I Went to an Area 51 Ghost Town with a Geiger Counter (And Had a Standoff at the Back Gate!)

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Hey, Uncanny Expeditions here. Glad to

have you guys back. Welcome to today's

video. So, on the last episode of my

Nevada Desert Adventures, I spent the

night at the Power Lines Overlook,

followed by an exploration of the front

gate of Area 51 and then the Range 61

bombing gate after that. On today's

episode, I got a jam-packed full of some

pretty cool adventures here in the

Nevada desert. So, be sure and check

them all out. To start, I went to the

Cedar Pipeline Ranch, which is an

abandoned ranch that sits right on the

border of the NTR restricted zone. I

brought my Geiger counter with me

because it's rumored that this ranch was

abandoned due to nuclear fallout from

all the above ground testing. So, I

wanted to see if there was any radiation

that persisted to this day. After that,

I spent the night just outside the base,

caught some pretty cool aircraft

footage, and then I went over to some

remote entry points along the perimeter

on my bike. So, stick with me to the end

of the video. I'm glad to have you guys

here. Let's get started on today's

adventure.

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All right. So, I just turned on to the

Cedar Gate access road. So, if I keep

following this road, eventually it will

meet up with the boundary point for the

uh ToonPod test range. Um, but before

that, we're going to hit the uh

abandoned Cedar Pipeline Ranch and see

what we can find there.

My journey begins on this seemingly

endless stretch of paved road that

shoots off into the vast expansive

desert off Highway

375. If you keep following this road to

the end, it eventually reaches the

restricted zone of the Nevada Test and

Training Range or

NTR. Specifically, the gate at the end

is known as the Cedar Gate, and it's an

entry point for the Tonopa Test Range,

also known as Area 52.

About 5 miles before this gate lies the

Cedar Pipeline Ranch, which sits in the

desert, kind of like an eerie ghost

town. There are still several buildings

standing. A lot of them have decayed

into the ground by now. Despite the fact

that this ranch is abandoned, there's a

natural spring in the area. This makes

it a favorite grazing spot for cattle in

the area. As to why the ranch is

abandoned, no one's quite sure, but one

of the theories I found is that it's due

to the nuclear testing that took place

at the Nevada test site nearby. Back in

the 1950s and60s, there were little to

no precautions taken to prevent the

spread of radioactive dust. So, it's

possible the radiation levels were too

high to make this a safe place to

operate a ranch. If it was too

irradiated, is it possible the radiation

still exists to this day? Well, I

brought my Geiger counter to find out.

I'm going to see what kind of radiation

readings it gives me walking around this

ranch. All

right, so I made it to the Cedar

Pipeline Ranch. I'm really excited to

check this place out. So, one of the

rumors about why this place was

abandoned was due to the the fallout

from nuclear testing nearby. So, I'm

excited to bring out the Geiger counter

and actually see if there's any elevated

radiation levels at this spot or not.

We'll find

out. I'm going to kind of explore this

area a little bit first. It definitely

has an eerie vibe with all these twisted

trees and decaying buildings.

Let's take a look inside this cabin

that's still

standing. Looks like the roof is uh

pretty caved in. Just a few appliances

inside.

Got some cows over there in the distance

watching

me. And here we have some stone

structures that are kind of built into

the side of this hill.

Wow. It's weirdly cold inside this

building. I guess cuz we're partially

underground.

Those cows are keeping a close eye on me

over there. They're like, "What the

hell's this guy

doing? There

there's a NTR employee vehicle that just

came out of the gate from up the road

there.

Now, let's pull out the Geiger counter

and see what it tells us about any

potential radiation levels in the area.

Starting to climb up slightly there. Hit

37 CPM. Still within the normal

background radiation

range. Touched 48 CPM there.

crossed over 50 CPM

now. Another white pickup truck coming

from the direction of the Cedar Gate

Tonap test range entrance. Quite a bit

of traffic coming down this road today.

And there we're crossing 55 CPM after I

started kicking up some of the dust on

the

ground. So, the highest reading I saw on

the Geiger counter was a 54.

a little bit above the normal background

level according to my chart here. So,

there probably is a very slight amount

of residual radiation from all the

nuclear testing that was out here. Next,

I'm going to drive down the road here a

little bit to the entrance to the

restricted area, the cedar gate as it's

known. So, the actual boundary point is

uh right in front of me. The the guard

shack is quite a bit beyond that. So,

you don't want to drive all the way up

to the guard shack. I'm going to get out

here and start shooting some video.

Here's the perimeter fence maybe a

couple hundred yards or so before the

guard shack with your typical US Air

Force warning signs

outside. And here's the welcome sign

greeting visitors as they enter the

Nevada Test and Training Range. The NTR

emblem sits there right below it.

All right, so I just got back into

Rachel after checking out the Cedar

Pipeline Ranch. I think for tonight I'm

going to camp by the back gate. It's

been a few years since I've done that. I

haven't picked out a spot exactly quite

yet, but I'm just going to look around

and look for a flat level spot to set up

my tent. I'll probably check out a

couple more of the gates that are around

here,

too. Hey, check out the pong horn

analopee. There's a surprising amount of

wildlife around, Rachel. You wouldn't

expect it necessarily if you're not

familiar with the

desert. These things are beautiful

animals.

The Rachel Gate is known for this horn

that they blast at visitors if they hang

around too long. The last two times I

visited this gate, they blasted the horn

almost immediately at me. So, we'll see

if they do it again this

time. All right, my ears are prepared.

Come on. Waiting for it. Nothing

yet. Oh, really? I don't get the horn

this

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time. Dang.

Oh, they're bringing the gate down on

me. I'm sure they're watching me with

the uh fleer camera up

there. Last time I was here, somebody uh

they chastised me for not getting a

close-up shot of the badge reader. So,

you know who you are. Here it is.

I can see some movement now happening on

the other side of the gate. Looks like

it's near the main guard shack building

way over there. We have a truck idling

over there by the guard shack now. They

really don't like opening the gate when

somebody's out here. So, they're going

to wait quite a while. I'm going to camp

here with the camera on the roof to get

a little bit higher angle and see if I

can outweight them. This is the first

time I've actually had my camera up over

these barricades that they installed.

Look at all the security cameras they

have back there.

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We seem to be at a bit of a standoff

here. They're waiting for me to leave

and I'm waiting for them to leave.

We'll see who has more

patience. All right. So, the truck is

absolutely refusing to leave while I sit

here. And uh now a camo dude pulled up

behind me and is kind of watching me.

So, I think what I'm going to do is I'm

going to retreat a little further

vantage point and see if I can get the

truck

leaving. Sure enough, as soon as I left

the area, the camo dudes going for the

front gate and uh presumably giving the

truck the go-ahhead to proceed.

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Looks like they're hauling dirt or

gravel out of the base. I wonder what

kind of excavation or construction

project is going on back there right

now.

We have another vehicle on the way in.

It looks like

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All right. So, I settled on this little

hilltop pretty close to the back gate.

This is, I think, where I'm going to set

up camp for the night.

Well, the fighter activity seems to have

picked back up now that the sun's gone

down. There was some earlier, too,

around 3:30 or 4:00. It's about 8:00

now, and I'm seeing a few more jets

flying

over. There ended up being a few more of

the uh dirt hauling construction trucks

that came out of the gate, too. So, it

seems like there's a an excavation or

construction project that they have

going on in the

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base. I think this is a camo dude here.

They've been making a few passes back

and forth. Pretty typical whenever I

camp this close to one of the gates.

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After watching the fighter jets for a

while, I decided to walk back over to

the gate and check it out at night.

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All right. Well, there's the back gate

at

night. Still no horn.

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All right. Well, good morning. I slept

pretty good, all things considered. The

uh the jets weren't flying too late. I

think they stopped around 11, 11:30 or

so. Other than that, it was pretty

peaceful. No camo dude activity. A lot

of times they'll come and shine lights

at me if I'm camping this close to the

border, but nothing this time for

whatever reason. I actually had a couple

uh couple companions in my campsite

tonight. Uh a gentleman and his daughter

stopped by and uh they spent the night

out here with me in their truck. So,

it's kind of nice to have a little bit

of company. I think this morning what

I'm going to do is uh I'm going to hop

on my ebike and ride down this trail.

It's about three and a half miles.

There's another little gate down that

way. Um and yeah, we'll see what we can

see down there. Good way to get the

blood flowing this morning.

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Heat. Heat.

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Hey,

a

bad Heat. Heat.

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Sitting at the base of Chalk Mountain,

this is known as the Chalk Mountain

Gate.

These silver balls that you'll sometimes

find along the perimeter are originally

radar calibration balls. In this

context, they're used to make the

perimeter easier to spot by helicopter

since the orange posts are a little bit

hard to see from the air.

Groom Lake is over off that direction.

You're actually quite a bit closer to it

at this gate than you are at the back

gate.

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