Journey to Nevada's Geographic Center:
Finding the middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere
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While on a splendid journey to visit all of Nevada's Historical Markers, my fiancee Heather and I wanted to be the center of attention if only for a minute or two... literally. Obtaining the markers in Lander County allowed us for a quick diversion off of America's Loneliest Road in search of the exact geographic center of Nevada...
First, a guy starts off by heading eastward out of Austin on US 50 (AKA, "America's Loneliest Road") for about 26 miles. In about 10 miles or so, the highway crosses Big Smoky Valley, then skirts the Monitor Range at another 8 miles and cuts straight into into Monitor Valley, the valley shown here...
At around Mile 26 from Austin, a sign that reads "Belmont" will show up on your right. This my friends is the way to Nevada's Geographical Center. Now, on a map, the center is shown to be somewhere in the northern part of this valley, Monitor Valley and others who have been before say the center was said to be located at the coordinates N39° 19' 15.0" W116° 38' 18.9". Of course, as a society, we can't figure out which way is left from right, so others have argued these coordinates. New coordinates relayed from many other visitors to 'The Center' display coordinates that differ from surveyors, BLM employees and the Forest Service. Which way is left from right again??
Most people I've talked to refer to this road as "Four Wheel Drive". If that's so, I'd like to know what kind of road they've been driving on because the contrary is always a funny thing. The road to Belmont was a breeze in Heather's '02 Prius, a car that is designed for paved driving only. Even in her Prius, we gauged the road going at 30MPH, a delightful drive into the deep outback of rural Nevada. However, 4WD would be a necessity after a thunderstorm. This is no place to get stranded!
After crossing 6 cattle guards, 14.5 miles and 29 minutes later, we were there... or what looked to be there.
Although we didn't have GPS that day, we were sadly forced to go with the information I had learned before, using the map as a rough guideline. Defining something as a state's precise "geographical center", is something often debated by math experts, who usually disagree on how it's determined with a state's irregular shape. In a state like Nevada, where nothing is ever based in stone, it's easy to accept that this would be Nevada's Geographic Center.
In years passed, visitors marked the exact center by a piece of rebar and aluminum but I saw nothing of the sort that day. Only a pathetic mound of earth that sits at the corner of the Belmont Road and Forest Road 004, the road into Wallace Canyon.
We took a few moments to soak in the morning air, breathing in the quiet atmosphere and listening the sound of, nothing. Pure nothing. The middle of nowhere never seemed more beautiful...
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