Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada

Some years ago I loaded my car with camping gear and a week’s worth of provisions and set out on my annual solo trip to explore remote corners of the American southwest.  My objective that year was the slickrock canyon country of southern Utah, where I would spend time exploring and photographing the landscape.  From California, driving to Utah means crossing the entire state of Nevada, so I decided to take a side trip to Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park.  It’s in the middle of the state, far from any civilization.  For years I had seen it marked on maps of Nevada but I didn’t know anything about it.  Since the word Ichthyosaur was prominent in the park’s name, I had to check it out.

To get there from Reno, most people would take US Highway 50 to Nevada Route 361, then south to Nevada Route 844 and east to the park.  This keeps you on paved roads for all but the last few miles to the park. But on these kinds of trips I subscribe to the axiom, “Never take an Interstate Highway when a 2-lane road will get you there, and never take a 2-lane road when a dirt road is an option.”  So I decided to take US Highway 50 to Eastgate, then south on a dirt road to the ghost towns of Ione and Berlin, and then a couple more miles to the ichthyosaurs.  When I reached Eastgate (not a town, just a private ranch off the side of the road), I shifted my SUV into four-wheel-drive mode and headed out.  The dirt portion is about a 30 mile drive down the middle of the Ione Valley.  Don’t expect Google Maps to show you this route, you will need a good AAA paper map to find it.

It was a bright summer day and I was the only one on the dirt road.  The sagebrush was barely knee high, with clear views for 10 miles in all directions, framed by the Paradise Mountains to the west and the Shoshone Mountains to the east.  It was the classic basin-and-range topography that sprawls across most of Nevada.  Besides jackrabbits and coyotes, on occasion I would see the rare American pronghorn, often incorrectly called an antelope but really the last surviving member of an otherwise extinct artiodactyl family.

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park is home to Nevada’s state fossil, the ichthyosaur.  To get there you drive past the ghost town of Berlin, a remnant of the gold mining days of the late 1800s.  The ichthyosaurs are in a quarry on the ground, protected by a building reminiscent of the larger building at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.  When I arrived, I was the only visitor, and no one else arrived while I was there.  I spent some time talking to the single ranger on site, a younger guy who had been there just a few months.  He was promoted and transferred here to get experience in interpretation rather than the law enforcement of his previous assignment at a state recreation area.  With only a few visitors a day (and some days in winter where there are none), he doesn’t get a lot of opportunity.

 

 
 

The ichthyosaurs are a late Triassic species called Shonisaurus, named after the nearby mountains.  They are apparently the largest known species, with lengths up to 60 feet. A life-size sculpture on a wall near the building makes them look like giant Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.  There are several specimens in the quarry and numerous fragments.  It’s a rather small quarry with no excavations currently underway, and you can see it all within an hour.  After touring the site I spent the night at the nearby campground, again the only one there.  It was a dark night with an incredible view of the stars, accompanied by an occasional coyote serenade.    

If you go, do it for the total experience of the trip, not just the ichthyosaurs.  Take time to explore the Berlin ghost town and spend a night camping out.  Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park is a great place to get away from the rush of civilization and discover a bit of history and prehistory in a remote location.