Austin (Nevada)

This pass near the town of Austin is in the juniper forests abundant in this part of Nevada.

It is a three-story stone tower located near Austin, Nevada. It was built by Anson Phelps Stokes, a mine developer, railroad magnate, and banker. Intending the building as a summer home, Stokes began building the castle in 1896, completing it in 1897. The castle is patterned after a tower that Stokes had seen and admired in the Roman Campagna in Italy, and the castle is built of hand-hewn native granite, and the stones were hoisted into place with a hand winch and held in place with rock wedging and clay mortar. Eventually, however, the castle fell into disrepair until Molly Magee Knudsen, a cousin of Stokes, bought the castle in 1956. The tower was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The "Castle" is owned by HW Trapnell of Austin and Dunsmuir, California.

This is a simple visitor information center with billboards and a map including the history of Austin.

From the Bob Scott Campground, there are several hikes into the juniper-covered, mountainous forests that are located east of Austin.

A rustic hot spring part of the Spencer Hot Springs location in the middle of the Big Smoky Valley, averages around 100 degrees supposedly.