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The Great Basin Desert is the largest desert in the USA. It covers the northern three-quarters of Nevada, Western and Southern Utah, the Southeastern corner of Oregon and the Southern third of Idaho. That's pretty big! People like me who worry about these things are aware that some think of the Great Basin Desert as stretchng into parts of Western Colorado and Southwestern Wyoming.

Well, if you never heard of the Great Basin Desert you may have heard of the Black Rock or Smoke Creek Deserts of Northern Nevada, sub-deserts of the region. No? Ok. Well, you must surely have heard of Burning Man festival that takes place once a year out on the flats of the Black Rock Desert. Its the same playa, or dry lake bed on which many land speed records have been attempted and set. Yes .. that place!

The Great Basin Desert is bordered by the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, the Rocky Mountains to the east, the Columbia Plateau to the north and the Mojave and Sonoran deserts to the south. I guess my favourite part of this Great American Desert (as it is sometimes called) is the Black Rock region. Black Rock is an arid region of lava beds and alkali flats in Northen Nevada, stretching around 70 mi North East of a tiny hamlet called Gerlach. On the East side are the Jackson mountains, while the Black Rock Range lies to the west. A land speed record was set here in 1983.

The stillness of death reigns over this vast plain, - not the rustling of a leaf or the hum of an insect, to break in on the eternal solitude. (George Keller, 1850)

The Black Rock Desert 's main feature is the pancake flat playa (a Spanish word meaning 'intermittent dry lake') of ancient Lake Lahontan. This alkaline flat is one of the largest, flattest places on earth. While the Black Rock Vally stretches for about 70 miles, in the centre of the black rock desert lies the perfectly flat playa which is as smooth glass for 25 miles at a width of 15 miles. The surface of the playe is so barren that curvature is evident. Stoned attendants at the Burning man Festival held out here each year mistake it for the curvature of the earth. The incredible flatness of the playa, with its slight curvature gives rise to astonishing mirages. I have seen whole mountain ranges appear and dissapear before my eyes. I have heard that cars a few miles away look like they are flying 50 feet off the ground.

Dotted with remnats of the days of the gold rush, the Great Basin desert is a charming as well as an unnerving jaunt into America's outback. I have seen, on more than one occassion, cars driving through this vast and forbidden desert towing second cars behind themselves in case of a breakdown - a practice that is also sometimes adopted by bus companies!

The Great Basin gets its name from the fact that its waterways drain into desert flats rather than the sea. Much of it is semi-arid rather than true desert. Sagebrush covers vast areas. In places it is almost like a grassland desert like those you see in Australia (the Great Sandy desert or the Tanami desert) or South Africa (parts of the Kalahari). In the USA they call it a srhrub desert. It's unusual character can be accounted for mostly by its generally high altitude. Most of the Great Basin is high desert. That means it gets real cold at night and freezing in winter. The Sonoran desert, to the South, in contrast, is a warm desert. There are plenty of yuccas and joshua trees, but cacti are rare. This is one of the few places in the USA where wild horses still roam free. I have been blessed to see a family of wild mustangs gallop across the desert floor deep in the desert brish near Caliente, Nevada.

North of Reno city lies Pyramid Lake, a strangely beautiful lake which the local natives, the Pauite Indians, call home. It is been inhabited for 11,000 yeart at least. It is is dotted with huge mineral deposits that have risen up from the lake floor via the many geysers which still erupt from time to time. This is where the lake gets its name - from the huge pyramid-shaped deposits which rise up for up to 100 feet from the lake surface.

Sometime in the 1970s an article in Life magazine dubbed highway 50 - which cuts right through the heart of the Great Basin Desert - as "the lonliest highway in America". It wasn't wrong. The deserts of Nevada are completely undeveloped for recreation and out in small towns like Austin, Ely, Caliente, Tonopah, or Winnecumma you might feel as if you have stepped out of reality and ito a wild west movie set from which you are never going to escape.

Area 51, the legendary "secret" military research centre and UFO capital of the world also sits out here quietly deep in the outback of South-central Nevada in a place that does not exist on the map. The nearest town is a tiny village called Rachel which you can access by driving the long and lonely highway 375, otherwise known as extraterrestrial highway. I have to admit to seeing several strange things in the skies above Area 51, but that is nothing unusal out here in the desert. God knows what the government are up to - if indeed it is the government! Well, I reckoned that, however remote, the place has got to have a boundary. I drove for two days and nghts to find it along with a few friends of mine. I have the distinct pleasure of reporting that, in 1998, and again in 2003, I walked right up to that non-existent boundary to area 51, and not an inch more (there was a soldier in the bush with a machine gun pointed right at my head!). Thirty four miles away, at the nearest inhabitation, I bought the t-shirt.

Dear fellow traveller, alow me to share with you some friendly advice concerning your impending venture into my playground in the American Southwest ­ that high plateau of creosote and Joshua trees the Paiute call home. You are brave to consider the trip and I trust you know that it must be made with the heart as much as with the head. Yes, you will need a compass but it will be unreliable. Sometimes East is West, but not always. Sometimes left means right. You can't be sure in the desert. Time will play tricks on you and distances will recede to horizons that are impossibly far away, creating illusions and mirages that are always real. You may hear strange voices ­ they are your own. You will be lonely, you will experience mortal terror, and the snakes may get you. But don't let that put you off. You have started on the most important journey of your life.

Starting from the neon wasteland the white man calls called Reno, head North no matter what they tell you. Trust your compass and follow your heart. Keep one eye on the road and on your gas gauge. Remember, Nevada is the least populated American state. It is very lonely. Go anywhere you like. Most places don't have names. You are driving with the Smoke Creek Desert on your left and the Black Rock desert ahead to your right. Most of this desert is public land. You may wish to peek at Pyramid lake en route. This is a sulphur-filled lake full of pelicans ­ the only water for miles. Fall in and your skin will burn off. It has no drainage so it gets more alkaline every year. You will see eerie geyser deposits (the large pyramids) scattered around the lake. You may see an active geyser. You may see the ghost of a native. They still live here.

Eventually, if you persevere and if you do not fall asleep at the wheel, you will come to a hamlet called Gerlach. If it is August, the desert will be swarmed with lovers who have come here to burn a 50 foot effigy on the desert floor. Don't try to understand. The desert seldom makes sense. Just join in if they let you. Then again the 300 bucks they charge would be better spent on more gas to head deeper in to the desert - East and then South. Whatever your heart decides, stop for gas in the Texaco station in Gerlach (you will perish if you do not). Talk to the old man. Ask him if it is safe to drive on the playa. He is the wisest man in the desert. Don't forget that as you listen to him. If it has rained in several weeks he will warn you. If he indicates that it is safe you should head for the desert floor. Go there at once ­ bring water. Do not take side roads without a jeep and a willngness to be dispatched from this world through dehydration when your gas runs out. (Don't worry, you will help feed the vultures). Carry a gallon of water per person at all times ­ that will last 24 hours in the Summer. Better to take three each.

Barry Lopez suggests that when you arrive at the floor you should drive out to the centre ­ put the car in first gear ­ open all of the doors ­ coast ­ listen to the rubber on the playa floor ­ look away ­ close your eyes ­ open them again ­ get out ­ run along side the car ­ get back in ­ take a nap ­ you have an hour or more before you will hit the ruts at the side of the playa. Get out again ­ run around the car ­ let it get away ­ chase it ­ jump back in. The car is like your life ­ you are not always in control. You will see the connection when you get there.

The playa is flat - the world supersonic land speed record was set there. Soon after sunrise the mirages begin. Objects more than 1/2 mile away slip below the horizon as the mirage bends your field of view . Small dunes nicknamed "playa serpents" can form in random places. Be careful.

No one cares about you in the desert ­ least of all the creosote and cacti. Don't expect them to be happy to see you. They will be very cold towards you and you will wonder why you came ­ that is when it is most important to stay. You will think that there is nothing around you ­ that is when it is most important to open your eyes. Feel the earth ­ touch it. Rub some on your skin. It contains the recycled ideas and bones of the Paiute and you too will join the dust some day. Touch a cactus very gently. It will reject you. Stay with it. He is as afraid as you. That is why he is so defensive ­ just like you. Look at the sky ­ how deep is it? Is it deeper than you?

Say nothing. If you are not alone agree to be silent for at least a while. The desert is trying to speak. But she only whispers, and even then it is in riddles. Spend some time alone for a while, even if it is only fifty yards from another human being. The desert may want to tell you something that no-one else should hear.

You have entered the high desert. It will be cold at times. You will rarely be under 6000 feet elevation. Few cacti live at this height. They are wiser than you. Even the Joshua trees give up at 6000 feet. But evaporation is high ­ you are in the desert. So drink often even when you are not thirsty or hot. Bring water, sunscreen, water, and plenty of extra water. When you leave the desert pour your water on the ground in thanks. Something will grow there and it will have you to thank. A part of you will always remain in the desert, and a part of the desert will always remain in you.

There is no where to stay except Bruno's motel in Gerlach ­ a run down old miners joint. Should be cheap, but it's worth any price. Phone ahead. Next accommodation will be at least 100 miles away. There is no entertainment but the thrill of the wilderness. It is important to wake up there at least once in your life. The desert trusts you more on the second day. She has little time for day-trippers.

The venture is a dangerous one for the unprepared, but ultimately rewarding. Your cell phone will not work. There are no medical services. Bring three days worth of food at all times. There are no stores. You never know when your car will get stuck if your drive on a playa. Never pass a gas station (except the one just before Gerlach at Empire). Watch out for the train riding across the desert on the West arm of the Black Rock playa ­ no warnings ­ no barriers ­ they tear right across the desert all the way to California. Let someone know your schedule and never leave your vehicle. You cannot walk more than 20 miles in the desert in a day - especially without plenty of water. Most die on the first day. Maybe best stick to the road and leave the adventures to the real desert rats. Leave no trace. Take only photographs, leave only footprints. Avoid the noonday sun.

Yours truly,

Timbisha