I Hiked to the Forbidden Town Connected to Area 51 | 14 Mile Trek at the NNSS

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out in the Mojave Desert about 65 mi

northwest of Las Vegas sits the town of

Mercury. Looking at a map, there's

nothing particularly remarkable about

Mercury. It has a post office, a

sheriff's office, a hospital, housing,

etc. But what's unique about this town

is that the general public is completely

forbidden from entering it. If you try

to exit the highway, [music] you'll be

immediately greeted by no trespassing

and authorized personnelonly signs. In

fact, the town sits entirely within the

boundary of the heavily guarded and

restricted Nevada National Security

Site.

Mercury was born in the early 1950s

during the height of the Cold War when

the US government needed a central hub

to support the nation's nuclear weapons

testing program. What began as a small

military encampment quickly grew into a

bustling mini city. Engineers,

scientists, and military personnel lived

and worked here developing and testing

some of the most powerful weapons ever

built. At its peak, Mercury had

thousands of residents. There were

dormitories, a bowling alley, a movie

theater, a swimming pool, even a chapel.

It was a fully functioning community,

but one surrounded by miles and miles of

restricted desert and the echoes of

atomic detonations. Think of it like a

company town, but for America's top

secret atomic energy projects.

As the era of above ground nuclear

testing ended in 1962, Mercury's role

shifted. Underground testing continued

until 1992 when the United States

officially entered a moratorium on

nuclear explosions.

Since then, Mercury didn't become a

ghost town. It's become a secure

operations base for national security

and scientific research. Today, the

Nevada National Security Site and the

Town of Mercury within it are managed by

the Department of Energy. The area

supports activities related to nuclear

stockpile stewardship, emergency

response training, and high security

experiments, some of which may never be

declassified.

Though much quieter than in its heyday,

the town still operates as a logistical

center, a place for scientists,

contractors, and federal personnel to

work and stay while carrying out

classified missions deep within the

Nevada desert. Today, I'll be taking you

on a long and somewhat treacherous trek

through the desert to get a much closer

view of this secret town than you would

ordinarily get from the highway. Today's

climb will require traversing over 14 m

of terrain round trip and will give us

not only a view of Mercury, but also

deep into the Nevada National Security

Site, where we'll be able to see places

that aren't viewable from any other

public location.

So, I spent the night in my little Rav 4

micro camper last night out here in the

desert, just mainly so I could get an

early start this morning. Um, it was uh

pretty cold last night, so I'm hoping

the hike will be a pretty moderate

temperature. The guy who uh originally

charted this area, Glenn Campbell, he's

one of the OG Area 51 explorers. He uh

on his original trips, I think it was

back in 1995, he uh described almost

running out of water out here and uh he

kind of basically made the hike sound

pretty hellish and that he almost died.

So, I definitely uh am going to be

taking it I definitely going to be

playing it pretty safe. I'm packing a

ton of water and I'm doing this hike at

a time of year where uh hopefully the

temperatures will be moderate enough.

It's, you know, getting into mid

November here, so I think we should be

pretty good in that department. I am

going to be packing pretty light as far

as camera gear. I am definitely going to

be bringing my P1000 and rather than the

PVS14 today, I'm going to be bringing my

new AGM

side winder thermal camera. This is the

TM50 640, meaning it has a 50 mm lens

instead of a 35mm lens. So, for aircraft

spotting and stuff like that, it gets

you a little bit more reach. Not going

to be a huge difference, but I wanted to

to spring for that extra reach. So, I'm

I'm excited to try this thing out. I

think it should be pretty fun to have

with us on this trip. Got my Nemo Hornet

Osmo tent here, too. This thing's super

nice and lightweight. That should stuff

down in my backpack pretty easily.

Other than the water, that's going to be

about about all I'm bringing. I'm going

to just try and bring my little mini

tripod instead of my fulls size one cuz

I'm really trying to to save on weight.

So, we'll see how this goes. So, the

light blue line here is an approximation

roughly of the route that I'm going to

take on this hike. The dark blue line is

the boundary that I don't want to cross.

And all the yellow is public land. I'm

going to be cutting it pretty close to

the boundary, so I got to be careful.

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So, I'm pretty much ready to head out

here. Here. I shed a layer cuz the sun's

coming out from behind the clouds now

and it's starting to warm up. I got my

backpack ready to go. Um, what I do have

to do is cross to the other side of the

highway there. So, I can either jump

over that railing or I think the more

preferable option is to head down to

that culvert over there, which crosses

to the other side. And hopefully there's

no obstructions in the way and I'll be

able to get to the fence line that I

need to cross. I'm going to have to be

somewhat cautious on this hike because

I'm basically I'm basically going to be

straddling the perimeter of the uh

Nevada National Security Site restricted

zone. So, I'm hoping there's going to be

signs that can kind of uh guide me.

According to Glenn Campbell's original

trip report, um there should be. So

unless this has changed in the last

couple decades, I should be okay

following the signs to stay on public

land. But we'll kind of play it by ear

and see what happens here. I'm coming up

on this covert here. So I'm going to

climb through this and see what we find

on the other side here.

So, yeah, ideally this viewpoint is

going to give me a pretty incredible

view of the Nevada National Security

Site.

So, we're going to be able to see down

into the restricted town of Mercury and

also places like um Frenchman Flat,

which normally you'd only be able to see

that if you took the uh the tour of the

National Security Site, and the tour

doesn't allow you to bring cameras. So,

this is basically going to be the only

way to get clear photo and video of it.

So,

yeah, gone through the first part of the

culvert here. Now, we're going to cross

to the other side.

What's this? A locked gate on my public

lands. That's no good.

Now, who put this here? Oh, the

Department of Energy did. It's a bit

rude.

Well, I'm going to wait for a minute

when it doesn't look like there's any

traffic on the road there, and I'm going

to hop over this thing.

[snorts] All right.

All right. All right. So, I've made it

over the fence. That padlock is

illegally put there. They don't have the

authority to lock it. So, is what it is.

Somebody has a problem with that. I'm

pretty confident that I'm on the right

side of the law here.

So, basically, I'm going to follow these

power lines here for a little bit. And

we're going to slowly approach the the

perimeter of the restricted zone. And

then once I hit the perimeter, I'm going

to follow it up to that uh can make it

out up there. There's like a coms site

on top of that hill. That coms site is

on public land. I'm not going to go

right up to the site cuz I don't want to

draw that much attention right now. I'd

rather make it to my destination. But,

um, we will get pretty close to it up

here. Oh, hey there, buddy. It's always

nice to have the Reaper drones to remind

you that you're never truly alone out

here, right?

I'm sure he's got some nice high quality

thermal footage of me scaling that gate

back there.

Luckily, Glenn left a description of his

climb on Summit Post, the website. He

did his climbs in 1995, and I think

there may have been one or two more

attempts in the late 90s or very early

2000s, but I don't think there's been

anybody climbing this area since then.

I'm definitely the first person to video

it like this.

Well, I couldn't see any no trespassing

signs from here yet, so I'm just going

to keep keep on keeping on. I'm giving a

I'm giving the perimeter uh line on my

map a pretty wide birth as I'm hiking.

So hopefully this will uh prevent any

accidental

perimeter crossings cuz I really would

rather not get a trespassing charge.

I'm sure that would get a lot of views,

but I'll pass on that for today.

We got the uh comm site radar hill up

there coming into view a little bit

closer. So, I should be approaching the

base of that hill if I continue on a

straight line for my current path.

It's definitely starting to heat up. I'm

glad I shed that layer.

Wow, check this thing out. Sitting down

here in this wash.

I wonder if this belonged to an original

base worker back in the 1950s. I bet it

did.

It's definitely been sitting here a

while.

And the very tip of Mercury is just now

coming into view right over there.

All right, I'm going to stop and take a

breather at these rocks here. The

interesting thing about the map out here

is I have three different sources. I

have the uh Gaia GPS built-in source and

then I overlaid a couple of other uh KML

files and not all of them quite agree on

where the perimeter is. So, I want to

play it safe and uh steer clear of all

three perimeter lines. So, I do have a

couple vehicles entering uh entering

Mercury.

I hope those aren't security vehicles

coming after me there. [snorts]

Oh, check out this monster. Looks like a

50 BMG. I think the 43 on the bottom of

the casing is a date code, which would

make this World War II era.

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All right, so I'm passing the uh hilltop

comm site now. It's strange cuz it feels

like I'm really far inside the security

site, but uh I'm not. [laughter]

It definitely is a little bit

nerve-wracking.

All

>> [music]

>> right, so I'm getting ready to make my

final ascent up that mountain right in

front of me. But um overall this has

been probably one of the most remote

stretches of desert that I've ever

explored, especially for being so

relatively close to Vegas. I think it's

mainly because there's really no reason

for anybody to come out here, unless

you're doing what I do. If you uh look

at it from the highway, it looks like it

could be restricted because you have

that locked gate and barbwire fence, but

um as the maps have shown, it's public

land.

Now, let's take a look directly to my

west into the town of Mercury. Here we

have what look like dormitories or

residential buildings along with quite a

few official vehicles. It's funny. One

of these buildings somewhere in here

contains a post office with the PO box

that's actually used by Area 51 on

official documents. I believe it's PO

Box 528, Mercury, Nevada. So, if you

want to send Area 51 a postcard, write

that down.

Quite a few of the classic white pickups

that service various parts of the NNSS

and NTR,

maintenance trucks, bucket [music]

trucks, things like that.

A lot of scrap metal piled up over

there, too. Not sure what that's from.

And over here we have a truck that uh

presumably contains radiation detectors,

hence the label.

This is the airirst strip south of town

operated by the Department of Energy.

It's located on the site of the former

Camp Desert Rock, which was an army camp

made to support nuclear testing back in

the day.

There's a white bus down in the corner.

Couple employee vehicles arriving.

A lot of vehicles you'll see come

through here and then proceed north into

other parts of the NNSS or NTR, [music]

such as Area 51.

In fact, the highway that goes north of

Mercury, you'll see trucks delivering

supplies to Area 51 from this route.

They go up to a gate called gate 700.

Of course, you'll also have employees

arriving that work at other parts of the

NTR.

There's a large white bus heading south

from Mercury towards the freeway.

It's different than the typical Bluebird

buses that you see by Area 51. I believe

these ones here are operated on behalf

of the Department of Energy, whereas the

Bluebird ones are for the Air Force. At

least that's my understanding.

Could be a security truck there kind of

driving around the perimeter of the

town.

So far, no one's really paid me much

mind. I guess I'm far enough away. I'm

sure they know where I am.

Couple vehicles just uh coming south

from deeper into the uh NNSS. [music]

Could have been coming either from uh

the Frenchman flat area or maybe the

lock at area 6. It's hard to say.

As I was panning around, I noticed a

couple abandoned little shacks directly

below me on this ridge. They're very

close to the perimeter, so I'm not sure

if they're actually on public land or in

the restricted zone,

but I'm going to go check them out

against my better judgment.

See if I can make it down uh down this

ridge here.

Check this out. We got another uh

casing.

This one's also date coded 43. So, we

have another World War II area marked SL

on the bottom. The other one I have is

KS. I believe SL is St. Louis. I'll have

to look up what KS is.

I've been checking my map pretty

frequently just to confirm, but I am

still indeed on public land. But the

weird thing is this this road that I'm

on, it goes into Mercury. So, the only

way to access this little pocket

officially is from from inside the base.

Huh.

Yeah. I wonder what these things were.

They almost look like I'm kind of

debating between either an old mining

camp or maybe some old buildings from

the original facility. They kind of look

like old guard shacks.

Wow.

They're pretty destroyed, whatever they

are.

Yeah, they have they have electrical.

Huh.

Looks like over the years some people

from Mercury have come out here for

target practice.

It couldn't be any couldn't be anybody

else really cuz like I said the road

down there just goes right into Mercury.

It's no other way to drive to this

place.

I should stealth camp in here sometime.

That'd be kind of funny. Uh,

probably end up with haunt virus,

though.

And because I'm sure some folks will be

curious, I haven't noticed any abnormal

radiation levels in this area. Although

I'm sure there are some spikes if you go

into the uh NNSS further out here by

Mercury. It seems pretty safe.

Oh, look. My reaper friend is back. I

thought I heard something up there in

the clouds.

Everybody wave hi to the MQ9.

I assume these are probably taken off

from uh from Creech AFB.

Ah, check this out. We got a circuit

board here

and

a couple other pieces of debris.

Okay, so this

this is actually super interesting. What

I'm pretty sure I have here is a radio

sand. And these are launched usually

from either Area 51 or the Tonapod test

range. And they're basically a weather

balloon that transmits atmospheric data

related to test flights. You can

actually track these and find where they

land.

It's actually in kind of insane to

randomly stumble across one accidentally

here without having tracked it. Yeah.

And this looks like a This must be a

barometric pressure sensor.

There's a piece of styrofoam from the

housing.

All right. So, for tonight's late lunch,

early dinner, we got slowcooked

vegetable beef. Only the finest

One awesome thing that I noticed about

this spot is that it puts me basically

right under the flight path for the

janets as they approach Groom Lake.

So, if you like spotting janets, this is

a great place to do it from.

[snorts]

Before the sun goes down, let's take a

look over yonder deeper into the Nevada

National Security Site. There you can

see the road that heads north out of

Mercury.

Can make out a few cars down there

making their way up into the test site.

And over that mountain range there is

area 6.

Loheed Martin operates a highly

classified facility in area 6. If you

look on satellite view, you can see an

airirst strip with a number of hangers.

Unfortunately, from this vantage point,

I can't quite see the air strip.

I have yet to find a public land section

that really has a good view of it.

I suppose that's why they chose it

because it's very hard to see.

You can see the airspace, though. So, if

they were doing a test flight, you might

be able to make out a tiny dot of some

sort of aircraft taking off.

Here we have the Frenchman Flat Nuclear

Test Site, also known as Area 5. This is

where in 1951, Operation Ranger was

conducted. This was the first series of

tests to be carried out at the Nevada

Test Site. The bombs were dropped from

B50 bombers and exploded in the open air

directly over Frenchman Flat.

Today you can still see some

infrastructure present.

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Heat. Heat.

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>> [music]

>> All right, so in the morning I

successfully made the 7mi return hike

for a grand total of 14 mi of hiking on

this trip. It was honestly pretty

brutal. Uh I will say it about lined up

with how the trip reports made it sound.

I definitely would not want to do this

hike in the summer and I wouldn't

recommend any of you try it necessarily

unless you are prepared for uh some

pretty rough terrain. I'll throw up a

map here so I can show you guys kind of

where I was and um what I could see from

my vantage point. Some mapping apps that

I have call this place Mercury Ridge.

I'm going to call it Mount Curry or

Mount Cury cuz that's what Glenn called

it and he was the original explorer of

this area and I definitely want to honor

his legacy. So unfortunately I couldn't

really see much as far as aircraft

activity. We just had the Janets and the

Reaper drones making flybys

occasionally, but potentially if there

was a test flight out of the Loheed

Martin area 6 air strip, you would get a

good view of the airspace over the

strip. Uh, so you could maybe see the

faint outline or a small dot depending

on what kind of optics you're looking

through. For those of you who want a

little bit more high-res close-up view

of the town of Mercury, I'll throw up a

panoramic image that I took on my

website. It should go live the same time

as this video, so head over there and

check that out if you want to see it.

All in all, I'm very glad I did this

hike. I got to see uh Bald Mountain. I

could see the Papoose Mountain Range.

Couldn't see Papoose Lake, but again, I

could see the airspace above it. So, I

think it was a pretty cool trip. Again,

not one that I'm going to do super

often, but it will be in the rotation

every now and then. Thanks so much for

coming along on this track. I'll see you

guys on the next one.