I got to looking at my notes on my two spring break trips and noted with dismay that although I have had the opportunity to visit this park twice, once this year and once last year, I had yet to write about it. During spring break every year one very brave professor at our college located in Arkansas, takes a group of students out to the desert. This year we went to Nevada, California and Utah. We usually camp in the middle of the desert instead of park areas, really roughing it camping.

We are always pleased to come to this campsite, because for one it has a bathroom of sorts. It does not have running water. It is also a beautiful camping site, watching the sunset from there is heaven itself. But in March it is cold. I have never been so cold as I have been camping out at Berlin in March. I imagine it is wonderful in the summer to escape the heat.

The elevation of the park is 7,000 feet and is located 23 miles east of Gabbs, via State Route 844. So it is kinda out of the way if you are just site seeing in the area. The students that go on these trips are mostly biology majors (although we managed to collect a theater major and a psychology major this year)and we take the trip in order to do some paleontology and to look at wildlife. It lies between two of our fossil collecting sites. Which makes this campsite a convenient place to stay for us.

The park features the ghost town of Berlin which we simply drove through. There are a lot of intact buildings here. It also features fossil remains of an Ichythosaur. Which was a fish like reptile with big eyes. It could be up to fifty feet long! These are housed in a shelter. There are tours of the shelter, but only on Sat and Sun in the winter and we were not there on those days. The shelter has big windows so that you can see the fossils through the window with diagrams so that you know what park of the creature you are looking at.

The park offers three tours (though not in the winter when we have been there)

Berlin Townsite Tour: 90 minutes; Memorial Day to Labor Day, Sat. & Sun., 3:00 pm (by demand)

Fossil Shelter Tour: 45 minutes; Memorial Day to Labor Day - Daily at 10:00 am, 2:00 and 4:00 pm. March 18 to Memorial Day, and Labor Day to November 13 - Sat. and Sun.; 10:00am and 2:00pm, or by advance reservation/demand if staff is available. Nov. 14 to March 15 - By advance reservation only.

Diana Mine Tour: 60 minutes; Fri. - Sun.; by reservation only at 11:00 am. Tours limited to 8 people. (Mine tours not offered Oct. 15 - April 15 because of wintering bat protection). (tour information copied from website http://www.parks.nv.gov/bi.htm).

Although I nearly freeze to death every year, I enjoy camping here because it is so pretty. There is a fee for camping here, but I don't recall the amount, I believe it was somewhere between $10-15. There is also a day fee of $1-2 to just look around. If you are in the area is a nice place to stop and look around, but you would probably not want to make a special trip just to do so.

Recommended: Yes

Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Campgrounds & Lodging