyard animals for twenty minutes gives a good indication of the prices aplied here.
Goffs: an unexpected discovery
We bumped into Goffs rather by chance. But it turned out to be a surprisingly interesting stop.
The site brings together and exhibits all kinds of relics and buildings from former mining and railway villages in the area, giving you a good idea of life in this remote region.
In any case, we found it much more authentic than the touristy Pioneertown.
Don’t expect souvenir shops, cafes or restaurants here, nor large flows of visitors. But that is precisely what made the place so special to us.
Forrest Gump Point
The max was Forrest Gump Point.
If you want to see tourists running for their picture in the sweltering desert, in a place where there is nothing at all, that’s the place to be.
We didn’t understand it the moment we drove past.
But if you look up why that is the case, you will find that Forrest Gump Point (on U.S. Highway 163 near Monument Valley) has become one of the most hyped photo locations of the American West on social media in recent years.
The place used to be known to film lovers because of the scene in Forrest Gump in which Forrest decides to stop walking.
Horseshoe Bend at Page, Arizona
You think you already know Horseshoe Bend in advance.
Horseshoe Bend is one of the most photographed places in America.
But it’s only when you stand on the edge and see the Colorado River make the perfect horseshoe bend hundreds of feet below that you realize how impressive the scale really is.
We were not alone here. Far from it. In fact, this was one of the busiest places of our trip. It seems as if there is a direct connection. The more photos, the more visitors. And of course… The more visitors, the more photos.
While you’re in the area, the Glen Canyon Overlook is definitely worth it.
We were lucky enough to see two Californian condors floating above the canyon. There are said to be about forty living in this region today.
In the 80s, this species was on the verge of extinction. There were 22 condors left in the whole world.
To save the species, the last animals were captured and placed in an intensive breeding program, completely separated from human contact. Then they were released back into the wild.
Today, there is again a small but stable population of about 350 to 400 condors flying around in the southwest of the United States, especially in the more remote areas.
And just there, above Glen Canyon, we were lucky enough to see two. Number P08 could even be photographed nicely.
Paradise Ranch Castle, Austin, Nevada
A castle in the middle of nowhere. So far a well-kept secret. I apologize in advance if that is no longer the case after this article.
I had chosen this place because Austin is right in the middle between Ely and Reno and because I remembered from a previous trip that the route from Ely to Reno is far too long to do in one day.
Somehow I expected it to be special, you don’t come across a castle in the desert every day, but to be honest, it has become by far one of the strangest places of the trip.
A curious mix of fantasy, architecture and eccentricity that never ceases to amaze you.
You wonder how anyone ever came up with the idea of building this castle and especially here, far from everything.
I think I know by now, but feel free to contact Mrs. Donna Sossa and stay there for a night, then you will discover it too. It’s worth it. The castle is also for sale.
The parallel road from Eastgate to Middlegate (NV-722 E) was beautiful and more than worth the small detour.
If the famous Loneliest Highway is already lonely, then this old road is even more lonely.
Emma
And honestly? Were there any things that were a bit disappointing? Read more about this in our next story.